- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
This is the response to every problem. What am I supposed to do?what are they supposed to do?
This is the response to every problem. What am I supposed to do?what are they supposed to do?
Other sports may be more dangerous, but is that really the standard to which figure skating should aspire?Considering Skate Boarding, I think Figure Skating gets off easy. can you imagine 11 players chasing you down the field, tackle you and you get a concussion, if you are lucky and not a spinal injury. I've seen a girl get hit with a Tbar in skiing, a spinal injury when the horse threw off a rider. The Diving sports produce their share of injuries as do all Sports.
One has the choice to practice and compete in a sport. Why blame the ISU or even the coach?
Other sports may be more dangerous, but is that really the standard to which figure skating should aspire?
1. In most sports with a high risk of injury, participants have at least some form of protective gear. Figure skaters go out on the ice with nothing except their outfits and skates.
The same thing happened in hocky. The NHL made the players wear helmets. The players hated it. Helmets are for sissies. Real men have closed head injuries.After Tat & Max's horrible crash on their lift the debate happened about whether or not pairs skaters should wear helmets... most pairs skaters themselves said NO. That they didn't want to wear the protective gear.
so again it's a choice.
Considering how many falls we see in most events, maybe some knee and elbow padding would be good . There are other non-contact sports that require protection, even though serious accidents aren't that common.
But on the whole, I agree that the injury problem is not from falls and accidents during performances so much as from the training and the repetitive stress and strain on skaters' bodies. Yes, it's a choice, but some of the requirements could be changed or modified so that such a choice wouldn't be necessary. The contorted spin and spiral positions can be the first to go; if a skater is unusually flexible, reward spin positions with GOEs or in the PCS.
Problem is figure skating has gone from 'ballet-like' to full fledged Acrobatics. I don't think CoP caused that. Is was showing up in the 6.0 system as well.But on the whole, I agree that the injury problem is not from falls and accidents during performances so much as from the training and the repetitive stress and strain on skaters' bodies. Yes, it's a choice, but some of the requirements could be changed or modified so that such a choice wouldn't be necessary. The contorted spin and spiral positions can be the first to go; if a skater is unusually flexible, reward spin positions with GOEs or in the PCS.
the problem with the age limit is that it isn't consistant. the younger skaters can still participate in the Grand Prix as a senior as well as their nationals (and four continents/euros... I think?) so really "protecting" them from the olympic and world strain doesn't WORK because most of their competitions are just as stressful and they need the big jumps and tricks to be competitive for them.
This is fantastic. Where is Phil Hersh now?