Double jumps in synchro?

SherryL

Member
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42
Does anyone know where I can find information about jumps that may be allowed in synchronized skating competitions for the 2018-2019 season in the U.S.? I can’t seem to locate them in my online search.

My daughter thought getting back into synchronized skating next season would be fun and go well with her ice dance training. She tried out and was recently placed on an Intermediate synchro team. Unexpectedly at spring practice, the coach asked her to do double jumps. What? I thought only max of one-rotation jumps were allowed. I was then informed that the USFS sychro rules may be changing. My daughter hasn’t done double jumps in over a year, but she may be one of very few on that team who had done doubles before.
 

purple skates

Shadow Dancing
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22,425
I don’t know about current rules, but I do know it’s a proposal at Governing Council for levels where it wasn’t already allowed. Should be voted on today, I think.

7170 Non-Permitted Elements, Features, Additional Features and Movements

D. Free Skate – All Levels Except Senior, Junior and Collegiate

6. Jumps of more than one revolution at the novice, intermediate, juvenile, adult and masters levels (the words “novice, intermediate and juvenile” were struck out in the original)

Implementation date: July 1, 2018 Committee vote: 15 yes, 1 no, 0 abstain

Rationale: With no restriction to the revolutions that can be performed in a jump at the junior, senior and collegiate levels, athletes should have the opportunity to attempt jumps of one revolution or more at developmental levels. As the discipline grows, jump elements — while not currently, nor planned to be, part of well-balanced program or feature requirements — are one way of allowing a team to broaden their approach to composition, as well as increasing excitement in a program. These aspects help to increase audience appeal as synchronized skating gains more main stream appeal. Coaches should continue to incorporate jumps that are appropriate with their teams’ skill levels, while judges leverage GOE and component marks to award for execution and purposeful inclusion of jumps.

With regards to safety, an Axel is required in as early as the juvenile free skate test, and double jumps are required in the intermediate free skate test. While free skate test requirements are not prerequisite for synchronized skating levels, the singles free skate test and competition requirements indicate appropriateness of athletes at the juvenile, intermediate and novice synchronized skating levels to be attempting jumps of more than one revolution. We have experienced no adverse outcomes to date with the inclusion of jumps and expect this to be the case moving forward.

This approach is consistent with the ISU basic and advanced novice divisions.

Financial impact: None
 
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gkelly

Well-Known Member
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16,441
This is being voted on at the USFS Governing Council meeting this weekend. If it passes, it will be included in the Report of Action published afterward. If not, you won't have to worry about it at least for this year.
 

SherryL

Member
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42
I don’t know about current rules, but I do know it’s a proposal at Governing Council for levels where it wasn’t already allowed. Should be voted on today, I think.

This is being voted on at the USFS Governing Council meeting this weekend. If it passes, it will be included in the Report of Action published afterward. If not, you won't have to worry about it at least for this year.

Thank you so much! I guess we'll wait and see.
 

Willin

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I don't think any teams other than Senior teams will realistically be doing any doubles. While a good number of synchro skaters can do one, not enough can. There's also been a movement in the past 10 years for synchro skaters to do the MITF and dance test tracks with maybe a couple freestyle tests. That means fewer synchro skaters are going up to doubles.

The thing is that it won't net you any more points than a single jump. Even if the rule passes, jumps are allowed, but not required. Most teams won't put jumps in because skaters are more likely to fall on a jump than something else they can put in a transition or creative element like spread eagles, 135s, spins, partner elements, etc. I'd never even put a single jump in a program unless I had enough skaters that landed the jump 100% of the time in practice, and I'd certainly never put a double in.
TBH I bet the coach is just trying to see the upper limits of what they can put into the program. Sometimes they like to see that at spring practice so they can play around with ideas for the program. Even if there's a tiny spark of inspiration to include something that the coach knows has a low chance of being included, it's better to know now before wasting the summer figuring the choreography out and then having it not work. So I wouldn't worry too much about making her go all out in re-learning them.
 

SherryL

Member
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42
And chances are it won't be the entire team, it might be a feature to add to the number and the coach is looking for a couple strong jumpers.

I don't think any teams other than Senior teams will realistically be doing any doubles. While a good number of synchro skaters can do one, not enough can. There's also been a movement in the past 10 years for synchro skaters to do the MITF and dance test tracks with maybe a couple freestyle tests. That means fewer synchro skaters are going up to doubles.

The thing is that it won't net you any more points than a single jump. Even if the rule passes, jumps are allowed, but not required. Most teams won't put jumps in because skaters are more likely to fall on a jump than something else they can put in a transition or creative element like spread eagles, 135s, spins, partner elements, etc. I'd never even put a single jump in a program unless I had enough skaters that landed the jump 100% of the time in practice, and I'd certainly never put a double in.
TBH I bet the coach is just trying to see the upper limits of what they can put into the program. Sometimes they like to see that at spring practice so they can play around with ideas for the program. Even if there's a tiny spark of inspiration to include something that the coach knows has a low chance of being included, it's better to know now before wasting the summer figuring the choreography out and then having it not work. So I wouldn't worry too much about making her go all out in re-learning them.

I appreciate the information and your thoughts on this. I think it's a wait and see now for us. I think my daughter will enjoy synchro with or without the jumps.
 

treesprite

Active Member
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498
I sometimes see the synchro practices and have never seen anything beyond a waltz jumps and little hops, regardless of the level. Yesterday I watched the seniors practicing and saw no jumps.

Somehow I am under the impression that some skaters go to synchro at least partly because they want to compete but don't feel confident about jumping consistently enough for singles competition. If jumps become a requirement, it might result in some people not joining synchro who are very good at doing synchro without the jumps.
 

Skittl1321

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It's possible they also want to see them to get an idea of the strength of the skater on their own. Think of how pairs often have triples on their own but fail when paired together. So a skater with a strong double may be more likely to be able to pair a single with the rest of the team.

I only skated adult ISI synchro, but we completed against a team that did single loops. That was astonishing, considering our team struggled with mohawks.
 

SherryL

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42
I only skated adult ISI synchro, but we completed against a team that did single loops. That was astonishing, considering our team struggled with mohawks.

That must be neat to see live. I recall only seeing some videos of some synchro team in which everyone did a single jump. I don't think one-rotation jumps are common.

Somehow I am under the impression that some skaters go to synchro at least partly because they want to compete but don't feel confident about jumping consistently enough for singles competition.

I've met synchro skaters who never had any desire to compete in singles free skate, and vice versa. It's for various reasons. I've met some strong individual skaters who decided to try synchro, and had to learn a lot of synchro skills that were new to them. My daughter is one who started young in synchro before switching to free skate competitions and ice dancing. I think many synchro skaters form strong friendships that kept them in the sport.

If jumps become a requirement, it might result in some people not joining synchro who are very good at doing synchro without the jumps.

Maybe, but I really don't think jumps would become a requirement. At most, an option. As TheGirlCanSkate mentioned, it might be a feature to add to the number.

My daughter began practicing double jumps again in the past few days and eventually landed most of her two-rotation jumps... now if only she could regain her former consistency.
 

aliceanne

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3,841
I thought I saw double jumps by synchro team(s) at the Grand Prix final in 2015. I think it was salchows and only 2 skaters on the team did them.
 

SherryL

Member
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42
This passed by the Governing Council, right? I think I'm reading ISU Communication No. 2159 correctly... jumps of one or more revolutions are allowed, and one or more skaters has to do the jump for it to be counted as a feature.
 

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