2018-19 British figure skating

I was watching the Bridgestone ice desk free dance panel at 4CC. Sinead Kerr was great on it. Really miss the Kerr’s on the scene! I know John has been choreographing but any ideas what all sinead has been up to since retirement/shows?

From the looks of her Instagram she coaches in New Jersey and is married to an American.

I miss the Kerr’s too. I wish they coached over here. But they spent so much time in USA training I understand why they stayed.

CaroLiza_fan said:

With all the different countries that his Dad represented during his career, I wonder just what citizenship Dmitre Razgulajevs has. Because, for me the obvious choice would have been for him and Molly to represent his ancestral homeland of Latvia. Like, I can't think of any Ice Dancers that are currently representing Latvia at either Junior or Senior level. And as Latvia's Singles skating programme has shown, the Fed does have the resources to get good coaches in. With the other options, there is more competition for the international slots, and less chances of getting them.

CaroLiza_fan

Click to expand...

Aurelija Ipolito & Malcolm Jones represented Latvia at Senior level up to the end of last season, training at Lee Valley in London with Marika Humphreys-Baranova. Aurelija is now studying Bio-Chemistry at Oxford. But they weren't at the level of Molly & Dmitre.

As for Smart and Díaz , I think they opted for the right country. Because although Spain only has one slot at the moment, both partnerships that came out of the Hurtado / Díaz split are good enough to earn Spain a second slot. And there is no other competition. So, I am sure that one of them having to miss out this season is only going to be a temporary thing.

Click to expand...

When she teamed up with Adrian and I expressed disappointment they would skate for Spain, she told me on Twitter "it would be so much better". And I couldn't argue with that. I always assume skaters are supported more abroad. At that time only Penny & Nick would've been fully financially backed by UK Sport to take them up to PyeongChang. NISA had no money, they released her. I assumed the package offered by Spain was quite generous, and she spent a day in Barcelona getting her passport last season in time for Olympics (to no avail in the end).

And that is the crux of the whole problem - the lack of top coaches that are based in the British Isles. If we could attract some British coaches to come back home, or even attract some foreign coaches to come, it would make the world of difference.

Click to expand...

The days when the No.1 US Ice Dancers came here to train at Richmond with Bobby Thompson are long gone (that was the 80s with Blumberg & Siebert, Richmond rink is no more).
The era which built Canadian icedance, with British coaches like the Lanes, Bernard Ford and countless others has long gone. Those coaches will never return.
But what about our young coaches, why are they abroad? John Kerr in Florida, Coomes & Buckland in US? It's a sad state of affairs that there is no opportunity for them here, and that is entirely the fault of our own Association.
Angelika Krylova returned to Russia to coach, even though her 2 children were born in America, and it was a big upheaval for them. Presumably because the Russian Fed assisted her in doing so.

DSQ said:

I weirdly know more than average about immigration law but not necessarily in relation to sports.

Britain’s sporting institutions do not tend to approve of adopting foreign nationals as athletes for Olympics or World Championship events but it’s not totally unheard of, just look at Joe Konta. Some of our top competitive dancers are adoptees. The majority of foreign born athletes are like Graham Newberry and George Waddell, they have passports in their own right or are like Vanessa James who competed for Britain as she was a citizen of a British Overseas Territory.

The Home Office can give citizenship to anyone they like if they have a good reason to do so. The general rule is you need to have lived in the U.K. for six years (it used to be much longer) with nine months of every year being spent in the U.K. We allow dual citizenship. So we are much more lenient than countries like Japan who seem to have no problem with attracting foreign born skaters.

So any skater looking to represent Great Britain with a British partner would have to spend some of their time training here.

Click to expand...

I don't think that's quite right as we recently had a few couples from America representing GB who only came over for the British Championships. I'm thinking of Gwen Sletten (whose Mother was Welsh) & Elliot Verburg, they trained in Maryland, and were British Junior Dance Champions, only stopping as she had medical issues.
There was also Leticia Marsh who skated with a Russian boy Anton Spiridonov in the JGPs for Britiain but trained in America, she went to school there too.

