Hi All,
This morning I showed the article to a skating parent I know at the rink. I wanted a non-skater's opinion. She found it to be very insulting too. (I should mention she seems to support and admire adult skating.) She felt like many of us that he is just saying we should give up!

My coach emailed this dude too. I emailed Lexi Rohner (sp?) she writes the articles on adult skaters and works with the Adult Skating Ambassadors and she said she will look into it.

I Agree!!!

Done
Just go to the USFSA website:
http://www.usfigureskating.org/Magazine.asp?id=134

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Well the Adult Committee has perpetuated the conception to the general skating public that adult skaters who did not learn as children have no hope of ever doing anything great in the sport.

The committee is promoting the Adult recreational skaters. Go back and look at your Skating Magazine's Adult corners. Numerous spotlights given to Recreational skaters. I wrote a heated email to USFSA about this and they informed me this was all the Adult Committee's doing. I did see that FINALLY this month there were no recreational skaters in the spotlight.

I don't blame Mr. Edge for possibly coming across in a negative tone towards adult skaters. This is what he is being fed by our own committee.
So as long as the committee keeps promoting the"All-Inclusive" aspect of adult skating, those of us who are competetive and learned as adults better get used to being treated like we've been skating for 12 years and hope to someday pass the pre-bronze MITF test.

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

IMHO, I think you're off the mark in thinking that the Adult Skating committee had anything at all to do with Mr. Edge. If he's anything like the pro shop people I've met over the years, his opinions are his own. I'd expect him to tell you off for thinking he could be influenced. But, I don't know him personally, so I'm just stereotyping.

That inclusive attitude that you disdain has given the Adult Skating Committee leverage with the USFSA. They have little, if any, budget yet Adult Skating grows yearly. That inclusiveness is in line with the Standard Track approach of bringing in new low-level skaters through Basic Skills and badge programs. Frankly, I read the Adult corner in every issue and I didn't get the feeling that they're pushing any particular type of skating for adults. Let's look behind the scenes: the profiles are based on who the volunteer writers interact with at a particular time. Skating season would influence that, since fewer competitive skaters are available for interviews.

I skated as an adult in the 1980's. There were few opportunities for adults to compete fairly outside of ISI and little hope of ever seeing a change. Now, it's a brave, new world with lots of opportunity for all skaters. That MITF test may be all that skater aspires to, but his/her participation helps fund your skating as well.

From a business-growth perspective, you have to include everyone. That beginning adult skater is part of your base for the future. I've seen adults who were wobbly first-timers become incredibly strong competitors. Everyone progresses at their own rate.

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I figured most people will send detailed objections to the article so I wrote in the box for Questions for Mr. Edge -- "Could you be any more insulting and patronizing to adult skaters?"

J

Ouch. That's a little too close to describing me for comfort.

j

I added a poll, with the OP's permission, to this thread.
I totally faked the poll options, so if anyone has suggestions, let me know via PM.

Poll closes in 10 days, so vote early and often!
(Nah, you can only vote once, but you CAN select more than one option.)

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25 votes on 1,000+ views. Hmmm. Somebody didn't vote. LOL

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Ummm... the many views could be from previous reads of the thread BEFORE the poll took place. And of course, you have to take into considering stuff like "spiders" and such...

(C'mon ISk8NYC!!! You should know better than that!!! You're "in the biz"!!!)

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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!!!

I like it!!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Huh? I never get that impression from the Adult Committee. The USFSA and Skating Magazine seem to be paying more attention and giving at least as much respect to adult skaters (both competitive and recreational) as they do to those skaters Intermediate level and below.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Hey gang,

The first thing I do when I get Skating Mag is to find the adult page (yes, that is singular -- page, and that is IF we even get one, and yet every other division of skating seems to always be featured). I found the article appalling and extremely insulting and I am highly offended.

