How do Elite Skaters pay their bills?

gkelly said:

The numbers of competitors then was lower than it is now, so it was easier for true talent to stand out.

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I happen to have access to a few scattered details of figures-era regionals results, and more data from whole Skating magazines and online post figures, to give a comparison.

A Southwest Pacifics regional competition sometime in the early 1970s (my photocopy doesn't show the year) had the following entries in the lower-level singles events:
7 intermediate men
22 intermediate ladies (8 advanced to the final round)
3 juvenile boys
36 juvenile girls (it seems 12 advanced to a final round and then 4 were eliminated after school figures; Linda Fratianne finished 3rd)

1995 Southwest Pacifics, one of the first years that figures were separated from freestyle in juvenile and intermediate competition but before the effect of the post-whack skating boom would be felt:
6 intermediate men entered in the freeskating competition (4 in the figures competition, 1 who didn't compete freestyle)
35 intermediate ladies freeskating in 3 groups; 12 advanced to final round (19 intermediate ladies figures, 6 who didn't compete free if I've counted correctly)
27juvenile girls freestyle, 8 advanced to final (12 figures, 1 no freestyle)
no juvenile boys that year

2003 SW Pacifics (around the height of post-boom participation; costs similar to today but before IJS)
17 intermediate men
78 intermediate ladies in 5 initial rounds; 20 advanced to short program in 2 groups; 16 advanced to final freeskating
10 juvenile boys
60 juvenile girls in 4 groups; 16 advanced to final

2013 SW Pacifics
7 intermediate men
41 intermediate ladies in 3 groups; 15 advanced to final
6 juvenile boys
55 juvenile girls in 4 groups; 16 advanced to final
(the age limit for juvenile was raised from under-13 to under-14 last year, which explains why there were suddenly more juveniles than intermediates)

I'm sorry I don't have access to more of the earlier data, especially 1980s. Still, I think it's safe to say that total participation now is not lower and probably higher than 30 years ago when Nancy Kerrigan was competing at those levels.

And that doesn't count skaters who are still skating but not on the elite track in the standard disciplines and now have other options to enter USFS-sanctioned competitions (showcase, solo dance, test track) without going to regionals. Skaters with less ice time because of less money might opt for those options these days. In the old days, they would often have just quit.

Thanks for the info, gkelly. Earlier today, I was watching TSL's interview with Tom Zakrasjek. He talked about how, in his experience, it takes about 9 months of coaching & practice to learn the double Axel. Then it takes another 7 months or longer to perfect the jump and get it consistent. So, over a year's practice time to learn that one jump. It just made me realize how much time & investment it takes to get to even a novice or junior level.

sarahspins said:

I wouldn't bank on that being a steady full time income though... for a vast majority of coaches, it is a part time income at best. Most of the coaches at my rink (even the higher level coaches) work full time jobs in addition to coaching.

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Nope - just as a p/t job for a college student.

Man, I stepped away from the computer for a few days, and this thread took off!

I also remember reading that Peggy's family lived in a tent.

My comment regarding Peggy's mother sewing was not meant disrespectfully, but to point out that she was a beautiful and memorable champion because of her skating... not because she was decked out in a multi-thousand-dollar dress.

Surely ISU has defined the minimum skating attire, so I'm not sure more rules are required. I'm not sure if costuming is a key judging issue or not. I'd like to hope not, so long as the costume isn't inconsistent with the program... I love Torville and Dean, but I wouldn't want to see "Bolero" skated with them wearing sombreros.

As for me, and I know people have differing opinions, sequins and beading are not appropriate for an athletic event. "We're a sport! We're serious athletes! Look at my beaded chiffon dress!"

Lucrative endorsement deals for women athletes in Japan aren't anything new. Kimiko Date was a Top 10 or so tennis player, and she made HUGE money off the court in Japan. Like Mao, she fit the profile of a cute Japanese athlete who still maintained femininity. Date never won a major title, so far as I remember... her money was from image.

Blades of Passion said:

The only way to become an Elite level skater is to have money, unless you live in China and you are chosen at a young age for their athletics program. Russia used to have a program like that, not sure how much is still funded by the government.

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No completely true. Perhaps in the US, but not in other countries. There are skaters on international teams now that don't come from families with money, whose parents both worked two jobs to keep their kid in skating, but it's very hard to do, and very rare these days.

