Ice Skating community needs to regain control of our sport - Petition to remove Cinquanta
https://www.change.org/petitions/ot...presidency-of-the-international-skating-union
It is time for the Ice Skating community to stop sitting by and allowing our sport to be ruined. We have reached an all-time low in relevance and participation. A major reason for this is the extremely poor leadership of the sport. For 20 years now, a speed skater has been president of the ISU. Why should our sport be presided over by someone who didn't participate in it and doesn't understand it?
The first action the ice skating community needs to take, to stabilize the sport at this moment, is the removal of Cinquanta as president of the ISU. After that, the ice skating community needs to immediately think about plans for withdrawing from the ISU and forming an international skating union that does NOT include speed skating. Why should these two sports be mixed together in the same governing body? There is no purpose for it and continuing to have them linked together will only serve to damage ice skating. It should be noted that figure skating, or "freestyle skating", is what brings in the VAST majority of revenues to the ISU. Speed skating essentially just "steals" the money that figure skating generates. There is enough time for a new ice skating union to become accredited before the next Olympics. We must act NOW.
After the root of the problem has been solved, we must then treat the sickness that has been caused, which is a judging system that is severely flawed. The rules must be significantly altered to not reward failure, to not reward convoluted and uncreative skating, and to have properly trained judges who are not anonymous. Our sport has lost the audience because the skating has become ugly/uninspiring and because the judging has no consistency and no clarity. In an age where there are more and more outlets of media and recreation for people to engage themselves in, ice skating absolutely must stand out as a unique blend of artistry and athleticism in order for it to have any real future.
Please sign the above petition and contact the skating unions to let your voice be heard. The email addresses of each skating union can be found here (a separate but related petition) - https://www.change.org/petitions/is...-skating-proposals-for-the-2014-isu-congress# (the contact info for Great Britain's union is not listed there, they can be contacted at [email protected]).
https://www.change.org/petitions/ot...presidency-of-the-international-skating-union
It is time for the Ice Skating community to stop sitting by and allowing our sport to be ruined. We have reached an all-time low in relevance and participation. A major reason for this is the extremely poor leadership of the sport. For 20 years now, a speed skater has been president of the ISU. Why should our sport be presided over by someone who didn't participate in it and doesn't understand it?
The first action the ice skating community needs to take, to stabilize the sport at this moment, is the removal of Cinquanta as president of the ISU. After that, the ice skating community needs to immediately think about plans for withdrawing from the ISU and forming an international skating union that does NOT include speed skating. Why should these two sports be mixed together in the same governing body? There is no purpose for it and continuing to have them linked together will only serve to damage ice skating. It should be noted that figure skating, or "freestyle skating", is what brings in the VAST majority of revenues to the ISU. Speed skating essentially just "steals" the money that figure skating generates. There is enough time for a new ice skating union to become accredited before the next Olympics. We must act NOW.
After the root of the problem has been solved, we must then treat the sickness that has been caused, which is a judging system that is severely flawed. The rules must be significantly altered to not reward failure, to not reward convoluted and uncreative skating, and to have properly trained judges who are not anonymous. Our sport has lost the audience because the skating has become ugly/uninspiring and because the judging has no consistency and no clarity. In an age where there are more and more outlets of media and recreation for people to engage themselves in, ice skating absolutely must stand out as a unique blend of artistry and athleticism in order for it to have any real future.
Please sign the above petition and contact the skating unions to let your voice be heard. The email addresses of each skating union can be found here (a separate but related petition) - https://www.change.org/petitions/is...-skating-proposals-for-the-2014-isu-congress# (the contact info for Great Britain's union is not listed there, they can be contacted at [email protected]).