Can someone please find me the new USA skill levels that are layed out like “Level 7.5 Artistic Intermediate Tier” style? I’d like Artistic Advanced the most, but all of them would be better. I can’t seem to find it on the USA website.
take a look at carol mcLean’s website. It has all of the different stuff. The advanced technical and artistic are under development.
http://home.comcast.net/~carol.mclean/Home/unicycle_central.htm
gotcha. That’s where I looked but I couldn’t see the advanced. Now I see they’re developing them.
if you want to help, or just to put your input in, email carol. ive helped with the intermediate technical quite a bit.
When did this happen, I never heard about this, can you link me to the infromation?
Wow, that’s pretty cool. Those goals seem more attainable than the old 10-level system.
they havent been put into effect yet. they are still in the field test stage. The 10 USA levels are still in use. Read through some of the FAQs and other stuff on the website for information.
Thanks for posting the link.
We have a draft of the new Artistic Advanced levels now. If you’d like to review them, just send me an email. They aren’t final yet, so we haven’t posted them, but I can send you a spreadsheet to look at if you’re interested.
It’s amazing how much time and effort it takes to develop these. There are so many variables to consider and decisions to make. We’ve had several riders review the new levels so far, and the field testing is going very well, but we could use more opinions on the Artistic Advanced set.
Right now, Artistic Intermediate has five skill classes (7-1 to 7-5), and Artistic Advanced will also have five (8-1 to 8-5). After that, we’ll be working on Artistic Expert (9-1 to maybe 9-3 or so).
One great feature in the new Advanced skill classes is that there will be some choices. Most skills will be required, but riders will be able to choose one skill from a list of three in some cases. We’re working out the details now.
Artistic Advanced covers the seat-out, one-footing, backward, and wheel-walking skills, along with other skills, such as more difficult idling and harder freemounts.
The tougher skills, like gliding, coasting, sideways wheel walk, and so on, will be in the Artistic Expert tier. That hasn’t been developed yet, but it will focus on testing a string of skills, rather than all separate skills, to be more challenging.
While the skill levels (old or new) aren’t for everyone, they really are a great learning tool, and a good way to compare your skills with the skills of other riders.
If you would like to participate in the field test for any of the new skill level divisions, just let me know. We’re working on Artistic, Technical, Tall, Juggling, UW, and Pairs right now.
Also, feel free to review the web site and offer comments. It does take a lot of time to look at the new system and weigh the options before you can make suggestions, but it’s great to get more input, and we really appreciate your help.
If you have any questions, just send me an email.
Thanks.
Carol
U.S.A., Inc. Skills Development Committee Chair
email: unicyclecentral at hotmail dot com
Thanks for the e-mail, Carol. Now my level is in my sig!
Why expand the old rules? Would additional sets of rules for trials, MUni, and advanced freestyle not be sufficient? You could annotate each seperate ruleset with “some proficiency in freestyle skill levels 1-4 is assumed for the base levels on the trials skill list” “Mastery of levels 1-9 is assumed for the base levels of the advanced freestyle skills list”
I’m probably overlooking something, but, what are the reasons for complicating the skill levels like this?
Basically, that’s what we’re doing.
We’re expanding the skill system to include more than Artistic skills, and we’re expanding the rules for all the divisions. We’re also trying to keep the rules as consistent as possible across all the divisions to make it easier on everyone. It’s all coordinated into one expanded system.
The new system is based on the fact that everyone has to learn the basics anyway, before they can move on to the more difficult skills, so Base 6 is now the proficiency test. (Riders can skip Bases 1 to 5 if they want, but the easier learn-to-ride levels are there if they want to use them). We couldn’t use the lower old Artistic levels as the prerequisite for the new divisions for several reasons. One main reason was idling. That’s a valuable skill, but it doesn’t come in until old Level 4, and we couldn’t require riders to pass 4 Artistic levels in order to move on to other divisions. Too many people pointed out that the old levels just wouldn’t work as a standard prerequisite for the new system, and we agreed. Thus, the new Base levels.
So, I think, more or less what you’re suggesting is what the new system is doing. By using a standard proficiency test (Base 6), we know what riders are able to do, so we know where to begin the next higher set of skill classes. Base 6 is the prerequisite for all the other divisions.
This new approach also allowed us to make some necessary changes in the old Artistic levels, such as providing stricter guidelines about the difficulty of freemounts. In the new system, riders are required to learn at least 15 freemounts of increasing difficulty, rather than the previous requirement of learning 10 mounts of any level of difficulty, (but they don’t have to test on all 15 at any one time). That’s just one area that riders asked us to change, and we were able to do that with the new approach.
Another plus in setting up the new system this way is that it’s much easier to adjust and expand. We can add a new division based on a standard set of rules that already exist. And all the rewards (pins rather than patches) will also be coordinated. You’ll be able to see at a glance what skill rank riders are by their pins, no matter what style of riding they do.
This approach also has no ceiling. We can easily create a tier above Expert for those riders who go beyond the skills we’re seeing today.
Another really interesting benefit of using this approach is the possibility of someday merging two of the divisions for riders who are really excellent in more than one riding style.
For example, we could offer an Expert Artistic/Technical set of skill classes for anyone who has passed both Artistic Advanced and Technical Advanced. Those levels would combine skills like one-footing with skills like riding on skinnies. (That’s way off in the future, but it’s interesting to consider the possibilities.) Because everything is coordinated, it will be possible to do much more with this system.
The web site has lots more about the new system, including the background and rationale behind its development, so feel free to read through that FAQ if you would like more information.
Or, you can send me an email or call me. I’ve spent many hours on the phone talking with riders and hearing their ideas about how to make this new system work, and I always enjoy hearing from people who want to help. Just send me an email to set that up.
Thanks.
Carol
email: unicyclecentral at hotmail dot com
Assuming you choose to buy/wear them. I’ll sure miss my old patches… for about five minutes. Though I still have the old jacket I sewed my level patches (and a bunch of other patches) on, I don’t know why I’m keeping it otherwise. It’s old and nasty, with pockets re-sewn together to repair tears from the formative days of unicycle Sumo, etc.
So in other words, a pin can be moved to a new location much more easily. Plus they’re shiny!
I highly recommend people involve themselves in the new skill system to see if it works for you. It’s been a long time in the making, so give it time yourself before questioning the logic too much. See if you can figure out the intent first. But then ask away. The more feedback, from varied riders around the world, the better.