General Skating Chat

[TallyT]

If I was one of the big names, I'd be tempted to say a polite "thanks but no thanks". Alina has won everything, has nothing to prove, and surely doesn't need the 'joy' of competing again all three of her 'successors' in a faux-Nationals;  Evgenia has everything but the OGM, so ditto (okay, maybe if Canada opens borders... but that is not looking likely any time soon).  Rika's tweet yesterday was from Switzerland, presumably she's heading back to Japan and Hamada.

 

Shoma... well, maybe if he could get to Switzerland because no one wants a repeat of last year's coachless competitions, and somehow I don't see him as remote coaching; if he did this, he could go to France with a great chance of winning (Kevin will be there but without his coaches). Nathan Chen... is he back at uni? (I thought I read he took the next year or two off but he may have chosen, given the skating wasteland, to head back if they are open). If so, looking at the numbers where the uni is, and at Nevada... umm.

 

Yuzuru, if he is in Sendai, would have first dibs on Sendai Ice Rink, and Brian did say he basically trains himself these days, so with remote (and maybe a temporary Japanese coach, most of them would be more than happy for the honour) I've no doubt he could do it, even with new programs. But even more than Alina, he has absolutely nothing to prove and only the 4A to get. The ISU will be praying that he above all does decide to swallow their pretend GP, because wherever he is will be the only one to get much of an international audience and they know it.

[SparkleSalad]

This whole thing is sick. 

[rockstaryuzu]

2 hours ago, Veveco said:

Let's be honest: the driver is money and tv rights, not some noble sport goals. Not even the Olympics can justify keeping SkAm in Vegas, one of the worst hub for Covid contamination at the moment. Especially if they plan to have an audience (still no word on that, who knows how it will be in 3 months). It should be criminal at this point. Olympics? Worlds? A fat lot of good that will do to those whose lives will be impacted (and who aren't necessarily the skaters themselves). I'd say there are over 150K+ reasons why this is a terrible decision.

In the end, no matter what they do, the virus is going to be affecting the sport for a long time to come. Regardless of what their motivation is, they have only two choices: try to keep some form of skating going, or admit defeat and call a complete moratorium until there's a surefire means of control of the virus, which could be a year or two away still. If they choose moratorium, the sport could take years to come back. There's a whole generation of skaters who would retire, and unlikely that new ones would join in. The popularity of the sport is already supposedly on the wane. A year with no competition at all could, from the ISU's perspective,  be a death blow. 

 

It's not that their decision is correct... it's that there is more than one way to look at this choice they've made. 

 

 

[fyere0]

If they're still insistent on this in-person competition idea.....

 

Move CoC from Chongqing to Beijing and make it the Olympic test event since Lakernik is so concerned about that (not that there's much to test without an audience allowed). The Olympic venue already exists and the Chinese national team trains in Beijing and could keep their travel to a minimum.

 

Now that there's a test event, GPF can be cancelled. Too many problems with it.

 

The GPs become essentially Challengers. And when one or another of them gets cancelled, as they will, especially SkAm, everyone is not left scrambling to assign those skaters to a different GP that they might or might not be able to get to, because there's no GPF they have to qualify for. 

 

(ETA that I think this is all moot anyway and the GP series will not go ahead in person. JSF has already said it's unwilling to send skaters to Challengers, so.....)

[SparkleSalad]

JSF will announce details about skaters, tickets, etc for NHK in September 

 

 

 

make it stop 

 

[yumeaki]

1 hour ago, SparkleSalad said:

JSF will announce details about skaters, tickets, etc for NHK in September 

 

 

 

make it stop 

 

tickets?

I understand if they want to continue with the event but common, just make it spectator-less. Go with paid online view if they really need the money. 

[IceWings]

4 hours ago, SparkleSalad said:

JSF will announce details about skaters, tickets, etc for NHK in September 

 

 

 

make it stop 

 

 

Ugh. I hope they're not seriously considering a live audience.   Even traveling domestically is not without risks. NHK is in Osaka, and that's one of the COVID hotspots in Japan.

https://www.stopcovid19.jp/

 

I know Yuzu will want to go and compete, even though I'd prefer if he would stay put in Sendai (I'm assuming he's in Japan). I just hope that he will be extra careful and that they will implement maximum precautions at the competition.

[Sombreuil]

The only way to sensibly put this plan into effect is to identify a rink which is in an area of low infection in each of the six centres and disinfect it thoroughly, put in Perspex screens to split up the judges, referees, etc, mark out distancing throughout the backstage areas (no scrums of media, limit the numbers and each allocated a pitch and told to stay there, with skaters and coaches going to them at the correct distance), do it behind closed doors, but televise and make it available worldwide, behind a fee wall if necessary.  Maybe reduce the size of practice groups on the ice, certainly allocate more space behind the boards between each skaters team.  
 

That’s just off the top of my head, thinking of things that have been done in other circumstances, but the most important one I would have thought is shifting the venue to the least infected area of each country so as to minimise risk outside the rink.  The best rink in terms of ice, and space round it may be a university rink or one with rudimentary seating, which wouldn’t matter because no audience.  Same goes for transport links and accommodation because it’s just competitors, officials and limited media, no need to take thousands of fans needs into account.  To hold it in hotspots like Las Vegas and Osaka is madness.

[TallyT]

I'm not usually the doom and gloom sort (my family call me a Pollyanna) but I really think that Skate America will end up being cancelled at the last minute... and if it goes, so will others.

[Fay]

7 minutes ago, TallyT said:

I'm not usually the doom and gloom sort (my family call me a Pollyanna) but I really think that Skate America will end up being cancelled at the last minute... and if it goes, so will others.

Oh, given the light-hearted approach to the pandemic by American authorities and people at large, I think they will congregate in numbers at the competition! 

[Lunna]

9 часов назад, TallyT сказал:

If I was one of the big names, I'd be tempted to say a polite "thanks but no thanks". Alina has won everything, has nothing to prove, and surely doesn't need the 'joy' of competing again all three of her 'successors' in a faux-Nationals; 

Yes, Alina has everything but she still decided not retire yet. Also big names has sponsors and if they will have no appearance they might as well drop them.

The problem is it's not a question of this Autumn but of further comps too, either organizers find a way to work around in new situation or sport can be stopped altogether.

I can agree that for SkAm situation looks bad and it might be better at least to move it later for now (and also the final) and maybe to another city, but I just don't want to speak for skaters that are in this sport since childhood.

[Lunna]

7 часов назад, fyere0 сказал:

JSF has already said it's unwilling to send skaters to Challengers

Cuz Challengers are abroad, but they still planned regionals and sectionals in Japan. Of course there's no guarantee that smth will not get cancelled in the end.

[ralucutzagy]

12 hours ago, SparkleSalad said:

JSF will announce details about skaters, tickets, etc for NHK in September 

 

 

 

make it stop 

 

tickets??? they want to make it with public?? lots of people together in the same place??? wtf ...

[EternalSpin]

Maybe they will sell a very reduced amount of tickets so everyone can keep a distance. If they want to hold a competition with spectators, it doesn't mean all the seats must be occupied 

[Sombreuil]

Indoor arenas are more likely to spread the virus- that’s why indoor sports are more problematic than outdoor, and people are usually allowed to do things outside before restrictions on indoor events are lifted.