Delegates approved all actions of the U.S. Figure Skating Board of Directors from the past year, conducted the Board of Directors election and approved new U.S. Figure Skating clubs at the 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Governing Council Annual Meeting, held for the first time ever via video conference.
The Governing Council meeting was originally scheduled for April 29–May 2 in Las Vegas, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it became necessary to change the dates and conduct the meeting virtually to ensure the safety of delegates and staff.
President Anne Cammett was elected to another two-year term, which will conclude an overall four years as President. In the only contested election of the Board of Directors, incumbent treasurer Troy Goldstein was re-elected to a third, one-year term. The other board members were elected to another term: Eastern and First Vice President Heather Nemier, Midwestern and Second Vice President Kristin Arneson Cutler, Pacific Coast and Third Vice President Janis Engel and Secretary Gretchen Bonnie.
Also elected to another term on the board were group coordinators Lynn Goldman, athlete services; and Karen Terry Perreault, administrative/legal. Elise Preston, membership development; and Todd Bromley, technical and officials; were elected to first terms.
Bobby Martin was elected for another term as one of two coaching members on the board. Heather Paige was elected to a first term.
Athlete representatives elected to serve on the Board of Directors were Rachael Flatt, Jenna Longo, Colin McManus and Felicia Zhang. Flatt will also serve as Athletes Advisory Committee chair.
Also during the meeting, thirteen clubs were granted full club status, and four clubs were granted provisional status.
Clubs Granted Provisional Status
- CN Figure Skating Academy (Middleton, MA)
- Iowa Figure Skating Academy (Urbandale, IA)
- FSC of Louisiana (Lafayette, LA)
- Tacoma FSC (Tacoma, WA)
Clubs Granted Full Status
- Academy at Mitchell Johansson Method (Revere, MA)
- Annapolis SC (Annapolis, MD )
- Edges of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)
- Freedom FSC (Randolph, NJ)
- Hess FSC New (Castle, PA)
- SC of Ice Land (Hamilton, NJ)
- ION Figure Skating Club (Leesburg, VA)
- Michiana Ice FSC (Notre Dame, IN)
- Mitchell FSC (Mitchell, SD)
- Sheridan FSC (Sheridan, WY)
- Thunderbirds FSC (USAF Academy, CO)
- Vegas Golden Knights Center of Excellence (Las Vegas, NV)
- Wheaton FSC (Wheaton, MD)
All of the actions of the U.S. Figure Skating Board of Directors from the past year were approved during the annual meeting. Below are some of the most noteworthy measures approved by a majority vote of the 656 delegates/athletes:
- The Synchronized Development and Technical Committee expanded use of the international judging system (IJS) to the open juvenile, pre-juvenile and preliminary levels of synchronized skating.
- The Singles Development and Technical Committee included the option for novice ladies and men to attempt quads in their free skate.
- The Competitions Committee made changes to the National Qualifying Series after receiving feedback following the first season of the NQS in 2019. Those changes include the elimination of a qualifying round and a final round in ladies singles. Everyone will perform their short program and free skate one time at a competition to get their total score. That score will be used for the sectional and national rankings. If a competition has more than 24 skaters, skaters will be divided into two or more groups, but they will still compete only one time. Also, skaters who earn a bye to a sectional singles final but decide to compete at their regional will automatically advance to the final round.
- The Domestic Officials Recruitment and Management Committee changed the appointments for synchronized competition judges, combining the junior sectional and senior sectional synchronized competition judge appointments into one sectional synchronized competition judge appointment.
- The Domestic Officials Recruitment and Management Committee expanded who can apply to test for a singles technical specialist appointment to include former novice singles competitors at a sectional championships or final, former junior singles competitors at a regional championships or challenge, and former masters junior-senior singles competitors at an adult sectional championships.
