Boot and Blade

What a great time to be an adult figure skater! When time allows, I head down to my local figure skating club on Saturday mornings and try my hand at some basic jumps, spins and spirals. Sounds pretty straightforward, but it’s actually quite extraordinary. When I was skating competitively in the 80’s, the thought that a skating club would dedicate a session to adult figure skaters would have seemed kind of weird. The best an adult with an itch to try some loop jumps could do was brave a public skating session. How times have changed!

Adult figure skating hasn’t just become popular as a fitness activity. Since the mid-90’s it’s been a passion for thousands of adults who participate each year in competitive events. Here’s a little trivia and history:

Today, a whole competitive stream exist for figure skaters over 21. Adult programs began in the mid-90’s when organizations, like US Figure Skating, introduced tests and competition standards for adults. The first US Adult Figure Skating Championships took place in 1995 while Canada’s first adult national championship were held in 2004. The adult figure skating phenomenon is growing around the world. The International Skating Union held its first ISU International Adult Figure Skating Competition in 2005 in Germany. I’m delighted to share the ice on Saturday mornings with an adult dance pair who are off to the ISU Adult Figure Skating Competition in Oberstdorf Germany again this year.

As an adult figure skater, I’m so pleased that this growing trend means I can still enjoy and participate in the sport I dedicated my childhood to. I’m also inspired to see a love of figure skating evolve in those who did not have the opportunity to give it a try as children.

December 11th, 2011 | Tags: adult figure skating, Adult Figure Skating Competition, Oberstdorf | Category: Skating Thoughts | Leave a comment

Last month, a product designer from Ontario contacted me to see if I’d like to review a new kind of skate guard called kootsu(R), developed specifically for figure skates. It’s not often that I get a chance to test drive a new product so I accepted.

Before I get into my review, here’s some back story from the designer and skating parent, Aki Hirano, about how kootsu skate guards came to be:

When my daughter’s lesson was over, I greeted her at the side of the rink and proceeded to install the 1-piece skateguard on her skates since she could not install it herself. We walked to the benches where we gathered her gear, and removed her skates and exchanged them for her shoes. As we were walking to the exit of the building on the smooth polished floor, I saw another child running towards us with her 1-piece skateguards installed on her skates. I remember thinking at the time “I hope she doesn’t slip”, and at the same time her mother yelled “Don’t run - walk or you will slip!” The little girl did in fact slip, but was quickly caught by her mother before any injuries occurred. As we exited the building, I then noticed that some of the skaters wore their skateguards home, walking in them like they were shoes. It was at that moment it came to me. Why can’t a skateguard be more like a shoe?

And they really are like shoes. The wide, treaded sole is much sturdier than a typical guard, as demonstrated by my skates standing up on their own in the photo below. The grip is stable and it feels more like you’re wearing running shoes than guards. I can see the guard coming in especially handy while doing off-ice program walk-throughs moments before stepping on the ice at competition.

My skates in kootsu guards.

When I pulled the guards out at skating practice this morning, they were the talk of the dressing room. They’re distinctive–not attractive but strangely compelling, like a Slanket, or those running shoes with little pockets for each toe. Even before I tried them out, my skating buddies were asking where they could get a pair, which is here by the way.

My one grumble was the assembly process. The instructions weren’t clear and required a hacksaw, which this apartment dweller didn’t have. Once you’re past the installation though, there’s lots to like about kootsu.

I have a pair of kootsu skate guards to give away to a Boot and Blade reader. Send me your favourite story about a skate guard incident (I know we all have one), either as a comment or by emailing me here, and I’ll send the writer of the most entertaining story a pair of kootsu guards.

November 12th, 2011 | Tags: innovation, kootsu, questa, skate guards | Category: Skating News | Comments (1)

Having secured my tickets for Worlds in Nice, France this year I’ve been watching the start of the Grand Prix with extra enthusiasm. It’ a treat to see what’s in store for the year to come. I enjoyed the return to classical music and quintessential, beautiful lines at Skate America and Skate Canada. But, as my husband watched with me he raised a valid question: why don’t skaters choose “cooler” programs?

What does he mean by cool? “Something a non skating fan would see and say, ‘wow, that’s really compelling and fun to watch,’” he said. As I listened to Spartacus, Theme on Paganini and various flamenco pieces over and over at Skate Canada I realized he is right. What about something modern, risky and truly unique? I asked my husband if he could think of a cool program that stands out in his mind. This was his pick. A Kurt Browning show program choreographed to Antares, an original piece of music written for Kurt by The Tragically Hip:

While I believe Lori Nichol and David Wilson (some of this season’s most prolific choreographers) are geniuses, I’d encourage them to look to what’s happened in modern dance over the last few decades for some inspiration. How can skating be beautiful, technically extreme but still relevant? It’s a big question worth asking.

