Masters ladies was a very odd event. I'm not going to go into too many details because I was preparing my dance partner for Champ Gold Men at the same time....

First was Karen HutterBranson, who had a horrid groin injury days before the event. Her program was fun and cute (she did the Austin Powers number last year), but she just grimaced through her program. Every time she skated close to the audience, we just cheered and cheered and cheered.

Next was Jill Rumstick. Jill did a nice program, with float over the ice, pointed toes, and three different doubles (sal, toe, loop). She also did 2sal-2toe. She just stepped out slightly on the 2flip. It was a solid program, but with the heavyweights to come, Jill didn't think she had qualified--she was hoping top 5. Though my dance partner looked at me as soon as she was done and said, "She qualified." Hmmm. I think I'm going to ask him for lottery numbers....

Then the strangest thing happened. It became a splatfest. Skaters would start their programs, looking very nice and strong, and splat! Axels, fall. 2 toe, fall. I don't know what was in the air. It was really a shame, because I had seen many of these ladies practice and was looking forward to a very competitive event.

Diedre Reeves had driven to Colorado from the Milwaukee area, so she was zonked and missed an easy 2flip. No double-double, but she was the only 2 lutz that I noticed. Plus, she looked very winded at the end of the program--she didn't even try the 3toe.

Yvonne Dowlen was the highlight of the event. She's got to be nearly 80 at this point. She was the only one who skated clean, but she didn't have the technical skills, nor the speed of the rest of the skaters.

I'm sorry that I missed Sherry Dowlen's program, but she skated last and like I said, I was busy with my Champ Gold man dance partner....I didn't see anything major, so I have no idea why she got 5th.

I will say, though, if any Masters ladies from Easterns or Pac Coasts are reading this, I really think that both Karen and Diedre didn't skate up to their obvious potential and will probably show up as different skaters to Kansas City.

As for the Burt thing, I will say that it is hard to go from nothing to Intermediate moves. A moves test is very different than a freestyle or figure test.....and I'm finding it humorous that nobody has said on these boards that Chris Williams should have moved up after winning gold last year. Then again, Chris doesn't have his own website, nor does he go around saying he's a National Champion.

ITA!!! However, also keep in mind that he is a skating coach and he has to keep a good reputation of being a successful skater to keep his skating coach business going. Promotion comes with the territory...

With that in mind, I sincerely hope that Burton is not writing this stuff himself. I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps if he lists his source for each of the articles (author and the media company... or even better a link to the website that has his article???) that might help his rep a bit.

Just my thoughts...

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

OK, I wasn't going to say anything, but... (BTW, SkateGuard, thank you SO much for your support at Mids. It meant a lot to me! This response isn't in contradiction to yours, only building off of it.)

First, if you have strong basic skating skills (ie did mid-level figures or were at a high level [6 or above] in ISI as a kid), IMO the Intermediate MIF test is not that hard to prepare for. I did it over a summer. I think our mutual friend, the 2nd place finisher in the ladies event, could do it without breaking a sweat. It's not an easy test, by no means, but it is definitely do-able for folks that skated competitively (ice or roller) as a kid. (The Novice moves, on the other hand, look totally evil - not looking forward to those.)

Second, Chris is a totally wonderful skater. I love him and his skating. However, you need double-double combinations, and doubles higher than a loop to be competitive at masters, especially the men.

Third, I met Burton, and liked him. He is a terrific skater and a very nice person. He has that, I don't know, that feel to his skating that screams masters. He has the show presentation, and he has many of the jumps, combos, and spins that masters have. I can fully understand that he has had to face challenges that have kept him at the Gold level instead of moving up. I would hope that he would make a serious attempt of moving up after this year. In any event, I feel rather bad for his fellow competitors, who are more typical (as far as I have seen) of an adult gold male. I also feel bad for the man who would have (should have?) qualified if Burton hadn't been skating at a level that was clearly below his capabilities. It is truly a race for second place in Championship Gold this year at AN.

This is JMHO. If I offend, I am sorry. I don't know what I would have done in his situation -- probably competed at the level I was qualified for too and damn the public opinion. It's easy to judge and hard to put yourself in the other person's skates. It's just a hard situation.....

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Also remember that people were saying Burton should move up to Masters because they thought he was doing a triple toe. That's how this all started. Then it came to light that the article in which it said he did a triple toe had been doctored, and since then the talk about him as been about his website and self-promotion, not his skating.

