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- Apr 12, 2014
USA Today joined in also.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...onships-medal-drought-united-states/70592824/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...onships-medal-drought-united-states/70592824/
Why skating in the U.S. is strugglng
- Thread starter badknees
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So true about cell phones. I know cell phones are in every country, but just speaking from my experience as a classroom teacher, things changed when the kids' phones became their companions and focus.
I wouldn't put too much behind the cellphone thing, if that were the case we would struggling in all other sports as well which isn't true. I think there are several aspects at play, but chief among them is that figure skating is not drawing the top athletes, there are so many options for kids (which is a great thing for the population in general, you aren't pigeonholed into one thing from the time you are 4 or 5) and skating is far from being the most attractive. Figure skating is an extremely expensive sport and you are unlikely to see any payback from that, unlike some other expensive sports such as hockey, where even if you do not make it to the professional level there are a vast number of colleges that offer hockey scholarships, so there is at least the potential that it could pay for your education.
The other issue is economic as well, in the US it is on the families of skaters to pay all of the expenses that go into the sport (I realize at the elite level there is a bit of funding from the fed, my focus is on young developing athletes) there's no government funding, which certainly gives the skaters from countries where that is a practice a leg up.
The other issue is economic as well, in the US it is on the families of skaters to pay all of the expenses that go into the sport (I realize at the elite level there is a bit of funding from the fed, my focus is on young developing athletes) there's no government funding, which certainly gives the skaters from countries where that is a practice a leg up.
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Speaking for my own preferences . . .
One thing that skating can do that most other sports don't is to combine athletic challenge with some level of "artistic" performance. That artistic component does not need to be and IMO shouldn't be defined in terms of who is the most beautiful out there (beauty pageant approach) but rather who can best use the technical vocabulary of the sport in a purposeful way to interpret the musical accompaniment, make a meaningful statement about the technical content performance, and as an extra treat when possible also tell a story or portray a character create a coherent mood/sequence of moods, even express something about the human condition in general.
The 20-30% of the score that can be defined as artistry includes possibilities that we don't find in other sports and allows skating to appeal on multiple levels beyond just who was the best/who deserved to win. Although showing sufficient mastery of the technique to use the technical content for such artistic purposes is valued and does contribute to higher scores and does play some part in determining winners.
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Maybe if they had less places for WC there would be a bit more fight for them to skate better and make that team. I'd rather cheer for an improving Mariah Bell or Courtney Hicks making a run at the top ten than watching the current trio wind up in similar placements and not progressing when...at least when we have three spots.
And EVERYTHING gkelly said. As always
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I actually think things aren't so bad. Things are progressing nicely. It is too bad both our top hopes in Wagner and Gold faltered in the short but they showed they can compete. In favour of the Americans is that most of the Russians could be hit severely by puberty still - look what happened to Liza a year ago and now Julia. And what the heck happened to Anna and Rad looks like she has some growing issues too. Wagner and Gold have power and strength as well as maturity. They just need a bit more grit. Same with the men. Yes, Brown does need the quad but the judges, right or wrong, love him with pcs already.
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I read the article. It's not so simple, and the title is stupid.
I'm a bit confused about this "puberty" thing about Yulia. It's a bit difficult to understand how was she suffering of puberty issues in competition and LP, only, and not in practice and SP.
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I'd love to see a giant weather map like chart that shows worldwide puberty forecasts. I can only imaging what Russia would look like with such predictions for severe puberty in the near future.. My guess is it would be a big giant red blob.
Fourtunatley Polina got out of there before any long term effects could befall her.
Fourtunatley Polina got out of there before any long term effects could befall her.
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I read the article. It's not so simple, and the title is stupid.
I agree. It's not that simple.
Skating IS expensive. Looking at the costs of skating in Dorothy Hamill's day compared to today, it's not even close. Yes, it's always been a sport of upper-middle to upper-class kids, but now we're talking about not only coaching and ice-time, but specialized trainers, nutritionists, off-ice coaching, psychologists, and goodness how many other things. It is totally out of reach of most parents, even affluent parents.
At the same time, other sports have really risen in profile and possibilities, especially for young girls. Back in the heyday of U.S. Ladies skating, skating was really the only sport available to a young talented girl to make any career out of. Basketball, soccer, softball, *maybe* tennis, but we're talking pre-Title IX when the chance of a girl getting an athletic scholarship to go to college were basically nil. Now, there's a whole world of possibilities out there, and we're really starting to see the generation of girls raised under Title IX come of age, where skating isn't really the only athletic avenue available.
Skating is also becoming much more popular in other parts of the world like Asia. Asia wasn't the force in skating that it is today. If you take Team Japan out of the equation or reduce it to one or two skaters, it's a different situation.
