The First Annual U.S. Open Inline Chicago 2009 International Competition and Seminar is the first inline only skating competition ever held in the United States with the cooperation and approval of USA RollerSports and U.S. Inline Figure Skating. The three-day event will include an international competition, a trade show, and seminar which is the first of it’s kind—highlighting inline skating to a level this sport has not seen in this country. The event website http://usopeninline.com/ has complete information for everyone.
The U.S. Open Inline Chicago 2009 will be held at the USA Skate Center, Romeoville, IL. This world class facility will also be the site of the 2009 Great Lakes Regional Artistic and Speed competitions as well as a Chicago region IIWAL Artistic competition.
Individual events will focus on inline skating skills such as inline figure skating, basic inline skating, and Slalom/Freestyle. There has been a continual growth in international popularity of inline figure skating, as well as a recent significant worldwide growth of Freestyle and Slalom skating. This competition and seminar will provide a fun, educational and challenging competition that includes all levels and types of inline skating, making this an experience for all skaters of all ages from the beginner to the elite.
Inline skating is a sport that can be enjoyed anywhere and is competed internationally under the Federation of International Roller Skating (FIRS) organization at the World Championships every Fall. Inline skating is used for training by ice skaters in areas where there are limited or no opportunities to ice skate. This annual competition and seminar will be held in various locations around the United States in subsequent years.
Besides the United States, this competition and seminar has attracted interest from skaters and coaches in Brazil, France, Germany, Iran, India, Singapore and Belarus and other countries. Competitors and coaches will come representing many venues of skating: inline, quad or traditional roller skates, and ice.
We are inviting skaters, non-skaters, coaches and the general public to learn about this growing sport at the seminar from May 1 to 3. This will include aspects of training and discussion of off-skate training techniques, inline skating technique and the use of training videos. We will be doing sessions both on and off skates so everyone is welcome to bring their inline skates! Fans of inline skating and the public are invited to attend all sessions.
The organizing committee is looking for skaters, professionals and coaches to speak at the seminars. We invite them to contact the organizing committee with their proposals to a presenter. The topics can include presentations on nutrition and general athletic training issues that are not directly skating related. We are also looking for volunteers and individuals that want to help this sport to grow.
This competition includes:
- Events in Free Skating, Dance, Precision, Show, Interpretation and other similar figure skating events.
- Events that do not require a program and provide a good test of the skater’s skills and good for beginners to demonstrate their skills.
- Events for beginners as well as expert skaters.
- Survivor event-- A new original event designed to encourage team play and fun.
- Slalom/Freestyle using World Slalom Skaters Association (WSSA) rules in cooperation with the U.S. Freestyle Skaters Association.
The first-annual U.S. Open Inline Chicago 2009 Competition and Seminar is sponsored by U.S. Federation of Inline Figure Skaters (USFIFS) dba U.S. Inline Figure Skating, which can be contacted at P.O. Box 1970, Bolingbrook, IL 60440 at http://usinlinefigureskating.org/ and email can be sent to info@usfifs.org
USA RollerSports (USARS) http://rollersports.usoc.org/ is the recognized by U.S. Olympic Committee as the national governing body for roller sports in the United States, and is a member of Federation of International Roller Skating (FIRS) the governing body for all roller sports by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In addition, USFIFS has developed working relationships with U.S. Figure Skating, USA Hockey Inline and US Freestyle Skaters Association. USFIFS is a membership-based non-profit corporation and a qualified IRS 501(c)(3) tax-deductible organization.
