How To Improve Judging

1. Provide video replay
Judges should get replay for the short programs of both singles and pairs. Give them 60 seconds—no more—to review any two of the eight required elements.

2. Split the judging panel
Five members should sit on one side of the rink, four on the other. The reconfiguration would give all judges a clear view of the entire ice and eliminate the silly spectacle of skaters preening toward one side of the rink at the expense of the other.

3. Require mandatory retirement
The USFSA should follow the International Skating Union's lead by forcing retirement at 70 and also requiring attendance at quadrennial judging seminars.

4. Communicate!
At national competitions the referee for each event should explain the factors that went into a final decision. If the panel of judges is split, both majority and minority opinions should be discussed.

5. Overhaul ice dancing
Judges need choreographic training, but the flaws of the event run deeper than that. Replace the eye-glazing compulsory portion of the program with a short program in which a couple does, say, a samba, a polka and a tango in three minutes. Can the original set pattern and allow freedom of expression and movement in the long program, which is now shackled by arcane restrictions on holds, lifts and jumps.