Pulkinens's blades damaged in locker in NYC

[Ic3Rabbit]

And so? Did he (or his agent/coach) see the rink manager to ask how could this happen in the best rink?

Look, I gave you the facts about the area and the rink and why he has to train at that one and that he's in NY bc he attends Columbia U. Otherwise he'd be training in LA. I'm not there, I'm not him and I am not involved in "why this happened at the best rink."

My point in other posts here was, it happens and you should always be prepared no matter how great a place is supposed to be. Proactivity is useful.

 

[Anna K.]

Look, I gave you the facts about the area and the rink and why he has to train at that one and that he's in NY bc he attends Columbia U. Otherwise he'd be training in LA. I'm not there, I'm not him and I am not involved in "why this happened at the best rink."

My point in other posts here was, it happens and you should always be prepared no matter how great a place is supposed to be. Proactivity is useful.

I see. You are not him. You are not his agent. You are not the rink manager. You just gave general facts. Thank you!

 

[yesterday]

I only put my stuff at the boards since I train on my own, but most of the skaters on my session have parents or a spectator they give their stuff to, or they're comfortable leaving it in the changeroom. Most of the time there's actually quite a bit of room at the boards - by the boards, I mean, the box where the hockey players sit. If there's enough room for a dozen or more hockey players, there's probably enough room for a dozen bags (usually a free skate session at most clubs is maxed out at 20 people on the ice).

Ah well, I was just thinking of crowded/public sessions and all the stuff carried to the boards would be..

 

[yesterday]

I'm not sure what you meant by "there'd be no place to walk around anymore." Could you please clarify?

Thank you too for the explanation.
I was somehow thinking about crowded sessions and everybody carrying all their stuff and clothes etc. directly to the rink But of course, it works with just a few skaters plus friends/family/coach.

Is it very common to (nearly) always have at least a second person at the rink at training sessions besides the coach?

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Thank you too for the explanation.
I was somehow thinking about crowded sessions and everybody carrying all their stuff and clothes etc. directly to the rink But of course, it works with just a few skaters plus friends/family/coach.

Is it very common to (nearly) always have at least a second person at the rink at training sessions besides the coach?

It depends on each coaching team for each skater.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Ah well, I was just thinking of crowded/public sessions and all the stuff carried to the boards would be..

Ohhhh yeah for public sessions I don’t tend to take my figure skates and I keep my wallet/phone in a jacket on my person. Only my shoes go into my skating duffel that I swap with my skates, and thankfully nobody has ever stolen those! If it’s an outdoor session sometimes I might even take my bag and put it at a corner of the rink where the Zamboni doesn’t flood, so someone would literally have to skate over to steal my stuff. In which case, I’m fast enough to chase them down.

 

[Warwick360]

I saw this tweet by Camden Pulkinen today:


I was dismayed that some fellow skaters (I suppose it was one of them?) can be mean enough to sabotage their rinkmates and fellow competitors like this. Especially when I saw Andrew Dodds commenting below, saying a similar thing happened to him.
I don't think that all rinkmates are necessarily the bestest buddies, and there's the infamous Tonya Harding case which is of course extreme, but still, I didn't think it could get this bad and basically turn into vandalism, at least on the top level?
People who have skated at some point, is this common at rinks, or is it -hopefully- exceptional?

I remember one of the British tennis player saying in an interview how the ladies locker can be quite open to sabotage with strings of a racket being cut up, among other things.

I didn't realise someone would go far enough to do that with skating lockers too.

 

[Warwick360]

It could have been a competitor's fan... think of some of the past behavior that's been talked about, unfortunately it would not surprise me if 1 day there's a news article about a Tonya- Nancy 2.0 incident with the assailant being a fan

I do hate it when fans take it too far. There's taking things far, and then there's the matter of taking it wayyyy too far, which is something that's quite worrying. Hope whoever is responsible, fan or not, does get caught. To this day, I can't stop thinking about Monica Seles when I hear or read of deranged fans who try to sabotage others.

