A new scoring wrinkle, in place since July,
made its U.S. Championships debut in Saint Paul: Singles competitors in the juvenile, intermediate and novice ranks earned bonus points for includ- ing more-challenging jumps in their programs. For novice skaters, each triple-triple jump
combination, including fully rotated or under rotated (“<”) jumps, gained two bonus points. Each diff erent triple jump that was fully rotated or underrotated earned a one-point bonus. Ann Barr, a national technical specialist and
chair of U.S. Figure Skating’s singles committee, conceived the bonus points initiative after watch- ing several seasons of declining numbers of U.S. singles entrants in the Junior Grand Prix Final. “In 2014, I was team leader for a Junior
Grand Prix in Japan, and just standing there throughout the whole week of the competition, I saw what some skaters from other countries were doing,” Barr said. “I came home and got to work. I collected research from Japan, China, Russia and Canada, on what they were requiring of their emerging skaters, and developed a bonus struc- ture.”
Kim Heim, chair of the athlete development committee; Alex Chang, former chair of the
coaches committee; and Kelly Vogtner, senior director, athlete development at U.S. Figure Skating, helped Barr fi ne-tune the proposals. The key was fi nding a way to encourage skaters to get more comfortable taking risks, at an earlier age. “We had created a culture of playing it safe,”
Barr said. “We all want to see clean, nice pro- grams, but I frankly believe it’s better to make your mistakes earlier than later. We need to have our athletes become accustomed to taking risks at lower levels, because then it’s far less intimidat- ing when they get to the junior level.” Based on protocols in Saint Paul, the initiative
is working. Some 49 bonus points were awarded to novice ladies, and 66 bonus points went to novice men. Every skater did, at a minimum, one triple, with most doing at least two. Novice men’s champion Eric Sjoberg hit triple Lutz-triple toe loop combinations in both his short program and free skate, while ladies champion Haley Beavers did fi ve diff erent triples including a triple Lutz. “I thought it would be long-term before we
saw some results, but it’s been pretty gratifying to see how the triple jump numbers have gone up,” Barr said. “There are more triple jumps being done by more skaters.”
ABOVE: Ladies: (l-r) Alexia Paganini, Haley Beavers, Sierra Venetta, Ashley Lin; Men: (l-r) Peter Liu, Eric Sjoberg, Maxim Naumov, William Hubbart; BELOW: Pairs: (l-r) Isabella Gamez/Griffi n Schwab, Elli Kopmar/Jonah Barrett, Sapphire Jaeckel/ Matthew Scoralle, Emma Coppess/Robert Hennings; Ice Dance: (l-r) Emma Gunter/Caleb Wein, Caroline Green/Gordon Green, Sophia Elder/Christopher Elder, Gianna Buckley/J.T. Michel
LADIES gold | Haley Beavers
silver | Alexia Paganini bronze | Sierra Venetta pewter | Ashley Lin
MEN gold | Eric Sjoberg
silver | Peter Liu bronze | Maxim Naumov pewter | William Hubbart
PAIRS gold | Elli Kopmar/
Jonah Barrett silver | Isabella Gamez/ Griffi n Schwab bronze | Sapphire Jaeckel/ Matthew Scoralle pewter | Emma Coppess/ Robert Hennings
ICE DANCE gold | Caroline Green/
Gordon Green silver | Emma Gunter/ Caleb Wein bronze | Sophia Elder/ Christopher Elder pewter | Gianna Buckley/ J.T. Michel
44 MARCH 2016
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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