- modernization

Skating aficionado Claire recently pondered over ISU program and scoring changes with her detailed blog post Is the ISU on the Wrong Course? When I replied to her post I said the ISU was trying to change the course of an ocean liner by throwing deck chairs over the side. Since I've been known to have a few serious thoughts about IJS myself, allow me to expand on that metaphor a little. (Warning high opinion mode is on).

Claire is essentially correct in some of her observations but a bit behind in others. First of all she is absolutely correct that high visibility events such as Nationals, some World competitions, and the Olympics, tend to be those events that motivate young skaters to take up the sport. She is also correct that controversy in the scoring in those events is some of what has dissuaded the present audience interest.

Previously determined on the 6.0 system, changes to scoring (introduction of the IJS system) were made in 2004 to prevent judges from specific countries from biasing the results to their favored skaters. To be competitive under the IJS system, skaters have had to focus more on technical elements and much less on artistic presentation. As I've mentioned in other posts, this has decreased the audience popularity of the sport.

To reclaim some popularity, what's ISU is suggesting is however a very small change at the margins of what is essentially a completely broken sociology. ISU power flows through their organizational, marketing, and scoring technologies to create an employment path for skaters (who can eventually become judges, coaches, and choreographers, or even ISU employees). The costliest part to coordinate and deploy is the scoring (and judge training) systems. They are hence heavily invested in the status quo of such.

Imagine though a complete and total revamp of scoring and judging. Imagine not even requiring ISU equipment or judge training to accomplish the scoring. This is, after all, 2017 already. People are working on fully automated driving, with machine learning based AI and motion capture.

Let's have some smart engineers create a lidar tracking video system to motion capture the skaters and attach an AI to determine how artistic and athletic they are. You can train the AI on any type of skaters that you want to achieve the desired results. You want more artistic skating? Train the AI on videos of Peggy Fleming.

Once you have an AI system that doesn't require judges around, you can play it at every rink, and the skaters can watch their scores and determine how to skate by themselves. Coaches could watch an app on their phone and see their students score accumulated in real time.

You might even include in the AI something that listens to the audience to award a higher score when there's greater applause. Yes this means there will be a home rink advantage; so what, other sports already have that. It makes the sport more exciting.

Furthermore each of the four divisions should have its AI trained to different characteristics. Dance is not like pairs is not like men's is not like women's. And you know what? Let's include a division for small group Ice Theater while we're at it. How about duets. You can even train the algorithm to be different by age groups; there's no reason to expect seven and eight-year-olds to have the same presentation as Juniors and Seniors.

AI motion capture scoring would also incredibly speed up the scoring so that there wouldn't have to be a pause between skaters. ISU is trying to modify a 2004 based system to bring it up to 2007. It's 2017 for Christ's sake. Do you still use a ten year old computer? Didn't think so. The folks at ISU have too much personally invested however to make gigantic changes in the sport like this. Hence an outside group is going to have to revamp and recreate the sport entirely.

- spiral

I may have mentioned this a couple times before: the spiral is one of my favorite elements. What, you ask...? The skater is only traveling in a static pose with one leg up behind her -- what could be difficult or interesting about that?

The spiral encapsulates all three of my top skating criteria in a simple to judge move: grace, balance, and skill. Also since I have a skating daughter I recognize how difficult it is to accomplish a quality spiral, mainly since I have had the privilege of witnessing young skaters attempt this in practice as they were growing up.

The first challenge is bringing your trailing leg up at a smooth consistent speed and then stopping at the correct height. Go too far and you faceplant. Don't go far enough and it's impossible to hold. Viewing a gal practice this is like observing a young person learn how to do a headstand. Trial and error, muscle memory, and finding the balance points.

Once you're pegged into position you get to deal with the vagaries of blades and bumps in the ice. I don't know from experience but from watching it seems to me that the gals that maintain the most velocity in their spiral have an easier time keeping their position fixed as they traverse the rink's incongruities. Those traveling slowly get whomped by every small dent and surface gash.

After examining the smoothness of entry I focus on your skates: my peripheral vision makes sure the hind leg stays frozen exactly at the same height, and my wandering eyes appreciate any stylistic hand movements, but mostly I am examining if your edges stay clean and committed as you manage the traversal. I am watching how you use your core muscles to finesse the minuscule velocity changes imposed by the bumpy ice.

Holding your rear leg stock still is enough of a challenge, but if you can do this while also throwing in some slight balletic arm movements at the same time, I'm doubly impressed.
The other notable oddity about this element is, of course, your face is presented straight up toward the audience (or judges, depending on your angle). Please don't skate your spiral with your mouth open.

This element also critically narrows the body types for those who will eventually become the great skaters. Obviously you need strong glutes to pull it off well, but additionally if your center of gravity stays fixed as you tilt into position then this indicates that your top and bottom halves are appropriately balanced.

- audience love

The emotional relationship of the skater with her audience is a precarious bargain. It is somewhat akin to that between a cabinet maker and the owner of a mansion. The audiences strives for class, or for at least being accepted into the higher class. They are the owners of the mansion (or at least they are paying the mortgage on the place). They lack however a certain actual substance, and are trying to obtain the essence of class by sponsoring the skating and by experiencing the patina of accomplishment vicariously.

The skaters are like the cabinet makers: they are the utility carpenters and general contractors who put in hours of hard work to lend grace and class to the mansion of a skating performance. What do the skaters receive in return? Just love.

And it is this sensitivity and craving for love alone that ultimately motivates the skaters to practice, practice, practice.