I guess this is what will be the talk at Kansas....

By the way who in this board will be going?

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Tim David's Website

Not like this it doesn't. Misrepresenting yourself / your accomplishments can get you in serious trouble with your club or the PSA if anyone notices or cares to look into it. I've never come across a coach who does press releases, except for their students. It isn't necessary--everyone at your rink/club knows what you've done (the club would probably note a big competition win in their newsletter or website, to spread the word amongst the skating community), & you list it on your resume or bio if your club has a coaches page on their site. You put your test ranking and/or PSA ratings on your business card maybe.

Also, re. the press releases/ "articles"--very possible he's putting them together himself--he is a graphic designer, after all. They may never have been published anywhere but his own website.

The other thing about the moves tests--I was going to chime in & say that for anyone with really solid basics & the years of skating that he has, the tests don't get remotely challenging until you hit Intermediate--maybe even novice, for someone with as much skating mileage as he has.

Proof: I started on moves 11 months ago, having finished my adult silver dances. I never took a lesson on them until about a week before any given test, and then really just to be sure I was doing the patterns/entrances/exits right. AND, I didn't practice them much--used them for a warmup, running through each element once, then got on with my dance practicing. I passed each test first time out, higher scores than needed. I'm just about ready to test my intermediate, which has been the first one that I really had to practice & that had any elements I wasn't comfortable with right off the bat. I don't mean this to sound arrogant--I just started on low level tests as a higher level skater to begin with, and they weren't hard because I had good basics.

A skater like Burt would be *far* beyond my skating skills, & I can guarantee you would have no trouble shooting through the tests necessary to move up to Masters.

I'll be there in open Gold II thanks to my lovely performance at mids, and in masters interp.

I'm looking forward to meeting you!

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

No offense taken. You built on it perfectly. I didn't get a chance to see Burt skate, 'cause I was a bit busy "coaching" my dance partner, who competed against him twice. (And did it at altitude while starting a cold! I spent all day Sunday feeding him Vitamin C!)

I've been teasing Chris for a while about "sandbagging." All of you who were there probably know why. Plus, Chris isn't about the medals...he just likes to skate. The total antithesis of this website. I'd be afraid if Chris got a website.....he'd be bragging about his injuries and falls!

Our dear friend would probably pass the Intermediate moves on the first try because she went from pre-bronze moves to Gold free in 16 months or something--all done at a club that is notorious about failing moves tests if they're not perfect. She's taken all the moves tests, and her Intermediate moves are looking pretty good.....we'll see.

Finally, I was so glad to see you having fun on Sat. night. You are a good, caring person, and really deserved to enjoy your vacation!

Likewise, what's your name by the way?

__________________
Tim David's Website

I want to know why everyone thinks this is Burt's personal website? It appears to be part of something else like a club wesite, so it's possible that he doesn't even know it's there or if he's aware of it that there are inaccuracies. I know if I were in those shoes (which I am not) I would want people to cut me some slack.

Next, Burt DOES have a Masters level quality to his skating but there have been things that have kept him from testing up. One of those things has been the strange USFS rules about rink owners actually participating in judged events.

If everyone is so concerned about Burt, talk to him at AN's. He's a fabulous guy, loads of fun, and really quite interesting and is willing to listen to your opinion on his skating.

Finally, our coach and a couple judges "gently suggested" to Burt that he take his double sal, toe, loop, and flip and everything else and move up. I suspect he is highly considering it and had NO idea he would still be able to compete so well after a four year hiatus.

I went to whois.net and register.com, where the ownership of websites are easily researched, and Burton Powley is clearly listed as the Administrative Contact for icepav.com. In other words, he is likely the sole person to post and update on the web site in question. As such, his behavior is highly questionable.

Also, if my memory serves me, rink owners are ineligible for USFSA (US Figure Skating) competitions; even former rink owners are ineligible UNLESS they are reinstated. Has Mr. Powley been reinstated? If not, someone should tell the fifth-place guy to keep practicing.

Well, it's obviously the website for the Capitol Ice Academy, which he used to(?) own/run and currently serves as its "advisor." And the website is clearly all about him. On the main menu at the top of every page is a link that says "About Burton." And there's another big ol' link for his "Design Services." And the webmaster managed to get up an article with quotes from him right away, in response to the criticisms here. So ... 2 + 2 = ??

