Basic Skills Competition Series Takes Off
The Basic Skills Series concept has been a huge success for beginning skaters and their families in Florida, Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin. While the growth of the series has been important, it is the ease with which it runs that makes it so appealing.
The general principle of a series is at least three or more local competitions join forces and share one standard announcement, and all participating skaters earn points for their placements, which are totaled up throughout the series (loosely modeled after the ISU Grand Prix Series concept). During the last competition of the series, the top three winners in each level receive an additional award for their participation.
Some additional benefits have been the collaboration of the participating programs and clubs on the master schedule, allowing skaters and their families to plan their travel as soon as the announcement is posted with the competition dates and locations within the series. Each series shares one standard, consistent announcement, so skaters, coaches and judges know exactly what is expected of them in each level at each event. Programs and clubs advertise and support each other and hopefully earn a profit from a well-attended competition.
The idea for the Basic Skills Competition Series started in 2003, when Kent Johnson, skating program director for Kendall Ice Arena in Miami, Fla., started contacting the skating directors of local rinks who were operating U.S. Figure Skating Basic Skills programs. His thought was to use just one competition announcement that would advertise and promote a series of competitions equally to promote Basic Skills and arena cooperation in south Florida. At the time, cooperation between the local arenas was at an all-time low, and grass-roots skating had degenerated into mostly in-house events. With the new Basic Skills Competition Series concept, each arena hosting an event would agree to participate fully in all the events, guaranteeing success and opportunity to all parties involved. Johnson soon realized that all the rinks contacted were very interested in participating and eager to give it a try.
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In 2004, the idea caught on in Colorado when Linda Alexander, Honnen Ice Arena manager at Colorado College, heard about the Basic Skills Series concept that's was working so well in Florida.
"I contacted Kent, as I wanted to find out about the series to figure out how we could sell this in Colorado," Alexander said. "I had never run a Basic Skills competition before, so it was important for me to dive in completely."
When Alexander brought a few key people in the Colorado Springs area together, it was decided that the existing individual competitions would greatly benefit from being part of a series, and the Basic Skills Competition Series of Colorado was born. In four short years, the Colorado Basic Skills competition series has grown from four to seven competitions.
"The growth is the greatest testimonial to this effort," Alexander said. "It was more than I could have hoped for."
Maureen Dalton, Michigan Basic Skills Series director, wanted to take the successful Colorado template and build on it for her home state.
"We started our series in 2007 with seven clubs participating and jumped to 16 in 2008, with almost 700 participants," Dalton said. "We have had positive responses from parents, skaters and coaches."
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"The greatest - and somewhat unexpected - result of the series has been the way the directors, assistants and associates have worked together to help one another's Basic Skills programs," Dalton said. "They are sharing information, equipment and ideas while operating under the concept of helping each other so the series is successful."
Volunteers have been pivotal to the Michigan series. They put together the floral arrangements for the skaters, design the medals and flyers, and create the banners on display at each competition.
"Hours and hours of dedication and commitment have been instrumental in this being a success," Dalton said.
When Carolyn Clausius heard about the successful series events taking place in Florida, Colorado and Michigan, she thought it was something that could work well in her state of Wisconsin. Since there were several programs around Madison, Wis., that were offering spring Basic Skills competitions, the series concept seemed like a great way to bring those groups together, rather than having them compete to attract the same skaters to their individual events.
"I pitched the idea to three area skating directors, and they were excited to give this a try," said Clausius, who oversaw the first Wisconsin Basic Skills Series in August 2008.
With the success the Basic Skills Series has had, areas in other parts of the country are starting to catch on. Sue Clemente of Cleveland, Ohio, got her community excited about the series that started in November 2008 and which will include five competitions.
"Many sports have clinics and lessons where players learn the sport, and then they have recreational and fun games for them to use their new skills in a fun and friendly competitive arena. I think the Basic Skills Series offers that atmosphere to the new, young skater," Clemente said. "Hopefully, the series will encourage the skaters to keep working toward their goals and increase their skating skills while having fun."
This article first appeared in the January 2009 issue of SKATING magazine.
