There is an interesting discussion over at FSU on high cost for skaters going to the Nationals. I would like to extend it here (don’t like their private sections over there ) to the high cost of going to skating competitions in general. In poker tournaments, you pay an entry fee, you spend a week in a hotel competing, and you don’t bring your coach even through he could help analyzing your opponents before the games. I was shocked when I learnt that skating coaches need to accompany a skater to competitions. Why a coach needs to go with a skater? Why a coach needs to put the skater on ice (how old are the skaters?), watch the skater during her warm-up and competition by the rink side, and sit by the skater at kiss and cry after the program? The skater should have practiced her program hundreds of times before the competition, what additional help the coach could provide here? Would that help warrant the additional cost? Does anyone know when a coach couldn’t go due to scheduling conflict it had affected a skater’s performance? I bet none! How much less would it cost going to a competition without a coach? Maybe a lot! The skating world needs to think outside of the box and does away with having coaches accompany skaters to competitions, unless the coach pays his own way (he may learn something and improve somehow at a competition) or the skater asks the coach to come and help. This is only fair to the skaters and their families.
To reduce the “need” of having private coaches coming to competitions with the skaters, the structure of the competitions needs to change a little but is easy to implement. For example, all club competitions and even Regionals can be organized as club or team tournaments. Only a couple of club coaches are needed to take the team to the competition. In addition to individual scores as the current system, we could have total scores for the teams (total of 4 or n# of top individual scores or level scores), scores for each competition levels for each team, and award medals, trophies, and cash prizes to each category accordingly. This team and club competitions might lead to more exciting National FS Team Competitions (March Madness?) or even professional teams and clubs in the future. It would help the growth of the sport, drawing more fans and gaining heftier TV contracts. If a FS league could eventually become reality, it would change the outlook of professional skaters. Their livelihood would not rely on shows and tours only. Hey, even judges could benefit from it, they could work as paid judges in a union similar to the referees in other sporting leagues.
This may be far fetching. Just food for thoughts….
To reduce the “need” of having private coaches coming to competitions with the skaters, the structure of the competitions needs to change a little but is easy to implement. For example, all club competitions and even Regionals can be organized as club or team tournaments. Only a couple of club coaches are needed to take the team to the competition. In addition to individual scores as the current system, we could have total scores for the teams (total of 4 or n# of top individual scores or level scores), scores for each competition levels for each team, and award medals, trophies, and cash prizes to each category accordingly. This team and club competitions might lead to more exciting National FS Team Competitions (March Madness?) or even professional teams and clubs in the future. It would help the growth of the sport, drawing more fans and gaining heftier TV contracts. If a FS league could eventually become reality, it would change the outlook of professional skaters. Their livelihood would not rely on shows and tours only. Hey, even judges could benefit from it, they could work as paid judges in a union similar to the referees in other sporting leagues.
This may be far fetching. Just food for thoughts….