"Skating Slowly Tries Regaining Its Edge":
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/sports/skating-slowly-tries-regaining-its-edge.html
John R.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/sports/skating-slowly-tries-regaining-its-edge.html
John R.
New York Times article on World's
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Did Didier pay the journalist to make a nice article about him?
Holy toledo, I don't even want to know what he has in mind in regards to that sentence about people not wanting to see little girls in frilly skirts skating to Rachmaninoff.
Holy toledo, I don't even want to know what he has in mind in regards to that sentence about people not wanting to see little girls in frilly skirts skating to Rachmaninoff.
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Gosh that part about Didier was scary!!!!!! What does he want to do to the sport?!?! I WANT to see girls with frilly skirts skating to Rachmaninov.... The sport surely doesn't need him as ISU president
I will touch this some other time in an article of mine, but to make the skating more popular again, a lot needs to change regarding the philosophy towards people who want to help the sport. Right now, many journalists only know about Worlds and Olympics, as this is where they go to - while doing some other sports, throughout the rest of the year.
They completely ignore smaller events, hardly have any knowledge about the non dominant figure skaters and their stories, but also treat the skaters poorly in their articles. Others and there are quite a few of us, have a different approach to skating, but are held down as they do not do this professionally, but as a hobby and therefore have limits financially wise, but also regarding the so important ID´s that allow them to visit the bigger events and it´s press conferences, practice rinks & co.
In my opinion, to exclude these people or better put, put obstacles in their way, will make it hard to reach an audience, as only hearing about the sport once or twice a year at a newspaper or TV station, just won´t cut it.
I am not qualified to say how this can be done better, as the risk is always high that you get people who just want to save money (we had this a lot in football before the rules got stricter there) and then don´t write anything or just nonsense.
But ya, it´s not about the "girl in a short skirt" that nobody want´s to see, it´s about letting people do their job, letting them feel welcome at an event.
They completely ignore smaller events, hardly have any knowledge about the non dominant figure skaters and their stories, but also treat the skaters poorly in their articles. Others and there are quite a few of us, have a different approach to skating, but are held down as they do not do this professionally, but as a hobby and therefore have limits financially wise, but also regarding the so important ID´s that allow them to visit the bigger events and it´s press conferences, practice rinks & co.
In my opinion, to exclude these people or better put, put obstacles in their way, will make it hard to reach an audience, as only hearing about the sport once or twice a year at a newspaper or TV station, just won´t cut it.
I am not qualified to say how this can be done better, as the risk is always high that you get people who just want to save money (we had this a lot in football before the rules got stricter there) and then don´t write anything or just nonsense.
But ya, it´s not about the "girl in a short skirt" that nobody want´s to see, it´s about letting people do their job, letting them feel welcome at an event.
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Thank you for posting the link, but the NYT has always been known to have the worst sports coverage of all the NY papers.
As for its shameless apologia for the excrement that runs the French Fed, I'm sure Bernie Madoff is also 'brimming with ideas.' Why doesn't the article's writer hire him to manage his/her financial portfolio? Now there's a "fresh idea" for you.
#keepingitreal
As for its shameless apologia for the excrement that runs the French Fed, I'm sure Bernie Madoff is also 'brimming with ideas.' Why doesn't the article's writer hire him to manage his/her financial portfolio? Now there's a "fresh idea" for you.
#keepingitreal
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Especially that often they're sixteen/seventeen...
But the audience isn't sixteen/seventeen and is unlikely to be anytime soon and their tolerance for Taylor Swift might be low.
Tough situation.
In order to make it more modern you may lose some long time fans. Expression and musicality from skaters could be so much more vast!
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It won't happen. Not for many many years. Synchro will be an Olympic sport before that.
What I don't understand is why a sport with big Championship events always packed with audience and a very well organized series of competitions most of which sponsored by big brand names (sure they are all Japanese but once upon a time they were all American, big deal) is considered a sport "not what used to be." I don't know what Didier is getting at and why he thinks the current amount of money everyone is getting paid by Japanese companies is not enough. For the matter, I think the Japanese audience loves frilly skirts and Rach and that's what has been feeding the sport for the past decade or so.
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Let's hope so
I wonder what a new skating format means.
The structure of the season? Or the competition structure?
