Adult Champions Series- a idea??

[Terri C]

Hey guys,
It's dawned on me that there are several Adult Competitions on several major cities this year. We have:

September, 2004 Peach Classic, Atlanta
October, 2004, Halloween Classic, Philedelphia
November, 2004(??) Intermountain Adult Open, Salt Lake City
January, 2005, New Year's Invitational, DC
February, 2005, Winter Classic/ Eastern Sectional, NYC

Adding to that there are also quite a few standard track competitions with adult events!
Skate San Francisco
Central Carolina Classic
Atlanta Open
I know that there are more... right???

Wouldn't it be neat if there were a Adult Champions Series?
Adult competitions and standard track competitions that have a big adult following would be included in the series.

What does everyone think- it's just a idea!

[Michigansk8er]

It sounds like fun!!!! If the interclub comps would offer this, adult participation might go up. That would be more feasible for me since the skating budget and vacation time would factor in to travel to that many adult only events.

[sk8er1964]

Don't forget the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte Michigan in February! (Don't know if I got the spelling and/or the name right - they changed it to honor a local adult skater.)

[skaternum]

I think it's a good idea, but I think I'd only include comps that are adult only. Or I'd at least establish a rule that there had to be a specified critical mass of adult entries (averaged over the last few years) to make it part of the series. Many "standard" comps that also offer adult events don't get the numbers of adults, so results from those would be skewed, most likely. Somebody placing second in a comp with only 2 bronze ladies shouldn't get the same number of points as someone who finished second in a field of 12 bronze ladies, IMO.

[Mrs Redboots]

Don't forget the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte Michigan in February! (Don't know if I got the spelling and/or the name right - they changed it to honor a local adult skater.)You did get it right - the skater died a couple of years ago, sadly, and I expect they want to honour her memory.

[LWalsh]

I think it's a good idea, but I think I'd only include comps that are adult only. ... Somebody placing second in a comp with only 2 bronze ladies shouldn't get the same number of points as someone who finished second in a field of 12 bronze ladies, IMO.

In sailing we run into this all the time with our championship series. We solve it by weighting the finishes in relation to the number of entries by taking the number of boats - the finishing place + 1 and divide by the number of boats.

To put this into skating terms: a person who finishes 2nd in a group of two would receive 0.5 points where a skater who finished 2nd in a group of ten would receive 0.9 points. The skater with the most points at the end of the series wins. You'd also need some sort of a tie breaker. i.e. skater with most firsts, seconds, etc. or skater who placed best in final competition or such. The only problem with the formula is a first is always one point. We'd have to find another way to address that.

Kind of a cool idea though.

LWalsh

[singerskates]

To make it a true champion series, we would have to include adult competitions from Canada, England, France and Germany to start and the ISU would have to run it.

Brigitte

[Mrs Redboots]

Not forgetting, of course, the Mountain Cup and the Dune of Flanders Cup, both international inter-club competitions.

[skaternum]

I may be mistaken, but I assumed the original idea was modeled after the USFSA's Jr. Champion series, which is NOT part of the international ISU championship series. The Jr. Champion series is strictly national. Don't know if that was the original intent or not.

[Terri C]

Skatermum was right- I got the idea from the USFS's Future Champions Series!