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 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Governing Council Annual Meeting. Delegates also recognized and commemorated officials who achieved 25-, 40-, 50- and 60-year status and clubs that achieved 50-, 75- and 100-year status during 2020, 2021 or 2022.
Sarah Hirshland, the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, opened Saturday’s Governing Council meeting congratulating U.S. Figure Skating on its centennial anniversary and its success at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
The 2022-23 season will mark the first for U.S. Figure Skating’s new board structure.
Elected during Governing Council to the 15-person board are at-large directors Janis Engel, Kristina Lundgren, Kimberley Moore, Heather Paige (one-year terms); Victoria Hildebrand, Kevin Rosenstein, Kym Worthy (two-year terms); athlete directors Rachael Flatt, singles; Felicia Zhang, pairs (one-year terms); Jenna Longo, synchronized skating; Colin McManus, ice dance; (two-year terms); Amanda Evora Will, USOPC Athletes Advisory Council; and independent directors Jackie Chang (two-year term) and Matt Slatus (one-year term).
President Samuel Auxier was elected to a four-year term. Auxier previously served as president from 2014 to 2018.
Troy Goldstein was appointed as the ISU representative and Colin McManus was elected the new Athletes Advisory Committee chair.
Elected group coordinators to two-year terms are Lauren O’Toole, athlete services; Elise Preston, membership development; Todd Bromley, technical and officials; and Pilar Helm, administrative/legal.
Also during the meeting, seven clubs were granted full club status, and two clubs were granted provisional status.
Clubs Granted Full Status
- The Center Skating Academy (Marlborough, Massachusetts)
- District Impact SC (Washington, D.C.)
- Dubuque FSC (Dubuque, Iowa)
- Go4Gold Shakopee Skating Academy (Prior Lake, Minnesota)
- Great Lakes FSC (Glen Ellyn, Illinois)
- Iowa Figure Skating Academy (Urbandale, Iowa)
- FSC of Louisiana (Lafayette, Louisiana)
Clubs Granted Provisional Status
- Heart of Texas FSC (Austin, Texas)
- FSC of Osceola (Kissimmee, Florida)
2022 World champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were also awarded honorary membership with U.S. Figure Skating.
At the end of Governing Council, officials who achieved 25-, 40-, 50- and 60-year status and clubs that achieved 50-, 75- and 100-year status during 2020, 2021 or 2022 were honored.
2020 Judges, Officials and Clubs Honorees
2021 Judges, Officials and Clubs Honorees
2022 Judges, Officials and Clubs Honorees
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 231 delegates/athletes:
- The Competitions Committee merged the National Qualifying Series with the current regional singles and sectional pairs and dance challenges into one step.
- The nomenclature of “pre-juvenile – senior” was amended to “pre-bronze – gold” in skating skills (moves in the field), singles (free skate), free dance and pairs tests.
- The restrictions capping the highest singles, pairs and ice dance tests competitors may have passed to compete in a corresponding level were removed.
- The Collegiate Skating Subcommittee removed intermediate and novice singles, pairs and dance events from the U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Championships and implemented the U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Invitational to be conducted as a nonqualifying event in conjunction with the U.S. Collegiate Championships.
- The Governing Council approved removing references to “lady” and “man” from pattern dances and free dance tests. Partners for free dance tests will be composed of a leading partner and a following partner, and pattern dance diagrams and descriptions will have “lead” steps and “follow” steps. There will now be four separate tracks of pattern dance tests: lead partnered, follow partnered, lead solo and follow solo.
