Tag: specialfigures

Creative figures and the USFS Adult Gold Figure test

Bev

The idea of designing your own figure is something that goes way back in figure skating. Late nineteenth-century competitions in the International style invited skaters to create their own patterns on the ice, called special figures. Many of these were published in books like Holletscheck’s Kunstfertigkeit im Eislaufen. Some were actually what we’d call freestyle elements today, like Axel Paulsen’s famous jump. Special figures were included in the 1908 Olympics.

An interesting survival is on the current US Figure Skating Adult Gold Figure test. The test is a sampler; the skater selects six figures from different categories:

  • One forward paragraph eight
  • One double three
  • One bracket
  • One change bracket
  • One loop
  • One change loop

The seventh figure is a creative figure. The compulsory figures rules (not linked here because they’re hidden behind the Members Only login screen) don’t have much to say about it—just that it’s required. Or skaters can choose to do any other figure from the test structure.

The Adult Gold Figure test seems to have come into existence at about the time figures began to be phased out of competition. It’s first mentioned on Skating‘s “Laurels” page in April 1991 (though nobody passed it then). The creative figure requirement goes back to the beginning; it’s listed in my 1992/93 Rulebook. The only change I’ve found is the deletion of TR 2.022 in 1997.

TR 2.022

To qualify for any Adult Figure Test, the candidate cannot have passed the Fourth Test or higher.

“Report of Action of the Board of Directors,” p. 29.

This may have been part of a scheme to keep figures going. Skating records the announcements of competitions held in Vail, CO in June, 1989 and in 1992, that included creative, original, new era, and team figures. It’s unclear how many people entered these events, but I suspect the number was small, because not many were offered. Creative figure events have been a staple of ISI competitions for years, and still are, though finding the details can be a bit tricky as the website says to refer to the printed Handbook.

The Adult Gold Figure Test is still on the books, though not many skaters have passed it. Digging around in the Skating Magazine Archive, I found only these 11 skaters:

  • Maureen Hughes, Peninsula FSC, May 1992
  • Laura Dully, The Skating Club of Boston, November 1992
  • Cynthia Brett, Warwick Figure Skaters, November 1993
  • Lori Nelson, St. Moritz ISC, Inc., November 1993
  • Lynne Maker Kuechle, Roseville FSC, November 1993
  • Pamela Medeiros, Smithfield FSC, August 1997
  • Miki Marciniak, Fraser FSC, January 1998
  • Elaine Livingston, Binghamton FSC, August 1998
  • Margaret Szymanski, North Jersey FSC Inc., August 1999
  • Dawn M Peterson, Sun Valley FSC, Inc., October 1999
  • Alicia DeLalio, North Jersey FSC Inc., October 2007

(Dates refer to the issue the test was published in, which may be several months after it was passed.)

I passed it last week, so I’m on the list now too.

References

“Calendar of events.” Skating, June 1989, p. 41; May 1992, p. 21.

“Report of action of the board of directors.” Skating, August 1997, pp. 22–42.

United States Figure Skating Association, The 1992–93 Official USFSA Rulebook. Colorado Springs, CO: USFSA, 1992.

The Curtis star

Bev
The Curtis star, retraced a few times.

The Curtis star was a specialty of Callie Curtis, American champion from 1969 to 1874. Instructions for skating it are given in The Skaters Text-Book (with a diagram that seems backwards to me). In the third edition of A System of Figure Skating, Vandervell and Witham quote the description with this note:

It is performed by using one foot as a pivot and the other as a scraper to cut the necessary lines… The standing on one foot and scraping lines with the other can hardly be called skating…

Vandervell and Witham 1880, 291

Here’s how I skated it.

Skating the Curtis star in my backyard.

Skaters History on Ice and Roller Skating records the following anecdote about Frank Swift (author of The Skaters Text-Book) and Callie Curtis:

These two great skaters met in competition in Rochester, N. Y., March 15, 1869.

Frank Swift was then Champion of America, having won the Diamond Medal the previous year at Allegheny City, Pa,, Feb. 6, 1868. Twice he had successfully defended his title, but the Chicago boy was too much for him and he had to bow to his superior. When Mr. Curtis was declared the winner by a score of 47 points to 41, Mr. Swift took his defeat manfully and skated up to Mr. Curtis and pinned the Diamond Medal on his breast. The picture [below] was taken at that time.

Mr. Curtis successfully defended the medal for five years against all comers, and took it with him when he went to Europe in 1874. He never returned to America.

Fitzgerald 1916, 46
Frank Swift and Callie Curtis. Fitzgerald 1916, 46.

References

Julian T. Fitzgerald. 1916. Skaters History on Ice and Roller Skating. Chicago: Julian T. Fitzgerald. Reprinted in 2011 by the National Museum of Roller Skating, Lincoln, NE.

Frank Swift and Marvin R. Clark. 1868. The Skaters Text-Book. New York: John A. Gray & Green.

H. E. Vandervell and T. Maxwell Witham. 1880. A System of Figure-Skating. 3rd ed. London: Horace Cox.

How to skate the ball of twine

Bev1 Comment
A drawing of the ball of twine. From Browne, A Handbook of Figure Skating Arranged for Use on the Ice, p. 110.

The ball of twine is an awe-inspiring figure that has become an icon for what special figures used to be. Despite its apparent complexity, it is pretty easy to skate. It’s based on two simple skills.

A heel pivot. Browne, p. 110.

The first skill you need is the heel pivot. Put the heel of one skate in the ice and rotate the other skate around it.

The second skill is a sort of swizzle with one foot while the other foot glides along.

Once you have those two skills down, you can skate the ball of twine. Here’s how to do it.

Here are the steps:

  1. Draw a circle on the ice. It should be the size of a comfortable pivot.
  2. To skate counterclockwise, start with your left toe on the edge of the circle and your right foot separated a bit and tangent to the circle.
  3. Swizzle your left foot across the circle, letting your right foot glide along. As it goes across, let it go along the circumference of an imaginary circle in the middle of the circle you drew.
  4. When your left foot reaches the other side of the circle, put its heel in the ice and do a heel pivot until your right foot is back on the circle.
  5. Repeat, making the left foot hit the circle slightly to the right of the previous tracing each time. Eventually you’ll get all the way around the circle and have a ball of twine!

Here’s how it looks from the skater’s perspective.

The ball of twine from the skater’s perspective. Watch how the left foot aims carefully across the circle and places the next vertex just to the right of the previous one.

Beginners may find it helpful to start with only a few spokes in the middle and gradually increase the number. You can start by marking thirds of the circle and aiming your left foot at them. Then try fifths, sevenths, etc., until you’re ready for the real thing.

The finished ball of twine.
The ball of twine was invented over a century ago by Edward C. Hill, who was born West Troy, NY. This is him skating it (Fitzgerald, 53).

References

George H. Browne. 1900. A Handbook of Figure Skating Arranged for Use on the Ice. Springfield, MA: Barney and Berry. Explains how to skate the ball of twine on pages 109–110.

Julian T. Fitzgerald. 1916. Skaters History on Ice and Roller Skating. Chicago: Julian T. Fitzgerald. Includes a photograph of E. C. Hill skating the ball of twine and a brief biographical sketch on page 53.

Additional note, 9/29/2019

I taught this figure to several skaters at the 2018 World Figure and Fancy Skating Championships in Vail, CO.