DSQ said:

From the looks of her Instagram she coaches in New Jersey and is married to an American.

I miss the Kerr’s too. I wish they coached over here. But they spent so much time in USA training I understand why they stayed.

Click to expand...

I think her husband is Canadian, and she now has Canadian citizenship. He was her partner on Battle of the Blades.

La Rhumba said:

I don't think that's quite right as we recently had a few couples from America representing GB who only came over for the British Championships. I'm thinking of Gwen Sletten (whose Mother was Welsh) & Elliot Verburg, they trained in Maryland, and were British Junior Dance Champions, only stopping as she had medical issues.
There was also Leticia Marsh who skated with a Russian boy Anton Spiridonov in the JGPs for Britiain but trained in America, she went to school there too.

Click to expand...

The passport requirements are only if you wish to compete at the Olympics. So long as the local federation accepts you I don’t think the ISU has any rules about nationality. Just that there must be a year between competing under different flags.

If you don’t qualify for a British passport in your own right you need to live here in order to qualify.

La Rhumba said:

I think her husband is Canadian, and she now has Canadian citizenship. He was her partner on Battle of the Blades.

Click to expand...

Ah my mistake. I often get some Canadian and some American accents confused. XD

La Rhumba said:

Aurelija Ipolito & Malcolm Jones represented Latvia at Senior level up to the end of last season, training at Lee Valley in London with Marika Humphreys-Baranova. Aurelija is now studying Bio-Chemistry at Oxford. But they weren't at the level of Molly & Dmitre.

Click to expand...

Ah, I had forgotten about them! And I shouldn't have because when I first saw them, I was intrigued by Aurelija's background. Her spelling of her first name does indicate Latvian heritage, but the only other person I have come across with that surname (albeit with one more "p") is Venezuelan (Vito Ippolito, who until a few months ago was the President of the FIM, the governing body of motorbike racing).

You know, I am impressed that Marika is still coaching in the UK, and didn't move overseas when she and Vitaliy retired. Didn't realise that she was coaching in London - I thought she was still living in Wales.

Which has now started me wondering: are there any well known names coaching in Wales?

And on the subject of Welsh skaters, what about Lloyd Jones? The only thing I had heard since he retired was that furore when he was supposed to be on "Dancing On Ice". So, I looked him up ther now and he is now doing online coaching (what?!)

Would it not be better for the future of British skating if he were coaching in the real world rather than the virtual world...

La Rhumba said:

When she teamed up with Adrian and I expressed disappointment they would skate for Spain, she told me on Twitter "it would be so much better". And I couldn't argue with that. I always assume skaters are supported more abroad. At that time only Penny & Nick would've been fully financially backed by UK Sport to take them up to PyeongChang. NISA had no money, they released her. I assumed the package offered by Spain was quite generous, and she spent a day in Barcelona getting her passport last season in time for Olympics (to no avail in the end).

Click to expand...

Definitely! With the lack of funding opportunities in the UK, I too assumed that the funding would be better in Spain. OK, so figure skating is a relatively young sport in Spain, but the success that Javier Fernandez in Men and Hurtado / Díaz in Dance were having would have attracted funding.

I saw on the NISA Facebook page the other day that they were going to be holding a series of events in partnership with a well known car purchasing website that has a very catchy jingle. And it started me thinking that this could be the way forward. Targeting big corporate sponsorship rather than government funding. Although, with figure skating being such a niche sport, it could be difficult enough to attract sponsors.

