New USFS Excel Competition Series

[Willin]

All US qualifying competitions use IJS beginning at Juvenile (two levels below novice).

Most nonqualifying competitions also use IJS beginning at Juvenile.

If a nonqualifying competition is not going to use IJS for juvenile and intermediate, they're probably not going to use it at higher levels either. Either they have the system and personnel on hand and would use it for the most populous qualifying levels (juvenile and intermediate) or they don't have the necessary officials at all.

In my area, some have been offering it for Pre-Juvenile, to introduce the kids to the more demanding system before they get to qualifying levels. I understand that many competitions in California have been using a version of IJS for even lower levels, and that this will probably become encouraged nationwide in coming years.

I'm not sure what MacMadame was really talking about.

Yup. My area's been using IJS as far down as Pre-Juv and Preliminary. So far it's only been trials with them using it one year and then switching back to 6.0 the next year or waffling between the two. The competitions that use IJS for the lower levels already have the IJS systems present for Juv and up, but use fewer judges for the lower level skaters.

My understanding is that at least in synchro they're slowly phasing out all 6.0 judging beyond the basic levels. I'm not quite sure why, but I would assume it will help skaters learn IJS stuff earlier. Also it probably makes sense time-wise and financially to train new judges in one judging system, and since IJS is more widely used now that would be the obvious choice. I don't know if they're attempting this in singles/pairs/ice dance yet, but given the IJS trials for lower levels its entirely possible.

 

[Frida80]

If those skaters qualified to be there, then they are entitled to compete there. If they're there because they enjoy competing and have no illusions about where they're going to place, then more power to them. If skaters with more/better jumps want to compete in those competitions, they can qualify too. Not having as high a level of technical content than other skaters is not a reason to exclude qualified competitors or send them elsewhere.

This system is not to exclude skaters but give them an opportunity where they can compete on their own terms. Skaters will chose the excel track if their jumps aren't coming in but still have the passion to skate. I've seen so many skaters competing as older teenagers through pre-preliminary and junior. Some girls that never got a double axel and can't meet the SP requirements but still compete. This just gives them an a way to enjoy their passion.

 

[MacMadame]

That surprises me. As I mentioned, if they're going to spend the money to bring in a technical controller and technical specialists -- and technical accountant and video and data operators if they're using computers -- then they might as well get their money's worth. But maybe they do everything on paper and have two or three local officials who are willing to come in for no more than a couple of hours on one day?

So as I said, this may have changed.

But around here there are many many local comps. In the summer there can be one every week. They run for 2-3 days and feature primarily lower level skaters. Pretty much everyone involved is local. Some of them may end up being elite skaters (Polina Edmunds used to do these comps) but a lot of them are serious but not elite. Often there are only a handful of skaters at Novice and above and many will only do the SP or only do the LP. The last time I followed these comps, they pretty much never had IJS judging. No computers, everything by hand.

Then there are a handful of high-visibility comps that attract skaters from out of the area and sometimes have seminars for serious skaters and their families or monitoring sessions or test sessions attached. Those usually last 3-5 days and often have IJS judging for the higher levels. They even have reasonable turnout at Novice level and above. From what you say, I wouldn't be surprised if they do a lot more IJS judging than I remember.