According to the "About Burton" stuff on the website, the arena he owned closed in May 2002.

Most of us here didn't go looking for dirt on Burt. But at the least, he's got to know that that website exists. And he's got to know that it's full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations. (Since when did Mtn. Cup become a "Worlds"??) If I found out that any of my coaches allowed such a thing, I'd have a real hard time respecting them as a professionals. Yes, there appears to be one or two individuals who want to crucify him, but most of us aren't that rabid. But we have every right to comment on misleading, unprofessonal junk on a website that was clearly designed for public consumption.

Considering on the home page of the Ice Pavilion/Capitol Ice Academy of Iowa (the main site) it has the following:

1) a large link to Burton's web and design services. Which has nothing to do with a skating club, so why this is there is odd to begin with unless this is a personal page.

2) a link to Burton's email at the bottom to send mail to him for questions or comments about the site, which strongly suggests he is web master of this site. Which means he would have control about what goes on it.

3) a link both at top and bottom called "About Burton," though no other coach gets their own special page.

I have a very hard time beleiving that Burton isn't aware that all this stuff about him is up there, whether it's his personal home page of the skating club's page.

The concerns about him on this thread have been two fold:
A) was that he was possibly sandbagging.
B) that he purposefully misrepresented in a LARGE way his skills and abilities, to the point of altering a journalist's words. (Which could potentially cause future issues if a parent of one of his students thought he basically lied about his skill set)

I'm sure he's a nice guy. I'm sure he didn't mean to intentionally sandbag. Sandbagging happens accidentally all the time due to life, injuries, lack of time, not understanding your level requirements, etc. I can beleive those two whole-heartedly.

But you'll have a hard time convincing me that he didn't know about the articles and the gross misinformation in them.

And I think skaternum is completely correct that it's lame that he's addressing his so-called naysayers who are rightly or wrongly accusing him of sandbagging in his latest "press release" rather than fess up to the falsehoods he displayed for all the world to see.

Edited to add: seems everyone before saaid basically the same!

I'm thinking that the Burton stuff needs to go to another thread or something. I check in here every day, looking for a discussion of how people skated, the fun we had, etc. Instead, this whole website thing blossomed.

It's unfortunate that all of this happened. I will say that he is legitimate...the USFS would not have allowed him to skate Champ Gold against the rules. And yes, they do check these things out at this level.

But can we please have another thread for the good stuff? I did a very long post summarizing Champ Masters ladies, and it was just swallowed by this controversy.

Where is the press release in which he addresses his naysayers? I couldn't find it, but admittedly I didn't look very hard.

On that note...

Congrats to you Championship Adults Gold Ladies who qualified for Nationals. As for sk8er1964... go kick some ICE BUTTS at Nationals in the Gold II event and show 'em what stuff you got!!!

Nice to see that Chris Williams is skating to his old form and qualifies for Nationals as well too!!! Anyone got that video of him doing the one foot program like two weeks before Sectionals??? (I still think he was NUTS!!!)

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Thanks, Jazzpants. I might just try to do that!


Chris is simply awesome - both as a skater and as a person! We tried to take his skates away from him when he was one footed, but he just kept plowing through to the mens locker room where we couldn't follow (For those of you who don't know, Chris sustained a deep skate blade slash to his lower calf about 4 weeks or so ago.)


I'll pm you. Although many of you here know who I am, I'd rather not publish it here!

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

As a former competitive roller skater myself, I was somewhat curious about Burton's claim of numerous regional and national titles in artistic roller skating. After pouring through my own files, which date back to 1976, I was unable to find one event that Burton won at the national level. Indeed, I couldn't even find national event where he even won a medal--at least not in the nationals sponsored by the RSA (formerly RSROA), the governing body of the sport. Admittedly, my records are not completely extensive, but I am somewhat satisfied that I did a thorough search.

Regarding his claim of being "World Cup Artistic Roller Skating Champion in 1983, in Auckland, NZ," I am equally lost. Auckland hosted the World Artistic Roller Skating Championships twice--but in 1981 and 1987. The 1983 World Championships were in Fort Worth, TX, and Burton was not on the World Team.

It is unfortunate that the topic of Burton's alleged fictionalizations have dominated the discussion thread, but it is worthy discussion on three points:

1) These apparent grandiose exaggerations, particularly from a "National Champion," are embarrassing for both Adult Figure Skating and the sport in general and should be addressed.

