Senior B scheduled for August in Australia! | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Senior B scheduled for August in Australia!

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
*slinks awkwardly* The Wallabies and our cricket team. I always go for Australia and love all our teams but with the way they're playing... *awkward turtle*

...:eek:: I meant The Wallabies of the Aussie Rugby union. since I am also a big rugby fan myself. apology for such confusion...>.<
 

Orange Cat

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
I put my leave in at work today!

I may possibly even meet you at the rink! - I'm skipping uni or whatever I have, I'm going to go to this Senior B. I'M SO EXCITED!

And dorispulaski I certainly shall :)


deedee1 ahaha... oh, the Wallabies. (I hate to draw the comparison but being a Wallabies supporter feels akin to being a Mirai supporter... *slinks away*)
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
...:eek:: I meant The Wallabies of the Aussie Rugby union. since I am also a big rugby fan myself. apology for such confusion...>.<

I know you did, which is why I differentiated between the two teams who are worst of the Australian representatives at the moment - the Wallabies, and our cricket team (who don't have a nickname). ;)

I may possibly even meet you at the rink! - I'm skipping uni or whatever I have, I'm going to go to this Senior B. I'M SO EXCITED!

Golden Skate meetup!

deedee1 ahaha... oh, the Wallabies. (I hate to draw the comparison but being a Wallabies supporter feels akin to being a Mirai supporter... *slinks away*)

I try not to watch. It doesn't hurt so bad if you're not watching.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
The biggest limitation on human potential in figure skating has always been artificial barriers imposed by human beings. Whether it has been "women have to wear skirts that go to a certain length," or "men can't wear tights"

Well, these are image issues that may turn off some potential participants or potential spectators. For people who love the feeling of gliding across the ice (directly or vicariously by watching), they're not very relevant. But you do have a point that people who haven't been exposed to the actual skating might resist getting the exposure if they're turned off by the externals.

The externals develop by people who are actually doing the sport, according to their interests. And, yes, the external styles are sometimes a generation or two behind the trends in the wider world because today's skaters want to appeal to yesterday's skaters who are now judges. There's a long way up the competitive ladder before appealing to paying audiences is a consideration, and by that time the skaters themselves are used to the trends within the sport.

or something slightly more subtle like "we're just not going to put a rink anywhere near where someone we don't want to compete could get to," figure skating has sabotaged itself.

I was also wondering when, in the sport of figure skating, competitors from Africa will, others things being equal, the same chances at medals as athletes from Europe, North America, and Japan.

I don't think you understand the economics of ice rinks.

I'm reminded of a moment from my childhood. A skating parent asked the owner of the ice rink where we skated, who was also a coach, "What does it take to become a successful figure skater? Talent? Hard work?"

His response: "Money and access to an ice rink."

Figure skating started in northern Europe and North America because it could only be practiced on natural ice in cold weather. In places where there was no ice, there was no ice skating.

Artificial rinks were invented in the late 19th century.
They're expensive to build and maintain.

It wasn't until the mid-20th century that indoor competition became the norm.

To develop figure skating skills to the level that general audiences find entertaining takes many years, skating many hours per week, preferably starting at a very early age, on ice with comparatively few other figure skaters and not having to dodge the general public. This was even more true when school figures were central to competition, because they needed to be practiced on clean ice so the skaters could see the tracings.

Hence, the sport was started and developed by people who had access to relatively empty ice on a regular basis. That cost money and requires much leisure time for practice, so the sport was developed by rich people in the areas (northern Europe, Canada, northern US) that already had traditions of ice skating on natural ice.

They, along with speedskaters who came from similar areas with access to ice, created an organization (ISU) to regulate international competition in the sport.

The ISU does not build or maintain rinks or teach people how to skate. Nor, for the most part, do national federations.

That happens at a local level. A rink comes into existence because entrepreneurs think they can make money by providing ice for recreational purposes to the general public in their area and to hockey players and figure skaters or others with specialized sport goals. Or because a local government chooses to provide an ice rink as part of a program to provide recreational facilities to the community.

Figure skating practice is not a cost-effective use of ice time, from a rink's point of view. A session open to the general public may hold a couple hundred paying customers. That's where they make their money.

Hockey practices and figure skating practices may serve a couple dozen skaters at a time, which means that ice time costs more per individual.

In order for an ice rink to be built in a part of the world that does not already have a history of interest in the sport, some entrepreneur needs to be willing to take the risk of introducing the general idea of ice skating to that local population and be willing to lose money at first while developing that local interest.

Once the ice exists, some locals can start to learn and practice beginning figure skating skills. A local figure skating club can be organized. This will probably be necessary to negotiate ice time dedicated to figure skating, since the rink owners can make more money by keeping the ice open to everybody.

As the years go by, especially if there's at least one good coach available, some of the figure skaters will go on to develop more advanced skills. They may be interested in competing.

Local skaters have to put in the time practicing many hours a week for years. Someone has to pay for that ice time.
If there is no history of advanced figure skating within this country, then foreign coaches will need to be brought in and/or the more ambitious local figure skaters will need to travel abroad to places they can get better instruction than is available locally. All this takes time and money.

It may be time to join the national figure skating federation if one already exists, or organize one if it doesn't. A national federation can join the ISU and send skaters to international events at appropriate skill levels. Again, this takes money from within the federation.

So when a new federation is formed in a new part of the world, it's usually because one or more rich families in that area have kids who are becoming serious enough skaters to go beyond the local level and are willing to invest many hours of volunteer time in addition to the money for training and travel necessary to get the kids to that level.

In most cases, most of the money comes from the skaters' families.

The only situations where national federations pay for the ice time and coaching, and travel when relevant, and choose talented poor kids to support in this way, tend to be communist countries that place high value on success in international sport. Which right now is primarily China.

