What rule changes would you like to see for the next quad?

[shady82]

Scoring PCS fairly was my first thought when I saw the first post, so I agree to that extent. I will concede we cannot get rid of the political issue 100%, but we can certainly reduce its impact. I am thoroughly convinced that a significant number of judges do not follow the PCS criteria and instead adjust their scores to reflect what they want the outcome to be (instead of following the rules, as minimal as that guidance may be). I also think many have a hangover from the 6.0 and are still savings scores, even though that is no longer necessary. Better education and stricter enforcement of failing to follow the rules by IJS will help reduce the effect of politics.
...

3. Open the playing field to more men not just those born with the right body type. - Good idea, while we are at it, let's limit the spin positions for the ladies, no Beillmanns, no catchfoot to avoid the back injuries and open up the playing field to the body types that cannot contort in such a manner.

Nice post. I do think marking PCS objectively is very challenging though. All of the PCS criteria are well laid-out (as they were under 6.0 as well) but they are still qualitative criteria that are easy to manipulate and difficult to put into numbers. At the current time, there isn't even consistency on marking things that are supposed to be objective, like flutzing, lipping, and URs, letting alone GOEs or PCS.

I think the judging system should evolve to merit what needs to be rewarded better on the technical side (i.e. sound jump technique and basic skating) and penalize less severely things that are given far too much attention (i.e. URs).

Regarding the 'body type', unfortunately a certain body type is valued in all sports. If we limit spin positions, we might as well also limit quads because only the very slim, small build of skaters like Nathan Chen are most conducive to doing quads. With that said, there are pros and cons for all body types. People seem to give excuses to small female skaters for not being able to jump higher, but then don't give slack to the tall skaters (i.e. Tsurskaya and Nadeau) who cannot spin more quickly..

 

[brennele]

I don't know that it is so bad favor a certain body type, per se but if unlimited quads are the defining characteristic for success in this sport, it will open it up to only one body type in a scenario with is largely genetically driven. Strict criteria of who can enter a given sport is not such an unusual concept, all things considered. If you want to play pro-basket ball, you had better be 7 feet or so in height. Similarly, certain professions are only open to people with a requisite high level of intelligence and nobody is too concerned about that restriction. The only decision which the ISU needs to make is how restrictive they want to be in terms of who can participate in this sport. As jumping skills become more and more important, less and less people will be able to compete in this arena and the pool of contestants will be limited to who has inherited a certain body type. It is what it is.

 

[Bellanca]

I haven't read through the list yet so I'm sure some of these are repeats. Here's what I'd like to see...

1. Falls should carry heavier deductions. A fall on a quad earning more than a clean triple is ridiculous IMO. Yes, it's a harder element but you busted your butt. This will discourage the "Hail Mary" jumps some skaters go for purely for points...

2. Get rid of the SP bonus. Like pewter medals at US nationals, it's ridiculous and there's no point in having it. Nuff said.

3. Limit the tano/Rippon feature like they limit features on spins. You get to use it once per program. One tano jump, one Rippon jump. That's it.

4. No more than 4 jumping passes are eligible for the bonus section of the program. This promotes "balance" which is supposed to be taken into account in the PCS but obviously is not...like at all. You can do all of your jumping passes in the bonus but only the first four will get bonus points.

5. A clean program bonus. Programs that are "all green" (no -GOE) get a bonus. Maybe 1 point added to the total score. This would help to promote cleaner skating and would have a certain element of self-policing to it. You're not going to go for the 4Lz if you know you can't land it. Not only do you lose more points if you fail (see #1) but you'll miss out on the clean program bonus.

6. Good technique bonus. This is similar to the clean program bonus, it could be 1 point added to the total score. If a skater executes all five triples (six for the men including the axel), they get a bonus. No edge calls, no dings...tech bonus. Of course this means the tech panel is going to have to do a better job of calling jumps...

(#5 and #6 focus on rewarding skaters for doing the jumps correctly and executing their program cleanly. If you do both of those things you can earn an additional 2 points for your score. This rewards clean skaters and good technicians.)

7. This is a long shot but I'd like to see two different scoring panels. A technical panel and a component panel. I don't have the particulars on it but I do think a combined score from two sources (tech and components) may lend some much needed balance to the scoring. As of now judges' scores are heavily influenced by the technical side of things. There is little to no separation b/w the scores, especially for the top skaters. There are skaters who deserve 9s in some areas and 7s in others; yet you will never see that kind of scoring. A split panel may make a difference.


That's all I've got for now.

Terrific post! Great suggestions! #2 is perfect.

 

[MAXSwagg]

I think the judging system should evolve to ... penalize less severely things that are given far too much attention (i.e. URs).

Absolutely not. Crap technique and severe mistakes need to be appropriately punished relative to the scale of the error.

 

[DORISPULASKI]

1. Increase the points that can be earned for spins and steps. The scale was set when less quads were done. The marks become more out of balance as jump difficulty rises. You could up the base value, but I would prefer to see the GOE scale expanded to encourage better steps, MIFs, and spins.

2. It is tedious to see the same tano on every jump. To get extra GOE, use a different arm position to earn credit for a feature.

3. Prerotation should be penalized as much as UR is.

4. Lift scoring in dance is now overly generous. A well done creative, difficult lift is not rewarded. It is too easy to get level four, and the GOE is overly generous.

 

[AxelAnnie]

I think there should be a music reservation system.....first come, first served..........then we would not see 500 MRs