Fixing the Canadian Ladies Program

[sk8girl]

Thank you sk8girl you made my point much better then i did. lol

No problem - I just expanded on the points you already made.

Unfortunately, I still have no explanation for why our girls can't jump. I wonder if it's partly related to the fact that we have so many little arenas and little skating clubs everywhere? There must be a lot of talented Canadians girls out there, but maybe a lot of them are falling through the cracks because they are skating at a little local club somewhere and they're not getting the coaching and ice time, etc. that they need to develop their talent? (Nothing against coaches at small clubs, NOT AT ALL, but there is usually a point where the very talented ambitious skaters will "move on" to a bigger club with higher level coaches and more ice time, etc.) A lot of that comes down to "talent identification", which I know Skate Canada is trying to improve on, but it has to be tough when there are SO many clubs and SO many coaches involved -- how do you make sure that future Rochettes aren't falling through the cracks?

Guys in figure skating tend to get noticed, at all levels, because there are so few of them. If a section wanted to monitor all the guys in their section, they could do it and make sure that nobody is falling through the cracks. With the girls, it's pretty much an impossible job because there are so many of them.

[jettasian]

Easy simple solution, Japan and Canada FS Trade agreement.

Canada ships a team of Dance to Japan, Canada has too many depth there, in return, Japan ships two ladies to Canada.

[euterpe]

I think maybe, based on history, coaches look past the ladies and instead focus on men, pairs and dance when spotting talent for the future.

[Subway]

I think maybe, based on history, coaches look past the ladies and instead focus on men, pairs and dance when spotting talent for the future.

Maybe they take women for granted. Part of the publicity around Bryce Davison's new coaching job reported that male participation in figure skating had taken a new low in Canada. I'd had an impression it was already pretty low. I have an overall impression of Canada in particular just obsessed with getting men involved in figure skating as part of the audience or skating themselves. Because there are so many women already. But at the elite level Canadian men are doing fine and women aren't, yet Skate Canada doesn't seem to prioritize that. A great female champion can really put butts in the seats.

[4rkidz]

Who wound up getting the Worlds spot? I'm guessing 4CCs wasn't quite as effective as they'd hoped.

epic FAIL for SC - part of the problem is treating the girls the same as the other groups (men, dance, pairs) when in reality you need to treat them differently which is the first point.. - in addition the worse thing to do was to put our national champion who had limited confidence to begin with into an even more pressured situation You don't attempt to resolve skater's mental strength problems by putting them in a situation that is even more stressful.. IMHO Skate Canada should have been spending this time before worlds building up our national champion not tearing her down..

The reason Joannie became a strong champion was because she put the time into getting help for mental strength training - and not from Skate Canada..

We don't actually have a problem with lack of talent - go and watch our top Novice, Juniors and Seniors on the practise ice and guess what - they do have triples but the issue is putting them into competition because there is so much stress and not enough supports especially when they are dealing with growing bodies.

The competition format needs to simulate more what these girls are going to face and by not sending them to internationals we are shooting ourselves in the foot. In the States and Russia you have a ton of internal competition - which we don't have so we either have to create it or support a system whereby these girls can face those similar situations.

[Rafter]

It's almost unfixable to me. Worlds will be a lost cause because there's no way Lacoste will place in the top 10 with all those popped jumps.

Skate Canada should have left both Lacoste and phaneuf at home and sent Osmond to both jr worlds and sr worlds.

[nadioso]

We don't actually have a problem with lack of talent - go and watch our top Novice, Juniors and Seniors on the practise ice and guess what - they do have triples but the issue is putting them into competition because there is so much stress and not enough supports especially when they are dealing with growing bodies.

:

It is not that we lack talent but our ladies do not have the triples for the most part. This season is the first season in a while when our top juniors and novices even ATTEMPTED a triple other than a toe or salchow. And yes at least this year some of those jumps were landed. At least I have some hope for the top novices and juniors which I have not said in a long time.

If they truly had the jumps but struggled with the pressure, you would at least see some reasonable attempts even if they ended in splats. The fact that you don't see attempts ( even in warmup ) shows they don't have those jumps.

If Skate Canada was smart , they would invest more in the Osmonds and Dalemans of the world. Any future we have is in our much younger talent.

I wished that Charbonneau and Najarro ( both who age out of junior internationals next season) got senior B assignments instead and the likes of the younger Osmond and Daleman got the JGPs instead. Purich only got an assignment due to Najarro's failure in her JGP this season.

The fact is it is unlikely that Najarro was going anywhere internationally given her failures over 4 years of JGPs and a failure to make the FS at junior worlds. Charbonneau had one good season on the junior circuit ( where she finished 6th at JW ) but has been inconsistent since.

This has been a lost year for international youth development for the ladies in Canada.

[pat c]

I've wondered if it's the way we coach our girls. ie more social then competitive, and when you get that than you tend to not take your coaching as seriously etc. etc.

Do we have a tendency to unintentionally discourage them trying all the jumps *too soon*?

Do some of our coaches lack the skills to get the girls/young ladies motivated and stay that way?

I know that in Canada we have a major battle getting adequate ice time. We compete with hockey, ringette, public skating and then figure skating. The end result is that to get private lessons/ice time can just be a major headache. And that is all over Canada.
Perhaps that is a major factor, not getting the ice time, the coaching during the ice time, etc. etc.