Otherwise, skating is a hobby, and one that becomes more and more expensive for participants the higher the level at which it's practiced.

Figure skating is a time-intensive and money-intensive sport. Poor kids -- even poor white kids living in cold climates with several ice rinks in commuting distance -- are not going to become world-class figure skaters. Race isn't the issue -- access to practice ice, and good coaching, is the issue.

I live in a part of the US that has a lot of immigrants and foreign nationals living here for stretches of several years. Some of their kids skate. Some of them get to levels they could never have dreamed of reaching back home someplace with no rinks or one rink with only a few hours of figure skating ice time per week. If they get to junior or senior level and if their family comes from a country that has a figure skating federation and if they can afford to take several overseas trips at their own expense, they may compete for that country.

Getting to junior or senior skill level living in a place with one ice rink and four or five hours of figure skating ice time a week is a lot less likely.
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
I know you did, which is why I differentiated between the two teams who are worst of the Australian representatives at the moment - the Wallabies, and our cricket team (who don't have a nickname). ;)

Oh, are they? I mean, the Wallabies (am know almost nothing on cricket).
....I have checked official site, only to find out their 2012 season was not so impressive result-wise; 2 losses against All Blacks: 19-27 and a bit embarrassing 0-22 :eek:, went even against Springboks, and barely won 2 games against Argentina. As for roster, I am happy to see Ashley-Cooper still a Wallaby :rock:, but where is James O'Conor, or Will Genia who played birilliantly and looked so promising at 2011 World Cup???

oh, sorry for such Off-topic, everyone! :eek::
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Oh, are they? I mean, the Wallabies (am know almost nothing on cricket).
....I have checked official site, only to find out their 2012 season was not so impressive result-wise; 2 losses against All Blacks: 19-27 and a bit embarrassing 0-22 :eek:, went even against Springboks, and barely won 2 games against Argentina. As for roster, I am happy to see Ashley-Cooper still a Wallaby :rock:, but where is James O'Conor, or Will Genia who played birilliantly and looked so promising at 2011 World Cup???

oh, sorry for such Off-topic, everyone! :eek::

Hmmm, let's see, I think O'Connor is now permanently a no-go zone (for whatever reason), and I think Will Genia was injured. Ashley-Cooper is still passable but boy oh boy do I ever hope the Wallaby selectors NEVER pick Quade Cooper again. (Drinking game at the last World Cup: Take a shot every time Cooper makes a mistake. Completely trashed by the end of the first half.)
 

deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Hmmm, let's see, I think O'Connor is now permanently a no-go zone (for whatever reason), and I think Will Genia was injured. Ashley-Cooper is still passable but boy oh boy do I ever hope the Wallaby selectors NEVER pick Quade Cooper again. (Drinking game at the last World Cup: Take a shot every time Cooper makes a mistake. Completely trashed by the end of the first half.)

yeah, was so heartbreaking to see Quade struggling both mentally and performance-wise the whole time at that World Cup and ended up torn ACL injury...:no: he is a Kiwi originally, right? then he must have felt huge pressure to play his very first World Cup in his home country, while representing its rivaly country, I would imagine.
I hope there soon will be someone with great bravery captaincy; such as Nick Farr-Jones George Gregan or Sterling Mortlock, once again to head the national team. :) I still remember Mortlock's flashbulb-ish intersept then 80m run & try at 2007 WC semi-final agaist All Blacks! :rock:
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
ISU.org calendar listing now officially indicates Sydney as the "New Venue" for Skate DownUnder.

(But no link to any website for the event.)
 

snsd

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 30, 2012
I didn't mean to turn this all political. Sorry. What made me think about these questions is the question, how ironic is it that we might get excited that the ISU has decided to start a competition in the NEW WORLD??!! AUSTRALIA!!

ISA and the high performance director have organised and decided to hold the event not ISU.

The event will be used to decide which of the Australian skaters will go to Neblehorn!
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I am so excited! Canterbury is just near Hurstville (1 hour from Ryde).

Lucky!

My only wish is that Canterbury were closer to the train station. It's a nice walk...in the daytime. No way could you get me to do it after dark.
 

Orange Cat

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Driving is probably easiest. The 428 used to be like clockwork but this year it's gone haywire (buses missing on live data etc which confuses me, because how do you lose a bus?!) and the 445 isn't exactly the most reliable ...

Parking, however, is generally pretty easy in Canterbury, so your plan sounds pretty solid. And christinaskater I didn't realise you were in Hurstville! That's so close! Ahh the world of goldenskate members :)
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I've only been to the Canterbury Ice Rink twice, but IIRC there was plenty of parking, plus a long straight road in front of it where maybe you could park on the side, so I'm hopeful that it won't be difficult. I'm very excited!

(But before this there is a trip to the Penrith Ice Palace to make...I've never been there before, so if I post forlornly next weekend about being lost in Sydney, you'll all know what happened! :laugh:)
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Skate DownUnder 2013 official announcement from Ice Skating Australia (8-page PDF)

Skate DownUnder 2013 official announcement from Ice Skating Australia (8-page PDF)

As previously discussed in this thread:
An International Competition for
Junior and Senior Men, Ladies, Pairs and Ice Dance
Novice Men and Ladies
Sydney, Australia [Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink]
August 20 – 22, 2013​

ENTRIES
- ISU Members may enter up to 4 competitors for each category in Ladies, Men, Pairs and Ice Dance and their substitutes.
- The entries must reach the Organiser by Saturday 20th July 2013 at the latest.​

Also:
@IceSkatingAUS is the new Twitter account for the federation.​
 

GF2445

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
I wonder who is going to show up? Hopefully the fact that it is in Sydney with its iconic landmarks that some big names would come! Also, I wonder who the ISA chooses to rep Australia?
 
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