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It’s Competition Season! Don’t Exclude Any Skaters!
It’s Competition Season! Don’t Exclude Any Skaters!
By Courtney Fecske
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As the competition season is in high gear, it is a great time to remind competitions, coaches, parents, and skaters that our competitions are for all skaters!
Adaptive Skating
Skaters who have any kind of disability may choose to compete through adaptive competition events which include both assisted and unassisted events. Adaptive skating is the umbrella term and includes all skaters with disabilities. Assisted events mean that a skater can use a walker, wheelchair, or another skater to assist with their program. Unassisted means that the skater is competing without additional assistance but still within the adaptive skating guidelines. The adaptive skating program guidelines can be found within the Compete USA Manual. There are Adaptive levels 2-12 which include a list of elements that can be used to create a free skate program for a maximum of one minute and ten seconds with music or for a compulsory event without music.
Special Olympics
Special Olympics competition events are for skaters with intellectual disabilities and may be offered at U.S. Figure Skating sanctioned events or Special Olympics skating events. Well-balanced program information can be found in the Compete USA Manual and include Badges levels 1-12 for elements to be completed within a one minute and ten second maximum program with music. Special Olympics skaters can also compete in free skate, pairs, and ice dance with the specific guidelines also found within the Compete USA Manual. Special Olympics has their own manual that can be referenced on the Special Olympics Figure Skating website.
Skate United
Skate United is for skaters with physical disabilities. This is the newest set of opportunities for skaters with physical disabilities so some competition hosts, coaches, parents, and skaters may still need to learn about this option. Skate United skaters can choose to compete within any standard well-balanced event with the same guideline requirements but within a separate group for only Skate United skaters. These events should be streamlined into the competition, but skaters will have their own group. All Skate United events currently are under the 6.0 judging system. The Adaptive Skating Subcommittee is hard at work to support the implementation of a classification system that will work in conjunction with IJS in the next few seasons.
Skating Accommodation Memorandum
Regardless of the adaptive skating events that best support your skater it is also important to share about the Skating Accommodation Memorandum (S.A.M.). The S.A.M. supports reasonable accommodations for skaters for both competition and testing. How this process works is that the skater or skater’s parent, depending on the skater’s age, will complete the S.A.M. Request form and sent it to the clinical review team composed of allied medical professionals with skating experience and knowledge. The S.A.M. clinical team reviews the request and determines appropriate accommodations for both testing and competition. These accommodations are sent for review to both the competition and testing committees for feedback. Once approved, the S.A.M. is drafted and the clinical team meets with the skater, skater’s parents, and coach as appropriate to discuss the S.A.M. At this time adjustments can be made and then the final S.A.M. is completed. The skater or skater’s parent would then present the S.A.M. at the time of registering for a test session to the test chair, or if registering for a competition, to the LOC to present to the chief referee. The test chair for a test session and the chief referee for a competition are then responsible for ensuring necessary accommodations are provided. If the test chair or chief referee have questions these can be sent to the chair of the Adaptive Skating Subcommittee.
Start Competing!
If you have a skater who wants to compete in any of these events and you do not see the event offered at your competition, please reach out to the competition host and ask to compete! Every skater should be able to compete, and this is likely an oversight of the competition announcement in not including these events. Guidelines for these events can be found in the Compete USA Manual and within the rule book. If there are further questions, please reach out to the Adaptive Skating Subcommittee.
The Adaptive Skating Subcommittee aims to recruit and support skaters with disabilities in their skating journey and strongly feels these events need to be included within our competition announcements and competition events. We are working on drafting a competition announcement for all adaptive events and hope to have this available to LOCs soon. You can find more information about the adaptive skating programs in the Members Only area of the website along with a presentation explaining these tracks in more detail. www.usfigureskating.org/membersonly/skating-opportunities/adaptive-skating
If you have questions please reach out to the current Adaptive Skating Subcommittee chair, Mary Johanson, who may be contacted at coachmaryjohanson@gmail.com
If you have Skate United specific questions please email Courtney Fecske at courtneyjweisman@gmail.com
Author Bio
Courtney Fecske, PhD, CTRS is a member of the Adaptive Skating Subcommittee and serves as the Skate United lead. Dr. Fecske is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor at Indiana University-Bloomington in the School of Public Health and is also a former Team USA Synchronized skater and current official for US Figure Skating. She has founded and worked with adaptive skating programs and conducts research focused on examining the impact of participation in adaptive sports.
