Virtual Competitions: Spotlight on Dr. Porter Classic
by Sami Winawer
With more and more teams starting to get on the ice, the main questions on every synchro skater’s mind are “what will this season even look like? Will we even have a season? What does a synchro competition look like in 2020? Can you have a socially distant competition?”
Two large U.S. competitions, the Colonial Classic and the Dr. Porter Classic, have chosen to answer these questions with virtual events. The chair of the Dr. Porter Classic, Larry Ward, explained their reasoning for going virtual this year. They had four questions they had to answer to run a safe competition:
- How would they follow local guidelines?
- How would they protect everyone from an airborne virus?
- How would temperature checking would work? What would they do if someone had a fever?
- Could they take the financial risk to host a competition that would likely have a lower participation rate than previous years?
Ward told us that “with so many uncertainties moving forward with regard to safety, team travel, team readiness, and budgets, but still wanting to offer something for the teams to keep up their motivation and to offer constructive feedback, we began looking into some of the virtual singles events that were occurring.” After meeting with the Colonial Figure Skating Club and talking to a coach about what an in-person Dr. Porter Classic would even look like, the Dr. Porter LOC decided that going virtual was the best choice for them.
In addition to telling us why Dr. Porter is going virtual this year, Ward also described what the virtual event will look like. The plan is for teams to upload their videos to the competition’s Google Drive where they will be reviewed and moved onto a streaming service for judges to view. They are currently “developing a Tip Sheet for videoing a synchro team with help from the Colonial FSC, some coaches, and officials, and synchro videographers” so that teams can send in the best videos possible. This Tip Sheet will be posted on Dr. Porter’s website soon. After these videos are sent in and a judging and technical panel have reviewed them over December 4th and 5th, a technical accountant will prepare the protocols and set up an online feedback session for each team providing an opportunity for teams to receive valuable feedback. Once judging is complete, the videos will be available for streaming with scores included on December 6th.
This virtual format is going to be very different from the synchro competitions we are all used to. Ward said that to make it feel more like a “traditional” synchro competition, organizations can set up a viewing party of the “livestream” to cheer on their teams. He also suggested that organizations could get a block of ice for their teams to perform on and invite parents to watch in accordance with local COVID-19 rules and guidelines.
The 2020 Dr. Porter Classic is also going to include a new event called the “Best of Element” event. Teams will be able to choose five or six elements to compete in and get individual scores for each element. This event gives teams who still have not had the opportunity to connect or get on the ice an opportunity to participate in the competition. Ward also hopes that the virtual format will allow more teams to compete than usual. They have already heard from some countries who have expressed interest in participating because there are no travel requirements.
None of us really know what the full season is going to look like. Whether it’s all virtual or not, it is very exciting that we now know will all be able to compete and watch some synchro this season thanks to the virtual Dr. Porter Classic and the work of the Dr. Porter and Colonial Classic organizing committees.
For more information on the Dr. Porter Classic you can visit their newly updated website at: www.porterclassic.org.