2018-19 British figure skating

[DSQ]

Instagram:

Looks like Luke is recovering well.

(https://www.instagram.com/p/BvkDaHuHcg-/)

Lilah and Lewis will be performing at Majorie Lajoie’s show raising money for a Canadian Autism Charity called Fondation Autisme. (https://instagram.com/marjorie.lajoie?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1izhuircj0h8c)

 

[La Rhumba]

What a great account this is! https://www.instagram.com/theicecapture/ On ice Videos of talented British Skaters, always a pleasure to see the gorgeous Ally Pally.

By icedancer Daniel Linden, our version of Jordan, the On Ice Perspectives guy.

 

[La Rhumba]

Instagram:

Looks like Luke is recovering well.

(https://www.instagram.com/p/BvkDaHuHcg-/)

Lilah and Lewis will be performing at Majorie Lajoie’s show raising money for a Canadian Autism Charity called Fondation Autisme. (https://instagram.com/marjorie.lajoie?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1izhuircj0h8c)

Oh, was than on the 'Story' I can't see? Cheers for the update. I will get on there one day.

 

[DSQ]

Oh, was than on the 'Story' I can't see? Cheers for the update. I will get on there one day.

Ah sorry. Don’t join it’s a curse that takes up all your time - save yourself!

The icecapture looks really cool!

 

[moonvine]

It would be awesome if some British skaters came to Philadelphia this summer!

 

[DSQ]

It would be awesome if some British skaters came to Philadelphia this summer!

What’s happening in Philly? I’ve always wanted to visit actually, alongside DC.

 

[moonvine]

What’s happening in Philly? I’ve always wanted to visit actually, alongside DC.

There's an annual competition in Aston, PA, at the rink Gracie trains at. It's billed as International and it is, but there are more US participants than other countries participants. I don't know how you get invited and I don't know if the fact that most competitors are from the US is due to travel. I don't know how one gets invited. I know I am going to watch this year, and then take a lesson from Gracie.

Here are last year's results so you can see who attended: https://iceworks.net/figure-skating...ship-2/sunday-international-senior-men-final/
https://iceworks.net/figure-skating...p-2/sunday-international-senior-ladies-final/

Oops. Actually those results are from 2018. Their website is awful. I can't find 2019.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Oops. Actually those results are from 2018. Their website is awful. I can't find 2019.

Erm, that's because 2019 hasn't happened yet...

The clocks may be going forward tonight, but they're not going that far forward!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[moonvine]

Erm, that's because 2019 hasn't happened yet...

The clocks may be going forward tonight, but they're not going that far forward!

CaroLiza_fan

Yes, sorry. I had a tooth out yesterday and I'm on pain drugs and kinda loopy. Anyway it would be cool if some British skaters would come

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Yes, sorry. I had a tooth out yesterday and I'm on pain drugs and kinda loopy. Anyway it would be cool if some British skaters would come

Ooooh. I can imagine the pain you are in. Yes, better to be on the medication and be "kinda loopy" (I just loved that expression!) than have no relief at all.

Hopefully it will feel a lot better today.

Get well soon!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[WednesdayMarch]

And that is the crux of the whole problem - the lack of top coaches that are based in the British Isles. If we could attract some British coaches to come back home, or even attract some foreign coaches to come, it would make the world of difference.

Very late to the (excellent) party, but when you look at the state of British coaching, it's not surprising many coaches go abroad. I was utterly appalled by the out of date garbage that NISA (well, the NSA) expected me to parrot for my coaching qualifications back in the 90s, and when that was combined with the money that they wanted for those qualifications and the ongoing yearly fees for pretty much nothing, I realised that it was nigh on impossible to make a living. Certainly, the only way to do it was to teach as many 15 minute paid lessons as you could. It always seems to be that skaters with serious talent and drive come from a family who can't finance the training, so you end up giving them far more time than they can pay for and doing it for free. That's not sustainable. Then the rinks started insisting that the skaters paid them for lessons and they doled out the money to the coaches, taking away a large chunk of it, and it really became a problem. I had a career-ending accident, but I watched many friends and colleagues move away from Britain or from coaching altogether, mostly the ones with the newer, better technique and ideas, because they were unable to make a living.