La Rhumba said:

The days when the No.1 US Ice Dancers came here to train at Richmond with Bobby Thompson are long gone (that was the 80s with Blumberg & Siebert, Richmond rink is no more).
The era which built Canadian icedance, with British coaches like the Lanes, Bernard Ford and countless others has long gone. Those coaches will never return.
But what about our young coaches, why are they abroad? John Kerr in Florida, Coomes & Buckland in US? It's a sad state of affairs that there is no opportunity for them here, and that is entirely the fault of our own Association.
Angelika Krylova returned to Russia to coach, even though her 2 children were born in America, and it was a big upheaval for them. Presumably because the Russian Fed assisted her in doing so.

Click to expand...

Although the hashtags and all at the time of their wedding referred to her Pakistani heritage, if I remember correctly John Kerr's wife is from Florida. So, since he was already based on that side of the Atlantic from training in New Jersey, it made more sense to set up home over there.

You are right that it would require a lot of money to entice coaches that are based overseas to uproot. And NISA simply doesn't have that sort of money. Just like most sports in the UK that are not one of the special few that get government funding.

It's a pity that so much of this boils down to money, or lack thereof.

CaroLiza_fan

Just letting you know that the warm-up group for the Advanced Novice Boys SP at the Cup Of Tyrol has just finished, and that Jacob Casey will be starting towards the end of the group. (All 7 entries are going in one group).

Hope he ends up happier after his routine than the British girl in Basic Novice (not naming her, as she may still be 12). She was bawling her eyes out the whole time she was sitting on the sofa waiting for her results. It was heartbreaking to watch her.

And the irony is, it wasn't even that she had a disasterous skate. She finished 19[SUP]th[/SUP] out of 29.

CaroLiza_fan

Thanks for the Cup of Tyrol Update CaroLiza_Fan. Oh dear!
Better news of Halah Thomas in Advanced Novice, currently 8th, with a good 3+2 combo. :agree:

CaroLiza_fan said:

You know, I am impressed that Marika is still coaching in the UK, and didn't move overseas when she and Vitaliy retired. Didn't realise that she was coaching in London - I thought she was still living in Wales.

Click to expand...

Yes, she left Deeside a few years ago, and has been at Lee Valley coaching with husband Vitaliy. She has the Bulgarian No.2 couple Mina Zdradkova & Chris Davis (originally American) and choreographed a beautiful Bulgarian Folk Dance for their FD this season. She's also just taken on the 4th ranked British Junior boy dancer, who is currently partner searching, and will hopefully have a Lee Valley couple competing at the Senior level next season at the British Championships. Because of her Tech Spec duties where she reached World & Olympic Panel level, her coaching career took a back seat, so hopefully she will develop a good stable of dancers at Lee Valley. Though the issue would be for any international couples that they can never get the same convenient ice time as they would at Gadbois in Montreal. I believe that's what put off Hurtado & Diaz when they first left Spain and were looking to relocate with coach John Dunn - another British coach lost, now in Australia.

CaroLiza_fan said:

Which has now started me wondering: are there any well known names coaching in Wales?

And on the subject of Welsh skaters, what about Lloyd Jones? The only thing I had heard since he retired was that furore when he was supposed to be on "Dancing On Ice". So, I looked him up ther now and he is now doing online coaching (what?!)

Would it not be better for the future of British skating if he were coaching in the real world rather than the virtual world...

Click to expand...

I totally agree! Joan Slater, Nicky's Mum, who coached at Deeside, retired a couple of years ago, so he could go home and develop the young skaters there. It's such a pity about DOI, I'm still not sure what exactly happened to this day, but it would've really helped his career. He had been performing with Holiday on Ice with his competitive partner Pernelle Caron, and I hadn't even known they'd split up till the DOI announcement with his new partner. Oh well. Lloyd is the one out of the quartet who never gets mentioned when the newspapers write about the Cardiff sports teacher who developed Gareth Bale, Sam Warburton and Geraint Thomas. Still, he did go off to compete for France.

I was thinking that Christian Newberry returned home to take up a coaching position in Britain, and though his son has achieved a lot, his progress has somewhat halted, as he must be by far the best skater at his rink in Romford, and Graham might benefit from training in a more competitive environment abroad. (Not that it'll happen. Probably).

