Skills, Tests, Achievement, Recognition – this is what STARSkate is all about!

 

STARSkate offers opportunities for skaters of all ages to develop fundamental figure skating skills in the areas of ice dance, skating skills, free skate and artistic skating. Unique in Canada, this program teaches figure skating skills in a group and/or private lesson format in a progressive and sequential manner and includes specifically designed awards and incentives. Skaters have the opportunity to take Skate Canada Tests through a nationally standardized testing system. Skaters who have mastered figure skating skills in STARSkate may also choose to pursue synchronized skating or pairs skating.

The STARSkate legacy
STARSkate has been the mainstay of figure skating in Canada for more than four decades.
When you/your child registers for a STARSkate program at your local Skate Canada club, you also become a member of Skate Canada and will have access to:

• opportunities to be recognized through a nationally standardized testing system for achieving
• specific figure skating skills
• complimentary Gold Test pins
• invitational and interclub competitions, including the STARSkate championship stream
• specifically designed awards and incentives such as badges, tattoos and stickers
• STARSkate Skater of the Year awards program
• Progress updates and report cards
• Special STARSkate events and club functions
• Opportunity for personal growth and the development of important life skills such as goal setting, self-discipline, confidence, time management, healthy lifestyle and coping strategies to deal with success and failure.
• It measures their progress and allows them to see the results of their hard work.
• It allows the coach, parent and skater to plan the season ahead
• Assessments may be done at any time throughout the season
• Your coach will decide which assessment your child is prepared for and will advise you when an assessment will be done athletes in the STARSkate Program.

 

How STARSkate works:

The STARSkate program consists of five disciplines – Skating Skills, Ice Dance, Free Skate, Artistic, and Syncho.

 

Skating Skills
Skating Skills are a combination of fundamental skating movements, executed on a pattern and skated solo. The basic components of all disciplines of figure skating are incorporated into the program. The movements are derived from former compulsory figures, free skating and ice dancing. The objective of the Skating Skills program is mastery of the basic fundamentals of skating – edge quality, control, power and speed.

There are 11 Skating Skills Assessments in the STARSkate program STAR 1-5 and STAR 6-GOLD. Skating skills will be assessed on accuracy, carriage/clarity, edge quality and power.

Ice Dance
Consisting of eleven levels of tests, the Dance Test program teaches timing, musicality, rhythm interpretation, structure as well as basic skating skills such as edges, flow, control and unison.
The dances in the STARSkate Program can be tried in any order within the specific level, but a candidate must pass the required number of dances in a dance test before proceeding to the next level. In addition to the traditional compulsory dances, there is also a Gold Creative Dance to challenge skaters’ creativity, artistry and originality.

There are 24 Dance Assessments in the STARSkate program within STAR 1-5 and STAR 6-GOLD. Dances will be assessed on accuracy, edge quality, carriage/clarity and character.

Free Skate
Free skating consists of the execution of jumps, spins, footwork, field movements and stroking, either in isolation or performed in sequence to music.

There are 11 Freeskate assessments in the STARSkate program within STAR 1-5 and STAR 6-GOLD.  Most assessments consist of two parts – Elements and Program.  Freeskate assessments will be evaluated on skating skills, jumps, spins, transitions, performance, composition and interpretation.

Artistic
The objective of the Artistic program is to encourage and develop skaters’ creativity, expression, musicality, movement, interpretation of music, as well as the use of space, rhythm, line and style. The program provides skaters with the opportunity to explore the performance aspect of skating without focusing on technical elements.

There are four Artistic assessments which consist of skating to and interpreting a piece of music approx. two minutes in length. Artistic programs will be evaluated on Interpretation, composition, performance, transitions and skating skills.