I returned to skating about 18 months ago and am now relearning to skate, having relearned to walk. Imagine my sadness to find that the "local" rink to me charges £26 for a 30 minute lesson (no option for 15 minutes) and that you have to be having lessons with a coach there in order to be allowed to use the patch ice. The coaches get only £13 for each lesson. All bar two of them have "proper jobs" outside skating. They have no choice if they need to make a living. And at least one of them is a former champion and competitor at Worlds. I get a lot of enquiries about starting to coach again. I loved it and still very much enjoy teaching informally, but I won't be going back to it professionally. I'd be broke in no time and utterly depressed at seeing the number of people who would like to progress with their skating but simply can't afford to at the rates charged by the rink. It's not a good situation and I'm really hoping that it is different at other rinks! If it isn't, then it's no surprise to me that both coaching and skating talent move elsewhere.

WM

 

[La Rhumba]

Hello, and welcome to the British Thread WednesdayMarch it's great to hear from you, though you paint a depressing picture that many of us will recognize, I'm afraid.

A recent champion who is coaching in America said to me recently that they would love to coach here, but there is no room for them. How can this possibly be? It's a decades old story that never seems to change. :disapp:

We can only live in hope that the new Association BIS (British Ice Skating) will improve the situation, but with no money from UK Sport, it's a difficult conundrum.

 

[La Rhumba]

Wow, just got around to watching BBC coverage of Natasha's FS with Robin's commentary, and boy was he critical: "This is her 3rd season with the same jumps" saying she needs to increase her technical difficulty. As we know, she tried the 3Lutz before Worlds, let's hope she can incorporate it into her programs next season. The ladies championship at next year's British will be very interesting with Kristen Spours no longer skating Junior aswell, and hopefully Karly Robertson at her best, with an injury free Dani Harrison back.

 

[DSQ]

Yeah I was a little shocked when I watched the BBC commentary but he’s right. Karly just posted an Instagram a video of her 3lo-3lo and Natasha did a 2lz-2lo in her FS at Worlds. Natasha is so so talented but I really hope she just goes for the 3Lz next year.

Welcome WednesdayMarch! I had no idea that the rinks took such a huge cut! My lessons at Queens cost £30 for 30mins and I’d hope my coach gets more than £13 of it.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just realised that Skate Southern is this week.

Entries / Results Page:
http://www.icephoto.co.uk/SS1904/

Entries of particular interest to me are Aleksandra Golovkina (Lithuanian skater I have been a fan of for years, and finally adopted earlier this season - here is her Fan Fest) and Jordan Graham (local skater) in Advanced Novice 15+ (didn't know there was such a level!)

As well as Jordan, it is very reassuring to see some younger skaters from the Dundonald club taking part.

As usual, the Irish Championships are being held in conjunction with Skate Southern (they finished today - here is the competition thread). And Northern Irish skater Sam McAllister won the Senior Men's title!!!



Of the skaters that competed in the Irish Championships, none of the Junior and Senior skaters are staying on for Skate Southern, but all the Novice level skaters are entered.

ALL THE BEST EVERYBODY!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[DSQ]

Well done to Sam! I did like his SP music choice, Take Five, at Autumn Classic. He lost the FS but his lead in the SP was epic! Better luck next time to Connor.

Next season let’s hope we see all the same names come back to compete again, a long with some new ones.

Elizebeth Golding in Junior ladies is an interesting one. She trains in Moscow and lists her home town as Dubai! She competed in the JGP in Austria (SP: https://youtu.be/fjDyw3yf_sg FS:https://youtu.be/iib1xZzsdH0) good spins but the jumps need work. Great costumes. I’ll be keeping an eye on her from now on!

When we start a new thread for next season we should name it “2019-2020 British and Irish figure skating”.