 

[TT_Fin]

It is said night, does it mean the night near midnight or "prime time" night? This word makes me often confused because in Finnish we have different words for those periods. I have no idea how it is in crowded New York, but I have lived in this little town from global aspect next to an Arena. There were no people at night after there were no trainings, competitions or events going on. There are alarms and quardians visited there some times/nights just to check. If something happens during midnight, it can be some outsider. But I suppose every arena at least where top athletes train has got some kind of alarm systems,

Sometimes there are fans who are not really fans of the sport. They have somebody their have decided to admire, hardly knowing what the sport is. Sometimes this kind of fans are the the ones, who may go too far. Real fans respect also their idol's competitors and want their idol to make their best with fair play. They don't only harm the one not only harm their competitor of their idol, but also their idol him/herself, after when it is found whose fan the person has been.

 

[chuckm]

I recall an article in which Kristi Yamaguchi said she didn't miss her competitive days because of the constant danger of sabotage to her costumes and skates.

 

[maturines]

Javier Fernández talked about this in a TV show a few years ago. If you understand Spanish, you can watch it here. Basically he talked about damaging blades, using super-glue or spoiling the edges and the caution you must have with water bottles.

 

[yesterday]

Javier Fernández talked about this in a TV show a few years ago. If you understand Spanish, you can watch it here. Basically he talked about damaging blades, using super-glue or spoiling the edges and the caution you must have with water bottles.

Automatic subtitles do the job here as well.
It's just this "behind the scenes"

 

[CoyoteChris]

It could have been a competitor's fan... think of some of the past behavior that's been talked about, unfortunately it would not surprise me if 1 day there's a news article about a Tonya- Nancy 2.0 incident with the assailant being a fan

No surprise from me if this happens. IIRC people have caused Tour de France crashes. I heard long ago that mothers of very young competitors can be dangerous to other competitor's equipment. Sadly, I am not surprised at all this kind of garbage happens in the US, but I have to wonder about the incidence in more civilized parts of the world....maybe countries where you can park your car and not have to worry about if your catylitic converter will be there when you come back....

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

No surprise from me if this happens. IIRC people have caused Tour de France crashes. I heard long ago that mothers of very young competitors can be dangerous to other competitor's equipment. Sadly, I am not surprised at all this kind of garbage happens in the US, but I have to wonder about the incidence in more civilized parts of the world....maybe countries where you can park your car and not have to worry about if your catylitic converter will be there when you come back....

It happens all over the skating world. Not just the US.

 

[CoyoteChris]

It happens all over the skating world. Not just the US.

And that is sad....sabotage , theft and vandalism ...even in Japan....

 

[TT_Fin]

And not just skating, other sports too. Even in Finland.

 

[statmam]

I recall an article in which Kristi Yamaguchi said she didn't miss her competitive days because of the constant danger of sabotage to her costumes and skates.

Thanks for mentioning this. I had a vague recollection of the same article/interview but couldn't pin it down.

 

[meem]

Most upper level to elite skaters do take phones, tissues and many more things to the boards with them already, coaches watch it while on practice ice at own rink and/or competitive practice. It's really not a huge deal, it's been done for a very long time.

I'm not sure what you meant by "there'd be no place to walk around anymore." Could you please clarify?

Anyway, this does happen competitive and so on. You get jealous skaters or parents and you learn not to leave your equipment laying around, in a locker, etc. You or coach have your stuff or another trusted member of your coaching/choreo team. Otherwise, you are just asking for something bad to happen. It sucks, but it's competitive sport. I feel really bad for Camden and hope he can get things fixed up, and never do this again. Most of the time in elite level, it's not as bad and we are all friendly and trust each other enough, but he is training in a new place so this is just bad all around.

 

[meem]

First person I thought of was Kristi and how shocked I was when she mentioned not missing competitive skating because of this sabotaging of equipment. Then I remembered Sasha Cohen saying that, while competing at Cup of Russia, she heard audience members screaming "Fall!" Being the child of a Russian-American mother, she knew exactly what they were yelling at her.

 

[mrrice]

And so? Did he (or his agent/coach) see the rink manager to ask how could this happen in the best rink?

I'm surprised that there aren't camera's as well. Especially at the entrances and exits of the Locker Room. Even the High School has camera's in those area's.