David Wilson Calls for New Leadership at Skate Canada

[Colonel Green]

But I don't think any of Skate Canada's national team trains in Alberta currently.

No, it only affected some of the NextGen people.

There have been varying access to rinks depending on local circumstances (Madeline’s training situation was difficult at one point, but she did pretty well at Worlds anyway — though of course it’s conceivable that without those difficulties she’d have done even better).

Though in the case of Matte & Ferland, their most obvious disadvantage wouldn’t be rink closures, it’d be them having to change coaches earlier this season because Gauthier was suspended because of an assault charge.

 

[MacMadame]

I thought that WTT showed that Skate Canada does have some promising skaters coming up in the ranks in Ladies skating.

 

[mackiecat]

There are thousands of skaters in Ontario at the novice and lower level who haven’t been able to train ( especially GTA where the majority of the competitive skaters train) this will hurt us in years to come. All skaters were off from mar to beginning of June. The problem was many municipalities removed the Ice so they still couldn’t get back. The GTA listed jr and Sr skaters have been able to train but limited hours. Only 10 people including coaches are allowed in the rink. There is only so much ice time so they are not training regular hours. Note other than the pair, every skater at WTT trains in GTA. They have had NO competitive experience. Romans long was disappointing but here is a guy who has never gone to worlds (and has only 4 grand Prius under his belt)and he found himself on a warm up with all World top 10 Skaters including Nathan and Yuzuru. He definitely needs to work on this and experience will help. However he never let his performance go and he received good marks for pcs and spins. His performance was similar to Jason Brown imho And no one is moaning that Jason is terrible.

 

[skategal]

South Korea has also had numerous shut downs and some rinks being used as morgues during several waves - to the point where the KSF wasn't sure if they were going to be able to hold any sort of national championship/ranking competition in February to select competitors for Worlds. And yet, the skaters they sent performed pretty well and finished in the general range of where they were expected by most knowledgeable fans and insiders.

Canadian skaters at Worlds finished where most knowledge fans and insiders thought they would as well.

In fact they did somewhat better considering Canada got a medal which wasn’t guaranteed.

 

[manhn]

Keegan's 6th place finish was a shock, to me.

 

[Karen-W]

Canadian skaters at Worlds finished where most knowledge fans and insiders thought they would as well.

In fact they did somewhat better considering Canada got a medal which wasn’t guaranteed.

That is the point, isn't it, though? The fact that this is where your skaters were expected to finish, should be of concern.

 

[Sylvia]

Madeline Schizas mentioned during Worlds that she was 10 when she attended 2013 Worlds in London. This is the kind of in person inspiration that encourages young skaters to continue competing and developing into elite skaters.

I thought that WTT showed that Skate Canada does have some promising skaters coming up in the ranks in Ladies skating.

Alison Schumacher!

 

[overedge]

Let's just say that I wouldn't view that as quite good. The goal should be challenging for a medal in every discipline and in time with the goal of having more than 1 contender per discipline.

That only happens with long-term investments in truly supporting "skating for life". Skate Canada is focusing too much on medals and not enough on the grassroots and recreational programs that build commitment to the sport, and which is where those medal contenders are eventually going to come from.

 

[skategal]

That is the point, isn't it, though? The fact that this is where your skaters were expected to finish, should be of concern.

I guess I don’t see it as a concern. I see it as meeting expectations.

We can’t and won’t have medal contenders in multiple disciplines all the time and that is okay.

 

[skatingguy]

That doesn't solve the overall drop in quality though. I can't remember the last time a nation had all top stars retire at the same time across all disciplines, but there wasn't going to be that many skaters challenging for the top anyways had Worlds happened last year or if they had a better season of training (which, by the way, other countries had even less and in several major skating areas in Canada there was little to no shutdown past what the rest of the world experienced).

Russia after the 2006 Olympics - they won 4 medals in 2006 & then just 2 in 2010 before rebuilding going into a home Olympics in 2014 & now they are back to the strength in all disciplines that they had in the early 2000's. Canada will probably take longer to rebuild & I don't expect to see the country do as well as it did in the 2011-2018 period again in my lifetime.

