The Sport of Skating--What Now? (My Personal, Very Subjective Suggestions)
Okay, the Olympics are over, and I think it's fair to say that the skaters really delivered. Especially the women--I know a lot of people bemoan the lack of U.S. superstars (i.e. Michelle & perhaps Sasha), but they put on one heck of a show, easily making it the cleanest level of skating I've ever seen at a single competition.
So my question is, what now? How can skating carry on from now and become the successful sport that it should be (and once was)? Well, here's my venting; feel free to comment.
1) THE SCORING SYSTEM
I know, I know; this has been talked to death, but it still doesn't change the fact that it needs to change back. Pronto. As good as the skaters were, the sameness of moves from one program to the next is still there. What makes skating so wonderful is that it allows skaters' individual styles and personalities to shine out, but that quality is being squeezed out by the CoP system.
Kristi Yamaguchi in a recent interview put it well: (I'm paraphrasing) "With some skaters, you hear the music and see what they're doing, and you have to ask yourself, 'What in the world are you doing?' I believe Frank Carroll made similar comments recently as well. And of course, it's hard for people to really get involved and excited about all these numbers that pretty much look completely random and arbitrary. Before, when you saw a "6.0," you knew history was being made. The 6.0 in skating was iconic, and getting rid of it was like baseball getting rid of the home run.
Here's my suggestion: bring the 6.0 system with the separate Technical and Artistic marks as well as the use of ordinals to decide placements. However, make a few tweaks to it. First of all, judges should be allowed to differentiate scores by 0.05 instead of 0.1. In other words, judges would be allowed to give scores such as 5.85 or 5.95, instad of just 5.8 and 5.9.
Next change, keep the Technical Specialist committees who will continue to report on underrotations and wrong edge calls. The judges will be given the information before they mark programs and be asked to consider the information as they decide on their scores.
And finally, when there is a tie between two skaters (i.e. Skater #1: 5.8, 5.9 & Skater #2: 5.95, 5.75), the tiebreaker should be the Technical mark, not the Artistic. As important as artistry is to skating, the fact is judges have used the whole Artistry as the tiebreaker loophole to hold up skaters for dubious reasons (e.g. the whole Pairs scandal); this change will make that more difficult and more obvious when it does happen.
2) THE PROGRAM ELEMENTS
The late Carlo Fassi had an idea to limit the number triples senior ladies could do in a free program to make sure jumping didn't take over the sport. I actually have a similar idea.
Right now, a skater is allowed to repeat two different kinds of triples. Here's my idea: A skater is NOT allowed to repeat any triple jump UNLESS he/she uses it in a triple-triple combination. With the rule, skaters who don't do a triple-triple combination will be limited to 5 triples (or 6 if they have a triple axel). But skaters who have a triple-triple combination will be allowed 6 triples (or 7, again with the triple axel). Just to make it clear, here's an example: if a skater does a triple flip-triple toe combination, he/she would be allowed to do either one more triple flip OR one more triple toe elsewhere in the program. Of course, if a skater does a triple toe-triple toe combination, he/she can't do another triple toe, since the jump has already been done twice for the combo.
The rule is intended for several different reasons. First, it should decrease the number of jumping passes (I'd also have a rule limiting the number of double axels to two per program) and free up the program for more choreography and artistry (not to mention increase the number of clean programs). It should also lessen the wear and tear on skaters a bit since many of them would be doing one less triple per program. And finally, it would award skaters who can do many kinds of triples (it bugs me when Yu-Na--whose skating I otherwise love--leaves out the triple loop, and ditto for Mao Asada--I like her, too--and her lutz & salchow).
3) THE STRUCTURE OF THE SPORT
Right now, skating seems to be ALL about the Olympics. Even the World Championships seems to pale in comparison, and the Nationals only seems to matter in Olympic seasons. I feel like that needs to change to make skating a great sport in its own right.
Let's compare skating to tennis (my other favorite sport) for a moment. In tennis, the players have FOUR Majors EVERY YEAR. Let's say someone like Roger Federer has a really bad day and loses in the first round of the French Open. Well, boom, just wait a couple of weeks, and he has a chance for redemption at Wimbledon. If he doesn't do well there, either, there's the U.S. Open waiting in a couple of months. Let's compare that to skating. Oh, Michelle Kwan didn't win Olympics. Well, she can't really be considered one of the very best, then, even though she's won more World Championships than any of her contemporaries. Don't you just HATE that?
