User:Giveamouseacookie

I am a UC Santa Barbara student enrolled in a technical writing course for engineering students. My first big assignment for the class is to write a wikipedia article. Gulp.

Sleeping is when a body rests. Using five stages, we can divide sleep into levels of increasing rest and relaxation. Each level is characterized by slower patterned brain waves. The waves organized by speed are Alpha, Beta, Theta, and Delta waves.

I don't know how to make a subpage, so I'll post my article here.

=United States Figure Skating Association (USFS)= The United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA), is an organization responsible for figure skating on ice in the United States. Skaters represent the USFS in world level figure skating competitions each year, for example, at the World Figure Skating Championships and also at Four Continents. US Figure Skating is recognized by the United States Olympic Committee under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, which means USFS may enter skaters in the Olympic Games representing the United States. US Figure Skating sanctions competitions and testing for pairs, singles and ice dance skating in the United States, and executes programs like the Basic Skills program, Special Olympics programs and collegiate programs for members. US Figure Skating is a non-profit organization that pays for these programs through sponsors and membership dues.

Governing
The USFS is an association of clubs, governed by its members and its elected officers at national, regional and club levels. The USFS has over 700 clubs in the United States today. Each of these clubs may send delegates to the Governing Council that meets each year. As of 2006, U.S. Figure Skating claims to have a membership of over 196,000. The association's division into Eastern, Midwestern, and Pacific Coast sections reflects the historical concentrations of clubs in the Northeast, Chicago area, and California during the early years of the USFSA's existence.

Mission Statement
“As the national governing body, the mission of the United States Figure Skating Association is to provide programs to encourage participation and achievement in the sport of figure skating on ice.”

=Membership= USFS sponsors various programs for full members and also offers special membership deals for participants who are noncompetitive.

To become a member eligible to participate in events sanctioned by the USFS, a skater must apply for membership, either through a club or individually. Membership is valid for a full year, which begins the first day of July and ends the last day of June. Membership may be renewed at the end of the year.
 * Regular

Collegiate members pay a lower price for four years of membership. Collegiate members are part of a college skating team. As of 2010, over 60 colleges have skating programs. USFS sanctions the US Collegiate Championships each year.
 * Collegiate

Also available is membership specifically for the Basic Skills program. Basic Skills is a program designed to give lessons to beginning skaters. The lessons are meant to be introductory for both the recreational and the competitive skater, but the technique taught in the Basic Skills program leads into beginning levels of testing and competition. There are 900 Basic Skills programs in the United States. As of 2006, 2/3 of the members of USFS are skaters enrolled in basic skills classes rather than competitive skating programs.
 * Basic Skills

The last available membership is the Friends of Figure Skating Program. The members are people who have donated $50 or more to the USFSA. 90 percent of each donation funds programs by USFS; the remaining 10 percent goes to a memorial fund. US Figure Skating is a non-profit organization.
 * Friends of Figure Skating

=Types of Skating Within the USFSA=
 * Basic Skills
 * Ice Dance
 * Adult figure skating
 * Single skating
 * Pair skating
 * Synchronized skating
 * Ice theatre

=Testing= Competitions, exhibitions and occasionally freestyles are divided by technical levels which are determined by the USFSA testing system. Testing is available for skaters regardless of whether they are competing or not. Recreational skaters may take tests to challenge themselves. Some skating clubs do testing each month. Tests are scored by judges and are graded on a pass/retry basis. Skaters have to pass tests to progress to the next testing level; tests may not be taken out of sequence. The tests are available for adult skaters, ice dancers and standard track singles and pairs skaters. Tests are available for Moves in the field, Free Skate, Pair skating, Compulsory Dance, and Free Dance. Adult testing is divided into four levels. Adult testing is available to skaters 25 years old and up, although adult skaters may also test at the standard track level.

Standard Track Levels
There are two tests at each level of standard track testing, Moves in the field and freestyle testing. The Moves in the Field test is patterned and skaters should exhibit speed and strong extension (good form and posture) for high scores. A skater may pass as many Moves in the Field tests as he or she wishes without competing at a higher level of competition, because it is the skater’s highest passed freestyle level which determines their level of competition. However, the skater must pass the Moves in the Field test for a level prior to taking the Freestyle test for that level.

Moves in the Field/ Freestyle
 * Pre-preliminary/ Adult Pre-Bronze
 * Preliminary/ Adult Bronze
 * Pre-juvenile
 * Juvenile/ Adult Silver
 * Intermediate/ Adult Gold
 * Novice
 * Junior
 * Senior

Pair Skating Levels

 * Preliminary
 * Juvenile
 * Intermediate
 * Novice
 * Junior
 * Senior

Ice Dance Levels
Compulsory dances
 * Preliminary
 * Pre-Bronze
 * Bronze
 * Pre-Silver
 * Silver
 * Pre-Gold
 * Gold
 * Jr. International
 * Sr. International

=Budget= Its annual budget is approximately $16 million; the majority of the organization's income derives from sale of the television and corporate sponsorship rights for the annual U.S. Figure Skating Championships and other events such as Skate America and other international and made-for-television competitions which are produced each year by the association. Although the Executive Director and other headquarters staff are paid employees, much of the business of the association is carried out by volunteers. In particular, skating officials such as judges and referees are not paid. =Sponsors= Partners Suppliers Licensees
 * AT&T
 * American Society of Clinical Oncology
 * The J.M. Smucker Co.
 * State Farm
 * United Airlines
 * Hilton Worldwide
 * Ice Network.com
 * NBC Sports
 * US Bank
 * Main Event

=Media= USFS is the publisher of Skating magazine (est. 1923), and houses the World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame in its headquarters building in Colorado Springs, Colorado. USFS has recently expanded to the internet, first with its site USFigureSkating.com in 1995 and then with a partner they opened the Ice Network, where subscribers can find footage of figure skating competitions, etc owned by USFS. USFS also has Myspace, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

=References=

Category:Figure skating