First of all, this is totally opposite of every message that USFS has been sending adults. They have added moves in the field and then spread the levels out all over the place from Pre-Prelim to Intermediate (originally as high as Novice) to tell us that they wanted better skating from us. Then they changed up the program requirements to see better competition programs from us. The suggestion in this article of us just accepting our tricks as good enough for an adult is insulting and contrary to what USFS is saying they want from us. No skater, child or adult, or any athelete for that matter will stop until they reach perfection. We may not do triples, but we can certainly learn to execute our singles and doubles with correct technique.

Secondly, the role of an athelete is to push their bodies. That is sport, and we realize that. It will come with cost. But it is the same for the kids. No one would ever tell the kids to go have a cup of coffee, that it's "good enough" and to just take a break. While we may never make the Olympic team, our goals of placing on the podium (or just getting through qualifiers) are just as important to us as the kids' goals are to them. And we will keep pushing our bodies and our skills to reach those goals. The adults that would read this Skating Magazine are serious and competitive and would never do some of the ridiculous things mentioned in this article, or accept the level of medocrity proposed in the article. We take this very seriously, as is evidenced by the vast amount of us here that skate almost every day, take lessons every week, and compete nationally around the country.

Considering what I thought was the positive direction USFS was moving with Skating Mag in their many recent features on adults, I am reallly surprised and disappointed that they would publish an article that most of us find insulting and paints adult skating in a negative light.

And by the way, I have always skated in Harlicks. And I never had a problem until the current pair that I own now. I was fitted in person by the owner, and yet they do not fit me properly and are causing me all kinds of foot problems. I even sent them back once, but they are still not right. I never had foot problems until this pair, and I have been skating for 13 years.

I am highly insulted by this article and will probably write a letter to the editor about it. If you all support me, say "Amen!" and I will send that letter. I have fought too long and hard at my own rink to change the perception of adult skating and have had great sucess. I am not willing to move backwards now!

If Music Skate Fan is so upset by the adult committee then get your club to nominate you to be on the committee. Do you talk to members of the committee? It's not like all the addresses of every single member of the committee aren't known. USFS -- programs -- adult -- bottom of the page is the list of skater's on the committee. I haven't seen the committee do anything but promote adult skating and attempt to do what's best for adult skaters.

Former members of the committee include skater's like Paula Smart and Rhea Schwartz who do little things like facilitate the adult ISU competition in Oberstdorf where adult skater's from around the world come to compete.

Exactly what is bad about spotlighting recreational skaters? They are skaters and everyone deserves a moment to shine, I've noticed a wide variety of skater's in the adult section of skating, also, look at icenetwork.com, they have up adult sectionals, that is a part of US figureskating and shows skaters who are at higher levels both skaters who began as children and those who began as an adult.

With regards to Mr. Edge I would imagine he speaks only for himself, if he is a member of the Harlick team I've never met him. But last time I checked we all were able to speak our own minds he apparently doesn't think that much of adult skater's but then again...ask me if I care what he thinks.


coskater

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Ice T - me too. I've been in Harlicks for years, then the lemon pair. grrrrr.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Hello everyone,

"Mr. Edge" has been my skate tech for about 8 years now. I'm 32 and am going to be competing in my first adult nationals this year. Knowing Mr. edge, I can assure you he meant no disrespect to adult skaters. He has many adult skaters as clients and treats them all with the utmost respect. We do have specific problems not necessarily associated with kid skaters.

I can tell you from personal experience he's a wonderful skate tech and helps a great number of people in IL, MI, and IN. He's a wonderful resource.

Looking forward to my first adult nationals...

competing in Silver Men II.

Silverbeetle

The "Read" count grew tremendously after the email link was added and poll were added.
Maybe you're right: spiders and lurker guests throwing off the counts.

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Of the three adults I talked to last night at my small mostly recreational club who had read the article, none were offended.

I did not respond to the poll because there was no option to describe my reaction: a lot of what was said reflects my personal view of my skating and that of the adults I skate with. But then we are older (50+) adults who learned late in life and are not in the sport for medals or glory or to kill ourselves "becoming the best we can be." And there are a lot of people like us out there, maybe not on this board (I find that the tone here is geared toward the more-competitive end of the curve.

