1
JUDGES AND OFFICIALS
PORTFOLIO
REPORT
2013-2014
NISA JUDGES AND OFFICIALS PORTFOLIO ANNUAL REPORT
PROBATIONARY JUDGES
Mary Chapman has been appointed as the NISA Probationary Judges and Officials Co-ordinator to ensure that probationary judges at all levels have an official dedicated to ongoing assessment of all those wishing to become judges and all those wishing to continue to move up the ladder toward judging level 10 on the NISA Test Structure and onwards within the IJS Open and National Competition structure. Mary has also been active in ensuring probationary judges have opportunities to officiate at Open Competitions.
TECHNICAL SPECIALISTS
Hamish Angus has been appointed as the NISA Technical Specialist Co-ordinator to ensure that Technical Specialists have an official dedicated to maintaining a comprehensive list of officials, their due dates for seminars, and a contact point for seminar and Open event officiating opportunities.
Technical Specialists are now required to recertify once every three years instead of annually,and new rules have been issued regarding Technical Controllers, in line with the ISU, they will not act as Technical Specialists other than in an emergency situation.
The 2013 annual Seminars and exams for Technical Specialists ad Controllers were moderated by Simon Briggs for Singles/Pairs, Hilary Selby for Dance and Chris Buchanan for Synchro.
The annual seminars and exams for 2014 will be moderated by Karen Archer – Singles/Pairs, Hilary Selby – Ice Dance and Christopher Buchanan – Synchronized Skating.
THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW NISA TEST PAPERS
Papers were prepared introducing judging at NISA tests using Grades of Execution and Components to assess the competence of the candidate. A pilot was carried out for 3 months, during which time a number of updates were carried out. Thanks must go to the NISA Test Organisers and the Judges who took part on the pilot, for their patience while the updates were being carried out and for their enthusiasm in helping the Association drive this initiative forward.
The RJS test papers became obsolete on February 1st 2014.
OFFICIALS MANUAL
The Judges and Officials Manual was updated and reissued, together with the new probationary process. To secure the return of the Self Declaration Forms was a time consuming exercise due to the number of officials who for one reason or another needed to be reminded. All new officials will be required to read the appropriate documentation and sign a self declaration form before being included on any lists.
ISU CHAMPIONSHIPS ROTA
A new rota was drawn for Europeans, Junior and Senior World Championships. The Four Continents will be selected separately from recommendations made to the board, which will then be taken into consideration as follows:
Activities already assigned – ie those already attending a major event will not be included
Age – consideration will given to someone who is not at any of the other major events and is close to aging out
Activities – Consideration will be given to someone who is not at any of the major events and had given a great deal of their time to NISA during the previous season.
REFEREE AND TECHNICAL CONTROLLER REPORTING
Referee and Technical Controller reporting was streamlined and brought into line with ISU reporting.
For individual issues referees and technical controllers report, dependent upon nature of the issues, by email or phone directly to the Judges and Officials Director or the NISA Office, whilst the basic paperwork is kept to a minimum.
ANNUAL REGISTRATION
All judges and officials will be required to register annually – to confirm their contact details are up to date and that they wish to continue to officiate in the coming season.
Judges who are not active and who have not as yet attended a basic International Judging System seminar will be removed from the NISA Officials list unless they specifically wish to start training with a mentor.
The lists must reflect up to date active officials in order to ensure event organisers are able to use the list with confidence when planning their Open Competitions.
RESULTS AND DATA
Lesley James has been appointed the NISA Data and Results Coordinator which will be a huge bonus to our overworked Results officials and offer a comprehensive structure to those in training keeping up to date records of activities.
A proposal is being prepared to all Clubs regarding the appointment of Data and Results officials; this may be available prior to the publication of this report.
There has been continuous training in data and results throughout the year and thanks go to all of those involved in this delivery.
JUDGES AND OFFICIALS LISTS
With such a large number of people on the NISA lists it has been agreed that private addresses and some multiple phone numbers will now be removed from the list which is passed out to organisers and distributed generally to NISA officials. The up to date version of this is a work in progress at time of reporting but will be available shortly, and possibly prior to publication of this report.
TEAM LEADERS
The team leader pool has now been expanded and an updated Team Leader Manual will be available for Season 2014-15.
SHORT TRACK
The Short Track section of the Judges and Officials portfolio has been entirely administrated by Tina Noble who has done a first class job.
ISU SEMINARS
NISA will be hosting an ice dance seminar in Glasgow during 2014 and singles/pairs officials will be offered the opportunity to attend their seminar in France this year. Those due to recertification in Synchronized Skating will be advised in due course.
Maggie Worsfold has kindly agreed to act as ISU Seminar Coordinator.
TEST ORGANISERS
Test organisers continue to do an extremely important job, giving up a great deal of their time to ensure the smooth running of test sessions and their efforts are much appreciated by the NISA Board, the skaters, coaches, judges and rink management.
JUDGES AND OFFICIALS TRAINING
NISA have funded two exceptionally successful seminars, “Judging in Great Britain – the Way Forward”, to bring judges across to a better understanding of IJS and working with the full IJS kit.