 

[sap5]

Deleted this because it was unnecessary. I'm just frustrated by the state of skating in Canada.

 

[coppertop1]

All our big stars have retired and in we're in a rebuilding phase. I don't see the drama. It's just part of sport

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

Remember that deep bench of ladies back in the 90s. What wonderful leadership back then.

Brandi Lee Rousseau and Keyla Ohs had tremendous unrealized potential. How did it all go wrong?

If some of your group of top skaters and the coaches involved are all annoyed with the way things are happening at the top, then I would say that the process of building up skaters is also very much lacking.

My sources tell me some skaters and officials are quietly wondering if Miss Caron has succumbed to European influences and is not advocating for Canada as she should. There is no other plausible reason for the debacle that was the lack of Canadian domestic events this season.

-BB

 

[yeslek]

Canadian skaters at Worlds finished where most knowledge fans and insiders thought they would as well.

In fact they did somewhat better considering Canada got a medal which wasn’t guaranteed.

They may have place wise but Keegan trains in the US and I felt like MTMs placement looks better than the actual skating we saw.

 

[yeslek]

All our big stars have retired and in we're in a rebuilding phase. I don't see the drama. It's just part of sport

There isn’t normally a “rebuilding” phase in big federations like that. The fields are usually deeper and ready to go than needing to rebuild after someone retires.

 

[yeslek]

Canada has never had the depth of say the US or Russian and they lost a lot of veteran world class former champions after 2018 and knew they had a major rebuilding project on their hands post Olympics. Yes they should still be a solid bet to by this time of the Olympic cycle to win a Bronze in 2022 and right now it's not looking good but that 2018 Olympic team was probably the greatest Canadian figure skating team of all time and many of those skaters carried Canada for two or even three Olympic games so it's going to take a couple of Olympic cycles for Canada to become strong again.

There’s no reason they shouldn’t though. Skating is more popular in Canada than the us as an activity so should have even more people to choose from rising. The coaching talent is there. The ice rinks. All the ingridients to be the best but something isn’t right. The strongest male and strongest female dancer used to compete for the US too.

 

[skatingguy]

There’s no reason they shouldn’t though. Skating is more popular in Canada than the us as an activity so should have even more people to choose from rising. The coaching talent is there. The ice rinks. All the ingridients to be the best but something isn’t right. The strongest male and strongest female dancer used to compete for the US too.

Whose the male skater you're talking about? Paul Poirier has always competed for Canada, and Nikolaj Sorenson is Danish.

 

[yeslek]

Whose the male skater you're talking about? Paul Poirier has always competed for Canada, and Nikolaj Sorenson is Danish.

Keegan. But yes that is another example of someone that used to compete for another country.

 

[skatingguy]

Keegan. But yes that is another example of someone that used to compete for another country.

Oh, sorry I read your previous post as strongest male & female ice dancer - not as strongest male singles skater & strongest female ice dance.

The reality with skating in Canada is that it doesn't hold the same place in the culture it once did, particularly as the country has become more diverse & there are more sports that kids are interested in & skating isn't that accessible anymore. In the most populous places in the country access to ice time is limited & expensive.

 

[yeslek]

Oh, sorry I read your previous post as strongest male & female ice dancer - not as strongest male singles skater & strongest female ice dance.

The reality with skating in Canada is that it doesn't hold the same place in the culture it once did, particularly as the country has become more diverse & there are more sports that kids are interested in & skating isn't that accessible anymore. In the most populous places in the country access to ice time is limited & expensive.

Lol yes sorry. I am tired I could have been more clear. .

but I agree with what you’re saying about skating in Canada and was just saying that’s the same situation as in the United States too. The popularity here has declined ALOT since I was skating growing up.