Another comparison: tennis players generally seem to like playing tennis. They play about 20 events per year, and early retirements (not related to injuries) are exceptions, not the rule. You compare that to skaters. It seems like many skaters can't wait to leave skating. Oh, maybe I'll skate one more season. Oh, I won't be at Worlds this year, because I'm too tired from the Olympics. Oh, I'm the Olympics champion now, so I'm going to retire. Oh, I'm going to stop skating and go into fashion/acting/whatever. I understand the skaters have very demanding lives, but is it really that more demanding than tennis players who often play two-hour matches five or six times a week? Just imagine if Steffi Graf retired at the age of 18 after winning the Grand Slam, because she felt like she's done it all. No, she felt the drive to keep playing and continue chasing history; I wish more skaters felt the same way.
I think what needs to happen is to build on and expand the current ISU Grand Prix. The events need to form a cohesive, big-time Skating Tour (a la ATP & WTA) with bigger draws and sponsors providing substantial prize money (let's face it, money talks).
Here's my primitive model for a Pro Skating Season: from August through December, there will be two big events per month (10 all together). The events will have names like Skate New York, Skate France, and Skate Canada (just like now for that one), and they will stay in the same location each year so that they can continue to grow and build their prestige and brand. Each event will feature Men, Women, and the Pairs (sorry, but I don't see Ice Dancing as being financially viable). Skaters would be expected to skate in at least four of the ten events, two of their own choosing and two decided by the ISU to make sure the events have well-balanced draws. Skaters would win ranking points and prize money for their performances.
Okay, so far, that's similar to the ISU Grand Prix just on a bigger scale. But one change I'd make is that there would be no more limits on the number of skaters per each country for the events. In fact, the events would be Open to any skater who meet certain technical criteria (for the women: 1) being capable of doing a triple lutz OR triple flip, 2) capable of doing a triple loop OR triple salchow, 3) doing a triple toe, 4) do a solid combination spin). I imagine ISU holding sessions where skaters would show they fit the critiera, and then they would win Tour Membership like with the PGA, and then they can start competing in events (skaters who finish in the Top 12 in Worlds or the Olympics would win Lifetime Tour Membership). There would be no more Yukari Nakano situations nor skaters competing who may be national champions but can't do high-level moves.
In January, skaters would have their National Championships, and then there would be plenty of time for them to train at home for the World Championships OR the Olympics in February (I'd do away with the Worlds in Olympic seasons). After that, the off-season until August, when the Skating Tour season begins again.
So, overall, those are my suggestions. Thank you for listening to me vent
Okay, the Olympics are over, and I think it's fair to say that the skaters really delivered. Especially the women--I know a lot of people bemoan the lack of U.S. superstars (i.e. Michelle & perhaps Sasha), but they put on one heck of a show, easily making it the cleanest level of skating I've ever seen at a single competition.
So my question is, what now? How can skating carry on from now and become the successful sport that it should be (and once was)? Well, here's my venting; feel free to comment.
1) THE SCORING SYSTEM
I know, I know; this has been talked to death, but it still doesn't change the fact that it needs to change back. Pronto. As good as the skaters were, the sameness of moves from one program to the next is still there. What makes skating so wonderful is that it allows skaters' individual styles and personalities to shine out, but that quality is being squeezed out by the CoP system.
Kristi Yamaguchi in a recent interview put it well: (I'm paraphrasing) "With some skaters, you hear the music and see what they're doing, and you have to ask yourself, 'What in the world are you doing?' I believe Frank Carroll made similar comments recently as well. And of course, it's hard for people to really get involved and excited about all these numbers that pretty much look completely random and arbitrary. Before, when you saw a "6.0," you knew history was being made. The 6.0 in skating was iconic, and getting rid of it was like baseball getting rid of the home run.
Here's my suggestion: bring the 6.0 system with the separate Technical and Artistic marks as well as the use of ordinals to decide placements. However, make a few tweaks to it. First of all, judges should be allowed to differentiate scores by 0.05 instead of 0.1. In other words, judges would be allowed to give scores such as 5.85 or 5.95, instad of just 5.8 and 5.9.
Next change, keep the Technical Specialist committees who will continue to report on underrotations and wrong edge calls. The judges will be given the information before they mark programs and be asked to consider the information as they decide on their scores.
And finally, when there is a tie between two skaters (i.e. Skater #1: 5.8, 5.9 & Skater #2: 5.95, 5.75), the tiebreaker should be the Technical mark, not the Artistic. As important as artistry is to skating, the fact is judges have used the whole Artistry as the tiebreaker loophole to hold up skaters for dubious reasons (e.g. the whole Pairs scandal); this change will make that more difficult and more obvious when it does happen.
2) THE PROGRAM ELEMENTS
The late Carlo Fassi had an idea to limit the number triples senior ladies could do in a free program to make sure jumping didn't take over the sport. I actually have a similar idea.
