Home Club vs Affiliate Member | Golden Skate

Home Club vs Affiliate Member

VegMom

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 25, 2017
For US skaters...

This probably differs depending on the club, but what are some reasons to become a member of a figure skating club as either a regular member or as an affiliate member?
 

sandraskates

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
In order to take US Figure Skating tests and compete in USFS skating events, compete with your rink's Synchro or Theatre on Ice team, you must either be a full member of a skating club (a home club) or join US Figure Skating as an Individual Member (I did this at one time in my life when I lived out of the country).

The skater / person joining the local club as a full member will enroll them as a member of US Figure Skating. The member will receive the official Skating Magazine throughout the skating year.

When you join your local club you are supporting them in promoting skating, and many clubs buy ice time for freestyle sessions and resell it to their members. Those sessions can be less crowded then open freestyle sessions. They also have events open only to club members during the year.

Here's US Figure Skating's info: https://www.usfigureskating.org/content/BS-clubs.pdf

The definition for Affiliate may vary. Members can be secondary family members, such as parents and spouses (can be termed Associate member), or are a primary member at one club and want to also join another. Affiliate memberships cost less.
 

VegMom

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 25, 2017
Yes I know that. I guess I was asking why some people might be affiliate members of clubs.

We have both a home club and affiliate membership. We do it because our skater skates at both rinks and has friends at both clubs. We didn't want to alienate anyone.
But I was wondering if there was another reason to do that? I don't see any other perks.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Possible reasons I've heard of:

Loyalty to the club the skater grew up in, while needing to join the local club where they're living now to take advantage of member test fees, access to club ice sessions, etc.

Membership in one local club for ice time and a different club for testing

Membership in the club where the skater trains most often on his/her own, but also required to hold at least associate membership in a club they represent as part of a synchro or Theatre on Ice team

Affiliate membership in a local club for ice time etc. but officially representing another club that is perceived of as more prestigious (in hopes that will affect judges' opinions of the skater) or that offers better financial support or other deals for successful competitors

One member of a pair or dance team represents a club in a different section so the team has two options of which section to compete out of and each year can choose the competition they predict it will be easier to advance out of

It used to be that singles skaters could also choose to represent a club in an "easier" region, sometimes with a direct connection to that club or location, sometimes not. A number of years ago rules were changed to require juvenile through novice competitors to represent a club where they lived or trained most of the year; juniors and seniors still had the option of club hopping. Quickly skimming the rulebook now, it's not clear to me whether that is no longer the case at the higher levels.
 

Clarice

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
I'm an associate member of another club in another state where I never train and only visit once a year, just because I like them and want to support them. :)
 

hanyuufan5

✨**:。*
Medalist
Joined
May 19, 2018
Yes I know that. I guess I was asking why some people might be affiliate members of clubs.

We have both a home club and affiliate membership. We do it because our skater skates at both rinks and has friends at both clubs. We didn't want to alienate anyone.
But I was wondering if there was another reason to do that? I don't see any other perks.

Each rink still has to decide how much ice time to give the club. More members can mean more ice, because the rink will be getting more money. I think the main "perk" would be that both clubs have better funding and thus better chances of staying around and offering more services to all their members. If anyone were alienated, I don't think it would be out of pettiness, like, "Waaah, they won't join us," but more like, "They're using our ice all the time, and the rink is getting all their money while we get squat even though there wouldn't be that ice time without us."

And if the club and the rink are owned by the same people, then that's probably a pretty small rink that needs the money even more. If they don't have enough, the whole rink goes under. That happened to the one I skated at in high school. I think there's a mini-mall there now. :cry:
 

Bill S

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
United-States
A friend of mine is a judge for another rink's club. Our local club doesn't have trial judging, so she must be a member of the other club.

However to skate on local club ice when it's available, she must be an affiliate member here.

There's a wrinkle though. The local club doesn't offer an affiliate membership, so she is blocked from skating on club ice here.

-----

I am a member of my local club, but our rink is seasonal. It's closed in summer. To skate on club ice at another rink in summer, I must be an affiliate member. They offer it to members of other clubs.

However there's another wrinkle. Because our rink is seasonal and closed in summer, the membership renewals don't go out until we have ice again. There is a period of time when my local membership has expired, and I can't join the other club as an affiliate to skate in summer on their ice.

One would say to join the distant club that is year-round and then get a local affiliate membership, but again, they don't offer one. This situation is ameliorated because the local rink, when in season, offers freestyle hours in addition to the club ice.

If my local club would just offer an affiliate membership, I'd join the other club in a heartbeat, and be able to skate at both places on club ice.

Sorry for the whining, but these cases are good reasons to join another club as an affiliate.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
A friend of mine is a judge for another rink's club. Our local club doesn't have trial judging, so she must be a member of the other club.

Does the other club require trial judges to be members of their club in order to trial at their test sessions?

It's not a US Figure Skating requirement, and trial judges generally end up trialing at more than one club's tests.

I.e., even if she were a full member of your club and no other, she should be allowed to trial tests at the other club unless they have some kind of club-imposed limits on who can trial there.

If she has a judging appointment, she can certainly judge for any club that invites her to do so.

-----

If my local club would just offer an affiliate membership, I'd join the other club in a heartbeat, and be able to skate at both places on club ice.

Do you know the membership chair or other board members at this club? Can you talk them about making this available?
(Or volunteer to take on membership chair duties yourself?)
 

Bill S

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
United-States
The judge (a friend) was the person who told me about having to be a Columbus FSC member. She stated that she couldn't join our local club as a primary member. I'll mention that she should check into regulations if she still desires to be a local Athens FSC member.

Two years ago, I attempted to get the local club to offer an affiliate membership, but the request was flat-out dismissed. It was clear that the officers didn't want to deal with it.

At the time, I was really asking on behalf of my friend and not for me. There will be a change in club officers over the summer, so perhaps I'll check if the new officers are open to it.

From my perspective, I'd just like to be able to renew my membership each summer without waiting until September to do it. If that could possibly happen, I could join the CFSC as an affiliate for summer ice. Then all my individual problems would vanish.

I'm not going to get too worked-up even if I can't get things straightened out. From here, most Columbus rinks require almost 2 hours travel each way. I'm never going to skate more than twice per week in summer with that time commitment. I'll continue to attend mostly Columbus public sessions with an occasional non-club freestyle session tossed in. Chosen carefully, some of the Columbus public sessions have fewer skaters than most freestyle sessions, like this one.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Good luck.

Yeah, empty public sessions are great. Unless you want to run programs and the don't allow that.
 

ayb2

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Our coach goes to multiple rinks. Our home rink is where we are full members and we contract ice. One of the other rinks is $18 per hour for walk on, but only $13 if you're an associate member, which is $45 per year. So it makes sense to get the associate membership if only to get the ice time discount if you skate more than 8 hours a year.
 
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