General Skating Chat

[Paskud]

Meanwhile I still wonder how they plan to give assignments to GP series next season...

[Paskud]

requirements for ice dance programs in 2021/22 season

https://www.isu.org/inside-isu/isu-communications/communications/25476-isu-communication-2371/file

[Fay]

A long and somewhat whiny article about why the US were great in FS in the 1990s and why they no longer are. There are certain good points, though some points are annoying. Like figure skating is black and white, so black people are welcome. Asians are hardly acknowledged, I suppose. Oh, and the new scoring system destroyed the FS etc etc 

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22276736/figure-skating-olympics-winter-2022-lessons

[Paskud]

  On 2/18/2021 at 8:03 PM, Fay said:

A long and somewhat whiny article about why the US were great in FS in the 1990s and why they no longer are. There are certain good points, though some points are annoying. Like figure skating is black and white, so black people are welcome. Asians are hardly acknowledged, I suppose. Oh, and the new scoring system destroyed the FS etc etc 

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22276736/figure-skating-olympics-winter-2022-lessons

Expand  

  Quote

Japan, another skating powerhouse, also has a system in which young skaters attend highly competitive camps to work with elite coaches.

Expand  

Sounds nice, but this camp lasts less than one week per year and only top-top novice/juniors are invited there.🤨

[Dreamer]

Many Americans are very ignorant about other countries and cultures: many of those in red states have never traveled outside of their state/country, don't know where many foreign countries are located on a map and actually ask how long it takes to drive from Florida to Shanghai. 

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 2/18/2021 at 8:03 PM, Fay said:

A long and somewhat whiny article

Expand  

You thought so too, eh? While the writer had a point about how expensive figure skating is as a sport, most of the rest of the piece had me rolling my eyes. And the nostalgia for the 6.0 system nearly made me puke. No one ever had any clue how the judges arrived at those 5.8s and 5.9s. At least in the new system you can see what they're doing, more or less. 

 

As for discrimination in figure skating, it's a problem that isn't going to go away as long as there aren't many coaches and officials of different ethnicities than white...you can promote racialized skaters all you want but the fundamental problem will remain until there's a diversity of voices in the powers that be of the sport. 

 

[SitTwizzle]

  On 2/22/2021 at 6:11 PM, rockstaryuzu said:

You thought so too, eh? While the writer had a point about how expensive figure skating is as a sport, most of the rest of the piece had me rolling my eyes. And the nostalgia for the 6.0 system nearly made me puke. No one ever had any clue how the judges arrived at those 5.8s and 5.9s. At least in the new system you can see what they're doing, more or less. 

 

As for discrimination in figure skating, it's a problem that isn't going to go away as long as there aren't many coaches and officials of different ethnicities than white...you can promote racialized skaters all you want but the fundamental problem will remain until there's a diversity of voices in the powers that be of the sport. 

 

Expand  

Discrimination maybe, but underrepresentation, in my opinion, could be much less severe if costs were not that astronomical, at least for the more gifted. Given, of course, the income/ethnicity relation.

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 2/22/2021 at 7:12 PM, SitTwizzle said:

Discrimination maybe, but underrepresentation, in my opinion, could be much less severe if costs were not that astronomical, at least for the more gifted. Given, of course, the income/ethnicity relation.

Expand  

Cost is for sure the most fundamental problem. 

[river]

  On 2/22/2021 at 6:11 PM, rockstaryuzu said:

You thought so too, eh? While the writer had a point about how expensive figure skating is as a sport, most of the rest of the piece had me rolling my eyes. And the nostalgia for the 6.0 system nearly made me puke. No one ever had any clue how the judges arrived at those 5.8s and 5.9s. At least in the new system you can see what they're doing, more or less. 

 

As for discrimination in figure skating, it's a problem that isn't going to go away as long as there aren't many coaches and officials of different ethnicities than white...you can promote racialized skaters all you want but the fundamental problem will remain until there's a diversity of voices in the powers that be of the sport. 