Right now, a skater is allowed to repeat two different kinds of triples. Here's my idea: A skater is NOT allowed to repeat any triple jump UNLESS he/she uses it in a triple-triple combination. With the rule, skaters who don't do a triple-triple combination will be limited to 5 triples (or 6 if they have a triple axel). But skaters who have a triple-triple combination will be allowed 6 triples (or 7, again with the triple axel). Just to make it clear, here's an example: if a skater does a triple flip-triple toe combination, he/she would be allowed to do either one more triple flip OR one more triple toe elsewhere in the program. Of course, if a skater does a triple toe-triple toe combination, he/she can't do another triple toe, since the jump has already been done twice for the combo.
The rule is intended for several different reasons. First, it should decrease the number of jumping passes (I'd also have a rule limiting the number of double axels to two per program) and free up the program for more choreography and artistry (not to mention increase the number of clean programs). It should also lessen the wear and tear on skaters a bit since many of them would be doing one less triple per program. And finally, it would award skaters who can do many kinds of triples (it bugs me when Yu-Na--whose skating I otherwise love--leaves out the triple loop, and ditto for Mao Asada--I like her, too--and her lutz & salchow).
3) THE STRUCTURE OF THE SPORT
Right now, skating seems to be ALL about the Olympics. Even the World Championships seems to pale in comparison, and the Nationals only seems to matter in Olympic seasons. I feel like that needs to change to make skating a great sport in its own right.
Let's compare skating to tennis (my other favorite sport) for a moment. In tennis, the players have FOUR Majors EVERY YEAR. Let's say someone like Roger Federer has a really bad day and loses in the first round of the French Open. Well, boom, just wait a couple of weeks, and he has a chance for redemption at Wimbledon. If he doesn't do well there, either, there's the U.S. Open waiting in a couple of months. Let's compare that to skating. Oh, Michelle Kwan didn't win Olympics. Well, she can't really be considered one of the very best, then, even though she's won more World Championships than any of her contemporaries. Don't you just HATE that?
Another comparison: tennis players generally seem to like playing tennis. They play about 20 events per year, and early retirements (not related to injuries) are exceptions, not the rule. You compare that to skaters. It seems like many skaters can't wait to leave skating. Oh, maybe I'll skate one more season. Oh, I won't be at Worlds this year, because I'm too tired from the Olympics. Oh, I'm the Olympics champion now, so I'm going to retire. Oh, I'm going to stop skating and go into fashion/acting/whatever. I understand the skaters have very demanding lives, but is it really that more demanding than tennis players who often play two-hour matches five or six times a week? Just imagine if Steffi Graf retired at the age of 18 after winning the Grand Slam, because she felt like she's done it all. No, she felt the drive to keep playing and continue chasing history; I wish more skaters felt the same way.
I think what needs to happen is to build on and expand the current ISU Grand Prix. The events need to form a cohesive, big-time Skating Tour (a la ATP & WTA) with bigger draws and sponsors providing substantial prize money (let's face it, money talks).
Here's my primitive model for a Pro Skating Season: from August through December, there will be two big events per month (10 all together). The events will have names like Skate New York, Skate France, and Skate Canada (just like now for that one), and they will stay in the same location each year so that they can continue to grow and build their prestige and brand. Each event will feature Men, Women, and the Pairs (sorry, but I don't see Ice Dancing as being financially viable). Skaters would be expected to skate in at least four of the ten events, two of their own choosing and two decided by the ISU to make sure the events have well-balanced draws. Skaters would win ranking points and prize money for their performances.
Okay, so far, that's similar to the ISU Grand Prix just on a bigger scale. But one change I'd make is that there would be no more limits on the number of skaters per each country for the events. In fact, the events would be Open to any skater who meet certain technical criteria (for the women: 1) being capable of doing a triple lutz OR triple flip, 2) capable of doing a triple loop OR triple salchow, 3) doing a triple toe, 4) do a solid combination spin). I imagine ISU holding sessions where skaters would show they fit the critiera, and then they would win Tour Membership like with the PGA, and then they can start competing in events (skaters who finish in the Top 12 in Worlds or the Olympics would win Lifetime Tour Membership). There would be no more Yukari Nakano situations nor skaters competing who may be national champions but can't do high-level moves.
In January, skaters would have their National Championships, and then there would be plenty of time for them to train at home for the World Championships OR the Olympics in February (I'd do away with the Worlds in Olympic seasons). After that, the off-season until August, when the Skating Tour season begins again.
So, overall, those are my suggestions. Thank you for listening to me vent
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