Website: AmericanRollerSports.com
Collective Name: American Roller Sports (ARS)
Other Initialism: AARS
READ ME - AUTHOR'S NOTE
Roller Louisiane's primary and only discipline is [roller] Figure Skating, which is indicated on our club charter with USA Roller Sports (USARS). This resource article is public—meaning, it can be read and referenced by anyone—and covers the style, rules, and requirements of an organization named American Roller Sports (ARS). Per ARS's framework, roller figure skating is called Artistic Skating, hence the seemingly erroneous use of a new initialism, AARS, which stands for the discipline known through them as American Artistic Roller Skating. Currently, there is very little information about their organization via their website, so if any errors are made, they are unintentional. Therefore, you are encouraged to leave a comment below and substantiate your correction with a web resource (link).
ABOUT ARS
American Roller Sports (ARS) is a non-profit organization that hosts select competitions and testing centers throughout the US for all four of its disciplines. ARS disciplines (4) differ from those of USARS disciplines (7), which differ from disciplines of World Skate (12). You can find the current Rule Books for all ARS disciplines (4) in Roller Louisiane's File Library and on ARS's website, which is and will always be the ultimate source for the most current information. To learn more, visit each discipline's dedicated page: Artistic Skating (AARS), Speed Skating, Rink Hockey, and Inline Hockey.
ABOUT AARS
ARS's Mission Statement for Artistic Skating (AARS) is found on page 1 of their Artistic Skating Rule Book. AARS style, rules, and requirements—collectively called their Rule Book for this article—differ from that of USA Roller Sports (USARS), because ARS's organizational interpretation of AARS, which affects their array of audiences, generally speaking. ARS and AARS disciplines and subdisciplines are named and categorized differently but can be easily understood and followed by readers who keep an open mind. This article will help, too.
USARS & YOU
When you skate for Roller Louisiane, you are required to become a member-athlete (MA) of USA Roller Sports (USARS). Click here to learn about and explore USARS's member benefits. USARS is our National Governing Body (NGB) in the United States. Unlike ARS, which focuses on domestic aka American style, tradition(s), relations, and affairs, USARS is responsible for both domestic and international relations and affairs, including working with World Skate, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), International Olympic Committee (IOC), and other countries' NGBs, also known as National Federations. You may encounter resources prepared and distributed to audiences in both contexts, for which you may see the term International Governing Bodies (IGBs) used for other countries' IGBs/National Federations. ARS is a US-based non-profit organization that is neither an NGB nor an IGB.
ARS MEMBERSHIP & AARS MEETS
Some local competitions are ARS events and some local competitions are USARS events. Roller Louisiane's MAs are not required to obtain an ARS membership because no USARS MA is required to obtain an ARS membership to compete at an AARS competition but we may explore ARS membership in the future. To compete at an event hosted and led by ARS, MAs are required to pay a one-time yearly fee to ARS ($10). You can typically add this fee ($10) to your first AARS competition's entry fees for the year.
NOMENCLATURE
KNOW THE SOURCE'S POV
When reviewing ARS's site, PDFs, and AARS event pages, you're reading information intended for smaller, local, US-style Roller Sports events and thus a domestic aka an American point of view (POV). When reading USARS's site, PDFs, and webpages, you're reading resources for all POVs in Roller Sports— domestic or national and international alike. When reading World Skate's site, webpages, and resources, you're reading resources prepared for international and global audiences within the huge world of Roller Sports.
AARS INTERPRETATION
As you can see, organizations serve multiple disciplines, and each discipline houses subdisciplines. To make this cleaner and simpler, AARS's Artistic Skating Rule Book details the following subdisciplines of Artistic Skating:
• Competitive Dance
• Solo (1 skater)
• Team Dance (2 skaters)
• Creative Solo Dance
• Domestic International Dance
• Free Dance
• Open Solo Free Dance
• Open Team Free Dance
• Figures and Loops
• Youth Figures and Loops
• Adult Figures and Loops
• Freestyle
• Original Set Pattern (OSP)
• Pairs (2 skaters)
• Precision (8-16 skaters)
• Quartet (4 skaters)
VOCABULARY: COMPETITION VS MEET
Coach-to-skater, skater-to-skater, informally and formally, written and spoken, the terms competition and meet are used interchangeably and colloquially. Ex: "Are you going to the Memphis meet?" means the same as "Are you going to the competition in Memphis?"
VOCABULARY: EVENT or EVENTS
Meanwhile, you may hear before, during, and after a meet—and really anytime in your life when conversing with another roller skater—the use of the word event both written and spoken to mean something else entirely: Something more specific. This use of the term event is just an instance we have come to accept by living in the world of Roller Sports. Let's say two skaters shake hands and are having a friendly exchange:
Example | Meaning |
What event(s) did/do you skate? | In which subdisciplines did/do you compete? (General Answers: Figures, Loops, Dance, Freestyle). Since such answers are hardly ever sufficient, we can cut to the chase by putting the actual event name from the meet or meets to clarify right away. For example: "Oh, I skated Freshman/Sophomore C Men's Singles." Ok, now we have the complete picture. Freshman/Sophomore tells you the person was or is a teen or adult when it was skated; the C indicates skill level (Beginner); Singles indicates it is or was a Freestyle or Freeskate event with no partner). Sheesh! |
When is your event? | What day and time are you competing a particular event? This can also mean: I see you're dressed and ready to get on the floor within the next two hours; What time is your event scheduled to start [today]? |
"Please be advised that skaters and teams are limited to two events per discipline in figures, loops, solo dance and team dance. Free skating is limited to one event (not including inline)." | (1) You and (2) You and Your Partner can register for and skate (compete in) up to two Figures events, up to two Loops events, up to two Solo Dance events (etc) at this meet. Check out the image below for a real example from our upcoming Memphis meet. Also, see the use of free skating where freestyle could be used? That's singles, not pairs. |
EXAMPLE (IMAGE)
ARS
AARS RULE BOOK