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Wikipedia Article

=The Western University Varsity Figure Skating Team=

The Western Figure Skating Team represents the Western University in London, Ontario, and has been in existence since 1991. Western University has 35 varsity sports teams and many other clubs and is known for its excellence in athletics. The Figure Skating Team is coached by Alma Moir, the mother of Scott Moir, who has won both a gold and silver medal at the Olympic Games in ice dance with his partner Tessa Virtue. Alma Moir has been coaching the Western Figure Skating Team since its creation.



Rules and Regulations
The Western University Varsity Figure Skating Team is a part of a type of figure skating that is unique to Canada. In more typical streams of figure skating, skaters or teams of skaters compete for themselves. Canadian Varsity Figure Skating, however, is made up of several different events that each University team competes in, and the standings of each team in these events contributes to the standing of the team as a whole in the competition.

For example, if a university wins gold in an event, that university's team will receive 10 points. Other points are awarded as follows: silver-7 points, bronze-5 points, fourth place- 3 points, fifth place- 2 points, and sixth place- 1 point. Below sixth place, the team will not receive any points towards its total. There is also an exception for the synchronized skating event, where gold is worth 15 points, silver-13, bronze- 10, etc. There are approximately 14 events total from both free skating and ice dance categories.

Synchronized Skating Event
Each team has a maximum of 17 members on the roster, and each member competes in one or multiple events.

Types of Events
The events are categorized in the following manner.

Competitions
In a standard Varsity Figure Skating season, there are three major competitions. One is in the first half of the year and is called the "Fall Invitational." The next major competition is the "Winter Invitational" and the biggest competition is the Ontario University Athletic Championship. Each of these competitions is hosted by a different university every year.

Famous Figure Skaters who Have Made Varsity Figure Skating Debuts
While this stream of figure skating is reserved for amateur athletes, occasionally, ex-competitive figure skaters who have decided to go to school will make appearances in the Varsity stream. Some examples include, Margaret Purdy, Diane Szmiett , Paul Poirier , Asher Hill , and Paul Bonifacio Parkinson.