The Solo Dance Championships hosted a dance Seminar, moderated by Garry Hoppe for lower level and probationary judges.
A component seminar, moderated by Chris Buchanan and Vanessa Riley, for Singles, Pairs and Dance Judges was included at the August IJS in Sheffield.
A probationary judges Synchronized Skating seminar was moderated by Cynthia Alepin during the British Synchronized Skating. Some of the attendees were asked to follow up this seminar with an exam at the Trophy D’Ecosse. Results pending at time of this report being issued.
Through the diligence of a number of senior officials who have also taken on the role of mentor, there is ongoing one to one training on a continuous basis in all disciplines and areas of officiating.
IN CONCLUSION
The administration of this portfolio is gradually being brought into an updated structure within the NISA office and the proposal of an online resource for Judges and Officials is still in the pipeline.
The NISA Judges and Officials will be very ably represented at the forthcoming ISU Congress by Vanessa Riley, currently our most senior Singles/Pairs ISU Official, and my thanks go to her for her continued involvement with this portfolio as my subgroup lead.
The teamwork from the newly appointed NISA Coordinators and other members of this portfolio subgroup ensures good delivery to our many officials in their varying roles and I would like to thank all of those involved with this delivery for giving their time and expertise to NISA in this way.
My thanks also go to all our Judges and Officials for their continued support to British Ice Skating and I wish you all a rewarding and happy 2014-2015 Season.
Judy Clinton
SYNCHRONIZED
SKATING
ANNUAL
REPORT
2013-2014
NISA SYNCHRONIZED SKATING ANNUAL REPORT – 2013-2014
Synchronized Skating continues to thrive in Great Britain. The season 2013-2014 has seen a record number of British teams competing at home and abroad.
The Winter Cup in Belgium welcomed 11 Teams from Great Britain and due to the numbers involved, Odette Coulson kindly agreed to act as Team Leader on behalf of NISA. Many medals were won by British Teams and the event was a wonderful success for Belgium.
Many other teams have travelled abroad through the season, some more than once experiencing the magic of international participation and winningmore medals.
The British Synchronized Skating Championships wereheld as a standalone event, in January and with an entry of 50 teams. The atmosphere was electric, the Flash Mob arranged by the Sheffield Synchronized Skating Teams was a huge success and congratulations and thanks go to all those involved, Teams, Coaches, Team Management, Judges and Officials, NISA Event Team headed up by Esme Hamilton the Event Coordinator, the many volunteers, the management and staff of Ice Sheffield and last but by no means least the wonderful supporters, parents and friends who made up the audience.
Nottingham Icicles qualified to represent Great Britain at the Junior World Challenge Cup in Neuchatel, Switzerland and are congratulated on their 14th position, a great achievement. Sandra Barker acted as GBR Team Leader. Wight Jewels from the Isle of Wight were GBR Reserve Team.
Team Spirit from West Wales qualified to represent Great Britain at the Senior World Championships in Courmayeur in Italy. They had a great skate and secured a very credible place ahead of Belgium and Spain. Peter Morrissey acted as GBR Team Leader.
Zariba from Aberdeen were reserves for the Senior Championships and successfully defended their title as Senior Scottish Synchronized Skating Champions in Dumfries at the Trophy D’Ecosse.
The British Championships also saw teams from Gosport, Basingstoke, LeeValley, Bracknell, Sheffield, Altrincham, Dumfries, West of Scotland, Braehead, Inverness, Hull, Solihull and Slough. Trophy D’Ecosse saw Deeside joining the list of British squads. It is exciting to have been informed there is already at least one new squad due to take to the British Synchro Stage next season – will there be more?
The Trophy D’Ecosse – now in its 4th year, and firmly established as the UK’s only regular International Competition on the ISU calendar - welcomed teams from Berlin Germany, France, Poland and Norway and was once again a great event. Dumfries and Galloway Council, together with the Dumfries Ice Bowl Management and Staff offered the warmest of welcomes as always, nothing is ever too much trouble. The Local Organising Committee headed up by Bryan Morrice and Janet Girdwood did, as ever, a terrific job and the event ran like clockwork. On a sad note, Bryan Morrice is now retiring from his skating commitments. All of those involved with this event and the many others he has been involved with over the years will I know join with me to thank him and wish him well in his many other pursuits – in particular his golf.
The British Synchro coaches are to be particularly congratulated on their work with this discipline. Organising Synchro squads is a massive undertaking with many hurdles to overcome including shortage of ice time, shortage of team members’ availability to all fit together whether it be through family, commitments, school, work or illness – most coaches work regularly with partial teams on the ice and yet still pull it all together for the big day – a big well done to all.
Thanks must go to the Judges and Officials who work tirelessly at the events and the organising committees who make them happen. Guidance and support from Chris Buchanan throughout the season is invaluable to the British Synchro Community, and thanks must also go to the Technical Committee ably lead by Chair, Noel Grimshaw.
On behalf of the NISA Board I am proud to represent this great discipline and to wish all those involved in Synchro a great 2014-2015 season.
Judy
Judy Clinton – NISA Judges and Officials Annual Report 2013-2014