Hi:
I have a question about what happens when your child crosses over to competitive. Will he still be able to do dance in the test stream with his partner? (which is not competitive) We live in Canada if that helps with the rules.
Thanks for your replies ahead of time.

Depends what level of freeskate the skater enters at Sectionals....

Since competitive skaters above the pre-juvenile level must register in September as a competitive skater, there is no turning back and a skater must compete only in competitive events, whether they go to Sectionals or not, for that discipline. A StarSkater must register as such, and although they can compete in the competitive stream at all competitions except Sectionals, they can also compete in other StarSkate disciplines such as dance and pairs.

Here's the eligibility rules from SKate Canada

For eligibility please note the following restrictions:
�� Competitive Skaters registered to compete in any event at the Novice or higher level at a Sectional or Sectional
qualifying competition, do not qualify to compete in the STARSkate Championships in any category at any level.
�� Pre Juvenile skaters at Sectionals are eligible to compete in any discipline
�� Skaters registered to compete in the Juvenile and Pre-Novice level at a Sectional competition may register to
compete in event categories at the STARSkate level other than those competed in a Sectional competition.

Hope that helps!

IF your son is doing competitive singles or pairs, he can still do StarSkate dance competitions with his partner. BUT, if he's doing competitive dance, then, no, he can't do StarSkate dance competitions with his partner, even if she's not competitive herself.

Now, he can always TEST in the StarSkate stream with his partner even if they're doing competitive dance (lots of competitive kids still do the StarSkate tests), but, he won't be able to COMPETE in the StarSkate stream in dance if he's doing competitive dance, even if his competitive partner is a different lady than his StarSkate partner.

Does that make sense - ? Boys are such a scarce commodity, I know we get requests for our competitive freeskate boy to do StarSkate dance too, which is how I learnt the rules But, we decided against it, because the time spent training for dance, which he isn't interested in, would take away from his training time for freeskate.

Thanks that does answer some of my ????
I have so many about skating. So pre-juvenile is really not competitive its more like an introductory to it... I am bringing him to watch the junior boys compete at the winter games this weekend to make sure its what he really wants. As for dance, he likes skating so much at this point he is trying all things. Although, I think I could see him in pairs more then dance. At what level do they start pairs???

Pre-juvenile isn't really competitive; you don't need a competitive test to qualify for it, which is the difference, you just need the junior bronze freeskate, and some of the sections don't even run pre-juvenile at Sectionals.

RE pairs: that depends on the kid. After you get past the lowest level in pairs, you're looking at overhead lifts, which means that you need physical strength, agility, and skating skills that allow you to lift a girl over your head, plus, a girl who is willing and able to be LIFTED. My son did do pairs at an early age, and he likes it; we're just waiting for him to get the physical strength to go back to it, plus, the idea is to develop him as a strong singles skater so that he can be a strong skater doing pairs (i.e. build the doubles, etc, and then add in the lifts and pairs skating skills).

Now, pairs, IMHO, is specialized, and you do need a coach who specializes in it/works in it, because the moves are different, and can be dangerous and risky, as you can imagine, if done incorrectly (picture the damage from dropping a little girl onto the ice). Plus, if the boy isn't physically ready to lift weight, then, you can see the potential muscle damage; and if he lifts incorrectly, etc., then he can injure himself as well (back, shoulder, so on and so on). Dryland training to build muscle strength is a basic ...

There are pairs at StarSkate, and at Competitive; if you're interested, you can assume that you can definitely find a little girl who would LOVE to do pairs with your son; and that's a conversation with the coach, because, creating a "pair" needs good selection (body type, skating level, personality fit, expectations, etc). If you're off to the OWG or Trillium Starskate, you should be able to observe low and up levels of pairs ...

Hope that helps - ?

Just to clarify, by junior boys you mean the Juvenile, Pre-Novice or Novice men at OWG...(Junior level men don't compete there or at Canada Games).

Depending upon where you live - the Trillium StarSkate Champiionships are on this weekend at RIM Park in Kitchener. These are StarSkate events from Pre-Preliminary to Gold level (although there are just a few higher level men competing). Plus StarSkate dance and pairs as well. You could really see a mix of events. Many of the freeskate events are very competitive, especially in the Junior Bronze men, as many boys are too old for Juvenile or Pre-Juvenile and not ready for Pre-Novice so they go StarSkate instead.

The competitors at Ontario Winter Games are the second-tier skaters from sectionals. The winner of Juvenile, and the skaters placing 5,6,7 in Pre-Novice events and Novice events - qualified for OWG. It is a tough race for girls to place that high, but in the men's events often there aren't enough skaters in a section to send. Juvenile men has just two sections - and COS is sending 6 skaters instead of the allowed 3 because there just aren't enough boys in WOS or NOS, and just 2 from EOS.

Pre-Juvenile is not a competitive stream, although it is offered at most sectionals and competitive competitions.

Pairs starts at the Introductory level with a skater not having passed a pair test but must have passed the preliminary freeskate test. However, most senior pair skaters did not begin pairs until they were strong enough to land double jumps and perform the lifts required for the more advanced Juvenile and Pre-Novice level. It is not uncommon for 16 or 17 year old guys to be competing in Juvenile pairs with a 10-12 year old girl.

Funny thing about skating -- recreational skaters can be competitive, but only competitive skaters are considered competitive because of their registration status and having passed competitive tests although some competitive skaters never compete!

That is SOOOO true about Junior Bronze men - the boys so often age out of Juvenile/Pre-Juvenile because they often start later, and the Junior Bronze men can be very strong skaters, and a bit older for strength of jumps and other benefits of physical maturity; then, they switch to Pre-Novice and we have such a lack of strong Senior Bronze Men and up as a result - !

I fixed the message on the next post.

I mean how old is to old for pre-juv.(for a boy) in Canada??

Pre Juvenile: under the age of 12 as of July 1st, with a Junior Bronze Freeskate test.
Juvenile: under the age of 13 as of July 1st, with their Juvenile competitive test.

Pairs have different age limits.

Girls age limits are one year less.

Note: there was a motion before the AGM at Skate Canada last year to raise the ages, and it was defeated.