There is no greater stimulus to skating interest than a competition in which numbers of the best skaters enter and in which the judging is satisfactory. In Europe these competitions are held every winter and call out entries from many localities. After a series of elimination contests by which the local champions are determined, there are then held the national and international championships. These latter are not held in the same place every year, but are taken about so that different localities and even different countries, may have the privilege of seeing the champions skate and of feeling the stimulus to copy their fine work.

There should be frequent competitions in every locality. Sport clubs generally are equipped to arrange these events and carry them to success. Let them invite local champions and good skaters from the vicinity. From these the winners may be selected to represent the locality in skating events at a distance or even national championships. In the United States there would seem to be good opportunity to develop state champions and from them determine who is the national champion. The great distances which separate the different parts of your country seem to be the only drawback to such an interesting series of skating competitions.

The selection of judges is most important. These should be themselves good skaters, familiar with the style of skating now generally accepted all over the world as correct, the principles of which are the subject of this book. They should be encouragers of skating and do everything in their power to interest the competitors and the public in the event. Much of the interest in future contests depends upon the judges. No sport can long carry the handicap of unfair or biased judging.

A selection from the elementary and advanced school figures is made by the three or five judges. Every competitor is required to skate these figures. Then three or five minutes is allowed for free skating. The standards for judging the free skating are difficulty and variety of the contents of the programme and its manner of performance as to arrangement of figures, combinations and contrasts, correct carriage, etc. The judges make their marks independently and the totals are then combined. The method of marking both school figures and free skating is to give the competitor a mark for his performance which may be anywhere between 0 and 6 and then multiply this mark by the factor which is shown for the figure skated. The factorial number is stated opposite each of the school figures in the diagram.

The arrangement is such that no free skating programme, however perfect or spectacular, can win for the skater more than two-thirds of the marks obtainable for perfect execution of the school figures. In other words, mere showiness of skating cannot win over superior performance of foundation elements. The justice of this arrangement is obvious. The marks for the school figures and the marks for free skating form a total which is the rating of the skater in the competition. If there is a tie the skater having the highest marks in school skating wins.

The basis for judging is first, correct tracing on the ice; second, position, carriage and movement; third, size of the figure; fourth, the placing of the figure in triple repetition. The judges’ cards should be carefully kept and shown afterward on demand.