 

Expand  

 

Oh, Americans looooove the 6.0 system. And the overwhelming public perception of figure skating here is still that of the ice princess. I'm always bemused by articles in the US press bemoaning our lack of success at the top levels of figure skating, even though the reigning World champion in men's singles is American, and we have one of the deepest dance fields in the world. Nope, if we don't have a skater on the ladies' podium, then the US isn't competitive in skating.

 

Yes, we need far more diversity, not just on the ice, but on judging panels and in the ranks of the governing bodies. Not sure how to accomplish that - I know Diversify Ice and Figure Skating in Harlem are actively recruiting (and sponsoring, at least for Diversify Ice). And skaters do eventually become coaches and officials.

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 2/24/2021 at 3:44 PM, river said:

Oh, Americans looooove the 6.0 system.

Expand  

For the sake of sweet suffering Jesus, WHY? It was the single most stagnant, opaque, thoroughly corruptible system that ever existed to score a sport anywhere. IJS, and the current +5 GOE system , have their faults but at least a skater can break down their score and see what the judges thought of them and why they thought it, and go home with an idea of what to work on for next time. 

 

  On 2/24/2021 at 3:44 PM, river said:

even though the reigning World champion in men's singles is American, and we have one of the deepest dance fields in the world. Nope, if we don't have a skater on the ladies' podium, then the US isn't competitive in skating.

Expand  

It's not even like the American women are all that bad. It's just that the Russians and Japanese are way ahead. 

 

  On 2/24/2021 at 3:44 PM, river said:

Yes, we need far more diversity, not just on the ice, but on judging panels and in the ranks of the governing bodies. Not sure how to accomplish that - I know Diversify Ice and Figure Skating in Harlem are actively recruiting (and sponsoring, at least for Diversify Ice). And skaters do eventually become coaches and officials.

Expand  

To paraphrase something TAT once said, not every judge was once a figure skater. Like any sport, some officials are probably parent volunteers who got invested in it and got better and better at it. Just like in swimming. If every timer, starter, stroke&turn judge, meet referee, etc had to be a former swimmer to qualify, swim meets wouldn't get held. It's all parent volunteers. So maybe the answer is to provide a welcoming atmosphere and training for BIPOC parent volunteers to contribute as skating officials, and then they can work their way up to the higher levels. Nothing ever happens without grassroots involvement when it comes to amateur sport. 

 

For coaching you probably do need former skaters, though. 

 

[river]

  On 2/24/2021 at 4:30 PM, rockstaryuzu said:

For the sake of sweet suffering Jesus, WHY?

Expand  

 

 

  Quote

To paraphrase something TAT once said, not every judge was once a figure skater. Like any sport, some officials are probably parent volunteers who got invested in it and got better and better at it. Just like in swimming. If every timer, starter, stroke&turn judge, meet referee, etc had to be a former swimmer to qualify, swim meets wouldn't get held. It's all parent volunteers.

Expand  

 

True. My mom has an actual phobia of putting her head underwater, but twenty-something years ago she could pretty much organize a swim meet in her sleep.

[rockstaryuzu]

  On 2/24/2021 at 6:30 PM, river said:

 

 

 

True. My mom has an actual phobia of putting her head underwater, but twenty-something years ago she could pretty much organize a swim meet in her sleep.

Expand  

Same. My dad did FINA officiating course one after another and wrote a computer program to help the swim club tabulate results...and he only knew how to do breastroke slowly...

 

Volunteers make everything happen, in the end. 

[Anni]

 

 

[Veveco]

  On 3/4/2021 at 11:25 AM, Anni said:

 

 

Expand  

And yet they cancelled their own congress planned in May of this year in the same communication.

Cowards who have no qualms endangering other people's lives for their own benefit.

[Lunna]

  On 3/4/2021 at 2:25 PM, Veveco said:

And yet they cancelled their own congress planned in May of this year in the same communication.

Cowards who have no qualms endangering other people's lives for their own benefit.

Expand  

If Thailand was open for visit they might as well happily go there.