The state of figure skating

In the July/August issue of Professional Skater magazine, Executive Director of the Professional Skaters Association (PSA) Jimmie Santee (see right) wrote an editorial about the state of figure skating; specifically, peoples' perception of our sport. Whether it's the Nancy and Tonya saga, or the 2002 Winter Olympics judging scandal, he believed that the integrity of the sport becomes compromised when judges, coaches and skaters are constantly the target of jokes, whether they be from talk show hosts, bloggers or columnists. Now that is not to say that being the butt of these jokes is totally unwarranted -- at times, we ask for it. Jimmie also pointed out that recent news have cast a somber note over the sport, including the alleged rape of a young skater by her coach in Japan, Pasha Grishuk's date rape case, Christopher Bowman's death, and Maxim Staviski's sentence for drunk driving, which put a boy in a coma. Jimmie emphasized that we owe it to ourselves and to our predecessors who worked so hard to bring legitimacy to our sport, to act morally and ethically, and to forgo the idea that all press is good press. Below is the story that he ended with, which I thought was really great:

Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Stop the presses! South Korean figure skater Yu-na Kim to attend college

• Johnny Weir wins SKATING magazine Skater of the Year Award. [U.S. Figure Skating]

• Michelle Kwan part of presidential delegation at Summer Olympics in Beijing. {SportsIllustrated]

• Lake Placid gets another rink. Lucky city. [Lake Placid News]

• Sasha Cohen inspires gymnasts as well. [Live.Breath.Love Gymnastics]

• Nursing school or Disney on Ice? [North Bay Nugget]

• Government grant combines young businesswoman's passion for skating and fashion. [Niagara This Week]

• Scott Hamilton on Cleveland's role in skating history. [The Plain Dealer]

• Someone is gay (hint: ice dancer Ryan O'Meara). [gay.com]

• Indian skater Ami Parekh has spins to rival the best! [Axels, Loops and Spins]

• High School Musical: The Ice Tour (see right) hits Malaysia. [thestar]

• In case Malaysians want a preview before purchasing tickets. [Terb's World]

• From reading the article, I can't determine if Yu-na Kim is attending Korea University or is waiting to be accepted into the school. I have too much time on my hands. [Korea Times]

Collegiate synchronized skating: Many choices for all level skaters

Synchronized Skating Magazine (see right) has a great article (not available online) written by Brenda Hasse and Jean MacLeod about the growth in collegiate and open collegiate synchronized skating. Who knew that there were so many synchro teams out there for high school seniors to consider? Of course, the #1 reason to attend a school is for the education and how the school will prepare you for life after graduation. But, if a school also offers collegiate synchronized skating as a component of a student's life on campus, how great is that! And the article emphasizes that not everyone needs to have competed at the highest level.

I was interested to learn that there are two levels of college skating sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating:

• COLLEGIATE: A team of 12-20 skaters, who have passed the juvenile moves in the field test. Teams may participate in intercollegiate and non-qualifying competitions. Teams can compete at Sectionals (Eastern, Midwestern or Pacific) and may advance to the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships. (For the 2008-2009 season, the Synchro Nationals will be held in Portland, Maine, from March 3, 2009 - March 7, 2009. Click here for more dates.) This level is judged under the IJS system.

• OPEN COLLEGIATE: A team of 8-16 skaters. Teams may participate in intercollegiate and non-qualifying competitions, and may advance to Sectionals. This level is judged under the 6.0 system.

Currently, there are only two universities who offer synchro as a fully-funded varsity sport: Miami University of Ohio and Adrian College (in Michigan). Being fully-funded is important because it translates into money for training, travel and competition. The article noted that U.S. Figure Skating is working with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to make synchronized skating an "emerging women's sport" and to give collegiate synchro full NCAA status. This designation means scholarships, grants and a higher level of recognition for the sport and its athletes.

The article profiles nine colleges and their synchro teams, and provides information on annual tuition, annual cost to be part of the synchro team, skating test requirements, team rituals, and other interesting items. There are approximately 36 collegiate and open collegiate teams in the U.S., so the nine mentioned just touch upon the many programs out there. The schools profiled are:

• Adrian College (varsity funded open collegiate), Adrian, Michigan

• Western Michigan University (senior and collegiate), Kalamazoo, Michigan

• Miami University (varsity funded senior/collegiate/junior...and introducing Miami open collegiate), Oxford, Ohio

• University of Wisconsin-Madison (collegiate), Madison, Wisconsin

• Oakland University (open collegiate), Rochester, Michigan

• Princeton University (open collegiate), Princeton, New Jersey

• University of Delaware (collegiate), Newark, Delaware

• University of Colorado (open collegiate), Beautiful Boulder, Colorado

• Michigan State University (collegiate), East Lansing, Michigan

From reading the article, what I was most impressed by was the absolute commitment of the student skaters. They are part of the team because they want to be. Although there may be a faculty adviser and/or coach, for the most part, the students run the organization on many levels, from practices to competitions to costumes. Kaitien Boucher of the Princeton open collegiate team said it the best:

Our team is almost entirely student run - from our practices to arranging competitions, we do it all ourselves. There is a definite bond that forms among us when there is no one outside of the team managing us, and we have to learn to trust, rely on, and depend on each other. Skating may or may not be our future, but while we're involved in it now, we come together and take what we've got to turn it into our absolute best. We may not have the experience and background of other teams, but we will always rise to the challenge!

