COMPETITIONS AND JUDGING.
There is no greater stimulus to skating interest than a competition in
which numbers of the best skaters enter and in which the judging is
satisfactory. In Europe these competitions are held every winter and
call out entries from many localities. After a series of elimination
contests by which the local champions are determined, there are then
held the national and international championships. These latter are not
held in the same place every year, but are taken about so that different
localities and even different countries, may have the privilege of
seeing the champions skate and of feeling the stimulus to copy their
fine work.
There should be frequent competitions in every locality. Sport clubs
generally are equipped to arrange these events and carry them to
success. Let them invite local champions and good skaters from the
vicinity. From these the winners may be selected to represent the
locality in skating events at a distance or even national championships.
In the United States there would seem to be good opportunity to develop
state champions and from them determine who is the national champion.
The great distances which separate the different parts of your country
seem to be the only drawback to such an interesting series of skating
competitions.
The selection of judges is most important. These should be themselves
good skaters, familiar with the style of skating now generally accepted
all over the world as correct, the principles of which are the subject
of this book. They should be encouragers of skating and do everything in
their power to interest the competitors and the public in the event.
Much of the interest in future contests depends upon the judges. No
sport can long carry the handicap of unfair or biased judging.
A selection from the elementary and advanced school figures is made by
the three or five judges. Every competitor is required to skate these
figures. Then three or five minutes is allowed for free skating. The
standards for judging the free skating are difficulty and variety of the
contents of the programme and its manner of performance as to
arrangement of figures, combinations and contrasts, correct carriage,
etc. The judges make their marks independently and the totals are then
combined. The method of marking both school figures and free skating is
to give the competitor a mark for his performance which may be anywhere
between 0 and 6 and then multiply this mark by the factor which is shown
for the figure skated. The factorial number is stated opposite each of
the school figures in the diagram.
The arrangement is such that no free skating programme, however perfect
or spectacular, can win for the skater more than two-thirds of the marks
obtainable for perfect execution of the school figures. In other words,
mere showiness of skating cannot win over superior performance of
foundation elements. The justice of this arrangement is obvious. The
marks for the school figures and the marks for free skating form a total
which is the rating of the skater in the competition. If there is a tie
the skater having the highest marks in school skating wins.
The basis for judging is first, correct tracing on the ice; second,
position, carriage and movement; third, size of the figure; fourth, the
placing of the figure in triple repetition. The judges’ cards should be
carefully kept and shown afterward on demand.