The following has recently appeared on the NISA website (www.iceskating.org.uk, as a Latest News item titled "Important Information for Coaches"):

"The NISA office has recently been aware of a large number of skaters who are competing in overseas club competitions and who have not informed the NISA office of their intentions ahead of the competition. Any skater who competes in any competition overseas without first notifying the NISA office will become ineligible and will therefore not be permitted to skate in any future events. Obviously skaters who NISA send abroad, we are aware of these and therefore there is no need to inform us of these activities. The majority of these instances will be squad skaters.

"I will shortly be writing to all the individual skaters who have competed in competitions during the last 6 weeks and advising them all personally of the situation and asking them to formally inform us in this instance retrospectively. However, with immediate effect we will not allow any restrospective notifications. All notifications should be submitted in advance of the competition to julia.mcmurray@iceskating.org.uk"

I'm not sure if this is intended to apply to adult skating, as many of us have been competing abroad for years without NISA taking any notice, but to be on the safe side, anyone planning to go to Tallinn, Oberstdorf or the Mountain Cup should probably get in touch with them. (For that matter, so should anyone who went the the Coupe de France.)

Fiona

Thanks. I saw that too and wondered whether it applied to adult skaters. Will email just to be safe

I emailed them, just to be on the safe side, and asked for clarification as to whether they want adult skaters to notify them. If they bother to reply, I'll let you know!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

As far as I know, the same thing applies to Dutch skaters too by the way. If any Dutch skaters are there, look at the back of your KNSB license card, it says if you skate in non-KNSB events, your license will be revoked.

Deleted .

I have heard from NISA, and it does apply to adult skaters! You will need to email julia.mcmurray@iceskating.org.uk to let her know formally.

PLEASE make sure anybody else you know who's coming knows about this! I'll send a "Round Robin", but I may miss people, so please help me out!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Canadians, too. Competitions must have a sanction from Skate Canada in order for eligible members of Skate Canada to compete. Sanction fees are charged to the host competition.

I would assume that an ISU event such as Oberstdorf would have sanctions for all the countries competing. It would be the individual federation competitions that would not go after sanctions.

thats correct virtual. Always check to see if the event is sanctioned.

Thank you FRBskate and Mrs Redboots for bringing this to everyone's attention.

S xxx

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

Does anybody know what is behind all this, and where it is leading to?

Especially in the case of international adult competitions, which have traditionally been as much about enjoyment of the sport, meeting new friends, and exploring new holiday locations?

I'm not sure which gets up my nose the most. Is it the autocratic manner, the inefficient method of communication with its members, or the mafia-style veiled threat about losing eligibility?

Yes, apparently all skaters competing abroad have to notify NISA because some are now using the fact that foreign competitions are IJS where ours aren't to qualify themselves for British Championship and IJS events.

It's not exactly probable that 50-somethings like Husband and me would do that, but some of the coaches were saying today that you could take 18-year-olds to Tallinn (or 16-year-olds to Moscow, for that matter) and have them reach qualifying scores, especially as adult competitions appear to be marked more generously. My Husband has a PB of 17. something - his coach's Junior skater didn't get that much in her first SP under the IJS!

An e-mail to let them know doesn't take much sending, but I agree, they could have found a more pleasant way to let us know. Having said that, I had a most courteous acknowledgement from Julia McMurray!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Lucky you! I didn't even get a reply!

Fiona

But...but...how does the fact that you've told NISA you're going change anything? Surely taking part in a particular competition either affects your eligibility or it doesn't?

My father once described to me the system that existed for runners back in the late 50s, when you had to be amateur to take part in the big competitions. Really amateur. It was fine to enter races with prize money, provided you did so as John Smith. Every single village hall race with a couple of shillings for a prize invariably had John Smith first, second and third. If your name appeared in a prize list, ever, you weren't an amateur any more. Whether you ran in the race or not, or took the money, wasn't the issue. All you had to do was not have your name on the list. This sounds like the reverse situation, and makes about as much sense to me.

I suppose they want to keep an eye on the younger Masters-level skaters, just in case they come back saying "Look, I got the qualifying scores" at a competition where they might not have actually skated to standard - I know that at the Coupe de France some of the higher level skaters were getting scores in the 40s (don't think anybody scored as much as 50, but I could be wrong). If that's all they needed....

If only they'd follow the example of their European neighbours and roll out the IJS across the board, it wouldn't be necessary! But while they reserve competing under the IJS as a privilege for the elite few.....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

So with the European competitions already underway, did anyone other than Mrs Redboots actually get an acknowledgement of their email. Typical of NISA - they threaten grim retribution if you don't follow their every rule, then they can't even be bothered to let you know that you are in the clear.

I only got an acknowledgement because I took care to ask a question that required an answer.... !!!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I got a reply but only after my second email actually asking them to acknowledge my email and confirm I was ok to compete.