2) If these alleged falsifications were published with the desire of augmenting business, whether it be coaching or product endorsements of any kind, then it could be interpreted as an illegal act, punishable under Federal law because it occurred over an interstate medium (the Internet).

3) And if Burton indeed used "prizewinnings" to purchase an ice rink, then he obviously participated in a non-sanctioned competition, since USFSA competitions do not offer prizes for Adult events. As such, he was ineligible to compete at the 2005 Adult Midwestern Championships, unless of course he had been reinstated. Has he been reinstated? But even so, it is obvious from the information on icepav.com that Burton may still be involved in the daily decision-making of his home ice rink, meaning that he probably is a rink manager by the definition in the current U.S. Figure Skating Rulebook and thereby restricted from competing.

Not to mention he may have violated copyright infringement by altering a published news article, but that would be something that the original author would have to pursue.

I'm sorry I missed it before.....

Considering how happy that 5th place man is right now, I wouldn't feel bad. He was just thrilled to skate well after coming back from two serious injuries sustained back-to-back. IMO, he should have qualified anyway. But four judges disagreed with me....if the panel had been different, the results would have been different.

Is it possible that he won national / world titles at a lower level than seniors (assuming that there is a comparable level structure to ice skating)? So could he have been something like the Novice national champion?

This has made me very curious! How/why would someone make claims that can be so easily verified? I did a quick search on Google & there was a notice about a loan from the city while building the rink, which also referred to him as a national champion & international competitor....... while technically true, I think this is very misleading, and frankly, it seems intentionally misleading. I don't know if there are any written policies within the PSA, but it's certainly a well-known unwritten rule that as a coach you list your test or competition results as "adult" if that's what they are.

Think about it: a coach with their adult gold moves, for example, could simply list "gold moves" on their bio, which is implying that they're qualified to coach through senior moves--hardly true!!

ETA: it seems to me he would be better served putting his energy into testing as high as he can through the standard track, rather than winning adult titles to publicize himself--he'd be far more qualified to coach, which is what he seems to be aiming at anyway. He'd surely be able to do all the moves tests, & should get most if not all of the freestyle too. The most you need for senior is a double lutz, which I'm sure he could do. (I'm making the assumption he's only tested adult). At least in my area, a gold medal from testing standard brings far more credibility to a coach than a gold medal from an adult competition.

Dunno... my coach is doing okay coaching (albeit mostly adult students) and to my knowledge has done mainly adult competitions *shrug* He's gotten quite a few students competing at the Adult Nationals level (Bronze or above) either at local competitions or even at Adults Sectionals/Nationals and a few more who CAN compete at that level but chooses not to compete.

The other thing to note: just because one can compete at that level does not make that person a better coach. If I went based on that record, I would have take lessons from at least one of several of our US Nationals Senior competitors. I'd rather seen in my case a steady list of students that have made it thru because of that coach. I saw results in at least a couple of my coach's students and that spoke louder than any of his own skating trophies about his coaching... (though I am proud to have one of his trophies from a local competition stashed on my bookcase next to a couple of my own medals at Skate SF. AWWWWW!!!)

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Yes, if he just wants to coach adults, it is much less important. Also true that the student can certainly outshine the coach if they're a good coach (I'm kind of hoping for that with my own students!! lol). I've hardly ever competed, but I'm testing standard for the sole purpose that I want to be able to coach anyone who wants to work with me. My lack of experience in competing may well be a hindrance, but not much I can do about that (though coach & I have tossed around the idea of doing Lake Placid this year.......yikes!!!! )

Yeah, I heard that, as well as other competitors' comments that Burton's simply giving them more to shoot for. The Mids Gold men are a class act.

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Nah! He coaches kids too! It's just that with the way his schedule works out, the majority of his students are adults. (He does a second job besides coaching.)

Having the competition experience, I think, would be a good thing for you if you haven't done any competitions before. It better helps you to prepare your students for their own competition AND you would be a better support system for them. And I hear Lake Placid is a WONDERFUL place to skate!!!

Edited to add:
And with that, I will add the sentiments of one of his Adult Gold Men competitors on another board... LEAVE BURT ALONE!!! Geez, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting sick of reading about him!!! And as that Adult Gold Men said, you got better things to do than to do research on Burt... namely skate!!!

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!