I know that Mirai's family wasn't very well off and have sacrificed a lot for her skating.

As for sequins vs. sports, I remember that Scott Hamilton felt very strongly about emphasizing the athletic, not the theatrical, side of skating and competed in Sarajevo in what looked a lot like a track suit. I didn't understand his choice at the time, but now I do.

Olympia said:

As for sequins vs. sports, I remember that Scott Hamilton felt very strongly about emphasizing the athletic, not the theatrical, side of skating and competed in Sarajevo in what looked a lot like a track suit. I didn't understand his choice at the time, but now I do.

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Just curious -- what changed your mind?

I've been a lurker on the forum for a couple of years now, but I felt I had to post on this thread.
Our daughter skated Starskate from when she started at age 9 until she switched to competitive at age 16. I usually handled the boys hockey and my wife took care of the figure skating. That changed when the boys quit playing and a change in my wifes' work schedule meant I became the taxi driver for my daughter. I was unprepared (read that as blissfully ignorant) to the costs of skating until that time. Our Starskate costs averaged between 5 and 8 thousand dollars a year for her final 3 years in Starskate. Her first year in competitive at the novice level was in the neighborhood of 12 thousand. Last year in Junior was probably around 16 thousand and this year in Junior is looking like it will be in the neighborhood of 20 thousand. We are from a small town in Ontario where the figure skating is primarily recreational but my daughter got bit by the performance bug early and was always wanting to learn more and try more difficult tricks. That has meant that as she progressed we would have to travel to larger centers and bigger clubs with higher levels of coaching. She has continued to progress and grow as a skater and as a person so we feel that the time and money we have put into her skating career has been a good investment. We are fortunate that we both are employed since that is the only way she could have continued to skate at this level. Is my daughter an elite level skater? I would say yes. How are the bills paid? My wife and I have put off home improvements and watched our budgets to keep her going. Friends and family have helped out with places to stay during training sessions out of town. Our daughter has also helped out by using some of her coaching earnings to help pay for skates.

Skaters_dad said:

I've been a lurker on the forum for a couple of years now, but I felt I had to post on this thread.
Our daughter skated Starskate from when she started at age 9 until she switched to competitive at age 16. I usually handled the boys hockey and my wife took care of the figure skating. That changed when the boys quit playing and a change in my wifes' work schedule meant I became the taxi driver for my daughter. I was unprepared (read that as blissfully ignorant) to the costs of skating until that time. Our Starskate costs averaged between 5 and 8 thousand dollars a year for her final 3 years in Starskate. Her first year in competitive at the novice level was in the neighborhood of 12 thousand. Last year in Junior was probably around 16 thousand and this year in Junior is looking like it will be in the neighborhood of 20 thousand. We are from a small town in Ontario where the figure skating is primarily recreational but my daughter got bit by the performance bug early and was always wanting to learn more and try more difficult tricks. That has meant that as she progressed we would have to travel to larger centers and bigger clubs with higher levels of coaching. She has continued to progress and grow as a skater and as a person so we feel that the time and money we have put into her skating career has been a good investment. We are fortunate that we both are employed since that is the only way she could have continued to skate at this level. Is my daughter an elite level skater? I would say yes. How are the bills paid? My wife and I have put off home improvements and watched our budgets to keep her going. Friends and family have helped out with places to stay during training sessions out of town. Our daughter has also helped out by using some of her coaching earnings to help pay for skates.

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Thank You for sharing your story.

Olympia said:

I know that Mirai's family wasn't very well off and have sacrificed a lot for her skating.

As for sequins vs. sports, I remember that Scott Hamilton felt very strongly about emphasizing the athletic, not the theatrical, side of skating and competed in Sarajevo in what looked a lot like a track suit. I didn't understand his choice at the time, but now I do.

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Hamilton went on and on about looking like a speed skater!

Welcome to Golden Skate, Skaters Dad! Post long & often, and may your daughter have the performances of her happy dreams this season.

Good to hear the story of a skating family, Skaters Dad. Welcome to GS! Best of luck to your daughter.

