2009 New Year's Invitational Application is Posted

[NoVa Sk8r]

Already posted (wow!), the event is being held Feb. 7-8 (2 weeks before all the adult sectionals) at the same rink in Ashburn, Va.

Announcement and entry form available on Washington Figure Skating Club website (http://www.wfsc.net/) or direct links:
Announcement (http://users.rcn.com/wfsc/docs/NY_Announcement09.pdf)
Entry Form (http://users.rcn.com/wfsc/docs/NY_Entry_Form09.pdf)

I missed this event last year (having competed 2003-07) :cry:, but hope to be there in February! 8-)

[Debbie S]

Thanks for posting, NoVa. Sigh, a camel spin in Bronze CM? How about putting the sit spin in Bronze and the camel spin in Silver? The Silver CM is almost preferable to the Bronze CM, except that I don't have a lutz.

Spins got a little better - at least the change of foot is optional for the Bronze combo spin - but I just don't understand the fascination the referee has year after year with the forward to back scratch - either do forward, or backward, but not both - hey, it's Bronze after all.

Don't get me started on MIF. Brackets for Gold? (Yes, I know brackets are on the test, but is anyone actually going to want to compete them? Not to mention that the move will add about 5 minutes per skater to the event time.) To be honest, I was kind of looking forward to doing the Novice spirals that they've called out for Gold MIF the past few years (don't hit me anyone, I just think it would be cool to do a Novice move, and that's the only one I'll probably ever be able to do ;)). But I guess it doesn't matter, b/c according to the announcement, someone who is working on Gold MIF wouldn't be able to compete, unless they had passed Silver FS. I guess the organizers didn't consider that someone might actually be working on MIF 2 levels ahead of their FS? (it's not like the adult MIF testing structure hasn't been around for, oh, 6 years :roll:)

And the team event is a nice idea; it's just a shame it's geared to Silver and Gold level skaters. There aren't too many elements on that list that a Pre-Bronze or Bronze skater can do, well.

I haven't competed for over a year and I'm not sure I want to get back into it anyway, but if I decide to get an Interp program, then I might do this comp.

ETA: I just saw the entry form. Fees have gone up! Hmmm, the bizarre element selections may make it very easy for me, and others, to minimize our event starts.

[jenlyon60]

Yes fees have gone up.

Ice cost has gone up.

Transportation cost has gone up (the USFS mileage rate, which is same as GSA/IRS mileage rate, is now 58.5 cents per mile, vice the 50.5 cents per mile it was at the beginning of the year)

When it costs more to run the competition, the money has to come from somewhere.

[Stormy]

A Junior AND a Juvenile move on Masters moves? That makes no sense. Why wouldn't you have one of the Novice moves? Masters skaters would go to Novice after passing either Gold or Intermediate. Why Juvenile? I agree, the element selections for all the events are a little....odd.

Do you think since this is 2 weeks off from Sectionals that may preclude some people from going? People not wanting to travel to two events so close together? The only reason I'm wondering is I want to go, but only if there's a lot of people, like there was last year. But last year it wasn't as close to Easterns.

[Terri C]

I had said this a few months back, that there would need to be a major marketing effort to be done in order to get people to come.
I do have to agree with Debbie S about the camel requirement for Bronze CM. Last time I checked, and I did pass this test not too long ago, the sitspin is a required element on the Bronze FS test and the camel is required on the Silver FS.
Come January I will be in a interesting dilemma concerning February competitions. Not only is there this event, but the local competition in my area is the same weekend as Adult Easterns and will be offering adult freestyle events as well as the artistic and showcase events they have offered for the adults the last two years.
Geez, what to do??

[NoVa Sk8r]

Don't get me started on MIF. Brackets for Gold? (Yes, I know brackets are on the test, but is anyone actually going to want to compete them? Not to mention that the move will add about 5 minutes per skater to the event time.)I'm actually excited about the Gold MIF event (the brackets and slide chassé are definitely the easier ones for me)! And I've never done a moves event at any competition. 8-)

[techskater]

Don't get me started on MIF. Brackets for Gold? (Yes, I know brackets are on the test, but is anyone actually going to want to compete them?


