Thursday Meetings

I attended a serious of meetings and seminars at Governing Council this past Thursday.  Below is a short summary from each meeting:

ISU Proposals
First up was a presentation on the upcoming IJS changes to be made by the ISU at their June meeting.  Gale Tanger began the meeting giving an overview of the ISU and the ISU competition structure which is composed of the Grand Prix events, World Championships, Olympics Games and other Championship events around the world.

Next, Gale went into the various changes that are most likely to be adopted this year:
  
Age Requirements
First off was the change to age rules that would make the cutoff 18 years old for all Junior level competitors for Junior Grand Prix events and Jr Worlds.  Currently, pairs and dance men are allowed to compete Jr. through the age of 21.  This would have a significant impact on USFS, taking out 80% of all current Junior pair teams and 72% of all current dance team eligible to compete at the Jr. level.

Judges
Next, we discussed the number of judges on each ISU event.  Previously the number was lowered from 12 to 9 with the benefit being a reduced financial cost to the host of each competition.  However, as Gale pointed out 13 judges were still being brought to ISU events, and then a random draw was done before each event to choose the 9 that would be on each panel.  Thus, the United States had proposed going back to using 12 judges on each event.

Singles Technical Changes
Finally, Gale did a fabulous job presenting all of the most likely changes that will be occurring in singles skating.
A complete list of ISU proposals for the June conference can be found HERE.


Running a Successful Competition
Next up was a group a speakers each relaying information about a successful competition that they have been a part of hosting.  I am proud to say that many of their ideas are already in use for our annual competition, or are already being planned for this years Skate St Moritz.

Remember to save the date:
2010 Skate St Moritz
September 10-12, 2010
at the Oakland Ice Center in Oakland, CA


Fundraising
Finally I attended the fundraising meeting that Susan was asked to present at.
First up was a presentation on myskatingmall.com, a unique opportunity that perhaps SMISC will have to take advantage of in the future.
Next, we were presented with an idea for a skate-a-thon fundraising event.  Perhaps our Jr Board will plan a fun opportunity such as that in the future.
Susan spoke about some of her most recent fundraising endeavors for USFS and with the SMISC.
Finally we were given a guidebook and general information about fundraising put together by USFS.