2024-2025 NQS Series (U.S. qualifying competition season dates/locations)

Thank you!
And we still don't know where the top finalists of these NQS will be going next January (the place of 2025 Nats)...? 😂
 
In all the skam/nats excitement I didn't even notice that they announced sectionals locations too. Midwests + dance final are in Plano. Dallas fsc keeping busy this fall.

Pacific Coast is in Ogden, UT and Easterns + Pairs Final is at scob.
 
Copying over from the Nationals/SkAm announcement thread:

2025 Eastern Sectional Singles and U.S. Pairs Final
Dates: Nov. 11-17, 2024
Location: Boston [Norwood], Massachusetts
Venue: Tenley E. Albright Performance Center
Host: The Skating Club of Boston

2025 Pacific Coast Sectional Singles Final
Dates: Nov. 11-17, 2024*
Location: Ogden, Utah
Venue: The Ice Sheet
Host: Wasatch FSC

2025 Midwestern Sectional Singles & U.S. Ice Dance Final
Dates: Nov. 18-24, 2024*
Location: Plano, Texas
Venue: Children's Health StarCenter
Host: Dallas FSC

*The dates of this event will occur within this date range. Exact dates will be finalized closer to the registration deadline.
 
Interesting that Copper Cup is a qualifier this year. I don't remember it being such in the past - I probably just missed it. Or, someone is getting enthusiastic again.

Pacific Coasts is right down the street. Hmmm.
 
Im still planning on Lake Placid at the end of the month. Any information on participants will be gratefully accepted!
 
Any idea how you find out any details about going to watch? I’d like to go watch part of the NQS in Atlanta but…. Apparently you just guess when the event takes place. I can’t find any time info anywhere
 
Carolla5501 said:
Any idea how you find out any details about going to watch? I’d like to go watch part of the NQS in Atlanta but…. Apparently you just guess when the event takes place. I can’t find any time info anywhere
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The start orders/live results list usually gets posted a day or two before the event begins. Prior to that, the schedule will be on EMS...if you are a USFS member, including FOFS, you can log into Members Only to access.
 
emilieh said:
Georgia FSC has info on their website: https://www.gafsc.org/index.htm

NQS start orders & results (along with times): https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2024/33518/index.asp
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Thanks. When I checked the other day, there was actually nothing up, but I did see today that you can click to the starting orders and it does have information


They are making no effort to get any public to come watch this. I’m on their Facebook page and all they give you is opportunity to volunteer which I would’ve loved to do, but I don’t get home until late Friday night.
 
Carolla5501 said:
They are making no effort to get any public to come watch this. I’m on their Facebook page and all they give you is opportunity to volunteer which I would’ve loved to do, but I don’t get home until late Friday night.
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Gee, I can't imagine why a small vol-run org that is putting on a large event dependent on vols would be asking for vols.

And given that clubs (except in a few cases) don't sell tix to comps and don't gain anything from spectators attending, the fact that the club is not putting all of its effort into attracting "the public" to watch (instead of dealing with the 500 or so tasks involved with running the comp) is truly puzzling.

As has been said approximately 5,326 times on FSU, club comps are run for the benefit of the skaters (and their families and coaches) and the host club, not the general public. While clubs do occasionally host activities for the local community...shows, National Skating Month...it's not really their job to increase spectator interest. That's on USFS.

ETA: And attracting large numbers of spectators to club comps is not necessarily in the club's or rink's best interest. Most club comps are in small rinks, with limited to no seating, and may also not have much parking space. Tons of people crowding in, parking all over the street, etc, could cause safety issues that could be a liability for the club.

Back when Liberty/Philly used to attract a lot of top skaters (Patrick Chan, Tom Z crew), the stands would be packed, with some people standing. Luckily, Ice Works has a large parking lot and multiple entrance/exit doors, and everyone was peaceful and in a good mood, but if something crazy happened in that crowded space, things could have been very bad.
 
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I can’t imagine people putting on a sporting event wouldn’t like some paying visitors just to help offset the cost, but I guess I’m unreasonable




But I’m going to go with the assumption above that they don’t really want people to attend and pass.
 
