Standards set by skater contributions? | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Standards set by skater contributions?

GrandmaCC

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2017
*Gasp* If this is in fact true, they clearly did not do ANY research into the hundreds of years of conflict that is still ongoing to this day in Canada between the aboriginal/First Nations population and the “of European origin” population, whose ancestors were the settlers who “founded” the country. Cultural appropriation is also a big deal here that creates a lot of controversy and discussion. That particular ice dance program was torn apart in the Canadian media and by the general public back in 2010, rightfully so.

A not so fun fact: The last residential school for First Nations children in Canada was permanently closed in 1997, only 13 years prior to the Vancouver Olympic Games. Let that sink in for a minute for some perspective. :( For those who are not aware of what a residential school is, their purpose was to remove young First Nations children from their families and communities in order to “take the savage out of the child” and assimilate them to speak, think, act, and have the same religious/spiritual beliefs as white people. Physical and sexual abuse were rampant in these facilities. It is a horrific blemish on our country’s history.

Edited to add: please please PLEASE don’t confuse this demographic for speaking out about their legitimate experiences as “whining, complaining and selfishness”. Who are any of us to critique the systemic, repulsive treatment they have dealt with since the 1500s?

Whoa - I think we’re talking about different programs here!! I’m referencing the Indigenous Australian program. I’ve never seen the one you’re talking of. My bad, I apologise for not clarifying.
 

GrandmaCC

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2017
I love Adam's program (he does it better than Johnny or even Karen) but this is the rant of the week! Dead! :rofl::laugh2:

Aw, thanks GGFan!! ☺️
Yeah I love Adam’s program too...he’s my fave current male skater by far. That I manage to paint the absolute opposite picture all the time I guess either means i am an awful human or was a brutal yet effective coach in a past life lol.
(I’m hoping it’s the latter ;) )
 

lappo

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 12, 2016
Whoa - I think we’re talking about different programs here!! I’m referencing the Indigenous Australian program. I’ve never seen the one you’re talking of. My bad, I apologise for not clarifying.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you both are referring to the infamous D/S Aboriginal program. I think the poster was pointing out why D/S could not expect to find exactly a welcoming audience in a country that has his own history of conflicts with First Nations as Canada (if I remember correctly Canadians were very vocal in their displeasure towards the program...but I always wondered myself how such a misguided representation could make it not only to the Olympic but also to a podium...). If I got @SarahSynchro interpretation bad, I apologize.
 

SarahSynchro

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Country
Canada
Whoa - I think we’re talking about different programs here!! I’m referencing the Indigenous Australian program. I’ve never seen the one you’re talking of. My bad, I apologise for not clarifying.



Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you both are referring to the infamous D/S Aboriginal program. I think the poster was pointing out why D/S could not expect to find exactly a welcoming audience in a country that has his own history of conflicts with First Nations as Canada (if I remember correctly Canadians were very vocal in their displeasure towards the program...but I always wondered myself how such a misguided representation could make it not only to the Olympic but also to a podium...). If I got @SarahSynchro interpretation bad, I apologize.

Thank you, lappo. I was indeed talking about the D/S program from 2009-10. :)
 

Tigerlily87

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 12, 2018
Hydro blading was a thing for a while. While they didn’t invent it Bourne & Kraatz definitely popularized it.
 

GrandmaCC

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2017
Thank you, lappo. I was indeed talking about the D/S program from 2009-10. :)

Thank you from me also, lappo!!

Sorry, SarahSynchro, it was verrrry late at night when I replied to that - brain not at full capacity! 🤪
I had no idea of any conflict in Canada....and since I’ve been there and have friends there (more than most ppl here my age can say), let’s just call me super ignorant :( I honestly would never associate the word Aboriginal with anyone other than “our” peoples.
(Now for this, we can blame the Aus education system lol).

Here, that program was a head scratcher in ways like “why is there someone on ice skate shoe things in the sport section of my paper, and where’s the bloody cricket gone??” kinda way. Ice dance is about as non-existent here as Mounted Police.

So, now I’m wondering why the heck they skated that piece and coming up empty....have they given any interviews explaining?

It would be awesome to hear the rationale behind so many of the programs we are discussing!!
 

Globetrotter

Medalist
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Ok, I correct myself ... but there were still different demands in 6.0 or early COP that encouraged skaters to do straight line step sequence as one of their possible choices. Nowadays you won't get high level for that.

They won’t choose that or more accurately, most of them frankly can’t. Few skaters, male or female have the basic SS to be able to achieve a level 4 StSq without all those back and forth jerky movement. It is near impossible to do that on a straight line as the ice space is shortest and I think a serpentine pattern will also be very tough as it demands great edge change control and skating one curve on a poor direction. The most recent one I think who has level 4 on a true straight line sequence was CaroK in her Bolero FP which frankly was the last great StSq which was hit in like ~35 Sec.

I will prefer if StSq on a defined pattern is brought back and the scoring should really be limited to say 30 sec so we don’t have those overly long awkward sequence just to get a level 4 and only those who are truly great will get a high level 4. The BV of a level 4 could be made higher and then skaters will more likely be incentivized to up their SS to max out the steps and they get rewarded in improving two areas.
 

SarahSynchro

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Country
Canada
Thank you from me also, lappo!!

Sorry, SarahSynchro, it was verrrry late at night when I replied to that - brain not at full capacity! 🤪
I had no idea of any conflict in Canada....and since I’ve been there and have friends there (more than most ppl here my age can say), let’s just call me super ignorant :( I honestly would never associate the word Aboriginal with anyone other than “our” peoples.
(Now for this, we can blame the Aus education system lol).

Here, that program was a head scratcher in ways like “why is there someone on ice skate shoe things in the sport section of my paper, and where’s the bloody cricket gone??” kinda way. Ice dance is about as non-existent here as Mounted Police.

So, now I’m wondering why the heck they skated that piece and coming up empty....have they given any interviews explaining?

It would be awesome to hear the rationale behind so many of the programs we are discussing!!

I’ve had a busy few days and haven’t had much time to hang around on GS here as i’d like, but I’ve been meaning to thank you for this nice reply, GrandmaCC! I’m happy to bring awareness to past and present national/regional/local controversies and conflicts (in this case, in my home country, Canada) that people from other countries may not know exist, and I’m even happier when the responding discussion that results is positive and polite. Sometimes these sensitive discussions can get heated and turn into an all out gong show that ends with the thread being closed down all together.. On the flip side, I’m also happy to be on the other end, when it’s me who is learning something new about a country/region/demographic/race/religion/etc that I am not familiar with. It’s both funny and wonderful how knowledge can be obtained in the most unexpected of places. :) Over the past few years that I’ve been an active poster here on GS, the amount of non-figure skating related subjects I’ve learned about from our various fellow posters is quite a long list. Who would’ve thunk it on a figure skating forum? ;)
 

SarahSynchro

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Country
Canada
:eek:topic:

Fun fact since you mentioned the Mounties: My mom was an RCMP officer for 15 years. She was actually a member of the very first graduating class that allowed women to join the force in the 1970s.

She left the force three years after I was born, while pregnant with my brother. It’s a running family gag that we jointly coconspired to destroy her career. :laugh2:
 
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