My own thoughts on cool programs? Ashley Wagner’s portrayal Black Swan at Skate Canada showed some relevance while still scoring big on beauty and charm. For me, this 1994 performance by Kurt Browning is synonymous with cool:

Update: How could I have forgotten Virtue and Moir’s Pink Floyd program while writing this post!

What about you? What programs do you think bring the cool?

October 30th, 2011 | Tags: Ashley Wagner, david wilson, Kurt Browning, Lori Nichol, The Tragically Hip | Category: Skating History, Uncategorized | Comments (4)

If you’ve read this blog before you know I’m a fan of CBC’s “Battle of the Blades“. I like it in part because it heralds the start of a new skating season after a long summer break. I like it because tough hockey players say over and over again how hard figure skating is. And I like it because it’s a bit ludicrous, in a fun and playful way.

That said, I can understand why you might hate the show. Take Harrison Mooney, an author of Puck Daddy, Yahoo’s hockey blog. He’s committed to watching and reviewing every episode. Here’s last week’s review. Clearly, he’d rather be smell-testing used hockey gear.

I’ve been reading his reviews each week and can sympathize with his frustration. The judges fall all over themselves complimenting the skater when they’re actually pretty terrible. The programs are seriously cheesed up. Plus, the hockey players end up looking silly, which must be irritating for a hardcore hockey fan.

I have issues with the show too. When the judges tell the hockey players that they look like figure skaters that’s an insult to real male pairs skaters who are a lot more than jungle gyms for their female counterparts. The addition of social media Maura this season is also hard to take.

But, I’m still a fan. It’s nice to see professional figure skaters (who haven’t been paid big salaries throughout their careers) get some time in the public eye. It must bolster their show skating careers and bring in bigger audiences. Plus, if you don’t take it too seriously, it’s a good bit of fun.

October 13th, 2011 | Tags: battle of the blades, Harrison Mooney, puck daddy | Category: Pairs | Leave a comment

I’m eating my words from earlier in the season when a rough start at Skate Canada seemed to herald a lackluster 2010-2011 skating year. The standard of performance at last week’s World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow was elite. The number of clean programs and strong technical achievements made it a week to remember. Here were some of my favourite moments:

Patrick’s Perfect Performance
Watching Patrick Chan put two (almost) perfect programs back-to-back, blowing the rest of the field away with picture-perfect quads was a thrill. While some of his go-for-broke energy was replaced with measured concentration, this truly was Patrick at his best.

Mao’s Risky Triple Axel
With deductions for a two-footed landing and poor grade of execution, Mao Asada would have earned more points for attempting and landing a double axel in her short program than the dodgy-looking triple she squeaked out. But I’m so glad she did the triple. It’s precisely that kind of technical risk that propels the sport forward. Taking technical and physical chances is what makes figure skating a sport, not just an art.

The Broken Nose
Eric Radford didn’t even flinch when partner Meagan Duhamel clocked him in the face on the way down from a split triple twist in their short program. It wasn’t until blood began pooling at the base of his nostrils that I realized Meagan’s elbow had broken his nose. He went on to land a triple lutz and complete spins and lifts in a flawless and graceful short program. Incredibly, he even had the presence of mind not to wipe his bleeding nose, which, after transferring the blood onto Meagan and her costume, could have looked like a B horror-flick version of “The Cutting Edge”. Bravo Eric!

What were your favourite moments?

May 3rd, 2011 | Tags: Eric Radford, Mao Asada, Meagan Duhamel, Patrick Chan | Category: Events, Pairs | Leave a comment

With Worlds underway in Moscow this week I was especially captivated reading the chapter “The Art of Failure” in Malcom Gladwell’s latest book, What the Dog Saw. In this article, originally published in the New Yorker in 2000, Gladwell investigates the difference between choking and panicking.

According to Gladwell (and the scientists he interviews) panic occurs when someone stops thinking. This often happens to young skaters who, in the midst of their first few competitions, completely forget their program choreography. They panic, their brains freeze and they can’t remember the next steps. On the other hand, choking occurs when you think too much. If a skater under stress loses trust in the instinctual, mechanical timing that usually allows him to land a triple loop in his sleep and instead starts thinking through the process and slowing down the jump, he chokes.

If I’ve got this right, the two phenomena look something like this:

When Brian Joubert landed a perfect triple flip in his short program earlier this week but failed to add a much-needed triple toe to meet the short-program technical requirement, he was panicking. He couldn’t think on his feet quickly enough to shuffle elements around and pick up the precious points he desperately needed after a flub on his quad.

When Cynthia Phaneuf popped the triple lutz in her short program to a double, she choked. Instead of relying on years of training and muscle memory, she over-thinks a jump she’s landed a thousand times. Her busy brain gets in the way of the innate jump timing her body knows so well. Choking is a crisis of confidence.

I know the feeling of choking all too well. As a skater, turning doubles into singles in competition was my nemesis. I wonder, if I had understood the psychology of choking when I was a skater would it have made a difference to some of my own lackluster performances?

If this topic interests you, you can read Gladwell’s article here.

