David Santee, left at the top table, and David Kirby, right at the top table, work as technical specialists at 2014 Hilton HHonors Skate America.
Terry Kubicka
David Kirby
David Santee Technical specialists give insight to their job behind the scenes
“Email video exchanges with coaches happen weekly.” — David Kirby
“Most callers are B+, A-type
personalities. We want to get it right.” — Terry Kubicka
“For me, the hardest thing doing video replay in Sochi was learning about the Finnstep.” — David Santee
“I don’t look at past protocols. I want to see what happens that day.” — Judy Blumberg
16 FEBRUARY 2015
MAKING THE CALLS
When the ISU replaced the 6.0 judging system with the international judging system (IJS) in 2004, U.S. Figure Skating set a goal of using the IJS at the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. T at meant fi nding past competitors willing to serve on IJS technical panels. Here, some thoughts from four who answered the call.
by LYNN RUTHERFORD Terry Kubicka remembers the day in 2004
when David Kirby, a friend and former compet- itor, asked him to consider becoming a technical specialist.
“I said, ‘David, you’re crazy. I haven’t fol-
lowed skating in 35 years,’” Kubicka, a veteri- narian in the San Francisco area, said. “My last competitive year was 1976, and then I was with Ice Capades for a couple of years. I was able to earn money to put myself through school, and that was kind of my goal.” But Kirby, who was serving as the fi rst U.S.
Figure Skating technical panel committee chair, was persistent. He had to be; his committee would recruit more than 150 former skaters to
Judy Blumberg
serve on technical panels. “I got out the U.S. Figure Skating rulebook
and called every past medalist I could,” Kirby said. “I told them, ‘T is is not a paid, glamorous job.’ Some said, ‘I don’t really believe in the new system.’ But overall, there were a lot of people who were willing to give of their time.” Kubicka decided to join their ranks. “Skating had been very good to me while I was competing, and even after, doors opened to me because of my background in skating,” he said. “I thought of this as a way to possibly give back to the sport.” David Santee, a seven-time U.S. senior
men’s medalist and the 1981 World silver medal- ist, was eager to stay on the cutting edge of skat- ing.
“I wanted to be part of the process,” Santee,
a coach in Chicago, said. “I thought, ‘T ere is going to be a new way of doing things and I want to be part of the solution.’” For Judy Blumberg, becoming a caller was
a way to evaluate skaters and deliver straightfor- ward feedback, without playing games. “When I was skating, sometimes you would see dancers with inferior edges, or skaters with cheated jumps, at the top,” Blumberg said. “I got excited when I realized I would be part of the scoring, identifying the things that were done.” Kirby considers Kubicka, Santee, Blumberg and others who answered his call unsung heroes. “T at fi rst graduating class we had — Terry,
David, Judy, Charlie Tickner, Ken Shelley, Randy Gardner, Lisa-Marie Allen, so many others — were the trailblazers.” SKATING: You competed under the 6.0
system. What are the benefi ts of IJS and hav- ing experts review (“call”) skaters’ elements? Kubicka: T is new judging system, I thought it would be fairer, something the skater could understand. And it’s not an ideal system, I’m the fi rst to say that, but I think the skaters un- derstand it a bit better and understand why they get the marks they get. I think it’s good to have
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