Australian skating news

[aussieSKATES]

At the Asian Open Trophy this week, it appears that Sienna Kaczmarcyzk has earned the TES minimums in both the short program and the free skate needed to qualify for consideration at the World Junior Championships.

In Senior Women's Singles, Australia's Vlada Vasiliev earned the minimum short program TES needed to qualify for consideration at Four Continents. She previously earned the free skate TES at the SEA Trophy in September.

New Zealand's Douglas Gerber may have earned the free skate TES needed to compete at Four Continents, and previously earned the short program minimum at the Sea Open. (Special thanks to @Andrea82 for the update.)

 

[Andrea82]

New Zealand's Douglas Gerber may have earned the free skate TES needed to compete at Four Continents, but still needs the short program TES.

He has the SP minimum from SEA Open.

 

[aussieSKATES]

He has the SP minimum from SEA Open.

That's great news!

 

[Bunny Hop]

The documentary about Alexandrovskaya and Windsor will be on ABC TV on Monday night (and then available on iView). Promo video here: https://www.facebook.com/abcinsydney/videos/889287912066391

 

[Orm Irian]

Congrats to Hektor and Anastasia, that was great work! Phenomenal FS - they almost equalled their score from Warsaw Cup with one less element!

 

[Immortelle]

Harley is on ABC Weekend Breakfast talking about the doco

 

[Karen-W]

I just noticed this on ISA's IG profile - 2023 National Squad

Ice Skating Australia on Instagram: "ISA is proud to introduce our 2023 National Squad 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🥇🥇 Congratulations everyone 👏👏👏 ⛸ 🇦🇺 ⛸ 🇦🇺 ⛸ #nationalssquad #nationals #FigureSkating #isu ##bupairs #iceskating #isu #skaters"

Ice Skating Australia shared a post on Instagram: "ISA is proud to introduce our 2023 National Squad 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🥇🥇 Congratulations everyone 👏👏👏 ⛸ 🇦🇺 ⛸ 🇦🇺 ⛸ #nationalssquad #nationals #FigureSkating #isu ##bupairs #iceskating #isu #skaters". Follow their account to see 104 posts.

www.instagram.com

Sr Women - Victoria Alcantara, Vlada Vasiliev, Hana Bath*
Sr Men - Brendan Kerry, Darian Kaptich, Charlton Doherty
Sr Dance - Holly Harris/Jason Chan, India Nette/Eron Westwood
Sr Pairs - Anastasia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos-Moore
*Not ISU age eligible

Jr Women - Hana Bath, Vlada Vasiliev, Sienna Kaczmarczyk
Jr Men - Julio Potapenko, Vinceman Chong, Jeremy Adamlu
Jr Pairs - Anastasia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos-Moore
Jr Dance - none

Does this mean that Chernyshova/Windsor are no more? I certainly hope not!

 

[Sylvia]

I just noticed this on ISA's IG profile - 2023 National Squad
...
Does this mean that Chernyshova/Windsor are no more? I certainly hope not!

ISA High Performance and Athlete Development

High Performance Athletes, Athlete Development Programs, International Nominations

www.isa.org.au

The ISA National Squad 2023 also is posted on ISA's website as a PDF (linked from the page above): https://www.isa.org.au/_files/ugd/b5945d_f2e5d350a3f740d7bd6e446b2657e0d3.pdf

 

[Sylvia]

The documentary about Alexandrovskaya and Windsor will be on ABC TV on Monday night (and then available on iView). Promo video here: https://www.facebook.com/abcinsydney/videos/889287912066391

Blurb about the documentary from November 2021: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/australian-skating-news.98953/page-48#post-6098178

If anyone watches and would like to share some impressions, I would be interested to read them (or you can DM me).

 

[Bunny Hop]

Does this mean that Chernyshova/Windsor are no more? I certainly hope not!

I don't have any info, but Harley didn't mention the partnership during the interview Immortelle refered to above. When asked about the future he talking about finishing healing his broken ankle and then moving forward. It did make me wonder.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Does this mean that Chernyshova/Windsor are no more? I certainly hope not!

The team only competed once last season.

So, perhaps there is a ruling somewhere that states a result this year qualifies them for selection.

If it is any consolation, I checked the Ice Partner Search database, and neither Harley or Maria are listed which is a good sign.

