Something someone has done almost 10 years ago, when they were a child, shouldn't define them... Basing an opinion of his persona on this is very short-sighted and rigid, in my humble opinion. Honestly, seeing how he behaves now, and he has had a ton of bad LPs, should show one how much he learned that day and how much he has grown up. I think it's pretty unfair that some fans judge these kids who are exposed on the internet when they are so young and so unequipped socially. Anyway, at this point, I wonder what is worse, fans who are unforgiving of a kid they do not even know in real life, or the teenager himself having a tantrum. YMMV
Fair enough. I hadn't thought of it like that.
My main thing that made me turn against him was that, although he was a child himself, he would still have been somebody that the younger skaters looked up to. And so, in behaving like this, he was setting a bad example to them. We all know how impressionable children are.
But, as you say, that was a long time ago. He's now in his 20's, and the fact that he is now in the police sports programme shows that they consider him to be somebody that can be trusted to not bring embarrassment to the force.
I'll give him some slack in future.
Alrght, getting back to Corey.
Yes, I keep harping on the simple fact that being a figure skater in Canada is difficult, not just for the middle tier but also at the top.
I'm not complaining about you harping on. You have every right to, with the way your Fed is treating your skaters. In fact, I'm glad you do, because it reminds everybody that Skate Canada is not being fair on the skaters.
Finally, Corey probably doesn't want to go to the UK. He wants to train with his friend.
Forgive me if I am asking something that should be obvious, but who is his friend?
As fans, we forget that some skaters are very well aware that they will NOT be world champions. They do not have exotic quads or even the desire of getting there one day. They are pretty aware that they may not even compete at the Olympics. Not everyone does ! But they love the sport and they want to practice it for a few years before doing something else.
You're preaching to the choir here. I am the king of "It's not the winning, it's the taking part that matters" mantra. And I have been shouted at many times on here for saying that. For me, the aim for any sportsperson should not be to win, but should be to do the best they can. The position doesn't matter, so long as they have tried their best. Hence, to me, the scores are more important than the positions.
However, at the same time, I want the skaters to get the opportunity to compete at as many events as they want. And positions at Nationals do matter when it comes to getting selected for the Majors. That was why I would have preferred Corey to switch to his birth country (the UK) rather than his ancestral homeland (Italy). Because at the British Championships, the top skaters are around the same level as he is, so he has a chance of beating them to get the 1 slot. But in the Italian Championships, there are 3 or 4 skaters that are pretty much guaranteed to finish ahead of him if everything follows current form.
That said, form can change. And one thing that can help change that is funding. I have to admit, in this respect, Italy is definitely the best of Corey's three options. The British and Canadian Feds just don't get enough money to cover what their skaters need. But Italy has some great funding programmes. Although, a lot of them are tied in with summer jobs, so I'm not sure if he would be able to join one of these programmes if he was still based most of the time in Canada. He would probably have to actually move to Italy if he was to take one of them up.
Corey will probably end up having a much better time representing Italy, will speak the language, will train with his buddy... All of this is wonderful ! And who knows, it is perhaps with these conditions that he will develop further and be even more competitive.
It does sound wonderful, doesn't it? So, although I wanted him to come to the UK, I hope it works out this way.
Hey, let's face it, if you were based in Canada and had to take a trip to Europe every December for Nationals, and were presented with the choice of going to Yorkshire or going to somewhere in Italy, I don't think it would take too much thinking!
CaroLiza_fan