And as a former member of the Adult Skating Committee, I can say that if the slant of that group has become more inclusive of recreational, non-competitive adult skaters, it is a relatively new development. Back in My Day, the emphasis was on raising the standards and making adult skating more like the kids'. I fought and argued that adults are NOT kids and that the recreational adult has a place in US Figure Skating for more than just a dues-payer. So it's nice for me to see more than just the competitive medal-winners in the Championship events at Nationals being spotlighted in Skating Magazine.

Personally, I think people are being way too quick to find offense in everything that doesn't exactly fit their personal situation.

Amen! Ice T! I agree 100% with everything you said.

Or whoever reads this thread multiple times as they watch how the thread progress... like me!!!

(This thread is progressing pretty interestingly... I have yet to hear from Mr. Edge (nor would I expect him to anyway since he's probably too busy doing up skates and his business. I know my former skate tech is usually too busy sometimes interacting with his customers to actually DO his job... so "his 4 hr business hours 5 days a week" (my old skate tech's shop hours) is really a 6 days a week, 12 hour a day job!!!

I don't wish to bash the guy. I have a feeling that his words were probably not intended to bash the adults (though it sure came out that way!) But for those who don't know this guy at all, it's hard to not take his comments with any other way other than to be disgusted by the comment. If he was able to set the record straight (perhaps on a future Mr. Edge article?), then at least we know where he's "coming from." It's only fair that he'd given the oppty. to respond to those of us on the boards and those reading the current Mr. Edge article.

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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!!!

I really think that Mr Edge should take a look at this guy:

Bit of a long video, but basically Lazy Town is a programme for kids that is aimed at getting kids fit again and eating healthy foods and Sportacus the hero is an international gymnast.

Anyway it all started when (this is in reality now) he was watching gymnastics aged 21 with his friend who bet him that no adult could become a champion. Well he became European champion after just 5 years training with no previous experience aged 26.

Here's what Wikipedia says about him:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magn%C3%BAs_Scheving

And here's a few of his moves........ he joins the kids in after a couple of mins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIbnt...elated&search=

Even though its not skating it goes to show that adults are capable of doing exactly what kids do if they put their mind to it....... Inspiration or what?!

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If you want the best seat in the house, you'll have to move the cat!

Bluemoon,
I like that the adult program is inclusive, as it was in it's early days. I just think that the article was a bit snarky and patronizing. I also like seeing the non championship adults who started as adults being featured in skating magazine. I'd just like to see all adult skaters, competitive or not, treated with respect and not like we're all just managing to stay upright.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

I've been trying to figure that out (no pun intended); I think the count only increments for a returning reader if the thread's been changed. That would help explain the huge jump in reader count after the email link post and poll were added. Hmmm.

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I don't doubt that Mr. Edge is a nice person in real life. But if he has offended as many people as he has, he needs to pay attention and rethink the way he writes, regardless of his intentions. People who read his column don't know him personally and don't know if he likes adult skaters or not, he is judged by what he writes and he has been found lacking. I surely hope that he doesn't take the tact that everyone who was offended was in the wrong and are too easily offended. No matter your intentions, anytime you offend a lot of people (you can't avoid offended some people no matter what you do) you need to accept that there is a problem in your delivery.

j

I can see Mr Edge was trying to be funny, but I can see why people have found it offensive as there is definitely a 'why do adult skaters bother' feel to the article. Okay, so we're not going to be landing triple axels, our bodies can't take the same pounding as kids' bodies (like we haven't worked that out for ourselves lol!) - but does that mean there are no skilled adult skaters out there?

I wonder if Mr Edge would tell an adult who goes running not to bother trying too hard because he/she won't ever run a marathon? Or that there is no point in refining his/her technique, or buying a decent pair of running shoes - because he/she is never going to compete in the Olympics?

S xxx

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"