 

[La Rhumba]

Junior Ice Dancers Emily Brown & James Hernandez have traveled to Finland for a month to train with Maurizio Margaglio, they wanted to try a new experience before their final season as Juniors, having missed the 2018 British Ch. due to injury. https://www.facebook.com/Emily-And-...9n56CTt0hYCmsN_sTh24Qwy9fuMd5-Koaemt8&fref=nf

I really hope they can come back strong next season and challenge Fear & Waddell.

Now the bad news: I received Notification of a YouTube comment on Fear & Gibson's FD. It was in French by a PapCiz fan, and after using 2 translators (I learnt German at school) realized it was a nasty comment. My automatic reaction was to delete, but then I thought no, I'll reply. It's so sad that some fans are so insecure they feel the need to publically be negative about others. I'm sure Gaby & Guillaume would be horrified a fan of theirs would do this.

 

[litenkyckling]

Junior Ice Dancers Emily Brown & James Hernandez have traveled to Finland for a month to train with Maurizio Margaglio, they wanted to try a new experience before their final season as Juniors, having missed the 2018 British Ch. due to injury. https://www.facebook.com/Emily-And-...9n56CTt0hYCmsN_sTh24Qwy9fuMd5-Koaemt8&fref=nf

I really hope they can come back strong next season and challenge Fear & Waddell.

I really love what he's done with Turkkila/Versluis so I'm excited to see how they do here! And I do think that with the right team behind them they could absolutely challenge Fear/Waddell.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

When we start a new thread for next season we should name it “2019-2020 British and Irish figure skating”.

Personally, I like the idea. Because I have been struggling to find somewhere to talk about the skaters representing Ireland. And there are not enough of them to warrant their own thread.

But, other people may object to grouping the two countries together. Especially if next season's thread has a flag icon like this season's does. (That is actually why I am not offering to change the title of the current thread, in case somebody gets offended. You have to be so careful when it comes to flags on this island).

In the case of Sam's Irish Senior Men's title, it seemed appropriate to post about it in this thread because he used to skate for Team GB, and because the Irish Championships are being held in conjuction with an IJS competition.

Now the bad news: I received Notification of a YouTube comment on Fear & Gibson's FD. It was in French by a PapCiz fan, and after using 2 translators (I learnt German at school) realized it was a nasty comment. My automatic reaction was to delete, but then I thought no, I'll reply. It's so sad that some fans are so insecure they feel the need to publically be negative about others. I'm sure Gaby & Guillaume would be horrified a fan of theirs would do this.

One of the skaters that I have adopted made her Junior GP debut this season. When I was adding the video links to the Fan Fest, I noticed a comment written in Cyrillic on one of the videos. So, out of curiosity, I put it into a translator to see what they were saying. It was VERY nasty towards the skater herself. So I sent an e-mail to Ted Barton, and he replied saying he would pass it onto the appropriate person to investigate.

The last time I checked a few months ago, the comment was still there. But I just checked again there now, and discovered that comments are now disabled on ALL the Junior GP videos.

Good move, but it shouldn't have to be done. I just don't understand people that post comments like this.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[DSQ]

Junior Ice Dancers Emily Brown & James Hernandez have traveled to Finland for a month to train with Maurizio Margaglio, they wanted to try a new experience before their final season as Juniors, having missed the 2018 British Ch. due to injury. https://www.facebook.com/Emily-And-...9n56CTt0hYCmsN_sTh24Qwy9fuMd5-Koaemt8&fref=nf

I really hope they can come back strong next season and challenge Fear & Waddell.

He’s so funny in the K&C! I wish them both the best of luck!

Now the bad news: I received Notification of a YouTube comment on Fear & Gibson's FD. It was in French by a PapCiz fan, and after using 2 translators (I learnt German at school) realized it was a nasty comment. My automatic reaction was to delete, but then I thought no, I'll reply. It's so sad that some fans are so insecure they feel the need to publically be negative about others. I'm sure Gaby & Guillaume would be horrified a fan of theirs would do this.

They’ve sent you a long reply as well. Went I see what poor Hanyu, Chen, Zhou, Medvedeva and Zagitova have to put up with (have you seen the bomb site that is the Men’s FS thread?) sometimes I think it’s better to be a little unknown...