Sadly, Ryan Dodds is listed after his partnership with Winter Deardorff didn't work out. They looked very promising, too.

 

[Sylvia]

Campbell Young is not listed on IPS at this time but is looking for a new pairs partner. She competed internationally with Lachlan Lewer in Senior & Junior pairs last season - their ISU bio: http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00111361.htm
She suffered a broken ankle in early August and had to have major surgery - more info & a clip of her spinning were posted jointly on Campbell's & the "Cold Angles" Instagram accounts on Oct. 15: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjvo3RXgvfF/

... On October 7th, Campbell was finally able to step on the ice for the first time since her surgery, marking a huge milestone! This video was filmed shortly after coming back to the ice. Her goal is to fully recover and to get back to where she was before her injury. She is also planning to look for a partner!"

(Lachlan Lewer has since found a U.S. partner - they have qualified for 2023 Nationals in Junior and have been added to USFS' International Selection Pool.)

 

[Immortelle]

Vlada Vasiliev’s instagram has a pic from the Nationals banquet of her with Jonathan Guerreiro, Harley and a couple of other girls. Is one of them Maria?

 

[Aussie Willy]

Blurb about the documentary from November 2021: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/australian-skating-news.98953/page-48#post-6098178

If anyone watches and would like to share some impressions, I would be interested to read them (or you can DM me).

I just finished watching. I thought it was really well made and quite honest in the story it told. Being involved in the sport, nothing presented was really a surprise.

I have sent you a DM.

 

[Bunny Hop]

If anyone watches and would like to share some impressions, I would be interested to read them (or you can DM me).

I thought it was a good documentary. The story is told entirely using interviews, recordings (including of Katya) and notes/documentation made by people at the time of the events so it's effectively in everyone's own words. So whilst obviously it's still edited to be told the way the film maker wanted, there's no voice over or other interpretation overlaying what is being presented. Not unnaturally slightly skewed towards Harley's POV, but it would have been almost impossible not to do that under the circumstances. As Aussie Willy said above, it came across as quite an honest account by the active participants in the film.

Emotionally very much a 90 minute roller coaster of the team's competitive career and how everything ended. I certainly experienced all over again the joy and wonder of their early success followed swiftly by sadness about how things went downhill and the tragedy of Katya's death.

Text at the end referenced Harley's new partnership and said they were aiming for the next Olympics.


On a couple of personal notes:
1) In the footage from Nebelhorn I saw myself and husband in the audience in the background.
2) I hope the footage shot at Canterbury Ice Rink doesn't end up being the last thing ever filmed there, but that's a whole different story (still waiting on outcome of the govt grant application).

 

[misskarne]

It's certainly not what I'd call comfortable viewing. But that's a good thing. There aren't too many surprises, I think, especially if you were following them closely - though the story of how and why they ended up in Canada was new to me, at least.

It's a tear-jerker, of course. It seems like everyone knew there was an issue, but everyone was too afraid to step in. Or, as Greg put it, no-one wanted to be the person who stopped something that could have been great.

None of the OWIA, AOC or ISA come off all that great in the end with how it was handled.

 

[aussieSKATES]

Blurb about the documentary from November 2021: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/australian-skating-news.98953/page-48#post-6098178

If anyone watches and would like to share some impressions, I would be interested to read them (or you can DM me).

There appear to be so many sides to this story, covered in a depth that we only learned from tonight's viewing.

We found it a very distressing program to watch.

 

[Immortelle]

That was hard to watch but I’m glad I did! Makes you realise how important your support network is…

 

[Orm Irian]

It was very well-made, and completely devastating. I'm glad the filmmakers chose not to provide narration imposing a point of view, and that they allowed Katya to speak for herself as much as was possible. Especially as one of the points made was how much she was treated as a prop by the Australian media in the leadup to the Olympics, and denied a voice by their failure to provide translators.

And it's easy to forget the different but also extreme pressures Harley was under during the leadup to the 2018 Olympics, so I'm glad the documentary highlighted that too.

 

[Frau Muller]

Will it be possible to watch this movie in the USA?

 

[Trillian]

It was very well-made, and completely devastating. I'm glad the filmmakers chose not to provide narration imposing a point of view, and that they allowed Katya to speak for herself as much as was possible. Especially as one of the points made was how much she was treated as a prop by the Australian media in the leadup to the Olympics, and denied a voice by their failure to provide translators.

