David Wilson Calls for New Leadership at Skate Canada

[quadking]

[ICE TIME] Exclusive: Legendary Choreographer David Wilson Calls for New Leadership at Skate Canada

Outraged by the cancellation of Canada’s national championships by the organization last month, Wilson blasted Skate Canada President Leanna Caron and her board in a recent interview.

japan-forward.com

 

[mrrice]

It is always interesting to get the story from someone who truly knows how things work from first hand knowledge. Does this mean that Canada will not be sending any skaters to worlds?

 

[Colonel Green]

Wilson has obviously had a legendary career, but he comes across like a fool there.

Most obviously when he complains about "preferential treatment" for the World Juniors when he goes on to admit that they happened because the event has way more money and thus could afford the extremely expensive safety measures the province and federal government required.

Likewise, his proposed solution to Alberta's rinks being closed is that skaters would go train in other provinces, which is precisely the thing people are being asked not to do right now because that's how the virus spreads.

 

[ladyjane]

It is always interesting to get the story from someone who truly knows how things work from first hand knowledge. Does this mean that Canada will not be sending any skaters to worlds?

Was there a Nationals in Speed Skating? There are Canadian Skaters at the World Speed Skating Championships. And the Canadian Federation did set up selection criteria for who could/can go, didn't they?

 

[mrrice]

Was there a Nationals in Speed Skating? There are Canadian Skaters at the World Speed Skating Championships. And the Canadian Federation did set up selection criteria for who could/can go, didn't they?

I believe so. They just had an event and I thought it was for world spots but, I'm not sure. My concern, should they skip worlds is how they will get their spots for 2022.

 

[4everchan]

Was there a Nationals in Speed Skating? There are Canadian Skaters at the World Speed Skating Championships. And the Canadian Federation did set up selection criteria for who could/can go, didn't they?

the speed skaters train with the national team... there was no nationals held but as you can see, Canada knew which skaters to send considering the medals won. They were training in a bubble BC, then in Calgary ... but then the oval there broke down.. so they lost a lot of time of training until they could rejoin the bubble in the NL. Also, prior to the WC this weekend, there were a few world cup races in the bubble... so nobody truly had to hold nationals.. results from the World cups could help out in deciding which skaters got to go.

Regarding going to worlds for FS. Some skaters are being monitored. Canada was hoping worlds would be canceled but at the same time, has said that when events serve as olympic qualifiers, athletes will be allowed to go, if the bubble is judged safe.

 

[Amei]

Interesting article, I agree with him a bit, from the outside it seemed like Canada was too quick to cancel the events, other countries have successfully hosted events, the only 'outbreak' among skaters seems in large part due to a banquet around the GP Russia; there hasn't appeared to be any issues of virus transmission at competitions. Given who is commenting (Wilson) did Skate Canada even attempt to reach out to rinks or their big-time coaches and ask for their opinions on attempting some type of competition? It sounds that way to me. Skate Canada really has put their skaters at a disadvantage, most are going to be going into the Olympic season a year off from competition while most of their competitors have had some level of competition over the 2020-2021 season.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Yeah, if there had been a way to put heads together very early on to come up with some kind of workable strategy, make something might have been possible for C Perhaps even a combination virtual (for skaters in problematic provinces) with a site specific location for those who could travel and compete within a bubble (like U.S. skaters managed in Vegas). There were some problems in the U.S. with skaters who had to pull out at the last minute due to possible COVID exposure. But overall Las Vegas worked for both Skate America and U.S. Nationals.

Skate Canada was able to manage a very well thought out virtual Challenge competition, so I'm not sure why they couldn't have tried to find a way to do something virtual for a Skate Canada GP in the Fall. It was demoralizing and heartbreaking for Canadian skaters to not be able to compete at either a homegrown GP event or some version of Canadian Nationals.

Did part of the problem have to do with the broadcasters? If so, that should not have been allowed to be a stumbling block that was insurmountable. The issue of skaters who had trouble training is what it is. There were enough skaters who had some form of training and who were ready to compete. It will be interesting to see long term how this will impact Canadian athletes, particularly in view of the fact that Canada is in the process of trying to rebuild in practically every discipline, aside from ice dance where they are fairly strong.

International Figure Skating has reported that Skate Canada officials have set criteria for 2021 World team selection:

2021 World Championships – International Figure Skating

The 2021 World Championships are set to take place in Stockholm, Sweden, March 22-28, in a bubble with strict protocols in place.

www.ifsmagazine.com

International Teams Selection Criteria

skatecanada.ca

 

[Colonel Green]

Skate Canada was able to manage a very well thought out virtual Challenge competition, so I'm not sure why they couldn't have tried to find a way to do something virtual for a Skate Canada GP in the Fall.

Because SCI was an ISU event, virtual wasn't allowed.

It also wouldn't have met broadcasters' standards relative to filming quality.

Interesting article, I agree with him a bit, from the outside it seemed like Canada was too quick to cancel the events, other countries have successfully hosted events, the only 'outbreak' among skaters seems in large part due to a banquet around the GP Russia; there hasn't appeared to be any issues of virus transmission at competitions. Given who is commenting (Wilson) did Skate Canada even attempt to reach out to rinks or their big-time coaches and ask for their opinions on attempting some type of competition? It sounds that way to me.

SCI and nationals were cancelled because the provincial governments of both clearly would not have allowed them to go ahead. Weeks before SCI would have happened, Ottawa went into heightened alert and banned all such large gatherings in response to rising case counts; British Columbia is actively telling people not to come there for non-essential reasons now.

There obviously were consultations with stakeholders about options (Roman Sadovsky has talked about various feedback discussions in his vlogs), but an in-person nationals simply wasn't possible, and there were both logistical hurdles to trying to do a virtual nationals and a lot of skaters who didn't like the format.

 

[LadyB]

Bravo, David!!!!! Well spoken. The mighty Skate Canada could only pull the virtual challenger off. Everybody else was able to at least give their skaters a chance to perform in a meaningful event. Skate America held the GP and National Championships in a way that seemed Covid safe. Hockey is being played on ice rinks up and down the country and everything seems to be fine. Yeah, Wilson is speaking right out of my heart.