Carolla5501 said:
I can’t imagine people putting on a sporting event wouldn’t like some paying visitors just to help offset the cost, but I guess I’m unreasonable




But I’m going to go with the assumption above that they don’t really want people to attend and pass.
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I just went to the NQS event in Plano and there were limited bleachers that were taken up mostly by family and friends of the competitors. There was no admission fee charged. As Debbie said, the setup at most of these events is not made for a bigger crowd.
 
Carolla5501 said:
I can’t imagine people putting on a sporting event wouldn’t like some paying visitors just to help offset the cost, but I guess I’m unreasonable
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Not unreasonable, just a bit clueless about what's involved with running a comp at the club level, which is surprising given how long you've been a fan and posting on here.

In addition to the issues I noted above, selling tix requires either an online ordering system (which usually takes a cut of the sales) or selling tix in person, or both. That requires an additional volunteer (or two) at all times. And then a vol stationed at each door leading to the comp rink(s) to check tix/wristbands/whatever (and let's not forget the expense of buying/creating the wristbands or whatever proof of ticket they are using). Have you ever tried to recruit and fill vol shifts for a 4-day skating comp lasting from 7 am (vols need to be there before practice ice begins) to 8 pm each day? Not to mention vols for setup, cleanup, transporting officials to/from the airport....

With a few exceptions (SCOB, maybe a couple others), clubs are run by volunteers, not a paid staff. In most clubs, there are barely enough vols to do the (many) necessary tasks of running a comp for those they are actually running the comp for.

When Liberty/Philly first (pre-Covid) hosted the Senior B as part of the summer comp, they charged admission to get into that particular rink. The second time (2022), they didn't, presumably b/c it was more trouble than it was worth.

As for your snarky comment (that you deleted after posting) about it not being much effort to type out a schedule on FB, I would suggest that you volunteer to run your local club's FB. And volunteer at the comp, preferably the first morning shift on the first day of the comp. Then report back on how little effort all that takes.
 
Debbie S said:
As for your snarky comment (that you deleted after posting) about it not being much effort to type out a schedule on FB, I would suggest that you volunteer to run your local club's FB. And volunteer at the comp, preferably the first morning shift on the first day of the comp. Then report back on how little effort all that takes.
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Heck, it's hard enough to find volunteers to help with almost ANY youth-oriented activity - sports, service clubs, church, etc. Even 35 years ago when I was organizing my own youth group's major annual fundraiser we had a tough time getting girls & adults who were willing to help with set-up or work the early morning shift, etc. None of these events are easy to staff, even with the biggest clubs or teams - people have many commitments in their lives.
 
I've been on the local organizing committee of several competitions, and one of the biggest ones I worked on was one of the championship series competitions in 2021 (before the NQS). For that, two skating clubs co-hosted the competition, with about four more clubs in that tri-state area assisting. It took many clubs to get the correct number of volunteers and the thousands of other things that needed to be done -- e.g. blankets for the judges when they are out there judging, making sure someone's transporting the judges to and from the rink and the hotel, making sure there's food for the officials, judges, coaches and volunteers, etc.

It was a paid event, and just having enough volunteers to check the entrances of the two rinks at all the shifts was a challenge. If I remember right, we had about 300 volunteers for the event. Our volunteer chair practically called every single parent of our skating club to ask them if they could help. I was the social media/communications chair and had at least two volunteers every hour -- taking videos/photos, creating content, editing, and posting into our accounts. The LOC started meeting six months before the event, and USFS staffers came several times to explain what they wanted done for the competitions.

Hosting these competitions is very tough, even for big clubs.
 
I have also volunteered at many of my club's events.

If you are looking for an opportunity to watch high-level skating in a format designed to welcome spectators, then these local events are probably not the place to do that.

If you are looking to get some experience of how figure skating works at a more grass roots level (which can be very eye opening) and to watch some skating at a range of skill levels, then you may wish to attend events of this sort. Think of yourself not as a customer but as a guest or potentially as a participant yourself.

Remember that the event exists for the skaters. If you can contribute in some way to helping the event run more smoothly for the skaters, great! At least, don't try to make it run less smoothly for them.

Local nonqualifying competitions hosted by local clubs will have a variety of ways of communicating schedules etc. to those who need to know. There will usually be a link on the host club's website.