April 30th, 2011 | Tags: Brian Joubert, Cynthia Phaneuf, Malcolm Gladwell, World Figure Skating Championships 2011 | Category: Skating Thoughts | Leave a comment

This is a question that came in from a reader and one that I asked myself during the Canadian Figure Skating Championships earlier this year. What happened to Mira Leung?

Canadian figure skating fans will remember that Mira was touted as the country’s next big talent when she rose to fame after she began landing triples at age eight. The youngster won two three Canadian silver medals, made three trips to Worlds and was the youngest member of the 2006 Olympic team in Turin.

But then, she disappeared. Well, almost. She skated at the 2008 2009 Canadian Championships, but only managed a 6th placing. In the 2009-10 season she withdrew from nationals after a short program finish of 15th.

Leading up to the 2009-2010 Canadians Mira parted ways with coach Joanne McLeod which seemed to be the inciting incident. I was never a big fan of Mira’s technical or artistic skating, but I was unimpressed with the way this Globe and Mail article articulates just how toxic the figure skating political landscape can be. Whatever the central reason for the coaching split shame on both Joanne McLeod and Ted Barton for airing their dirty laundry to a national newspaper. It would seem that BC Section giving up on Mira was the end for her.

There’s speculation online that Mira has retired from skating, though I couldn’t find any official announcements to confirm that. In fact, Mira has done a remarkable job of staying under the radar on and off the web. The only reference I could find about her since withdrawing from Canadians was that she participated in “The Heart’s Truth Red Dress” fashion show as a supporter of The Heart and Stroke Foundation. There are some photos of her here, and here looking sophisticated and grown up. Perhaps she’s just moved on.

April 17th, 2011 | Tags: Joanne McLeod, Mira Leung, ted barton | Category: Skaters, Uncategorized | Comments (2)

A reader contacted me a couple of weeks ago wanting to learn more about compulsory figures. He’d heard about them before, but wasn’t sure why they were never mentioned on television broadcasts. Compulsory figures were once the heart of figure skating–hence figure skating–but they’re no longer part of the sport.

It’s difficult to explain exactly why they were eliminated. Was it because compulsory figures weren’t TV friendly? Did skaters need more time to practice the big jumps? Whatever the reason, in 1990 it was decided that compulsory figures were no longer relevant.

I recently came across this wonderful short documentary produced by NBC some years ago. It provides some insight into why compulsory figures were dropped and makes a decent argument for the sport’s evolution. There’s also some interesting discussion in the comment section of this YouTube page.

Despite compulsory figures being long gone, I can’t bare to get rid of my scribe (a large compass used to draw perfect circles on the ice for practice). I know I’ll never skate figures again, but the antique remains in my storage unit as a reminder of days gone by.

February 14th, 2011 | Tags: compulsory figures, figure skating history, janet lynn | Category: Nostalgia, Skating History | Comments (2)

I spent three days at Save-On-Foods Centre in Victoria last week taking in the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. It was a well organized and thoroughly enjoyable event. With one exception. The title sponsor, BMO Financial Group, was given too much freedom to brand the event as its own. As a marketer and conference organizer, I fully appreciate the need for sponsors. I also recognize the importance of offering value to sponsors. But, ultimately, the sponsor should be in service to the event, not the other way around.

So, where did BMO and Skate Canada go wrong?

1. Embarrassing Contests. I’ve participated in and run many promotional contests and have rarely seen one executed with such crass as the BMO credit card contest. To participate in the contest, the crowd was asked to stand-up and dance around waving their personal BMO credit cards in the air. The winner, chosen by World Champions Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, won a $250 credit on their BMO card. First, restricting a contest to BMO credit card holders is a bit gauche. Second, watching as people danced around waving credit cards was an absurd sight. In the time of foreclosures and credit defaults, the contest seemed especially awkward.
2. Auxilary Awards. The BMO Possibility Awards were given out by BMO to athletes based on various criteria, including personal best performance. The pomp and circumstance that went into introducing and handing out these awards seemed to outweigh the medal ceremony that followed. Incidentally, an award of $500 towards training seems quite stingy coming from a national bank. Especially given the cost of training at an elite level.
3. Too much profile. From stickers to thunder sticks to banners and contests, BMO was everywhere! BMO staff even took part in the medal ceremonies. I’m sure the skaters and audience would have rather seen ex-athletes (many of whom were in the building) present the medals and flowers.
4. Aggressive advertising. It was hard to get from the front door to your seat without being asked to sign up for a BMO credit card.

There are many ways to offer value and promotion to sponsors in more subtle, but effective ways. For instance the event is called BMO Canadian Championships — a title sponsorship seems reasonable to me. Another way would be for BMO to print event programs where they could advertise more subtlety. That would have been a nice event souvenir that I certainly would have appreciated.

Next year at the Canadian Championships, I hope BMO and Skate Canada will show more class by choosing less aggressive promotional tactics.

February 1st, 2011 | Tags: BMO, Canadian Figure Skating | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment