Say,I was just wondering what Level Synchronized Skating Teams all our Synchronized Skaters on this Board belong to.

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FSWer

I skate on an ISI Adult team and we hope to compete USFS Open Adult this year.

In theory, I have the test requirement to skate on a USFS Adult team, but I'm not a good enough skater to do it. My turns are too one sided.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I'm on an Open Adult team, too. I don't think you're going to get many Preliminary skaters answering this poll, FSWer, because they have to be under age 12, with the majority of skaters on the team under age 10. I don't know that we have any kids that young posting on this board. We might have parents of Preliminary synchro skaters, though.

Before we go on...what's the difference between being able to skate for an Adult ISI Team VS. an Adult USFS. Team? An Adult Team is an Adult Team,right? All you should really need is to have passed Adult or to BE an Adult Level Skater. If your good enough on ISI. Your good enough for USFS. How is Adult ability not compatible?

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FSWer

ISI and USFS are different organizations, and have different rules and requirements. I've never skated ISI, so Jessi can correct me here if I'm wrong. Looking at the ISI web site, though, it looks like all ISI synchro teams have from 8 - 24 skaters. On an Adult team, the majority of those skaters must be at least 20 years old (which means some can be younger). The team can then decide to compete as a Formation Team, a Skating Team or a Dance Team, depending on the skills of the skaters they have. Formation teams are the beginning level, and Skating teams are more advanced. Dance teams have more flexible choreography and can include steps from different kinds of dance, like tap or folk. There is also a Masters division, where most of the skaters on the team are age 40 or older.

In USFS synchro, adults skate on Open Adult, Adult, or Masters teams. For Open Adult, most of the skaters have to be age 19 or older. On an Adult team, all the skaters have to be at least 21. On a Masters team, all the skaters have to be at least 25, with most of them at least 35. Also, for an Adult Team, all the skaters must have passed the Preliminary or Adult Bronze Moves in the Field test, or the Preliminary Dance test, or the Preliminary Figures test. Open Adult and Masters teams don't have test requirements.

Jessi has passed a test that would allow her to skate on an Adult team, but it would be up to the particular team to decide whether she was good enough for them when she tried out. The team she's on now will compete in Open Adult, because not all the skaters have passed the test to compete as an Adult team. If an Adult team could get enough skaters that have passed the Adult Gold Moves test, for instance, they probably wouldn't accept a skater who has only passed the Bronze test, even though that skater has met the minimum requirement to be on an Adult team.

Interesting.. is there a reason for why the different organizations are so much uninterchangable as far as their rules go? Do we have a history on how that started and why the names are just not only different? It would confuse a skater wouldn't it? What othr level Synchros do we have here?

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FSWer

They have different rules because they are different organizations. There isn't really any reason why one would care what the other is doing. They are in no way related to each other It is very confusing for skaters and coaches to learn all the rules, but there are only a few areas of the country where it is common for skaters to participate in both. And they do attempt to outline "cross-over" levels, or levels that are equal to each other, to help the skaters out.

The reason that the rules are different in addition to the names is that they serve different purposes. ISI originally started as an organization to help RINKS stay in business- and of course, to do that, rinks need skaters. So ISI tries to make it so that as many skaters as possible can participate in as many different things as possible. Some people think they are "easier"- but they also have tests that are signifigantly harder than the USFS tests at the very top level- they are designed to keep skaters skating and trying to pass the tests as long as possible. ISI is skating for recreation, and recreational competition.

USFS on the other hand is the governing body of the sport. If you want to go to the olympics, USFS is the ony way to get there. It is designed to make competitive skaters. Of course, they have a learn to skate program, because even olympic skaters have to start somewhere, and they have the recreational-competitive type programs (like adult) because the money from those will help support the entire organization and provide funding for the highest level skaters.

So the rules are different because the purpose is different.

(note: this is my opinion of how I have interpreted my dealings with the organziations, it may not be completely fact on their histories)

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

So,basicly the ISI. was supposed to (or was) just the organation that funded all Rinks,right?