I was particularly struck by one of the clips in which Katya asked an interviewer to repeat a question. Instead of trying again, they moved the microphone over to Harley and asked him to answer the question, while Katya turned away from the camera and looked down the hallway behind them.

There’s a real risk with a film like this that they could have speculated or projected a lot of other people’s interpretations onto Katya’s story. IMO they did a really admirable job of staying focused on the fact that no one really knows Katya’s side of the story, because she was never in a position to share it. And in a lot of ways, that’s something that really warrants reflection.

And it's easy to forget the different but also extreme pressures Harley was under during the leadup to the 2018 Olympics, so I'm glad the documentary highlighted that too.

I agree. He was portrayed in a really nuanced way - certainly not a hero of the story, but a kid who was dealing with a different kind of pressure.

I hope this film can find a broader audience outside of Australia. It was incredibly well made.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Will it be possible to watch this movie in the USA?

I don't know if you have access to ABC iView overseas but it is streaming on that.

It was interesting that they showed the outside of quite a few rinks from around Australia, including the little rink that was in Hobart.

It was also interesting that they mentioned that the sport is volunteer run and doesn't get any government funding. It was emphasised by quite a few of the interview subjects. I could write an essay on volunteer run sports and the problems they encounter. But also how the nature of figure skating being so dependent on volunteers may have contributed to the situation presented in the documentary.

 

[misskarne]

Will it be possible to watch this movie in the USA?

You will likely need a VPN to watch on ABC iView.

It was also interesting that they mentioned that the sport is volunteer run and doesn't get any government funding. It was emphasised by quite a few of the interview subjects. I could write an essay on volunteer run sports and the problems they encounter. But also how the nature of figure skating being so dependent on volunteers may have contributed to the situation presented in the documentary.

The emphasis on how the insufficient funding was causing problems and then the slashing being one of the major blows really stood out. When you think of how much money is ploughed into swimming, sailing, soccer...

 

[Trillian]

The emphasis on how the insufficient funding was causing problems and then the slashing being one of the major blows really stood out. When you think of how much money is ploughed into swimming, sailing, soccer...

Another thing that struck me was that even when they did have more funding, it seemed to come without a real understanding of the kind of support that they needed. Their coaching, ice, etc., were covered in Canada, but no one considered groceries? Or for that matter, considered that they might need help budgeting for groceries even if they did have the money?

I think this is true of many other elite sports as well, but considering how young most elite skaters are, it’s really important to be aware of the role that parents or other immediate family play for most of them. It’s not just a matter of covering a skater’s financial needs when the family can’t. Parents also take care of so many day-to-day logistics for the majority of elite skaters, and when they can’t do that for whatever reason, anyone wanting to support a young skater needs to understand the necessity of having someone (besides the coach!) to fill that role instead. As expensive as elite skating is, these kids need so much support beyond just financial help. No matter how much money is thrown at them, it’s going to be inadequate without the rest of that infrastructure.

 

[PRlady]

Another thing that struck me was that even when they did have more funding, it seemed to come without a real understanding of the kind of support that they needed. Their coaching, ice, etc., were covered in Canada, but no one considered groceries? Or for that matter, considered that they might need help budgeting for groceries even if they did have the money?

I think this is true of many other elite sports as well, but considering how young most elite skaters are, it’s really important to be aware of the role that parents or other immediate family play for most of them. It’s not just a matter of covering a skater’s financial needs when the family can’t. Parents also take care of so many day-to-day logistics for the majority of elite skaters, and when they can’t do that for whatever reason, anyone wanting to support a young skater needs to understand the necessity of having someone (besides the coach!) to fill that role instead. As expensive as elite skating is, these kids need so much support beyond just financial help. No matter how much money is thrown at them, it’s going to be inadequate without the rest of that infrastructure.

Oddly, I just read this story (and contributed to the GoFundMe). It made me think of how expensive skating is and how youth sports have become one more divider between the upper 10 ten percent and everyone else: https://wapo.st/3PpOz2T

And basketball is supposed to be the urban, accessible sport. Not anymore.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Another thing that struck me was that even when they did have more funding, it seemed to come without a real understanding of the kind of support that they needed. Their coaching, ice, etc., were covered in Canada, but no one considered groceries? Or for that matter, considered that they might need help budgeting for groceries even if they did have the money?