We already have the team event, which the isu should exploit more.
We have the world team trophy in Japan, the team challenge cup in the USA and the team event at the olympics..
I know Didier proposed that he wants to replace the worlds in the olympic year with a world team figure skating championships because many skaters in the individual events peak at the olympics, leaving the worlds after feeling a little tired.
The structure of the season? Or the competition structure?
We already have the team event, which the isu should exploit more.
We have the world team trophy in Japan, the team challenge cup in the USA and the team event at the olympics..
I know Didier proposed that he wants to replace the worlds in the olympic year with a world team figure skating championships because many skaters in the individual events peak at the olympics, leaving the worlds after feeling a little tired.
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Didier didn't say "little girls in frilly skirts." He said, "a girl with a chignon and a little skirt skating to Rachmaninoff."
To me, that remark directly points to the dichotomy that the technical requirements favor pre-pubescent girls; while the components scoring favors women like Ashley and teen-agers like Anna who skate like women. It isn't an unreasonable remark. The chignon and the Rachmaninoff seem, to some, like trying to make a 15-year-old look more grown up.
The first three sentences in the article aren't inflammatory. They're simple fact. The fourth sentence is inflammatory, and takes the point of view that the problem is that FS doesn't remain up to date. (I don't agree, and other readers don't have to agree either.) But the next 16 paragraphs take a very positive, eloquent look at2016 World Championship events and are damn good reporting and excellent writing. In those 16 paragraphs are words like "extraordinary performances" and "transcendence."
This is a wonderful quote from Didier: "That means something was happening with the audience, something we can’t quantify but something that we have to give value to in our sport.” He's talking about Papadakis/Cizeron's FD, saying the silence even from the top level was complete.
Two short paragraphs near the end reflect Didier's views. But these paragraphs are preceded by a paragraph warning the reader that Didier was suspended from the sport for three years because of scandal.
The article ends with an opinion: "It is quite likely the right commercial strategy," and then an argument with that opinion: "but there is also no denying that the champions’ performances in Boston — with the crowd providing daily and nightly inspiration — left little to be desired."
To me, that remark directly points to the dichotomy that the technical requirements favor pre-pubescent girls; while the components scoring favors women like Ashley and teen-agers like Anna who skate like women. It isn't an unreasonable remark. The chignon and the Rachmaninoff seem, to some, like trying to make a 15-year-old look more grown up.
The first three sentences in the article aren't inflammatory. They're simple fact. The fourth sentence is inflammatory, and takes the point of view that the problem is that FS doesn't remain up to date. (I don't agree, and other readers don't have to agree either.) But the next 16 paragraphs take a very positive, eloquent look at2016 World Championship events and are damn good reporting and excellent writing. In those 16 paragraphs are words like "extraordinary performances" and "transcendence."
This is a wonderful quote from Didier: "That means something was happening with the audience, something we can’t quantify but something that we have to give value to in our sport.” He's talking about Papadakis/Cizeron's FD, saying the silence even from the top level was complete.
Two short paragraphs near the end reflect Didier's views. But these paragraphs are preceded by a paragraph warning the reader that Didier was suspended from the sport for three years because of scandal.
The article ends with an opinion: "It is quite likely the right commercial strategy," and then an argument with that opinion: "but there is also no denying that the champions’ performances in Boston — with the crowd providing daily and nightly inspiration — left little to be desired."
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As bad as Didier is, these things sound neat: "He wants to double the sport’s development budget, reach out to nontraditional skating nations and urban youths by using temporary rinks, eliminate anonymity for judges during competitions and introduce new competition formats."
By "new competition formats," I envision something like the jumping competition held by (I think) Broadmoor last summer.
I love skating the way it is now, but if Didier wants to involve more countries in the sport and give kids opportunities to skate, I'm into it. Plus eliminating anonymous judging is fine by me.
Didier is probably going to be a terrible ISU president, but at least he cares about figure skating unlike Ottavio.
By "new competition formats," I envision something like the jumping competition held by (I think) Broadmoor last summer.
I love skating the way it is now, but if Didier wants to involve more countries in the sport and give kids opportunities to skate, I'm into it. Plus eliminating anonymous judging is fine by me.
Didier is probably going to be a terrible ISU president, but at least he cares about figure skating unlike Ottavio.
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