I figured that might have been the case, and makes sense.
But along with referees being retrained, I think there needs to be a retraining of everyone in the sport. On one hand, I get it: figure skaters are barely considered athletes by a lot of people; figure skating not considered a sport. There's often a push, both internally and externally, for our skaters to "soldier on" through injuries (and this is sometimes especially true of women in all sports; women have both higher pain tolerance and are constantly told they aren't as talented/skilled/tough as men, so have something to prove).
But as with awareness of eating disorders, muscle and joint injuries, I think there needs to be an overall change in the skating culture to recognize that these kids are attempting difficult, dangerous skills, and skaters, parents, coaches and officials need to be taught just what the dangers are in a potential head hit and the dangers in cumulative effects of sub-concussive hits.
Studies are now showing that it's not so much even diagnosed concussions, but all those "little head hits" over time that add up to big problems. Hockey skaters as young as 17 are showing signs of CTE; this is talked about a lot in football and hockey. Some in soccer. Not enough in skating, not by a long shot. I think that's part of the overall problem; there needs to be a push from ISU, USFSA and PSA to make "you hit, you sit, you quit until a doctor says you're fit" a holy mantra for all skaters, so much so that it immediately *feels* dangerous and unethical for any skater, coach, parent or ref to allow another skater to stay on the ice after a head hit or potential head hit.
