WSSA 2014 RULESET

Updates and Changes Overview

Chloé Seyrès for WorldSlalomSeries.com

December 2013

On the four days following the World Championships of Freestyle Skating held in Taipei, the WSSA Technical Committee met in order to completely review the ruleset. Objective: a brand-new common ruleset for 2014!

Indeed, for years, the rules were following the same overall paths in Asia and Western countries, but the slight variations of understanding and application made the two conceptions grow more and more apart. The alarming observation was made several times over the last couple of years, and this summer, the decision was made to gather the committee at the World Championships, to debate once and for all on those differences.

The aim of the meeting was to come to a common agreement. We went back over the whole ruleset, point by point, displaying the various viewpoints and picking the options that would get the majority. Some practices that were already implemented, either in the West or in the East, have been validated. Some rules have been totally reworked, either mixing several current ideas or opting for a brand-new one. Last but not least, some rules have been added regarding the evolution of the sports.

What follows are the MAIN CHANGES that are going to occur and take effect in 2014. The points are displayed according to their order in the upcoming ruleset. The final version of the ruleset has not been validated and some of the details described below may still evolve since then.

THIS IS ONLY AN OVERVIEW OF THE 2014 UPDATES.

THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE OR A FINAL VERSION OF THE 2014 RULESET!

1. COMPETITION GROUND LAYOUT

The former 'training area' will be renamed 'WARMING UP AREA', emphasizing the purpose (warming up) and the importance of that area, too often neglected by competition organizations, with the argument that competitors should train beforehand, as competition is a time to compete, not train. The name change should erase the former misunderstanding.

A few other precisions have been suggested as for the laying out of the competition ground without much changes involved, at least not concerning the competitors.

2. CLASSIC FREESTYLE SLALOM

Classic freestyle is, with the slides competition, the part with the most and the biggest changes. The marking and ranking concepts will remain the same, with the technique and artistic parts interlinked, as it proves to be accurate on groups with a decent number of skaters.

Yet the remark was made that 20 to 25 skaters seemed to be the limit for that ranking accuracy. Two options presented themselves: either reorganizing the whole grading organization or reworking on the number of skaters per group.

The second solution was voted, with simple and fair qualification system. The following concept will only APPLY TO CATEGORIES EXCEEDING A REASONABLE NUMBER OF SKATERS, i.e. beyond 25 or 30 skaters at the head judge's discretion, which will mainly – if not only – concern senior men's categories on big events:

Based on the world ranking, the top competitors will automatically be pre-qualified and the remaining skaters will be split into groups according to their world ranking, following the type of distribution described below. The head judge will decide the number of pre-qualified skaters, the number of qualification groups, and the number of skaters going through to the final round.

There will be two main changes here: the timing as well as the start of the performance.

The choice of STARTING WITH THE MUSIC has two aims:

1. Skaters will be free to start whenever they want, but waiting too long outside the cones will only be to their disadvantage. The rule will prevent never-ending introductions.
2. Starting the time as soon as the music starts means that the performance starts too. The rule will encourage the presentation of a performance as a whole unit, introduction included.

The timing will have to be extended given the change of start, which in the end will not make much difference with the time skaters actually spent to present their runs, if you took the music introduction into consideration. The change will be more symbolical, proposing an interval of 1'45'' to 2'00'' instead of a set time of 1'30'' (±10'').

The interval rule will also leave a consequent margin of 15'' to the skaters to organize their performance, especially according to their music, rather than having to aim at a precise timing, like the former 1'30''.

For Western freestylers, this update may be seen as a downgrade, reminding penalty rules of former competition formats. Yet this rule never ceased to be up to date in Asia. With a little variation though, it is about cone intervals, not just cones.

In view of standardization, that proposition was validated by the committee, taking into consideration that the performance time being extended to 2 min, this leaves more time to complete each interval without being an impediment to the skater's creativity, as it could have been with a 1'30 performance.

All non-passed cone intervals will be penalized as missed cones.

A note will be added concerning the behavior of the skaters during their performances. Indeed the discipline of Freestyle is turning into full acts with more and more expression. This note will simply intend to prevent potential inappropriate and disrespectful behaviors – especially sexual, violent or insulting gestures, particularly towards the judges.

