This past meet, as in previous meets we were unable to provide sufficient warm ups for the Novice block of events. This is a problem we as Officials & Coaches ... and even skaters need to address! We value the imput of the skaters hence, the creation of this Message Board.


The rulebook says the Cheif Official shall be the presiding head of all that happens on the floor, including warm ups. By the rulebook, we don't have to give Warm-Ups if time is tight. At the Olympic and Frenchtown Meets we were able to give sufficient (althought short) warm ups to all skaters but were not as fortunate at the 309 Meet.

What should we do?

Should we change the schedule to rotate a block of standard, novice, standard, novice, standard.. So that everything is intermixed? Should we save the Pro Races until the end? Should we get rid of the relays all together? Should we change the events so that the Novice Block skates first, having the Tiny Tot skaters, skating first thing? What do you, as Officials, Coaches, and Skaters think we should do to make the meets run smoothly, get everyone a warm up, and everyone go home happy?

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Justin:

For warm-ups is there a set time limit that we use for each division? We could maybe try combining divisions during warm-ups (if that isnt already done) for those that dont have many skaters in them. Or combine girls/boys if that wouldnt be too many people on the floor at the same time (keeping it safe)

Also, the pro warm-ups could be shortened and done together. I dont mean everyone together but instead of warming up 1 race, then running it, then warming up again and running them....warm-up the entire block of pro races then run them. I know its hard because many skaters that skate pro dont always come when they are called to check-in right away but if they miss their warm-up tough.

We could def. move pro to the end. However, by doing that many JO skaters/families will miss the events because they will leave after they get done skating. Heck, I would maybe even say the numbers in pro might drop even lower because standard skaters will not want to stay until the end to skate their pro race. Could we start with pro? I'm just thinking maybe it will shorten the set-up time each time we have to do it if we start the day then just take it down once, setup regular track, then do it one more time setup and take down. It eliminates 1 down time in the schedule that way. But also....starting pro.....i guess still some/many JO skaters will still not see them if they dont start skating till 8ish...why be there at 6....?

I dont think you should take away relays. We dont always do them anyway. But, some of them def. could have been combined when only 1 team was racing then the next race only 1 team again. Why not have them together? Still place them seperate but....just my thoughts!

Sorry I wasnt more of a help. Any other ideas?

~jaime~
SOS RACING

Justin,
I overheard your father talking about this a little bit on Sunday. I agree that every one should have the opportunity to warm-up if time permits. Not only because it enhances performance but prevents injury as well. As much as I love Relays and believe that it is important to practice them in a race setting, I believe that the best way to remedy this situation is to push the relays to the end. The league is running great and e everyone is doing a great job. But the primary goal is for every skater to compete at their top level. As well as to gain experience by skating in a true Meet environment and the way to do that is to ensure that everyone gets the proper treatment. Keep up the good work!! that is just my opinion. Move relays to the end. Run them if we can. -Matt Walther






Pinnacle-Ion-MPC Race Team

I agree with Matt, if we push the relays to the end we should be pretty warmed up already to skate them. Plus in the beginning of the meet our warmups are pretty long compared to the other warmups throughout the day, making these equal times to all other warmups during the meet would probably help. But of course I understand why our warmups are longer in the morning because we just woke up or drove and need more time to stretch out and warm up, but thats why roll-arounds are good too. B)

Priority should be given to races that matter, the divisions, relays are just for fun. To not run warm up for novice is an example of what not to do. If you are going to run the division races you should have warm ups.

We know for sure that everyone is at the league meets for their Division races. After that, only some people want to compete in relays. It seems to me that taking care of the universal interest first would be the fairest thing to do, not to mention taking the pressure off of the organizers a might.

The higher pressure option would be to run the relays first followed by Divisions, allowing those who don't care to participate in relays the option of sleeping in a little more. I'm not sure if the meet organizers would want to commit to the schedule this way.

I've heard the notion that "we have to run relays in the middle because if we ran it at the end, no one would stay for them." If that is the case, then it speaks volumes about whether our league members really want relays as part of the event.

As far as warmups go. I believe that the 2 minute block warmups followed by the protracted wait until race time doesn't really serve to warm up anyone sufficiently.

Just my $.02, you guys do such a good job with things these days that I'm with you no matter what way you opt to go.

I guess I'm alone is saying that I like the relays and think they should stay...

To make something clear... The Relays arent what put us behind at the end. We had sufficient time after finishing the middle distances, but once the short races started we had a couple mix up with placements, helmets, and other technical, unavoidable, problems that put us behind schedule. Just to make it clear that the RELAYS didnt put us behind schedule because we only suggest the relays when we can foresee having enough time to do them...