 

[mackiecat]

Do you people realize what it has been like in the Toronto area this year? We have been in total lockdown since mid November and previous to that we were still in red lockdown. The majority of the skaters train here. it Is not normal life here. The restrictions change almost daily. Skate Ontario was able to host one live competition. However By the time the competition occurred 75% of the skaters had to be withdrawn as their home location was moved to a lock down. Only kids who got to compete were from small communities or northern communities where the spread wasn’t as bad.

 

[William]

I'm sure there is more that Skate Canada can do to build up strength in FS and particularly to train up or offer opportunities to younger skating.

However, our population is much smaller than the population of the US, so its unrealistic to expect that we our going to have the same results/outcomes as the US.

Overall we are a powerful and successful FS nation. There is just going to be a bit of a gap in terms of filling the gap that was left after 2018.

The number of skaters is fairly similar so don't agree. We were on track, now we aren't. WT

 

[puglover]

I don't know much about Skate Canada leadership but Mike Slipchuck and Manon Perron have been involved for a number of years during more successful times, as well as Ted Barton for B.C. who has certainly had a birds eye view of what the up and coming skaters of the world are doing. It does seem to me that in Canada a few of the most promising skaters coming up have had significant problems. In ladies, Gabby, Aurelia Cotop (long time injured), Veronique Mallet (long time injured), Alaine Chartrand, not to mention a number of talented ladies who just could not seem to take it to the next level. In men, Stephen Gogolev (long time injured, growth), Roman Sadovsky (growth), Nic Nadeau. In pairs - of course Charlie Bilodeau and his partners, but there does seem to be some great young pairs coming up. Dance - I agree a number of great young teams quit - and I am sad to see Carolane and Shane struggling. Certainly the very strict covid regulations have made ice very challenging to get and very expensive. Perhaps if we don't have the big stars now to rely on it will be incentive for others to stay the course and believe in themselves??

 

[shutterbug]

The reality with skating in Canada is that it doesn't hold the same place in the culture it once did, particularly as the country has become more diverse & there are more sports that kids are interested in & skating isn't that accessible anymore. In the most populous places in the country access to ice time is limited & expensive.

This. Having done a couple of stints as a club executive, I can say there is nothing more disheartening than sitting at a table during the community centre registration day and watching families bypass figure skating to sign up for dance, gymnastics, floor hockey, indoor soccer, etc. And there's zero support or guidance from the National office (or our Section for that matter). The only time we heard from Ottawa was when they were looking to collect membership fees. I genuinely feel TPTB still think it's the 1960's or 1970's and of course all Canadians want to learn how to skate.

That being said, this has been a godawful year for sport in Canada, and maybe is not the best time to judge what the future holds. I'm just so proud of our skaters for going out on the world stage and giving it their best shot.

 

[William]

The number of skaters is fairly similar so don't agree. We were on track, now we aren't. WT

Oh, and as a key person involved in the golden age first on the board in the early 2000s, an olympic judge and then CEO, I find this tragic. A federation can't make the results - that's the coaches and athletes. But a federation can make it way easier or way harder for athletes to be developed and brought to potential.

 

[Wyliefan]

Canada has, what, four pretty promising junior dance teams who will be moving up in a year or two? Emmy and Aissa, Natasha and Peter, Natalie and Bruce, Miku and Tyler -- am I missing anyone?

 

[Lil Sarah]

That's my point. There shouldn't be a gap. You know this is coming and you prepare. William Thompson

Maybe so, but if you look at Canada's skating history, it's never been like that. Can the country to better then? Sure, but it's not a surprise either

 

[Colonel Green]

Canada has, what, four pretty promising junior dance teams who will be moving up in a year or two? Emmy and Aissa, Natasha and Peter, Natalie and Bruce, Miku and Tyler -- am I missing anyone?

Nadiia has been replaced with someone named Natasha, but otherwise, yes.

Plus there's Fabbri/Ayer, lower in the senior ranks.

 

[Wyliefan]

Whoops! Yes, Nadiia, of course!

 

[Colonel Green]

Though unfortunately I think Emmy and Aissa are almost at the point where she's too tall for him.