Officials play a very important part in our sport. As volunteers, they donate their time, knowledge and expertise to assist in the development of our athletes and are valued members of the Association. There are different types of officials which fall into three main categories: evaluators/judges, referees and accountants. Judges are perhaps the best known officials and they are usually former skaters who have had a positive experience in the sport and wish to help others attain their goals.

Officials, outside the arena, are doctors and lawyers, school teachers and librarians, domestic engineers, business administrators, police officers, paramedics, financial analysts, university students, professors, marathon runners, writers and so on. You will find more information on the types of officials and how to become involved in this section.

Officials are valued members of the Association who donate their time, knowledge and expertise to assist in the development of our athletes. In figure skating there are four main categories of officials - evaluators, judges, referees and accountants each with a specific job to do.

In the sport of figure skating all officials are volunteers and they are involved in skating because of their love of the sport and to assist in the development of both skaters and skating in this country. Their reward is to see skaters grow and improve throughout the years.

Who are these officials? They are people from all walks of life, they are doctors, lawyers, school teachers, librarians, domestic engineers, business administrators, police officers, paramedics, financial analysts, university students, professors, marathon runners, writers and so on. The bottom line is that officials are ordinary people trained for a specific role in the sport of figure skating.

If you decide you want to become a Skate Canada official, you will have to meet certain criteria and complete certain tasks and activities to become qualified. These activities include participating in clinics and seminars, skill tests, trial officiating (where you will receive written assessments from qualified officials) and actual officiating. To move up through the system, an official must follow the rules which have been established for promotion. This is to ensure that every judge who officiates at Canadian competitions is both qualified and competent.

The training that the Skate Canada provides to its officials is held in high regard by other figure skating federations around the world and Canadian officials are widely considered as the best trained in the business!

If you are interested in becoming a Skate Canada official, please contact your Skate Canada Section office, or send an email to skatecanada@skatecanada.ca