As well, accessories and props will not be permitted anymore in order to avoid digressions during classic performances.

The grading structure will still be based on the same concept and the maximum score will still be 100 points. Yet the proportions will be revised: both TECHNIQUE AND ARTISTIC WILL BE SCORED OUT OF 50 (formerly: tech. /60 and art. /40). The new balance will give more room to the artistic side of the performance. But artistic will still be partly dependent from the technique score!

The TECHNIQUE SCORE will still be based on slalom trick difficulty, then completed by criteria such as variety, continuity, speed and rhythm.

The ARTISTIC SCORE will still be derived from the technique score with a slight update: rather than being stuck into a rigid structure made of level boxes, the artistic score will follow the guideline range of: Technique score ±10 points. That 20-point moving box will be filled out according to the skater's body performance, music expression and trick management.

All the technical and artistic criteria will be well defined on the ruleset. Only the Trick Management criterion (artistic) will have a small addition: if a skater spends too much time outside the cones, and consequently avoids the risk of skating inside the line, their trick management score will be reduced.

3. PAIR CLASSIC FREESTYLE SLALOM

The changes of individual classic slalom will also apply to pair classic.

Likewise, the new timing will be 2'40'' to 3'00'' (formerly 3'00' ±15'').

The SYNCHRONIZATION criterion will be more precisely defined, following the description of two skaters doing the same type of trick at the same time in the same direction. Mirror effects will be noted as artistic instead of synchronization for an obvious reason: the judges’ eyes are not flexible enough to check both ends of a line at the same time.

4. SPEED SLALOM

The start command will remain the same: “ON YOUR MARKS. SET. < BEEP signal >”.

No move or body oscillation will be allowed after the “Set” command or the skater will be given a false start warning.

That debate ended in choosing the easiest option for the judges to judge accurately, in full knowledge that the other solution* would have benefited a lot to the skaters, to their reaction time, and consequently to their performances. The choice was: better for judges vs. better for skaters.

Fairness of judging proved to be the focus no.1 as competition is meaningless without accurate judging. For the moment, it will be the most reasonable solution. Yet, in the future that rule may be updated, in the light of technology improvements for example…

* Other solution, NOT validated: one move allowed between 'Set' and <BEEP>.

The terminology was changed into “FALSE START WARNING” (formerly “false start penalty”) in order to simply match the definition of it: a false start does not cause any penalty so to speak for the skater at fault. With a little luck, the judges will even have yellow cards to notify the warnings!

The skater will have to cross the finish line with the SUPPORTING FOOT, with at least one wheel touching the ground, i.e. the run will be void if the skater jumps over the finish line. Likewise, if the FREE FOOT touches the ground before the finish line, whether the supporting foot has passed the finish line or not, the run will be void.

5. BATTLE FREESTYLE SLALOM

The battle rules have been rewritten but without real changes.

The technique requirements will be clearly stated and, just like what is currently taken heed of in the Western countries, will include: quantity and quality to asses the difficulty of a trick, continuity and flow, trick variety, as well as footwork and linking.

Specifying FOOTWORK into the requirements will be a way to highlight its importance, too often neglected by skaters who only focus on the trick or the combo itself, forgetting about their launching or their linking.

6. FREESTYLE SLIDES

This part, after the Classic Freestyle, is the other great project of that ruleset update. The future competition regulations will be strongly influenced by those of Battle Freestyle.

The groups will be made following the same process as for Battle Freestyle, according to the slide world ranking. There will be 4 or 5 skaters per group to the max.

The skaters will go in turns and will have 4 attempts, with only the best 3 taken into account. Apart from special cases, like pre-qualifications or head judge decisions, the best 2 skaters of each group will go through to the next round.

In final there will be 5 slides, with the 4 best taken into account.

There will be no compulsory combos. The skaters will be free to show the slides they want, however they will be penalized if they do not show variety. The slides will be judged according to their technical difficulty, distance covered, body stance, completion of the stopping, finishing and combinations.

The final version of that new standardized ruleset will be published in early 2014. Stay tuned!

Chloé Seyrès for WorldSlalomSeries.com