Black Ice on 1932 Rink for Figure Championships

The ice is ready for the World Figure Championship & Figure Festival this week (Aug 28 and 29) in Lake Placid. The 1932 rink is the site of the competition, and they've turned it black to make it ideal for tracing figures on the ice. It looks so cool! Almost makes me want to dig out my old scribe. Almost.

It's too bad they got rid of the Lussi Rink, but I understand why they did. Figures are making a comeback though...

I won't be part of that comeback, but I fully support others behind it!

Posted by World Figure Championship & Figure Festival on Sunday, August 23, 2015

I thought they retired?

Apparently I haven't been as on top of figure skating news as I thought I was. Because I totally thought Mirai Nigasu and World Pair Champs Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were planning to retire after last season. That couldn't be farther from the truth, I've recently learned. 

Duhamel and Radford are not only not retiring, they're planning to seriously up the ante by attempting the world's first throw quad lutz. That's bonkers. I can't wait to see them try it in competition. They are going to be unbeatable points-wise, if they can pull it off.

Mirai Nagasu is apparently working on her 3axel. See video here, via The Skating Lesson. It looks...alright. She's still under-rotated by about a half, but if she can get it by the time the competitive season starts (we're running out of summer...) she might get the little boost she needs to get back into medal contention.

I didn't think Adelina Sotnikova had retired,  but I almost forgot she existed until I saw the headline that she was returning. It will be interesting to see how she does this year, after taking off all of last year to nurse an injury. Frankly, I think she'll be crushed by Tuktamysheva and Radionova, but that's just one skater's opinion. 

Kristi Yamaguchi Launches Athletic Clothing Brand

Wikimedia Commons

She's a champion. She's trendy. And she's a mom. That's a great recipe for a cool fashion line, if you ask me. The 1992 Olympic champ has come out with a line of comfy-looking activewear called Tsu.ya.

It is being sold in select stores around the country and part of the proceeds of the line will go to Kristi's reading charity, the Always Dream Foundation.

I love the Keyhole Tee. It's not practical for skating, but it looks cool. The Skylar Sports Tee though is definitely something I would wear on the ice, or to yoga class.

Rebel on Ice

David W. Carmichael / Wikimedia

Last week ESPN aired a short documentary on three-time World Silver Medalist and five-time European Champion Surya Bonaly. 'Rebel on Ice' was terrific for a number of reasons, but I'm most interested in the fact that a piece of mainstream media finally acknowledged the extreme lack of diversity in figure skating. It's directed by Retta of 'Parks and Recreation' fame, and produced by Eva Longoria as part of a series on ESPN. You can watch it here.

Surya Bonaly is one of the most talented athletes the sport has ever seen. Watching her back in the 90s was spellbinding. She had flawless ebony skin, and a chiseled, muscular body that lightly bounced and flew across the ice like she was skating on the moon. And she was tough as nails out there on the ice, turning in powerful, jump-filled performances.

But she got shafted by the judges on the world stage time after time, who derisively called her a "gymnast on ice." She never got that coveted World Championship, and had to play second fiddle three times. She probably would have won at least one of them if they were using IJS when she competed. She definitely should have won Worlds in 1994. No offense to Japan's Yuka Sato, but Bonaly definitely out-skated her. And I don't begrudge Bonaly one bit for taking off that medal during the ceremony. I wouldn't have had the stones to do that if I'd been in her position, but I absolutely understand why she did it. And I also understand why she said f--- it at the end of her career and did the illegal backflip in her long program at the 1998 Nagano games. After putting in so much hard work to be held back by bias so wildly out of your control...well she's a goddamned winner and hero in my book for doing what she did. It should be noted of course that despite the barriers, she managed to eek out a very impressive resume (FIVE European Championships, people!).

Bonaly makes a great point in 'Rebel on Ice.' "I don't know if race made it more difficult," she said of her skating. "But it definitely made me stronger." In other words, she knew she had to work harder to prove she deserved success more than her competitors.

Which brings me back to the original point of this post. There is a gaping diversity gap in skating. A lot of that has to directly to do with income inequality I'm sure--little white girls more often have rich parents who can afford the cost of training at a high level, at least in America. (Little white boys too, but rampant homophobia is largely to blame for the lower numbers of male skaters.) But besides that, we can't deny this history of the way black female skaters are judged, which is discouraging at best.

Mae Berenice Meite of France is a modern example. She is a skater very much like Surya Bonaly--powerfully built and she's got a skating style that is wholly different from the little Russian twigs and the American ice princesses. The judges and commentators constantly criticize an apparent "lack" of artistry (as they did with Bonaly), and in my opinion, use it as an excuse to score her lower than she deserves throughout the competitive season. I don't think Meite is as good as Bonaly was, but she hasn't really gotten the chance to show that she could be now, has she?

