Why isn't collegiate skating a big thing?

[moonvine]

At least I'm assuming it isn't, since I never hear anything about it. I just got done watching my "other" sport - gymnastics. 2 NCAA meets, both televised, sold out stadiums. In fact I am pretty sure the Bama crowd for a regular season meet was bigger than the Men's National Skating Championships, which is a pity.

 

[gkelly]

In the US?

http://usfigureskating.org/programs?id=83954

It is a thing, but not a big thing. It's a relatively recent phenomenon, as opposed to gymnastics, which has had a collegiate presence for much longer.

I don't know how quickly it has been growing.

 

[andromache]

Would part of the lack of it in the US be due to lacks of ice rinks?

The public university I went to had a hockey team that practiced at a local rink (with one area), sharing it with all other ice/hockey-related sports of all ages in the small town we were in.

 

[moonvine]

From reading that I guess it is not an NCAA sport but more of an intramural one? That probably would answer my question if so.

 

[moonvine]

I don't know. I went to the University of Alabama eons ago. They now have a collegiate hockey team, which they didn't when I was in college. I don't think there were ice rinks there in the 80s but there are now, though the team has to practice in Hoover. They even have a tournament at the end of the season called the Frozen Four. This is the entirety of my hockey knowledge.

 

[gkelly]

From reading that I guess it is not an NCAA sport but more of an intramural one? That probably would answer my question if so.

I would say it is neither -- somewhere in between.

Few colleges have enough skaters at the same level to hold meaningful competitions just between their own skaters.

There are collegiate competitions in which colleges send teams of individual skaters who compete against skaters from other colleges at their own individual test levels and earn points for their team based on placement in those events:
http://usfigureskating.org/story?id=83979&menu=programs

This format allows beginner college skaters, skaters who had reached a low level before college, and those who had reached middle or higher levels before college but took time off in between or scaled back their training when starting college to team up with each other at the same school and to take on others at their own levels when they go to meets.

The rules for the higher test levels at collegiate events are more forgiving especially in terms of required jump content than for the same levels at standard USFS events.

In synchronized skating, there are collegiate and open collegiate divisions that allows college-based teams to compete against each other at USFS synchro competitions.


If someday there are enough schools participating in either of the above forms of competition, maybe they would become an NCAA sport at that time? I don't know how that would work.

There are also a few colleges that host higher level (junior or senior) synchro teams. They compete against other junior and senior teams that are organized around rinks or skating clubs rather than colleges. Miami of Ohio has one of the top senior teams in the US that has represented the US internationally.

The US also holds a collegiate championships in the summer for individual junior- and senior-level skaters. But that's individual students representing themselves -- they just have to be college students to qualify to enter that event -- not really representing their schools.

 

[Chemistry66]

I've always felt it's easier to have access to a gymnastics gym than a skating rink. The rinks require such specialized temperature control to keep the ice solid, but not too frozen. Then there's sharing with other sports, especially hockey which is much more established as a major sport in the US.

Even at a rec level, gymnastics gyms are inherently easier to make use of space, since even mat-covered space between equipment can be used for tumbling practice. More gymnasts can be practicing at a time than skaters jumping and spinning on a rink. Yes, gymnasts have their own specialized equipment but it's less difficult to maintain than an ice rink. Off-apparatus practice is also easier for gymnasts. (Higher rotation skating jumps are so hard to do off-ice) which means even a gym with limited apparatuses can make efficient use of what they do have.

What this all boils down to is building the talent pool. The number of kids in gymnastics ends up being huge, even through the higher JO levels. Yes, there are more gymnasts at the lower levels, but still a substantial number in Levels 9 and 10. (Elite is different. Not part of the JO system) Skating's talent pool starts smaller and diminishes much faster.

This is a bit rambley and unfinished, yes. I'll come back to it later.

 

[Abraxis12345]

College sports cost money and few teams, outside of Football and Basketball, are able to support itself through ticket revenue and alumni donations.

 

[desertskates]

Along with lack of available ice time, I'm going to go with money on this one. College is expensive and skating as an individual sport is expensive as well. I'm not sure how many parents would be willing to cough up not only money for tuition and housing, but a coach and ice time as well. Also, with the common belief being that if you haven't "made it" in skating by 18, you probably never will, skaters might turn most of their focus to their studies.

 

[Imagine]

It's not really a team sport is it? At least, not in the way college-level gymnastics is.

 

[gkelly]

Here's a video about one of the more active collegiate teams promoting the intercollegiate event they were hosting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETm9b4thKqg

 

[mrrice]

When I was at CSUN in Northridge Ca. The University didn't have a Hockey Team but, there was a very popular Hockey League that the players belonged to. It was also where the College Singles skaters would practice and hold their competitions. There was not a high enough level of interest for CSUN to have a team, so they made it into a club and took donations from shows they'd put on at Pickwick: If you look at the schedule you'll see that the colleges do have Hockey Teams. Some are funded by the Universities and some are self funded due to lack of school funding.http://www.pickwickice.com/hockey-ice-rink-burbank-nhl-size-arena-pickwick-ice/

 

[brightphoton]

Figure skating is an expensive sport
You got to have:
1. Special shoes - rather expensive upfront
2. An ice rink - expensive to maintain, not a lot of general use by the public
3. Not a "team" sport - fewer people to help pay for #2

I'd group it with sports like horseback riding or archery

 

[Skater Boy]

Well I think there are several reasons why skating at the collegiate level is not so popular and I spoke to a sports director at a university about this

First, many of you are right it is a newer sport and not NCAA level.

Second, unlike gymnastics which has been around and is a team event and has a wider market if not for the fact there are more competitors in it; top gymnasts will go to the university and compete but not so much for figure skating

Third, yes resources - money invested in the uni sports are for the more recognizable sports football, hockey, lacrosse, basketball etc. Skating is an expensive sport and has fewer competitors with the requirement of specific coaches, dancing lessons, choroegraphers and ice time which one or a few skaters versus teams makes it very expensive and not so pragmatic. Collegiate skaters not at the world level don't get enough time on the ice. With very limited ice time and the extreme costs for relatively few skaters or competitiors versus say a hockey make it hard - not to mention the costs of hosting compeittions with judges, electronic mats etc.

 

[gkelly]

Yes, all good points.

the extreme costs for relatively few skaters or competitiors versus say a hockey make it hard - not to mention the costs of hosting compeittions with judges, electronic mats etc.

What are electronic mats? A gymnastics thing?

For a skating competition, the biggest expense is the ice time. And yes, bringing in judges. A school that's located in an area that has a number of willing judges who live nearby, the expenses would be lower.

The intercollegiate events are more recreational and all the events are judged by 6.0. So they don't need national-level judges or technical panels, and the judges don't need computers, just the accountants.

Some college students are judges! But because of the team format they probably wouldn't be able to judge at an intercollegiate event their school is participating in.


The U.S. collegiate championships are a championship-level event. They do use IJS, which requires more officials and computers and officials need to have at least a sectional appointments.

Collegiate synchro teams compete at larger synchronized skating events usually hosted by skating clubs. But they need larger venues because of the larger number of athletes.

 

[noidont]

Synchro probably has a future on the US collegiate level. Collegiate sports are mostly team sports. Figure skating is not.

 

[SarahSynchro]

Synchro probably has a future on the US collegiate level. Collegiate sports are mostly team sports. Figure skating is not.

Well, the second best American team at the senior level of synchronized skating is from Miami University. A few other universities also have senior level teams. There's also a collegiate category in US synchro, and an "open collegiate" category. Teams skating in the collegiate level compete up to a national level and is quite popular.

Then in Ontario we have OUA varsity level figure skating that the majority of universities field teams in. Usually the skaters on the varsity team all partake in the synchronized skating category, but there are also other non-synchro events at this level: similar pairs, open solo dance, similar dance, pairs fours, etc - many of these categories have never been introduced to the skaters prior to taking up varsity skating. It gives the young adult skaters who make the team a chance to try something new within the figure skating realms, and it keeps skaters in skating after high school.

 

[TGee]

College sports cost money and few teams, outside of Football and Basketball, are able to support itself through ticket revenue and alumni donations.

But I recall that there was a court decision that requires universities in the US to provide an equivalent number of sports scholarships to women as men.

Doesn't need to be in the same sport....so why not fund female figure skaters?

 

[karne]

Doesn't need to be in the same sport....so why not fund female figure skaters?

I would be firmly against this primarily because in the US there are many more funding/sponsorship opportunities open to female skaters than there are to male skaters. It's hard enough to keep male skaters as it is - why not give out figure skating scholarship money equally?

 

[Abraxis12345]

But I recall that there was a court decision that requires universities in the US to provide an equivalent number of sports scholarships to women as men.

Doesn't need to be in the same sport....so why not fund female figure skaters?

There is no money, period. Collegiate athletics programs would rather get rid of men's teams than add women's teams in order to comply with Title IX, and we saw that happen recently with Temple, and Cal Berkeley, where several non-revenue sports such as gymnastics, softball, and rowing, were cut.