Just to let you know the schedule for the adult competition in this year's Bracknell Opens will be put up anytime soon. Please check back here for further information

http://www.bracknell-ice-skating-clu...BISC-Opens.htm

Nicki

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Thanks, Nicki. Will keep an eye open, as we are anxious to find out what's on offer, so that we can decide whether to enter or not!

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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!

Anyone planning to go to Bracknell Adult Opens? I am thinking about it. Not quite sure. It would be my first competition, so don't know what to expect (in terms of how scary it is to be on the ice completely on my own and how strict the judges are, and whethere I would manage to hold my nerves...).

I don't know exactly what's on offer for dance couples but we have included a pre-bronze class for solos and as far as I know the bronze class is based on the British dances although the harder dance was going to be replaced with an easier one. Hopefully you won't have to wait much longer before seeing exactly what's on offer.

Hanca, the Bracknell Adult Opens is a great event and you really should come along. All the adults are very supportive of one another and there's always a very pleasant atmosphere there.

Nicki

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It was my first competition, many, many years ago now! Great fun, and people are really supportive.

We are not committing ourselves for this year - if there aren't pre-Bronze couples dances, then probably not!

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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!

Just looked at the kids free skating info just for fun and I noticed a maximum age of 24. Not that I want to compete against kids but just wondering why there is a maximum age. I know they do this in solo dance but I've not seen it in the free skating before. Is it a NISA requirement?

I don't know about that Kate. I hadn't checked the age for the kids classes but I guess it's right given that it's been approved by the referee. Didn't they used to stop at 16 or 18?

Nicki

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They never used to have a maximum age limit. Although obviously it was rare to have many people over the age of 18 compete in ordinary opens.

Solo dance has an age cap for the seniors (introduced in the last couple of years or so) and I think it is also 24 (or maybe 25).

Could it be that because this competition has also adult opens (on 27.4.), they had to make some line up to which age you can compete as a 'child' and from what age you compete as 'adult', so that they don't have it mixed. I think those under 18 it would be obvious where they belong, in the late twenties too, but if they wanted the age categories to be fair, they probably needed to decide where they put the age of late teenagers and early twenties, so perhaps they decided to do cut at age 24. Have you noticed that for example Obertsdort you can compete only from age of 27. And BAC had also some bottom age limit (I think 21 or 22 years old).

You're probably right - they don't want to cloud the adult/kids opens.

But I thought it strange since I had never seen a max age for free skating comps for kids so I thought I would ask in case it was a new NISA rule similar to what they did for the solo dance comps....

Btw BAC bottom limit is 21 but a lot of adult opens have a min age at 18 instead. Oberstdorf min age is actually 28 the previous July - I got confused over it last year thinking I was old enough.

As far as I know the requirements will all be as for BAC bronze, silver and gold apart from the following:

- additional beginner class for free skating
- small group artistic classes (2 - 7 skaters) as well as solo
- solo dance as BAC but silver CDs will be 14 step and Willow Waltz (instead of Rocker Foxtrot)
- pre-bronze couples CDs (I think Rhythm Blues and Golden Skaters Waltz)
- pre-bronze couples free dance of up tp 1.35 mins
- bronze / silver couples free dance and gold free dance classes (as silver / gold fds for BAC but with any step sequence allowed because BAC requirements are not the same as for Obersdorf!)


All of this has to of course be approved by the referee but hopefully will enable as many people as possible to enter.

Has anyone noticed that statement on NISA's web side re: Bracknell Opens?

http://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/2874

Please don't panic! It's all being sorted, but with the NISA offices closed over the weekend, the statement will probably remain up till Monday.

Nicki

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Adult schedules are now up on our club website. Please be aware that the closing date for the adults is a week later than for the other competitions, being on Saturday 4th April.

Nicki

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Thank you, Nicki!

There doesn't seem to be an update on the NISA website to tell us whether the event is sanctioned or not yet,although it's still in their calender. Any ideas on what's happening with it?
I think I'm going to have to miss it as I'm without a program at the moment and the whiplash still hasn't settled down yet enough to be predictable about skating singles. However, I don't want to lose it from the skating calender as I want to do it next year!

It's definitely going ahead. The problem has been sorted. It would be nice if NISA could remove the statement from their page or at least put up a new one to let everyone know it's all systems go!

Nicki

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Pleased to hear that. But I won't hold my breath about NISA updating their website. They're not terribly good at disseminating information to the members.
Hopefully it will be a success despite NISA's best efforts.

Yes I agree about NISA. Crazy really. We've been running Opens competitions properly and successfully for years yet they behave in this manner over one bit of paper when a simple phone call to our competition secretary would have been all that was needed!

Nicki

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Typical! Nicki, you'll forgive us if we don't send our entries in until the last minute - we really do want to enter, but probably only our free dance (we seriously don't want to take time away from the compulsories we're working on for the Mountain Cup to work on two totally different ones), and possibly Husband's free programme; however, we do need all the rest of the time to make sure we're going to be ready in time! So our coach has said not to decide for a week or so.

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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!

They've finally put up a new announcement on the NISA website, telling us all that we may enter. (And then saying to get the latest details from the NISA website? since when have they advertised competitions anouncements?)

Interestingly my sister this morning said that she couldn't care less about this eligibility nonsense as she's going to be aged out of even doing seniors soon (not that she has the tests!) which means that she knows she's never going to the Olympics so who cares. So I wonder why they make us adults worry about our eligibility (although I can understand the kids might care). Then again you've got the scenario of the dancing on ice celebs. Some get the skating bug, but they've lost something they never knew they had and before they knew they wanted to skate!

As long as your entries arrive by the closing date I don't mind when you send them Annabel!

Nicki

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