Artistic Roller Skating - Figure Skating
("School Figures")
Figure skating teaches balance and control, and, like scales on the piano, is often considered the basis of all skating. Well-skated figures demand tracing accuracy, body control, and intense concentration. Each skater retraces a series of figure patterns – combining a variety of difficult take offs, edges, turns – on a set of circles painted on the skating surface.
Judges look for exact tracings performed with uniform speed, proper edge control, precise turns, and pleasing body positions. Each figure is scored separately by the judges, and the skater with the highest sum by a particular judge when all the figures in an event have been skated, is ranked first by that judge.