Skating in Unlikely Places

Ask most folks in the United States if they've ever heard of the sport of figure skating, and they'll know exactly what you're talking about. But that's not true all over the world.

Which countries are figure skating powerhouses? USA, Canada, Russia, Japan, China. And to a lesser extent France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Maybe Ukraine too? These countries have well-established figure skating bodies, and consistently produce world-class talent in all disciplines.

Unlikely countries that have had emerging skating phenoms in recent years: South Korea, Kazakhstan, Spain. And to a lesser extent, India, Turkey, South Africa and Mexico.

I say they're "unlikely" though because these countries don't generally have the infrastructure to support the sport--i.e. few to no rinks, coaches, schools, teams or national push for excellence. Ask a random citizen of a country like Angola, Mongolia, Bhutan or Kiribati if they've ever heard of figure skating, and the answer is less likely to be yes.Whether it be climate, economics or another factor, the sport never really developed there.

But most, if not all of the skaters from the "unlikely" countries I mention train and live in the US or Canada. Many of them have parents who gave up their lives in their home countries for their children to achieve excellence in skating. (And most of the singles skaters are trained by two-time Olympic silver medalist Brian Orser!) Which unfortunately, doesn't go as far to encourage aspiring skaters or programs back home.

I once worked with a coach who had lived in Spain for several years. I asked her if she skated while she was there. She said yes, but that it was really hard to find a rink, and even harder to find ice time. When she asked a local rink operator if she could have some ice time when the rink wasn't being used, it was as if a request such as this had never been made. Such a foreign concept to me as well--I grew up in an area where there were no less than 5 rinks within 20 miles, and more ice time available to me than there are hours in a day.

I bring all of this up because I saw two articles in various places on the interwebs about skating in some of these "unlikely" locales. The first is an article about a charity figure skating show that Olympic Bronze Medalist Dennis Ten is putting on in his home country of Kazakhstan. According to the article, citizens of the former Soviet Republic usually have cross the borders to see shows or concerts, and the money from the show will go to support figure skating in the country. So cool.

The second is a video/article about aspiring figure skaters in South Africa, and the upcoming South African Figure Skating Championships. There's a growing interest in the sport there in all disciplines, especially ladies and synchro. You can see from the video and from recent competition that South African skaters aren't quite at the same level as some of their competitors, but that isn't a deterrent. So great to see skating taking root there.

Now if I only had the time and money, I'd travel the world looking to skate in every single country I visited...