I just got back in the country from vacation and looked at my SKATING Magazine. I was so disappointed again. Why? Because the essence of adult skating is rarely ever captured. This year it was the same people again from the adult championship levels from Adult Nationals – again and again every year! Last year I felt that SKATING made some progress. There was a section dedicated to different skaters that was wonderful. Well this year it was the same old junk. Only real coverage of the championship levels of most of the same people again.
When will they learn? What makes the $$ at AN is the lower levels, bronze, silver and gold ladies and men. There’s more to adult skating than just championship skaters. CHAMPIONSHIP SKATERS ARE JUST OLDER VERSIONS OF INTERMEDIATE, NOVICE, ETC. LEVEL SKATERS. Let’s cover some real adult skaters here.
There’s more to adult skating than double jump after double jump. There’s actually good looking bronze and silver skaters out there doing interesting elements. Most adults who read SKATING are lower level and aspire to become good skaters. It would be nice to know what other lower levels are doing among the ladies and the men!
What should we expect when we start competing at those levels? And you don’t have enough space, SKATING magazine? Then try mixing it up then year after year then. Or try to cover us in a couple of parts over a series.
First we have to deal with all of the over coverage of adults being viewed only as goofy interpretive skaters now we get to only see the “elite” of adult skating. What prebronze adult is going to look at that and think that they’re ever good enough to go to AN?

Well, I'm a Pre-Bronze skater who is hoping to qualify for AN next year, and I've been reading the coverage of AN in Skating mag for several years, and I've never really been discouraged by the coverage of the Champ winners. I've operated under the assumption that there is limited space, as well as limited time for one person (the Skating mag editor, can't remember her name) to interview people and write articles, so I've never felt offended by the coverage.

Your points are well-taken though, and I would also like to see more coverage of skaters at the lower levels. As several people have pointed out here recently, Skating mag has limited resources, and if we want to have more coverage of adult events, then we need to step up and provide the content.

The space issue is another consideration, but I suspect the USFSA would be happy to give more space if the articles and photos (probably a limited amount of inches) were supplied to them and were of publishable quality and didn't need 50 hours of editing. More pages means they can sell more advertising space. If it can't all go in one issue, then, as you suggested it can be spread out over several.

Didn't Skating mag cover the Hackensack camp last year?

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Well the two skaters on the cover are newcomers to adult nationals, so it wasn't the same people again. I would also hesitate calling coverage of the championship medalists, whether they've won once or ten times, "the same old junk". To win at that level is a grand accomplishment, and one that should inspire adults of all levels.

It seems that the standard pattern of covering events in Skating magazine is to cover the medalists in the senior or championship events. I suppose they could mention the winners of all test levels (as they did for their synchro coverage) but for AN there may not be enough space to cover all the age groups within each test level as well (since there is no championship round for bronze and silver). Maybe that's why the editors decided to limit the coverage to just the championship events.

And as Debbie alludes to, coverage of adult skating is in almost every issue of Skating nowadays, with a coverage of an adult camp or a feature on a certain adult skater or skaters. These articles usually focus on the non-championship folks, and the subjects are chosen not for their competitive results but for the "human interest" factor of their life story. E.g. there have been articles on adult skating couples who met on the ice, or skaters who recovered from serious illness.

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Whatever!

Also keep in mind, the "essence of adult skating" is probably defined differently for each adult skater. Some may think the essence is in the championship events. I know many others would argue it comes from the fun of the interpretive events (not me necessarily but I know those who do). I'm just sayin'.

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Whatever!

It used to be that they published the podium shots of all the medalists at the event at AN, but two years ago that was stopped due to lack of........ funding for Skating magazine. This was not only eliminated for the AN medalists, but for the standard track regionals and sectionals as well.
Bottom line is, Skating magazine needs better adult skating coverage and I don't mean about such and such a skater that overcame "obstacles" to achieve what they've won or accomplished. We all have obstacles of some sort.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

They don't write up competitors at the Intermediate level of Regionals either, do they?

I think the coverage should be on the highest level of Adult Skating, to give skaters something to strive for. The USFSA isn't going to see too much merit in covering Bronze because it's a relatively low level. They want to promote the growth and mastery demonstrated by some adults.

I don't have a problem with it at all. In fact, I enjoyed the article. I've love to be there one day. Doubt it, but it's something nice to think about.

Well the article I was thinking of when I commented on the human interest side of coverage dealt with skaters who recovered from breast cancer. Yes, we all have obstacles of our own to deal with, but I highly doubt that me overcoming my habit of staying up late to make it to the rink in the morning really ranks up there with someone overcoming breast cancer. However, if you feel that you or another skater has a personal story that is of interest to the readership, please, as Debbie says, "step up and provide the content."

But keep in mind, we can't all have our picture splashed on glossy pages of Skating magazine. Given the lack of space and funding for the magazine, the editors will very justifiably give priority to the skaters who grab the most attention, e.g. the championship skaters and the flamboyant interpretive skaters that have, as Jennifer28 pointed out, have received the coverage of adult skating over the years.

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Whatever!

WORD.

BTW I've never had any coverage of my skating either, other than the pictures they used to have on the results (b&w) pages but don't anymore. I think that is one thing that keeps me going... knowing that if I can just make it to the edge of that championship podium, I may get a write-up in the magazine.

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Whatever!

I just went and pulled out my copy before recycling, so I could review.

There is a significant section near the beginning that does mention the 88 different events and how silver and bronze skaters make up most of these skaters. Then, it talks about how most adult skaters took up skating later, sportmanship and friendship etc. And here's a quote:

"If you're not sure what adult skating is really all about, start with watching those levels. You'll certainly marvel at the skills of the championship competitors, but you'll really feel figure skating in your heart when you take the time to watch the courage of a newcome to the sport-whether they are 25 or 60."

So right there, the author of this article (Laura Fawcett p. 19) is going out of her way to mention silver and bronze level skaters and encourage those interested in skating as adults to start by watching those levels.

I'd love to make Championship Gold Ladies someday, probably the highest I can realistically aspire to. Now that I've seen the write-up, I know the effort is worth it?

Just a silly question... have you consider writing your own article about an adult skater that you feel is worth mentioning about and IS newsworthy? Maybe if you take the direct route of being a contributing editor to Skating Magazine, you might finally get the coverage of adult skaters that you want to see? Get pictures of the skater that you want to cover too, so Skating Magazine doesn't have to worry of photography and such.

Best part, you can put in contributing editor for Skating Magazine on your resume!

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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!!!

Well, I feel it was about par for the course in adult coverage. I am quite new to the whole thing so I dont have much to go on! I do feel the skating magazine is a little too "fluff" centered.

My only gripe is that I had heard from high ranking people that the write up this year was going to be BIG with the most pictures ever...etc. etc. showing winners from MANY events.. Was this the case? I am too new to say!

Of course this was also the month that the US postal service completely mangled my copy!

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

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

I think the adult coverage has been incredibly improved and addressed over the years, so I think Skating Mag is doing a great job. For goodness sake, ANs made the COVER!! Who'da thunk it?

Jennifer,

Thank you for throwing this thread. I totally agree with you. I was going to start this thread myself, but thought at this point that tomatoes would be thrown at my screen.

Podium shots of the Pairs competition from Dallas, TX, AN can be seen by going to:

www.adultpairskating.com

Click on "Adult Nationals" then click on "2006, Dallas, TX"

What a great idea! Someone here, please do it.

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On this point, I do agree. It would be nice if Skating magazine would cover more controversial aspects of the sport (at all levels, not just adult). Like have editorials or pro/con pieces e.g. on the new COP, Michelle Kwan in Torino, danger of risky elements in pairs skating, etc. Unfortunately, since the magazine is an extension of USFS, they are going to do what's in the best interest of promoting their top skaters or programs, and present a united front while doing so. Result: a magazine with a lot of fluff.

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Whatever!

I know that there is a adult skating e-magazine called "32 Degrees" and that there was a newsletter/magazine years ago that was put together by either someone on the Adult Skating Committee or with very close ties to the committee. Maybe this is a idea- to resurrect that publication.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Well, my reaction to reading that was, that's all? After saying that, they couldn't even mention the names of the gold medalists in silver or bronze? It wasn't a bad article, but I was a little disappointed, too. {shrug}

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August 22, back on the ice!

My 2 cents: most of what we seem to see in Skating magazine is either the coverage of AN or the regular articles they publish. I understand that the AN coverage rightfully focuses on the winners of the Championship events. That makes sense. And guess what? They're almost always returning skaters. Most "adult starters" aren't going to be able to win the championship events.

But for the regular articles they publish from time to time, they do seem to fall into 2 categories: (1) The poor brave adult skater overcoming some horrific personal tragedy to find his/her way back to the ice, or (2) returning skaters.

I don't think there's anything wrong with those kinds of stories, but I agree that they don't paint a complete picture of adult skating. Personally, I'm tired of both kinds of stories. I think they've been done to death. I happen to think that adult skating is beginning to overemphasize the returning skaters, and I see this reflected in both kinds of coverage in Skating magazine. I'd like to see more stories about the 35 year old bronze level skater who laced up for the first time at the age of 30. So in a sense, I sort of agree with the original poster in general, but not specifically about the AN coverage.

I agree with the drift that the sk8 mag is a very limited, highly produced snapshot based on very limited resources. I don't look to the mag to do anything totally comprehensive for adult skaters...it's just not in the scope of things.

I do think it would be best to vent our energy into our own media. For example, most of us have choosen to chat, primarily, on skatingforums as opposed to the USFSA site. Why is that? Carry this over to other media. For insights, team exposure, news coverage, annoucements of adult pairs, adultpairskating.com was created.

I think it would be great to see adultdance.com adultprebronze.com etc and everyother conceivable dot-whatever in order to get our story out there. After all, www is the media of choice for most of us and a large fraction of adult skaters work in the industry to begin with. Glossy's are just a little bit of icing on the cake.

As far as getting the adult 'message' out there to the rest of the skating community, that's just another marketing puzzle that we should take on as a happy challenge. I'm convinced that it is doable.

Well, for one thing, this board is much faster & more user-friendly.

In all the different age categories?

The names were in there, in the results section.

That magazine was put out by this guy Thom from San Francisco... I don't think he's on the committee. I think he just did it for fun. He was actually just saying something about it the other week, and I was only half listening, but I think he said he stopped doing it because much of his time these days is spent working on putting together these shows and competitions and stuff. He also used to put out an actual published version of it too, but that might have gotten a little expensive. ... Like I said, I was only half listening...

Anyway, if you're really interested there might still be something about it on his website. It's www.skateout.org

Oh... I just read your post more carefully.... you were talking about two different publications. Maybe he still has the e-magazine just not the published one. Sorry for the confusing post. I shouldn't write when I first wake up!

I know that Thom is behind 32 Degrees, but there was another Adult Skating e-magazine that was out before that put together and published by someone in Massachuttes. It had the name "Adult Edge" or something like that.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Once upon a time there was a Adult Newsletter called " Adult Insights". Unfortunately, the funding for that ended, and subsequently someone from Colonial Figure Skating Club in MA was doing it for a while, primarily I seem to recall as a webzine. Unfortunately several years ago it disappeared for good.

Ah- ha that's what it was!! I only got to read it once, before it vanished.
SK8RX is the winner of tonight's Adult Skating Trivia contest!!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"