Figure Eights
      The MITF Curriculum was designed to provide skaters with the same skills that were previously acquired by skating figures, but without the hours of practice required to skate three closely traced prints on clean ice and without the aid of a scribe or assistance from hockey or patch lines.

      The geometry that was a basic part of figures does not seem to part of teaching the MITF. We are facing a new generation of skaters who are becoming coaches without any experience or understanding of the principles and concepts of skating turns and loops on 2 and 3 loop circles.

      Most PSA coaches and USFSA judges agree that MITF tests are failing to develop skaters with the ability to perform curves and turns equally well on either foot, outside and inside edges, in both forward and backward directions.  However, there are some individuals in the figure skating community who hold the opinion that the MITF tests are NOT relevant to developing good free skaters. This view is not generally shared by coaches who skated and taught figures.

      Besides the obvious problem of the cost of lessons and ice time, a major problem is that parents do not understand the need to spend the time to develop skaters with the essential edge and turn controls derived from school figures. Parents and skaters usually come to realize too late that jumps and spins are based upon the skater's ability to balance over the blade and provide the controlled body positions in all disciplines of figure skating: free skating, pair, or free dancing.

      The goal of the figure workshops is to provide the geometric skating concepts that can be acquired without closely tracing the edges on clean ice.  The workshop lesson plans are currently under development.

Level 1        Forward Outside 1/2 circles     Forward Inside 1/2 circles     Forward Outside 8     Forward Inside 8	Level 6        Forward Outside Counter     Forward Inside Counter     Back Inside Bracket     Back Outside Bracket
Level 2      Forward OI Serpentine     Forward IO Serpentine     Waltz 8     Back Outside 1/2 circles	Level 7        Forward Outside loops     Back Outside Counter     Back Inside Counter     Back Outside Serpentine db 3's     Back Inside Serpentine db 3's
Level 3      Back Inside 1/2 circles     Threes to center     Back Outside 8     Back Inside 8	Level 8     Forward Inside loops         Forward Outside Rocker     Forward Inside Rocker     Paragraph 8, Forward Outside     Paragraph 8, Forward Inside
Level 4        Back OI Serpentine      Back IO Serpentine     Forward OI Serpentine 3     Forward IO Serpentine 3	Level 9       Back Outside Loops     Paragraph 8, Back Outside     Paragraph 8, Back Inside     Forward Outside Paragraph db 3's     Forward Inside Paragraph db 3's
Level 5        Forward Outside Bracket     Forward Inside Bracket       Back OI Serpentine 3     Back IO Serpentine 3	Level 10      Back Inside Loops     Back Outside Paragraph db 3's     Back Inside Paragraph db 3's     Back Outside Rocker     Back Inside Rocker