Memo to BIS

Can we have a nice big sofa like the one at Cup of Tyrol at next year's British Championships please? Cut back on one of the flower displays, so it fits on screen for the livestream. It was okay for Singles on that little blue 2 seater, but come the Dance and Pairs, the coaches had to stand.

Ice Dance said:

OK, so I've been assuming there's some impediment to athletes getting citizenship in Britain. Like perhaps they need to be living in Britain in order to do so, and they can't because they want to train with the more high-profile & successful coaches in Canada? Or perhaps it takes more years to obtain citizenship in Britain than in many other countries? I wasn't aware of the pair team you are referencing, but I was definitely wondering why Lanaghan & Razgulajevs did not sign up to compete for Britain from the get go. (For that matter, Smart & Diaz might consider it). And they aren't the only ones. Alexander Petrov (the junior dancer, not the singles skater) was born in Britain so why would Efimova & Petrov spend three years trying to get on the JGP in the U.S. when they probably could have qualified right off the bat for Great Britain? Seems like there must be some type of obstacle for bi-national teams to choose to skate for Britain. For sure, there are some advantages to skating for a powerhouse like Canada or the U.S. if you are at the top. But we are talking about teams that are struggling to earn Challenger & JGP events. You would think Britain would be the obvious choice there.

Click to expand...

I didn't know about Alexander Petrov, but maybe though being born in Britain, he feels American too much to compete for GB. Corey Circelli, Junior Canadian ice dancer and Singles skater, was born in Manchester, but when I asked if we could claim him, was told he didn't see himself as anything other than Canadian.

I was pleased to hear Tracy Wilson on commentary mention which skaters were born in Britain at the Canadian Championships this year, unlike Debi Wilkes who once described Olivia Smart as "born in Barcelona".

Steven Adcock is the only Pair Skater that I know of, and this is his 2nd season, last year he competed as a Junior. I watched him in the Canadian regional events which SC kindly stream. He has formed a great partnership with Mariah McCaw, but it's particularly galling they skate for Canada as we are so weak in Pairs in GB. It's a dying discipline. Once Zoe Jones & Chris Boyadji retire, we will have no Pair of International standard at any level. Whenever I mention the number of elite skaters we have lost, in particular to Canada, other folk in the sport just say to me, "Oh, it's always been the same, opportunities are greater abroad". :sad21:

McCaw & Adcock FP at Canadians 2019
https://youtu.be/XBhBRys66x0

I don't know of any Singles skaters, though we lost Neil Wilson, who coaches with Joanne McCleod.
In Dance it's an entire Team!
This season we lost Joshua Tarry - one half of the famous TeamJellie from BBC's Ice Stars - who now skates Juniors with Erin Gilles, training in Mariposa. His former partner Ellie O'Connor now skates Synchro.
Also in Junior competing for Canada, neither of whom is Canadian, Peter Beaumont and Nadiia Bashynska, who train at Scarboro, as does Senior couple Molly & Dmitre, both skaters made the switch 2 seasons ago. All have improved their skating skills since going there, and all have been accepted by SC and are competing well, with a couple of International assignments. These are big losses for Britain, and if BIS is going to have any credibility as the new organization claims it will make improvements, then this flow of talent abroad must be stemmed ASAP.

27.09 and all smiles in the K&C for Lucy Gardiner, who gave a heart warming performance in AdvNov at Cup of Tyrol.

DSQ said:

You should contact them and ask that they cover WC! Worst they could say is no!

Click to expand...

CaroLiza_fan said:

That sounds like the basis of a very good argument for reporting on it. So, I agree with DSQ that you should contact them.

Although, I don't think many newspapers could afford to actually send somebody to Japan to report on, well, anything. But, they could at least get somebody to follow it from home, like we will be doing. :agree:

Before I finish, I should add that when I was complaining about the lack of coverage that Jenna's exploits was getting in papers over here, I was only talking about the national papers. I suspect she may have been getting more coverage in her local papers, the Coleraine Times (also owned by Johnston Press, as was) or the Coleraine Chronicle (owned by a NI based media group). But, I don't actually know, because their distribution areas don't extend as far as where I live.

