Today, I had my first lesson with my coach in months. He could tell that, even on a crowded Saturday-morning session, I was a lot happier skating at my practice rink than my poorly maintained club rink.

(This is in reference to this story from last month: http://skatingforums.com/showthread....ht=Black+Sheep)

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

That's great news!

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That's awesome! I'm so glad. I can't imagine being stuck on crappy ice, blegh.

Does your practice rink have a club you can switch to, or are you still stuck with the crappy rink for club membership?

I recently joined my practice rink's home club, which is an ISI club. I still get to stick with my current USFS club, though.

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Switched to the dark side? Does Yoda know about this?

I'm glad your coach could see how happy you were.

I was just wondering as I am canadian and dont know whats the difference between and ISI club and USFS club??

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Goal:
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Very passionate canadian skating fan && skater <3*

Glad it worked out for the best, BlackSheep.

The difference between ISI and USFSA clubs is the league: the ISI is an inclusive, participatory program that encourages skaters at all levels. The USFSA's primary concern is making sure that they develop the US' top skaters.

Both clubs require headquarters' memberships (ISI is cheaper)
Both clubs can include social activities, awards, etc.
Either club can offer ice time, testing sessions, and competitions to members.

The only difference is in which testing standards the club follows.

There are clubs that are both ISI and USFSA, but the ISI has been losing ground since the USFSA started their Basic Skills learn-to-skate program. It was less expensive than the ISI - not sure if it still is today. Most lower-level competition events include "crossovers" for the other league's skaters. For example, Preliminary level skater can compete at an ISI Freestyle 4 level. (The crossovers are cited in the competition announcement.)

The Basic Skills test structure grouped elements of the same difficulty together instead of spreading them out across levels. Major complaint against the ISI: many people were frustrated by the inclusion of one "toughied" in each Freestyle test. ISI skaters were often "stuck" at a level because of just one element, whereas the Basic Skills levels would cause you to get stuck for two or three elements, lol. Somehow, it really is less discouraging to be "held back" for more than skill.

Many skating directors prefer the Basic Skills program simply because they were USFSA skaters. To them, Basic Skills levels feed right into the USFSA testing track. A good example would be the Moves in the Field elements on the Basic Skills Freeskate tests. The USFSA has other programs, such as the Bridge program, that create a transition for skaters from the group lessons to standard-track testing.

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