Justin,

You are not alone about wanting the relays to stay. I dont think actually anyone stated not to do them at all. Just some suggestions in when to put them in the schedule. Being a newer skater myself, I welcome any opportunity to do relays in a race situation because those opportunities are far less than division races throughout the year. KEEP 'EM

Jaime

Here's an idea ...

Standard - Novice - PRO - PRO - Novice - Standard

- This willl give the standard skaters a chance to rest before there 2nd standard race

- We only have to change the track 1 time (saving ALOT of time)

- The PRO's will not need 2 warmups because they just ran 5 races ago...

- The PRO's are the best - so they should be able to handle a race and then
another 5 races later (( Get them ready for Nationals when you have a relay and a couple races later you have another relay ))

- The Novice skaters get a chance to rest between races, but not to long so if we have to run a short warmup .... they won't be to cool down

- The Novice Skater will be able to pick there medals up before they leave the building

- It's not to early for the Novice skater to be there and they can leave a little earlier if they have to

- If we put Relays at the end - the Standard Skaters will still be there to run the relays - I think they'll wait 15 minutes for another race as a posse to 45 - 60 Minutes


Just my thoughts,

Mike Snow

Wow Mike:

LOL! This is the best thing I've heard out of you in FOREVER! :P


~Jaime~

If we [FONT=Impact]have the schedule like that then we would have pro complaining all the time that their tired since they have to skate back to back, but their pro they should be able to do that! The relays are good to our league for practice; I would think that the relays are considered warms since we had to get rid of the roll-a-round due to the fact of what occurred last session.
With changing the schedule we will always have a problem. We have run off this schedule for years. But a change may be a good thing, we have to make it fit to everyone’s races, you may have standard skate and pro or novice and skate standard. But if we were to change the schedule I think that it should be
( Standard-Novice-Pro…Relays….Novice-Pro-Standard)(
But it is true how do we know that everyone will stay for their second race if it is changed. [/FONT][SIZE=7]

Have to agree with Justin and Mike.

Mike's schedule makes sense because the Novice skaters do want to take their medals home as they receive them - seeing the medal is an incentive for them to return for the next meet. The Pros are Pros afterall so they should be able to run two races fairly close together (including the freshmen and under).

The relays are really necessary and it would be nice to see all the coaches encourage their skaters to participate. As everyone saw on Sunday, we NEED the practice for relays. Yes, everyone focuses on division but when Nationals rolls around then everyone looks for relays to make the trip "worth it". But, by that time, we should have our relays and timing down to an art. However, I wouldn't run relays first or in the middle because I can certainly understand why skaters wouldn't want to risk getting hurt in a relay and not be able to compete in their division so I think it should be last...

I've never been a proponent to do things just because that's the way they've always been...so let's mix it up a little and see what happens :)

By the way, OFFICIALS, I'm happy that you take the time to instruct skaters on the proper way to wear helmets, zip up their skinsuits, take off or cover their jewelry - that's what makes our league special. Taking it a step further, it would have been nice to let the Primary boys (I think) run their relay with the next group (2 sets of Elementary I think) because they would have followed by example instead of being DQ'D - at their age, it's sometimes traumatic to leave the floor without finishing...they may not want to do another relay because of it (exaggerating to make the point). Just think of the tears when one of our little guys jumped twice and didn't get to race.

Hey Hey Hey Now... We gave the little guys three strikes before we took them off and then, when we took them off we brought them into the middle and told them what they did wrong! The reason we couldnt put the Primarys with the Elementarys is because the rules MORE than clearly state that


SR154 -

At no time can a Freshman division skater skate with a Junior or Senior division skater, nor can a
Primary division skater skate with an Elementary division skater.

We choose to observe that rule for safety purposes in the league! There is usually a method to our madness.. lol

I agree it is traumatic to have to leave the floor at such a young age but sometimes its for the benefit of the skater who may plan to go to Nationals to get that experience with people he might know around him instead of the BIG LINCOLN floor with all those unfamiliar faces around for the first time!

Now Justin, why did you jump straight to the negative when I was paying you all a compliment?!!! :)

I didn't see the whole thing with the little guys, just the part where they were being led off the floor. I don't know a lot of the rules by I have NO DOUBT that you make the calls for safety reasons otherwise I would need to watch every minute of every race because I need something to worry about...Keep up the good work and PLEASE continue to be the role models for official behavior!