Russian pairs also aren't quite the force that they were under the Cold War. Remember the days when talented young Soviet girls got funneled into pairs? It's not quite the same situation anymore, and some of those girls are probably becoming singles skaters now.
Those are just some things that jump out at me.
I think someone else brought this up earlier in the thread - they 'brought it' after the pressure was off because they blew it in the short program.
Gold might be dealing with the after-effects of puberty, everyone says its Frank that upset her jumps but given the time of her teen years, maybe it wasn't Frank? And while she may be given mature music/programs - it doesn't equal maturity from her, most people on here dislike her programs/packaging on ice. You can overcome puberty issues, you can't always overcome lack of grit.
And look at what happened to Liza this year. With the amount of Russian girls even if there are a couple that competitively don't survive puberty, their accomplishments aren't erased and Russia has several more waiting in the wings to take that girl's spot. Which may have been the issue with Anna, there were reports that she had an injury that kept her off the ice prior to Worlds, but she may have felt she had to go to Worlds because there is no guarantee that she would get another chance at Worlds.
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Maybe if they had less places for WC there would be a bit more fight for them to skate better and make that team. I'd rather cheer for an improving Mariah Bell or Courtney Hicks making a run at the top ten than watching the current trio wind up in similar placements and not progressing when...at least when we have three spots.
And EVERYTHING gkelly said. As always
Oh I agree with you, less spaces could mean more of a fight. I also think the assurance that USFSA has selection criteria that it can use instead of awarding spots to those that earn them in competition allows some of them to get comfortable. I think removing that would make some of them work harder knowing they have to show up and show out at every competition. I still believe the US needs to develop a system like USA Gymnastics with camps to fight for international assignments.
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I agree that the USFSA needs to be run more like gymnastics at this point, but I disagree that fewer places would have an impact on increasing the quality of the skating. Sure, it would make the fight tougher at Nationals to make that team, but I'm not sure how it would have any effect on Worlds.
And what do you mean by USFSA's selection criteria? Do you mean that skaters that usually get a bye to go on to Nationals should have to compete in regionals, sectionals, etc? That would give them more competition experience and put more pressure on, sure, provided those competitions don't interfere with GP assignments (no idea what the scheduling of the smaller competitions are honestly sooooo.)
It would be pretty hard to force the skaters with GP assignments to do Regionals and Sectionals. GP assignments are by invitation, so the skater can't control the timing of a competition and whether it will conflict with a domestic competition date. Then there is the time/travel problem for the European and Asian GPs. You can't schedule Regionals earlier because that would conflict with JGP dates.
The only possibility is to require all skaters to compete at at least two summer competitions, both SP and FS.
The only possibility is to require all skaters to compete at at least two summer competitions, both SP and FS.
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- Feb 26, 2014
They have a deep field in Pairs right now tbh. I would say they are very much a force. But speaking of young single girls with a even deeper field in girls some may consider to switch to pairs. The problem might be that you don't have enough men to pair them.
Anyway, as for USA, I think it's also a generation thing. I mean it's normals simetimes. Russia never had a strong field in women, USA had. Now it's Russia turn, things will change later. It's like a circle.
Recycling. Typical of the media.:sarcasm:
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My two cents, FWIW, is that every country will go through peaks and valleys. I've said this in other posts, but sometimes no amount of money/training/competitions/etc. will create medal contenders.
The U.S. is not always going to be the top team in every sport, including skating, and will experience droughts, some longer than others. The reason the one in Ladies is so jarring is because it comes after basically a six decade period where there was a U.S. lady in most World podiums and on all Olympic podiums.
That's not to say there couldn't be changes USFSA could make in its international preparation/screening/whatever, but I think it's important to keep my point above in mind.
At least it's not the 108-year-drought the poor Chicago Cubs went through. Two back-to-back World Series titles in 1907 and 1908 and nothing ever since.
The U.S. is not always going to be the top team in every sport, including skating, and will experience droughts, some longer than others. The reason the one in Ladies is so jarring is because it comes after basically a six decade period where there was a U.S. lady in most World podiums and on all Olympic podiums.
That's not to say there couldn't be changes USFSA could make in its international preparation/screening/whatever, but I think it's important to keep my point above in mind.
At least it's not the 108-year-drought the poor Chicago Cubs went through. Two back-to-back World Series titles in 1907 and 1908 and nothing ever since.
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- Feb 27, 2012
Got out of where? :confused2: Out of puberty?
(Sorry if I have totally misunderstood the flow of this conversation, but P. Edmunds was born in the U.S.)
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