SAFSA WP

1. INTRODUCTION

This proposal requests that SAFSA consider extending the current two-week protection window – on either side of our domestic competitions – for solo dancers to be increased to four weeks.

This adjustment aims to better safeguard the ranking points of our international athletes given the limited number of international solo dance competitions available within the season and their ability to plan accordingly.

2. BACKGROUND

Currently, the SAFSA policy allows all skaters a two-week window before and after a domestic competitions to use their internationals scores towards their ranking points.

Solo dance is a growing discipline in South Africa and the ISU, but due to the limited number of international competitions missing a single domestic event will significantly impact our top skaters and their rankings and have a disproportionately negative impact on the athlete's ranking points, especially when these conflicts are not in the control of the skater but as dictated by the ISU calendar.

Secondly solo dancers are also unfairly prejudice compared to solo skaters who the two-week window works for due to the significantly higher number of ISU competitions available to them on the ISU calendar.

3. PROPOSED POLICY ADJUSTMENT

We propose that SAFSA amends the current ranking protection for solo dancers, until such time that they have far more ISU competitions to attend, as follows:

4. CONCLUSION

We believe that this amendment would create a more supportive environment for our solo dancers and encourage international competitions without penalising our athletes for circumstances outside of their control.