If there wasn't a lack of diversity and some degree of racism, how can we explain the fact that I can count on one hand the number of black skaters who have achieved some measure of success on the World stage: Tai Babilonia, Debi Thomas, Surya Bonaly, Mae Berenice Meite and Robin Zsolkowy? And the first black skater ever to be nominated to the Hall of Fame, Mabel Fairbanks, wasn't even allowed to compete because of her color. What does that say about the sport? There's a great piece on New Republic that goes into more historical detail.

How do we fill the gap? With more programs like Figure Skating in Harlem and with more scrutiny of IJS judging for starters. And more little girls seeing bigger girls like them achieving success in the skating world. We all have our own responsibility as well within the skating community to foster an open-minded and welcoming atmosphere.

Ice Bullies

I've posted about ice etiquette before, but it's something skaters deal with continually, and I've been meaning to talk about it again. It's a hard subject to stay positive about, is often controversial and sometimes you just need to rant.

Lately, there has been a lot of talk in the adult skating community about mistreatment on skating sessions. While adult skating has blossomed in recent years, adults seeking to skate still face discrimination at local rinks. The reality is that adults are more often than not on the lower end of the skill spectrum, and many are just beginners. Often as a result, the younger, higher level skaters populating the sessions have lowered patience for adults on the ice--and by extension, so do their coaches, parents and club/rink managers. There are simply not enough adult skaters in any given community to support an all-adult session (some are lucky in this, I am not), and the younger skaters are the moneymakers, so adults get no priority. Some folks in the adult community have complained of being unfairly barred from sessions, some have complained of abuse by young skaters and their parents, and some have actually been injured on sessions by aggressive skaters.

The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth, for two reasons. The first is that I was once one of those haughty little girls who had little patience or respect for the adult skaters with whom I shared the ice. It seemed like they were always. in. my. way. But I certainly never victimized anyone. I did huff and puff and silently curse during moments of frustration, but I think I knew better than to take it further than that. I think under the momentary frustration I must have realized that just because you can do double axels and triples doesn't mean you have any greater right on the ice than someone who is trying to master a waltz jump or a scratch spin. We all pay the same fee to get on the ice. I certainly fully understand that now and regret I even had private thoughts disparaging other skaters, adult or otherwise.

The second reason is that it brings the skating experience to a negative place. Skating is not fun when you're already unsure of your footing as a beginner, and also constantly in fear of getting run over by a little ice queen. And there is no help for it. You can't yell at a young kid for being a bitch on the ice without inciting the wrath of a parent or coach. You end up being the bad guy for standing up for yourself. Some adult skaters have admitted that they were threatened by crazy parents for daring to tell their kid to take it easy on the ice before she hurt another skater. If my kid ever acted like some of the jerks at the rink I skate at, I would pull her off the ice immediately and apologize to the person she offended.

Which leads me to the infuriating experience I endured at a practice session this week. I am not a typical adult skater. I am high level, and I am aggressive on the ice--not bitchy aggressive, but I will look you in the eye and be vocal if necessary to avoid incident when I have the right of way, and I am not afraid of self-righteous little girls (hello, I have a two-year-old). I also have never felt mistreated by a rink or club. Nonetheless, I find myself constantly frustrated by the vibe at one of my home rinks. I share the ice with a few highly aggressive girls with terrible attitudes that pretty much terrorize other skaters (they've been complained about by some, to no avail). I had interactions yesterday with two of them, one of whom dangerously cut me off (could have gotten a blade to the face if I hadn't relented), and the other of whom scoffed at me when I accidentally got in her way. Both of these incidents occurred while I was in a lesson and they were not. In the heat of the moment, all I could do to assert my right was to look them both straight in the eye with a very mom-like "seriously, did you just act like that?" Both stayed the heck away from me afterward, so I think it had some effect.

Like many things in life, it all seemed very animalistic. Like one ape or wolf asserting its dominance over another, beating its chest and growling. I'm sorry it has to be that way. I'd like to coexist peacefully, but constantly find myself needing to take a stand to defend my right to be on the ice that I paid for. And then sometimes you have to remember that they're children with a lot to learn who probably have emotionally abusive parents, and you just have to let it go.

So the question becomes for other adult skaters, how do you defend your right to be on the ice? Well, I'm still trying to figure that one out...In the meantime, I wish all my fellow adult skaters the best in dealing with these egregious breaches of ice etiquette.