A message from the Kerrs

sponsorships of skaters in Canada is nothing new... Kurt Browning was sponsored by diet coke, IIRC...

and that's how most skaters in hte US survive at the very top.

What I don't get is the implicit assumption that receiving financial support is somehow a bad thing. Oh, those naughty Kerrs.

I agree... how much did Kwan get from USFSA and sponsers? I'll bet it was a big sum too... yet she still had to skate well in order to get it. Just like the Kerrs. It's not like they held UKsport at gunpoint.

And if it's the fact that skating is so expensive and not every skater can afford the training/coaches/etc (which most can't hold out for all that long on their own without help) then TT is always welcome to have a smaller fee for her services (or none at all) but I don't see that happening either.

c'mon, name one skater that struggles financially. Someone is paying the bills, and other skaters have wealthy parents And how terrible is that?

Why single out The Kerrs?

Skaters don't make millions upon millions of dollars like NFL, NBA, MLB etc. athletes make. That's why I like Olympic athletes, some don't make hardly any money yet they continue on because of the love of whatever sport they do.
If a skater(s) has sponsors or endorsement deals, good for them! that just means they earned it. More power to them, I say.

Joesitz said:

c'mon, name one skater that struggles financially.

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Gregory & Petukhov come to mind. Keegan Messing is another one... before the McCleans stepped in Scott Hamilton was going to have to quit skating because of the financial burden it was on his family.

Someone is paying the bills, and other skaters have wealthy parents And how terrible is that?

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I don't think anyone on this thread thinks there IS a problem with that.

Why single out The Kerrs?

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Why don't you as TT next time you see her. She's the only one that seems to have issues with it.

Joesitz said:

c'mon, name one skater that struggles financially. Someone is paying the bills, and other skaters have wealthy parents And how terrible is that?

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Joe, I don't know where you got the idea that there are no skaters who struggle financially, but you are wrong. There are a number of skaters who do not come from wealthy families and who don't have anyone else paying the bills but themselves.

Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov had to stop competing because they were in deep debt from supporting their skating and could not find sponsors. At one point, they said they were putting at least $20,000 per year on their credit cards just to keep up with coaching fees, costumes, and rink time. Overseas, Kevin Van Der Perren nearly quit skating a year and a half ago because he could not afford it anymore, but then won some prize money and has thus far been able to continue.

Only 3 or 4 competing US skaters get to do the "Stars on Ice" tour every year, and since that is the last US tour still operating that currently competing skaters can perform on, it has left a lot of our American elite skaters struggling for cash to pay the over $100,000 per season it typically costs for an elite coach, ice time, physical trainers, professional equipment and costuming. Depending upon which envelope they are in, they only receive between $9,000 and $15,000 per year from USFS, and in case you hadn't noticed, American companies are not exactly eager to offer sponsorship deals to skaters.

Yes, there are skaters like Evan Lysacek or Nancy Kerrigan who come from wealthy families, but there are also plenty of Johnny Weirs and Rudy Galindos who do not and have to pay their own costs. And you have no way of knowing how many very talented and promising young skaters had to quit the sport before making it to the elite level because of the expense.

ooooo I'd forgotten about Rudy. He is probably the best example...

Didn't Arakawa really struggle with the money? I heard that she worked at Subway in Japan. And Nakano only got a sponsor this summer.

This is an article about Buntin/Duhamel from a year ago and it said

"It's unbelievable and it's going to pay off," he added, noting that the English-speaking Duhamel did not hesitate to relocate to the primarily French-language community, and quickly found a full-time job at an Italian bakery to pay the bills.

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That doesn't sound like a financially comfortable situation to me either.

Sale/Pelletier also worked to pay for skating... IIRC Dave was a bartender

Sorry to be a stickler, but there are a couple of things in this thread that are untrue, and if the older people don't make corrections, no one will.

Nancy Kerrigan is not from a wealthy family; her father Dan was a welder who took a second job and a second mortgage to pay for her career. Scott Hamilton was sponsored throughout the latter half of his career by Helen McLoraine. No idea whether Lysacek's family could be called "wealthy," or if that statement is more accurate than the statement that Kerrigan is from a wealthy family. Of course, we're only "talking" on the internet, not on TV . . .

sorry I misnamed Mac and Helen...

I'll never forget Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval. Sure, "the waitress and the truck driver" made for a good human interest story -- but they had in fact worked in those occupations to save money for their skating. They were a bit older, too, in their most competitive years -- at least late 20's IIRC, and wasn't Calla even 30 maybe? -- and I'd guess part of the reason they were (relatively, as regards to athletes) late on the scene was the need to work as they did to pay for training and all the other expenses.

libby said:

Yes, there are skaters like Evan Lysacek or Nancy Kerrigan who come from wealthy families, but there are also plenty of Johnny Weirs and Rudy Galindos who do not and have to pay their own costs. And you have no way of knowing how many very talented and promising young skaters had to quit the sport before making it to the elite level because of the expense.

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I'm not making an issue of where the support money comes from. (I don't think Kerrigan's family were as wealthy as Cohen's, but who cares?) In fact, I am not concerned as much with where the money comes from because the skaters either have the money or they disappear. If they do not disappear, then there is something that keeps them going.

My issue was defending TT since I don't believe she said that about the Kerrs, since the whole Soviet System of Athletics pampered the elite athletes and kept the coaches happy. Absolutely no need to struggle in Soviet times. And one of the best things to happen because of the Soviet system was that there was no more amateur status imposed on skaters. They could now skate in shows, work in the rink and get paid, etc.

My conclusion is so what is the big beef about The Kerrs? Every skater we know of makes it somehow to the elite status.