I know I would want to compete the move that I consider to be the hardest on whatever test I am working on, so when I was working on the Intermediate, if the opportunity to do the CCW back power threes or brackets in the field in front of judges before I tested I would have taken it. As it is, I am working on Novice and there were no selections from that test at all. :giveup:

[Mrs Redboots]

Thanks for posting, NoVa. Sigh, a camel spin in Bronze CM? How about putting the sit spin in Bronze and the camel spin in Silver? The Silver CM is almost preferable to the Bronze CM, except that I don't have a lutz.

Although some people, like my husband, have a camel spin (sometimes), but are nowhere near having a sitspin. I think most adults find camel spins easier, don't they?

[Skittl1321]

Although some people, like my husband, have a camel spin (sometimes), but are nowhere near having a sitspin. I think most adults find camel spins easier, don't they?

I don't know what "most" think, and I don't have either- but I'm working on a camel, and due to my continuing knee issues I'm not allowed (by my PT, or by my knees, really) to even think about a sit spin. So I won't be able to test bronze fs for a very very long time, since that spin "has" to come first.

Still, since the sit spin is the bronze test spin, and camel is the silver test spin, it seems strange to have the camel in the bronze level competition and the sit spin in the silver level competition. I would guess it was a typo. (It would make more sense if silver had a MORE difficult spin, and then I would guess the element was there to challenge the skaters, but since they are just flipped, it seems odd)

[mikawendy]

Last year, the silver level had sit, camel, and an open spin. This year, it looks like they've swapped out the camel for layback. It's nice that it's not the exact same required spins this year.

I love that one of the required spins for several of the spin events is an open spin--it's really interesting and fun to see what everyone decides to do as their open spin.

A few years back, one of the spin events required doing a spin in both directions (CW and CCW). I didn't skate in that event, but I watched it, and it was really neat! I remember seeing someone do back sit both directions really well.

[jazzpants]

Although some people, like my husband, have a camel spin (sometimes), but are nowhere near having a sitspin. I think most adults find camel spins easier, don't they?Depends on whether what part of their body hurts more? Their lower back? Or their knees!!! :twisted: :P

In my case, I'm still struggling with the camel and I *know* you know how long *I* have been working on that PESKY camel! My sit spins could still be better too! :frus:

[skaternum]

Well, if I had to go by what I see in competitions, I'd say most adults have a harder time with the camel. But it's pretty close. Let's face it, most of us have sit spins that don't "sit" and camel spins that don't actually "spin" so much as they do "meander." :lol:

[Ellyn]

doesn't matter, b/c according to the announcement, someone who is working on Gold MIF wouldn't be able to compete, unless they had passed Silver FS. I guess the organizers didn't consider that someone might actually be working on MIF 2 levels ahead of their FS? (it's not like the adult MIF testing structure hasn't been around for, oh, 6 years :roll:)

It's incredibly complicated to spell out all the possible ways that adult skaters might have qualified to compete at each MITF level, because each skater's test background may include some combination of adult MITF, standard MITF, freestyle, or figures test to get them to their current freestyle level which may be different from their moves level, and then other skaters may qualify by dance tests and never have tested moves or freestyle.

If you're in the situation of working on moves two levels above your freestyle level and feel ready to compete them, I'd suggest asking for an exception to the prerequisites in the announcement. The organizers may prefer to have another competitor for that event than to turn people away because they fell through the cracks of how the prereqs were written.

If I should pass my silver moves next year and start working on the gold, I might be in the same situation. Assuming that I didn't have time to make much progress on the gold moves compared to what I can do now, I'd be happy to compete, say, backward power circles and slide chasses. But if it were forward power circles with clockwise direction required or brackets, I wouldn't submit myself or the judges to the embarrassment of me attempting moves that I just plain cannot execute. I would trust most adults to know the difference between "I can do it but not quite to test standard" and "I can't do it at all."