USFS (outgoing) president Auxier expresses concern on state of US Figure Skating

[AxelAnnie]

At 15 global championships since 2006, the U.S. has won just one singles medal at the Olympics (Evan Lysacek's 2010 gold) and four at worlds (golds by Lysacek in 2009 and Nathan Chen this year, bronze by Johnny Weir in 2008 and silver by Ashley Wagner in 2016)

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2018/05/04/275097820

Icenetwork: How concerned are you with the overall competitive health of U.S. figure skating?

Samuel Auxier: I have been very concerned. When I took office, my belief was that our ability to compete at the lower levels in terms of fundamentals and development already was declining relative to the other top countries.

I hate to state the obvious...but isn't he in charge and the guy who should have made sure this did NOT happen?

 

[Frida80]

I hate to state the obvious...but isn't he in charge and the guy who should have made sure this did NOT happen?

Exactly! What’s has he been doing all this time. Watching reality TV. His job was to fix skating not make it worse!

 

[Willin]

To be fair to him, some of the changes he did make (especially newer stuff like incentivizing triples at lower levels) are too new for us to see any definitive results on the Senior level. There are a few skaters that make it seem like this is working: Ting Cui, Alyssa Liu, and Starr Andrews come to mind, but I doubt we'll get more than that for at least a year or two.

 

[Aussie Willy]

As a former club board member, I agree that USFS tends to implement policies and expects clubs to enforce/explain them with not much support. When I was on the board, I was designated to collect/confirm coach credentialing each year - i.e. collect their insurance docs and verify completion of background check and CERs. USFS rules are they can't coach without them, but try explaining that to the 2 coaches in my club who decided they were special and shouldn't have to do that. And tell them they can't coach after July 1 until their docs are complete and deal with their 'you can't tell me what to do, I'm a coach and you're just some board member' attitude. A year after my term on the board ended, USFS/PSA instituted a $75 late fee for coaches not complete by July 1, so they finally took the consequences and enforcement out of clubs' hands.

And now they have SafeSport - very important concept, as long as info is communicated correctly and the rules are enforced...but USFS just sent clubs the docs with the requirement that all members sign it each year with their membership renewal and no explanation or info to the membership masses on what it is and what it all means (if they did, I missed it....I know there's stuff in the Gov Council docs but most members don't read that).

Issues with talent development, access to quality coaching, injury prevention and potential abuse are at least partly due to lack of communication with the grassroots level. I know USFS is a non-profit org, but I think they need to hire more membership staff who can function as liaisons to each region (they are trying to do something like this with Learn to Skate, don't know if it's actually improving anything) and have more personal communication with clubs and members.

It happens with most organisations that depend on a volunteer workforce so I am not surprised to read this. We have the same thing in Australia. But unless there are people who are willing to step up to implement the policies, then it just isn't going to work.

Sometimes it is better to be realistic about what you are working with so that people don't feel under pressure or are not disappointed.

 

[overedge]

nm