*Overhaul of UK skating?*

CONTINUOUS forward chasses around a circle....backward one-foot glide....two-foot change of edge on a large curve....

Remind you of something? Yes, we're talking about the Skate UK levels today.

For the uninitiated, Skate UK is the National Ice Skating Association (NISA)'s learn to skate programme, used in rinks around the country to measure beginner skaters' progress. There are currently 10 levels, each with four skating elements to be mastered. It may run slightly differently at different rinks, but in ours, there are blocks of five or six-weeks of half-hour lessons (once a week), at the end of which skaters are tested. If you pass, you move up a level. If you fail, you repeat the level again.

I think everyone could share different experiences of their Learn to Skate classes. Some sail through from level one to level 10 in a few short months, others get stuck on one particular level for months on end (years even). Many adults can already manage all the elements between levels one and three when they begin the classes, thanks to recreational skating as children/teenagers, so they have a bit of a head-start. (Not me....level one I could just about manage, but not much beyond that!)

For me personally, I could name three or four elements that totally stumped me for a while, and tell you how I eventually got over them.

They were: Crossovers, both forward and back were a source of
pure terror for a while, then the devil's own inside three turns which I still cringe at the thought of practising to this day, and finally - surprisingly even to me now because it's now as simple as walking in the street - I recall several weeks of sheer blind panic at trying to master "Backward skating then step forward in both directions". Poor hubby (no comfortable skater himself) got the task of skating holding my hand, while I went backwards and tried to pluck up the courage to step forward, and almost every time failing to do it, declaring "I can't! I'm gonna faceplant if I do it."

The answer to how did I get over these roadblocks? A total cliche, absolutely. Practice. Practice. More practice. And a little bit of necessary bullying from both coach and friends.

But despite getting stuck on level 7 for three rounds of the six-week blocks of lessons (thanks to the aforementioned inside three turns - which I still state are the actual work of Satan himself), I did eventually get that level 10 sign-off; zooming through levels 8-10 a couple of weeks after returning from my broken wrist, by some weird miracle.

Now I think I'm going to be stuck at silver for the rest of my life, since I can master neither a decent spin nor a Salchow. My backward spiral also weaves off on an inside edge at the moment, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with that one.

So why am I discussing Skate UK today? Well, you may or may not know that NISA has announced some changes to the programme. They haven't yet confirmed EXACTLY what the changes will be on their website, but it involves altering Skate UK to run across only eight levels and moving some elements around the levels.

I've had discussions with a number of people over time about the list of elements, the order they're in, and I know many people think there's definitely been room for improvement - perhaps NISA thinks so too.

One specific niggle a few people have mentioned to me include the "Two-foot change of edge on a curve" ("What's that doing on level 8? Surely it should be on about three...it's just turning corners, on two feet. It's basically a really big slalom.")

I'd love to know what people think of the current Skate UK levels and which changes they'd like to see brought in....so please discuss.

Another change that looks likely to be brought in is a move to continuous assessment  -so you no longer have to wait until week six to be tested and move on. I personally think this is a great move for skaters, because there's nothing more frustrating than discovering you can do all the elements in week one and being doomed to repeat them until the final week. However - from rinks' point of view, is this such a good idea? Rinks are businesses and need to make money....and let's be honest, you're making more dosh out of someone stuck on a Skate UK level for weeks than one zooming up the ranks to completion...

I'm also hearing of possible alterations to Skate UK Star (passport), which are the levels you move up to after completing level 10. These consist of bronze, silver and gold levels, again, each with four elements.

I hear rumours that the teapot is to disappear from the levels, though I'm not sure how true this is. I think that would be a shame. Not because I LIKE the teapot, oh no.

As much as there may be room for improvement, I do actually think Skate UK's (mostly) fairly logical. I can see why a lot of things are in there and why they're placed where they are too.

Each element leads to another, more difficult variation to some degree. Obviously as you progress in your skating, you learn better (or more graceful) ways of doing something. Turning is one example: You learn a two-foot turn (the bum twister - level 4), then three turns and stepping forward from backward (levels 6 and 7), then mohawks (level 8), and way after Skate UK there come all the other, more complex ones that I'm yet to get anywhere near - brackets, rockers, counters etc etc).

You need your three turns, backward crossovers and turn to forward all when it comes to learning the three jump on bronze...and so it goes on. Which brings me back to the potential ditching of the teapot...surely we need that too? I guess we learn a "little man" on level one in (very early, granted) preparation for a teapot (on silver currently), which in turn we learn in preparation for a sit-spin. Not to mention they're a whole bunch of fun. What better than a teapot race? Especially one that ends in a hilarious collision, as one of mine once did....And you're already practically on the ice, so a bit of a fall onto your (probably) already bruised backside isn't going to do too much damage, is it?

 So I'm thinking of starting the Save our Teapot campaign. Are you in?

(Below: The teapot crash. Oops.)

ADDITION: I thought it would be helpful to post this info from David Hartley, NISA development director, who was responding to a discussion about the potential changes to Skate UK on a forum (an abridged version):

He said: "The current Skate UK programme was written over ten years ago and a lot of it is out of date and doesn't really fall in line with the fast pace of skating around the world. 
As development director one of my objectives was to put together a new and improved structure to re-energise the Skate UK brand and to bring Skate UK in to a development pathway through to elite level. 

"My first concern was that it was taking skaters across the country over a year to complete the basic Skate UK levels 1-10, if you factor in one level every 6 week block. There has always been a massive drop off from level 5 upwards and rinks have not been retaining skaters. This is way I have introduced a continually assessment to the new Structure, so skaters can move up when they are ready and not have to wait until week 5 or 6 to pass their test. The should be a more effective way of moving through the levels. 

"The current structure has ten levels and the NEW proposed structure will have only Levels 1-8. At the moment Skate UK is more centred around figure or dance and not around the fundamentals of the sport. BASICS! Once a skater has completed the levels they will then have a sound understanding of ice skating to help them explore the various disciplines within Skate UK Star.  The elements will be achievable by all Skaters regardless of age, type of boots they wear etc."

He added that the new structure will be trialled at Sheffield in September, and feedback collected from skaters at the end of the first six-week block. Roll-out of the new course across other rinks will begin in October, with the aim of it being in all UK rinks by April next year.