I think this is true of many other elite sports as well, but considering how young most elite skaters are, it’s really important to be aware of the role that parents or other immediate family play for most of them. It’s not just a matter of covering a skater’s financial needs when the family can’t. Parents also take care of so many day-to-day logistics for the majority of elite skaters, and when they can’t do that for whatever reason, anyone wanting to support a young skater needs to understand the necessity of having someone (besides the coach!) to fill that role instead. As expensive as elite skating is, these kids need so much support beyond just financial help. No matter how much money is thrown at them, it’s going to be inadequate without the rest of that infrastructure.

I did have a coach say to me one day that elite young skaters tend to have most of their lives organised for them, whether that be from their parents or coaches. So budgeting for not just training but all those other needs is something they just even don't know how to do. And it is not just when they are teenagers. I have known skaters whose parents have paid for their skating for years even after they reach the age that most of us are working and paying all our own life expenses.

I remember from the stories when Torvill & Dean applied a grant to cover them over a few years up until the 84 Olympics they did a full plan, applied for the grant and got approved. They already had working careers but to get where they knew they could they had to quit their jobs and focus on skating. But that work experience probably helped them manage.

The other issue the program raises is coach investment in skaters. It becomes a symbiotic relationship but to the point that a coach has "ownership" of the skater. It makes it difficult for the skater to break free from the coach when it is time to move on. I know years ago Tonya Harding said that she employed the coach. But I think it depends which system you skate in. If you are in Russia it is very different from Australia which again was a good point that was raised in the documentary.

 

[Bunny Hop]

It was interesting that they showed the outside of quite a few rinks from around Australia, including the little rink that was in Hobart.

I noticed the Hobart rink too. We've lost too many lately.

 

[Sylvia]

Link to the "Harley & Katia documentary" GSD thread:

"Harley & Katya" documentary

Based on the comments from those who have watched this new documentary (starting here in the Australian news thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/australian-skating-news.98953/page-55#post-6354736), I thought it was worth creating a separate thread for higher visibility and...

www.fsuniverse.net

ISA has announced their 2023 4CC and Junior Worlds teams (document is linked from the High Performance page under "International Nominations, Assignments and Rankings"): https://www.isa.org.au/_files/ugd/b5945d_86642aa670e745e3a078591d9a57ef6d.pdf

4 Continents Team
Women
Victoria Alcantara
Vlada Vasiliev

Men
Darian Kaptich

Pairs
Anastasia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos Moore

Dance
Holly Harris/Jason Chan
India Nette/Eron Westwood

Jr Worlds 2023
Women
Vlada Vasiliev
(Sub: Sienna Kaczmarczyk)
Pairs
Anastasia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos Moore

Listed on the 2022-2023 International Assignments spreadsheet:

World University Games (Jan 13-15, 2023, Lake Placid NY):
Woman: Romy Grogan
Man: Callum Bradshaw

 

[kwanfan1818]

So budgeting for not just training but all those other needs is something they just even don't know how to do. And it is not just when they are teenagers.

Is it part of a universal curriculum in Australia where students are taught budgeting, banking, what interest is, contract basics, and other financial information that people need if they're on their own and is helpful even if they're not? I don't think that many young people know these things, unless they were taught financial literacy by someone they know or through a local, special program.

I remember an article about the superb basketball player Dirk Nowitzki, who had already played professionally for four years in Germany, when he was an NBA draft pick who was traded to the Dallas Mavericks when he was about 20. Granted, this was in the late '90's, but he suddenly had a pile of money, and one of the women in the team's front office had to teach him how to balance a checkbook and other financial basics. (And even though people don't use checkbooks, they still should know how to balance their electronic transactions.)

 

[misskarne]

Is it part of a universal curriculum in Australia where students are taught budgeting, banking, what interest is, contract basics, and other financial information that people need if they're on their own and is helpful even if they're not? I don't think that many young people know these things, unless they were taught financial literacy by someone they know or through a local, special program.

No. You learn a little about interest/compound interest in maths, but there's no separate class. I have a very faint memory of doing an assignment that involved a little budgeting in high school, but that wasn't the sole purpose of it.

There's still an assumption that this is the parents' job to teach.