This issue of Synchronized Skating Magazine is a great resource if you're looking for an overview of collegiate synchro. (You can also purchase this issue individually.) The authors also recommend the U.S. Figure Skating's Collegiate Team Handbook and U.S. Figure Skating's directory of synchro skating teams for further information. So all you high school juniors and seniors out there - look beyond the "party school" designation! You know who you are...:)

(photo below, the 2007-2008 Princeton open collegiate team, from left to right: Kaitien Boucher, Sharon Goswami, Eve Hanson, Noelle Vinson, Lizzie Cruikshank, Aditi Vasan, Julie Steinberg and Cai Yang)

Clip of the week - Happy Birthday Peggy Fleming!

Today is Peggy Fleming's 60th birthday! Many people see Peggy as a figure skating commentator for over 20 years, a breast cancer survivor and owner of Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery, but I wonder how many young girls realize that she was a five-time (1964-1968) U.S. national champion, three-time (1966-1968) World champion, and an Olympic gold medalist? In fact, the only gold medalist for the United States at the 1968 Winter Olympics.

Peggy's signature was her grace and elegance on the ice, and at that time, those qualities were not commonly found in skaters or in their programs. Recently, Peggy was a presenter at the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame awards where she honored her former coach Carlo Fassi, who passed away in 1997. Fassi was honored posthumously in the Coach category and wife Christa accepted the award. (at right, Peggy arriving for ceremony) Today, Peggy is a grandmother(!) of three grandsons, has two sons, Andy (age 31) and Todd (age 20), and happily married for 38 years to her high school sweetheart, Greg Jenkins.

This morning I spent a few minutes revisiting her gold medal winning performance at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. Watch her double axel -- straight up and very high! Then watch her single axel into an outside spread eagle -- very original.

2008 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships: Championship Gold Men

Have you heard this one? So a nursing assistant, pediatrician and airline pilot skate into an ice rink and - sorry, I couldn't resist. The 11 men skating in the Championship Gold Men's event at the 2008 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships in Lake Placid, New York, were exciting to watch. I still can't get over the fact that in Championship events at Adult Nationals, there are no age categories, so 20 somethings are out there with 40 somethings and beyond, for a place on the podium. Although there is a general consensus that the point of adult skating is to enjoy the sport on many levels, including the camaraderie that develops in the adult community, these adults like to win also!

Keith Newcombe, age 28, from the Starlight Ice Dance Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, took first place with a beautiful skate to Piano Concerto #2 by Rachmaninov. I thought Keith had a real nice sweeping style to his skating that made his jumps and spins pleasing to the eye. Keith is a nursing assistant from Minneapolis and started skating at age 19. He was self-taught for the most part and decided to work with a coach about two years ago after making a commitment to learn edges, spins and proper technique. Since then, he's progressed rapidly and hopes to take his intermediate tests in the upcoming season. If he passes, it will allow him the opportunity to compete in Championship Masters at next year's Adult Nationals in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Championship Masters event is the highest level that the men can be entered in at Adult Nationals. (photo above, from left to right, gold medalist Keith Newcombe, bronze medalist Ross Luxton and pewter medalist Liam Cowper. Not pictured is silver medalist Christopher Williams.)

Christopher Williams, age 46, from the FSC of Minneapolis, took the silver medal with a program set to Shades of Blue and the finale of the Negro Symphony by Dawson. Christopher began competing in Adult Nationals in 2001 and won this event in 2004. His days are kept busy being a pediatrician, coaching hockey during the season, while fitting in his practice, which is generally five days a week, an hour before work and an hour afterwards. Christopher has an 11-year-old son, whom he said likes the "cheap" sports, such as basketball and soccer.

Ross Luxton, a 48-year-old airline pilot from the IceWorks SC in Aston, Pennsylvania, captured the bronze with a jazzy rendition of From Russia with Love. Ross spent six years (1987-1993) as a chorus skater for Disney on Ice. He quit in 1993 (or thought he quit) but like many, missed everything about skating and came back in 2004. Being a pilot gives Ross the flexibility to train (he explained that pilots can only fly 30 hours a week so he may have multiple days off if he's worked continuous days) and also has the added benefit of flying internationally on huge discount fares. Because of the latter, Ross has competed at the ISU Adult Figure Skating Championships in Obertsdorf, Germany, and encourages more adults to attend international events.

After watching and speaking to the Championships Gold Men skaters, I was struck by how each of them found a few hours each week to practice and take lessons. You know the adage (normally heard in an office environment), "If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it"? I find that the busiest people are committed adult skaters! Go figure...

Note: U.S. Figure Skating does not allow the media to film the actual competition; however, if you are an icenetwork subscriber, you can watch many of the performances on video.

Complete results for the Championship Gold Men are as follows:

Pl.	Name	Total segment score	Total element score	Program component score
1	Keith Newcombe Starlight Ice Dance Club	34.61	13.40	21.21
2	Christopher Williams FSC of Minneapolis	33.05	12.46	20.59
3	Ross Luxton Ice Works SC	32.01	10.74	21.27
4	Liam Cowper Uncle Sam FSC	30.21	11.94	19.27
5	Dennis Palaganas Washington FSC	29.42	11.81	17.61
6	Jeffery Buchanan Thoroughbred FSC	28.95	10.84	18.11
7	Franklin Romero American Academy FSC	28.63	12.91	16.72
8	Mark Pepin SC of Boston	28.47	9.11	19.36
9	Matthew Leissring Vaca Valley FSC	27.64	11.36	16.28
10	Steven Wright Saratoga Springs FSC	27.19	10.05	17.14
11	Richard Breitweiser North Jersey FSC	19.90	8.19	12.71