For these NQS events, the information is in EMS available on the Members Only section of the US Figure Skating website. A day or a couple days before the event begins the start orders/results link will be posted publicly.

It's probably a good idea to check the rink's website to see what the seating capacity is. If it's a venue that can easily accommodate a couple thousand spectators, you will probably be able to come and go and find a seat with no problem. If it's a much smaller rink with just a few bleacher seats at best, expect standing room only for junior or senior events that have any nationally known skaters competing if those events are held at convenient times -- just because lower-level competitors may wish to watch.

Expect to see plenty of bad and mediocre skating. Along with occasional strong performances by the best competitors that day at lower and middle competition levels. Or just lower skilled skaters at a given competition level having a good day and showing their best within their more limited skill range. Some strong skaters at lower levels may end up becoming stars of the future, but it's impossible to predict whether any individual talented skater will end up making it to senior level.

Instead of paying with money for the privilege of watching, consider volunteering 2 hours of your time to helping the event run smoothly for the skaters. If you're available on a weekday or early morning, your contribution may be even more valuable.

Some jobs will not allow you to see the skating happening while you are volunteering. Consider taking those positions at other times of the day you want to attend the event(s) you're most interested in.

Ice monitor can be a good position for actually seeing some of the skating.

If you're interested in supporting local skating on a regular basis, consider training as an announcer or music coordinator, which are also rinkside positions.

At an NQS, people with official appointments in those roles will probably be brought in for the qualifying events. But the club may need people to announce and run music on another ice surface or at other times during the competition. And if these are tasks you enjoy and are good at, you might want to pursue an appointment in these areas yourself.
 
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One thing to note about volunteering at competitions: If you want to volunteer for Awards, Monitors, or Check-In (or any position that directly interacts with skaters), USFS mandates the skating clubs that the volunteers be SkateSafe Certified, which includes a Background Check and must also complete the USFS "Volunteer Opportunities" process through the USFS Members Only portal.

That is why many competitions do not allow skaters access to locker rooms and tell them to come into the rink already dressed because they don't have enough volunteers to monitor the locker rooms that are SkateSafe Certified. It's become a real problem -- and tough for skaters and the LOCs get a lot of flak for this but LOCs hands are just tied on this issue.
 
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Not to mention (at least when I did it) you have to pay for the background check yourself and some people just find that annoying on top of everything else (it wasn't that much but idk some people are like fine i'll just bring some snacks for the judges instead and move on with my life)
 
Rukia said:
Not to mention (at least when I did it) you have to pay for the background check yourself and some people just find that annoying on top of everything else (it wasn't that much but idk some people are like fine i'll just bring some snacks for the judges instead and move on with my life)
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The volunteer org I work for pays for it but lets you know you can make an $8 donation to offset the cost. I feel like this is a good compromise because it lets people who would be happy to pay for it do so but lets people not do it if it would be a deterrent.

Our organization does also require all adult volunteers to pass a background check. Do you need to be a paying USFSA member to be skatesafe certified?
 
Theatregirl1122 said:
... Do you need to be a paying USFSA member to be skatesafe certified?
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No, USFS membership is not required.
It is necessary to pay for the background check. (And to complete SafeSport training, which has no out-of-pocket cost.)

ETA:​
For me, it is well worth paying the modest (IMO) cost of the background check, because I enjoy volunteering.
I am not trying to make the cost sound onerous.​
 
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You will need to have an account (USFS number) and login to the USFS portal. There is a section on Safesport in the portal where the links to apply for the background check and the training are in.

Once inside, your membership need not be current (you may have last paid in 2002 and can still do the background check which is $30 and the Safesport training which at most is 2 hours if you are slow)
 
marshallpond said:
You will need to have an account (USFS number) and login to the USFS portal. There is a section on Safesport in the portal where the links to apply for the background check and the training are in.

Once inside, your membership need not be current (you may have last paid in 2002 and can still do the background check which is $30 and the Safesport training which at most is 2 hours if you are slow)
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So a parent who has never been a member, for example, would not be able to volunteer?

I think the background check and safesport training are pretty standard. Surprised a background check is $30, though. Our org is $8.
 
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