CaroLiza_fan

Click to expand...

I contacted the sports editor of the Yorkshire Post via Twitter!
see: https://twitter.com/xfionanx/status/1100525016704319488

He said they would look into it

La Rhumba said:

These are big losses for Britain, and if BIS is going to have any credibility as the new organization claims it will make improvements, then this flow of talent abroad must be stemmed ASAP.

Click to expand...

You can't just stem talent. You have to give talent the ability to stay and be successful. At least to have the hope of reaching their dreams. Otherwise talent just quits. (Obviously skaters actually born in Great Britain would probably prefer to train there rather than move halfway across the World. But they need high level coaching & partnerships). I had forgotten about the Kerrs. I assume that Coomes & Buckland need time to learn how to coach. Many, many coaches work under someone else first. Of course, elite level coaching is not everyone's passion; and it can be very, very hard to break into. But it is possible that in the future any one of these athletes might come back to work in Great Britain. With the right incentive & ice conditions, of course. Or someone else. Often the best coaches are not the top athletes but athletes who came up the ranks without the spotlight but with a deep love of the sport and a different skill set.

^
Your last point is very true. For every Orser and Lambiel there is an Eteri.

We can only live in hope at this point. Unless there is a rink in the country that is willing to take a chance and try to recruit and invest in a promising coach we will always see skaters train elsewhere or compete for other countries.

DSQ said:

^
Your last point is very true. For every Orser and Lambiel there is an Eteri.

Click to expand...

I think people are understandably drawn to coaches who were super-successful themselves, but yeah, there are plenty of very important coaches who were nothing special as skaters (and plenty of successful athletes whose coaching careers have been undistinguished). It’s a different, though related, skill set.

Unrelatedly, Fear/Waddell are featured on OnIcePerspectives in the lead up to Junior Worlds:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BubZHFOHRr-/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1bwho8rto8hj2

I wonder who is the most famous skater who hasn’t transitioned in the coaching successfully...?

Wow Fearband Waddell look great! Plus Ally Pally is a very beautiful rink.

George at least is an example of the reverse of what we were talking about. While he had a British passport through his dad he switched from Canada to the UK. His brother who still represents Canada is second alternate.

Ally Pally is the most beautiful rink in the UK with the high arched windows. It has a seating area on one side, the Judges could sit on the other side, and would be a great location to host a JGP, with plenty to see and do in London. If only BIS wasn't obsessed with Sheffield. They're moving the Offices there soon too, and leaving Nottingham.

DSQ said:

George at least is an example of the reverse of what we were talking about. While he had a British passport through his dad he switched from Canada to the UK. His brother who still represents Canada is second alternate.

Click to expand...

On the contrary, it was a great opportunity for him, and he took it. His career wasn't going anywhere in Canada, and in truth, he's not as good as his younger brother. It's also been a bit of a steep learning curve for him to skate at this level, and will hopefully qualify for the FD this year.

La Rhumba said:

Ally Pally is the most beautiful rink in the UK with the high arched windows. It has a seating area on one side, the Judges could sit on the other side, and would be a great location to host a JGP, with plenty to see and do in London. If only BIS wasn't obsessed with Sheffield. They're moving the Offices there soon too, and leaving Nottingham.

Click to expand...

I just wrote the following in reply:


But then I looked up the Palace's website and clicked through to the ice rink's page. And there was no sign of any opening and closing dates.

That was when it hit me: is it a permanent rink?

I've never been to the Alexandra Palace. But given all the other things that happen there during the year, I always assumed that the ice rink was only temporary. And that the hall it was in was used for other things as well.

If it is permanent, then it would be a perfect alternative to the usual Sheffield or Nottingham!

CaroLiza_fan