Thoughts?

[vmfan89]

Skate Canada should have left both Lacoste and phaneuf at home and sent Osmond to both jr worlds and sr worlds.

Agreed! She is young and has plently of room to grow. I don't understand how they can give the opportunity to two girls who have had so many chances and who time and time again show that they can't hold it together when it counts. Why not give Kaitlyn the chance? Get her out to those big competitions so she can get exposure and learn to compete. No offense intended, but the 4CC spot given to Najarro was a waste.

Had I been the one making decisions, I would have sent Osmond to Sr Worlds and Daleman to Jr Worlds.

[Jenifer]

I can't imagine that ice time is the problem in Canada. 15 years ago as a CanSkater with *no* hope of becoming competitive I still had 6 hours of ice every week. By comparison, when I went to public skating at my closest rink while living in Tokyo, there would always be girls with significant skills on the ice getting lessons from private coaches (including once, to my great surprise, Yukina Ota).

I would agree with sk8girl that talent identification is much closer to the root of the problem. Taking lessons at a Skate Canada club is, for most girls, just another after school activity and not pursued at a competitive level. Having now also lived in Japan, Connecticut (near Simsbury) and Europe, it seems that skating in those countries is much more of a niche sport, and consequently more likely to be taken seriously by those who pursue it.

[Proustable]

Osmond didn't have a SB that made her eligible for 4CC or Worlds. Or is that just for the GP series?

[made_in_canada]

I've wondered if it's the way we coach our girls. ie more social then competitive, and when you get that than you tend to not take your coaching as seriously etc. etc.

Do we have a tendency to unintentionally discourage them trying all the jumps *too soon*?

Do some of our coaches lack the skills to get the girls/young ladies motivated and stay that way?

I know that in Canada we have a major battle getting adequate ice time. We compete with hockey, ringette, public skating and then figure skating. The end result is that to get private lessons/ice time can just be a major headache. And that is all over Canada.
Perhaps that is a major factor, not getting the ice time, the coaching during the ice time, etc. etc.

Thoughts?

I think a big part of the problem is that parents want their kids to try everything. As a coach, I have a heck of a time convincing parents that they need to focus on skating as a young child. They think their kids need to be in music, 3 different sports, speech arts, etc... and consequently instead of following the training program I'd like (with ballet and off-ice) they end up doing half the program I'd like them to, or being completely exhausted and burned out before they hit their teens. I think because it's easier to be competitive as a man, and have competitive success as a man, it's easier for the parents to buy into competitive skating early.

I don't see ice time as a major factor. Yes, we fight with kid's, women's and men's hockey leagues, ringette, and public skating but we still have way more ice than in a lot of countries with successful skaters. In my city of 90,000 we have 6 arenas. We complain about ice time but it really isn't a factor. The ice is there for those that want it. Even in the surrounding area of much smaller towns most towns with at least 1000 people have a rink and a skating club.

Skate Canada is doing a major overhaul on most of it's programs and it'll be interesting to see if it makes a difference. In BC, there has been a major effort to make talent ID more effective and prevent kids from falling through the cracks. This effort especially is trying to reach the kids from smaller regions. Again, it remains to be seen if it works but I think it's definitely a step in the right direction. For a long time it seemed like the section didn't care about you unless you were willing to skate at 8 rinks. Now they really are trying to provide the resources and expertise to keep kids where they are and still have them be successful.

[Dave of the North]

Osmond didn't have a SB that made her eligible for 4CC or Worlds. Or is that just for the GP series?

She had the minimum score from the JGP last year. Her bigger problem is she doesn't have the triple lutz.

[Seerek]

Skate Canada probably won't ever again skip over higher placed entrants at Nationals for Worlds spots after being criticized (in hindsight) for sending 12 year old Tracey Wainman to the 1980 Worlds even though she was the bronze medallist at the Canadian Nationals (and there was only 1 entrant in ladies that year)

[euterpe]

She had the minimum score from the JGP last year. Her bigger problem is she doesn't have the triple lutz.

Carolina Kostner doesn't have the triple lutz either.

[Dave of the North]

Carolina Kostner doesn't have the triple lutz either.

I wasn't going to go there...

[Vagabond]

Skate Canada probably won't ever again skip over higher placed entrants at Nationals for Worlds spots after being criticized (in hindsight) for sending 12 year old Tracey Wainman to the 1980 Worlds even though she was the bronze medallist at the Canadian Nationals (and there was only 1 entrant in ladies that year)

They skipped over Cynthia Phaneuf in 2004.

And what about Myriane Samson, the silver medalist last year? Why did they send Amélie Lacoste? Was Samson injured?

[sk8girl]

They skipped over Cynthia Phaneuf in 2004.

And what about Myriane Samson, the silver medalist last year? Why did they send Amélie Lacoste? Was Samson injured?

Yes, Samson was injured last year and Lacoste went to Worlds as the alternate.

[fsfan22]

Bribe Joannie to return to competitive skating.

Problem solved!

[euterpe]

Yes, Samson was injured last year and Lacoste went to Worlds as the alternate.

Maybe that was a good thing. Samson went to Worlds 2010 and didn't qualify for the FS (no QR back then---she scored too low in the SP to go on to the FS). In 2011, Lacoste was 5th in the QR, 14th in the SP and 18th in the FS to finish 16th overall.