I have also been lurking for awhile and this is my first posting. My daughter announced when she was 3 that she wanted to ice skate and she has been skating ever since. At 6, she landed her axel; now 8, she skates at the preliminary level. Based on the time line she set up for herself when she was 5, she should have all her doubles (except axel) by her 9th birthday. Her goal is to be the best ice skater in the world. Will she reach that goal? probably not. However, I realize that if she is not on a super fast pace now, she will never have a chance to reach her goal.
Until a year ago, she skated 4 times a week. Then in September, her coaches recommended that we increase it to 6 times a week. In June, we were told that it would be best to add 3 early morning practices. Extra time on the ice is not an issue for her - she is always ready to drop whatever she is doing to go skating.
She takes 8-1/2 hour less a week and also meets with a personal trainer each week ($400/week). Then you add ice time ($400/month in the winter for unlimited ice and $11/40 minute session in the summer). This costs $25,000. You still need to add skates, clothes, competition fees, travels expenses, and an occasional group lesson. We try to save money whenever possible – she skates on used gold seals and this year’s competition dress was second-hand.
How do we do it? My husband and I are older parents and both work full time. I have adjusted my work schedule to accommodate my daughter’s ice skating schedule. Our family “vacations” are now centered around ice skating competitions. My younger son (age 5) has now said he want to play soccer. So in the fall, one parent will be on the soccer field and the second parent will be at the ice skating rink.
My daughter LOVES ice skating so there is no switching to another sport. I believe that it is the parent’s responsibility (within reason) to support whatever interest their child is passionate about. So we continue skate. I am burnt out on ice skating, not my child.
I find it interesting that no one has mentioned the time commitment associated with ice skating. I find this worse than the money.

Thanks for the Best Wishes. As Concorde stated the time commitment is pretty heavy. The last few years we were driving 4 hours 3 times a week (2 hours both ways) to get to her primary training rink. We would maximize our time there with 2 hours on ice and 1 hour off-ice. This was supplemented with 4 one hour sessions at our local arena where she would skate with the local club Starskate sessions. This was going on during her final 2 years at high school. We were fortunate in that the school allowed her to miss 3 afternoons a week as long as she kept her grades up. The teachers were supportive in making sure that she had all the in-class assignments and allowed her to write tests in the office in the mornings on days where she was going to be away in the afternoon. She has now graduated from high school and moved to the city where she trains. She is starting university full time this fall and has managed to work her class schedules and ice schedules so that she will still get to skate 5 days a week, coach 1 day a week and take 1 day off. Strange as it seems I miss all the driving back and forth from the training sessions as it allowed me to have a lot of father / daughter time as well as watching her progress on the ice.

concorde said:

I find it interesting that no one has mentioned the time commitment associated with ice skating. I find this worse than the money.

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Oh, you really are parent of skater!

Not only money, time (i.e. life) of parents is payment for success of their children.

Good luck for your daughter!

Welcome to the board, concorde and Skaters_dad! And thank you so much for sharing your families' experience of skating. Based on your posts, it sounds like the costs rfid9968 and gkelly reported are on target. I have to admit, it awes me to think of the commitment that families like yours make to this sport!

I'm a little bit interested from a personal standpoint, because I have two 4-year-old girls, and they took some group skating lessons this spring. My idea was to just introduce them to skating, and have them learn the basics--crossovers, footwork. I figured if they were interested in pursuing it further later on, we could see. Now, knowing the costs involved . . . I'm not sure! So far they have some interest in skating, but nothing like concorde's daughter.

If you can't afford that kind of money, then if your girls wanted to train toward becoming elite skaters, you'd have to tell them no, and explain why.

But that doesn't mean they couldn't take lessons and have fun with the sport, skating at a recreational level a couple of hours a week and entering appropriate competitions. They'd just have to understand that they wouldn't progress as fast as other kids their age who spend more time on the ice and take more private lessons.

As with most sports, there's a whole range of commitment levels between nothing/beginner introductory and world class. This thread has focused on what it takes to get to elite levels, but elite competition is not all there is to figure skating.

Or for that matter, other endeavors. Even trying to become an accomplished musician can be very expensive, starting with buying really good instruments, and good teachers, and then good schools/colleges/summer programs, etc.

concorde and Skaters_dad, I take my hat off to you, it is the scarification not many people can do.

As others pointed out, the experience to be able to spend the valuable time with kids and to see them growing up is definitely priceless.