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FSWer

No, they don't fund the rinks at all.

They are an organization that was (originally) made up of rink owners. So the owners of the rinks created learn to skate programs, competitions, etc to help attract and retain customers.

Now ISI appears to be just as much about the recreational skater as they are about the rink owner, though they do still have publications specifically for rink management to help them increase their profits.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I've competed every USFS qualifying level (juvenile-senior plus collegiate, adult and even masters) at least once at nationals, although I spent the most time on a senior team (5 yrs). Also coached collegiate and open junior. I quit 2 yrs ago and don't really see myself going back. I've pretty much done everything I can possibly do in synchro (at least one national medal in every color, competed internationally, the one thing I didn't do is compete at worlds but since my last year of senior was 99 and the first actual Worlds was in 00, I'm OK with that), there aren't any teams in my area that are good, and I'm enjoying working on my own skating after all these years.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

[QUOTE=Clarice;401549]ISI and USFS are different organizations, and have different rules and requirements. I've never skated ISI, so Jessi can correct me here if I'm wrong. Looking at the ISI web site, though, it looks like all ISI synchro teams have from 8 - 24 skaters. On an Adult team, the majority of those skaters must be at least 20 years old (which means some can be younger). The team can then decide to compete as a Formation Team, a Skating Team or a Dance Team, depending on the skills of the skaters they have. Formation teams are the beginning level, and Skating teams are more advanced. Dance teams have more flexible choreography and can include steps from different kinds of dance, like tap or folk. There is also a Masters division, where most of the skaters on the team are age 40 or older.

In USFS synchro, adults skate on Open Adult, Adult, or Masters teams. For Open Adult, most of the skaters have to be age 19 or older. On an Adult team, all the skaters have to be at least 21. On a Masters team, all the skaters have to be at least 25, with most of them at least 35. Also, for an Adult Team, all the skaters must have passed the Preliminary or Adult Bronze Moves in the Field test, or the Preliminary Dance test, or the Preliminary Figures test. Open Adult and Masters teams don't have test requirements.

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About Synchronized skating for Adult

Hello , my name is Myriam and I 'm the captain of "Alouettes de Pessac Adultes" in France. Any test required to integrate this team. Each year you participate at tow events, French championship and Synchro Aquitaine Cup organized by my club.
Here after the invitation :
The A.S.C.P.A.-Patinage of PESSAC is pleased to host the “2010 Synchro Aquitaine Cup synchronized skating competion for Adult, Masters, Preparatory (Festival) and Open teams
on Saturday 20th March to Sunday 21st, 2010
at Bordeaux - Villenave d’Ornon - France

Complete announcement
http://www.alouettes-pessac.com/website/sac-10.asp

It' s an internationnal and very friendly event. Swedish, Canadian, English, French, Finnish teams participated the previous years in this competition.

We would be very happy to receive this year of numerous teams even. Do not hesitate to register, or to broadcast this announcement broadly.
Myriam Communication-SAC[at]alouettes-pessac.com

That is the USFS's requirement. Many teams (particularly the top teams) prefer higher test levels than what the USFS requires, so if you are interested in trying out for a team it's best to check. My adult team wanted at least novice moves (that's not to say we'd automatically cut someone with a lower test if they were a strong skater but just about everyone that ended up on the team did have at least novice). There was no way someone with nothing higher than preliminary would have been able to keep up safely or have a chance to skate in the program at competitions (unless they were a very experienced syncho skater from before the USFS implemented moves requirements and they just never tested because they came from a team that didn't require it). I know another adult team out East publishes that they want novice moves for their skaters too, but I've known skaters with a lower test who have made the team. The farther away from the podium the team tends to place, or the more that they struggle with numbers, the better the chance that they won't require higher tests.

This is pretty standard (most of the bigger clubs had test requirements long before USFS did, because it took about 10 yrs for USFS to finally implement it once they started talking about it). If you want to skate on just about any top junior or senior teams, you had better have your senior moves, even a gold dance or free test. I've seen plenty of skaters with 2 gold tests cut from some of these teams.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything