Kathryn Bertine and "All the Sunday's Yet to Come"

[Gingi1976]

Does anyone know anything about her skating career? According to the bbook she skated out of Yonkers FSC through the early 1990's and she passed her senior ladies test in 1994.

Has anyone else read the book?

[Trillian]

I read the book and really liked it. I'd definitely recommend it, not only to skating fans (it's an angle of the sport you don't hear as much about) but also to anyone who enjoys a good memoir. It's gotten some great reviews from non-skating sources--I bought it after reading the Entertainment Weekly review, which was extremely positive.

I don't know anything about the author's competitive accomplishments, but I got the impression she was someone who was probably good enough to be a regular final round competitor on the regional level at the very least, maybe even a sectional qualifier at least once. Judging by her jump repertoire (didn't she say she only had one triple?) I doubt she ever got to nationals. I did a search on Skatabase and all that came up was the 1996 National Collegiate Championships, where she was 22nd out of 23 skaters at the senior level (Tiffany Scott was 6th, btw :)).

Anyone remember Bertine from her skating days? We must have some people on this board who were involved in the North Atlantic region when she was competing.

[Sk8Bunny]

Go Kate on her new book! woo-hoo!

[luna_skater]

I don't have any info on Kathryn's competitive record, but I just wanted to pipe in to say, What an awesome book! I highly recommend it. So entertaining, and I loved her writing style. You can read some excerpts from the book on her website: www.kathrynbertine.com (http://www.kathrynbertine.com) .

[WeBeEducated]

I enjoyed it very much.
For those unfamiliar with it, the book takes a close look at the lives of skaters in rather 2nd rate shows. Bertine in her youth seems to have been more of a test skater than highly competitive, and I am fairly sure she never made it to sectionals. She wanted to try show skating and signed up with a group that toured towns in South America.
It is fascinating to read the details of these tours .
The title refers to the day of the week when she was regularly weighed to make sure she was thin enough for the show and the skimpy costumes they were required to wear as "chorus" girls on ice.
I definately recommend it.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by WeBeEducated
Bertine in her youth seems to have been more of a test skater than highly competitive,

Well, she may not have been competitive in the sense of contending for medals, but she did say in the book that she competed in a lot of events. Obviously she had a lot of interest in that side of the sport; I didn't get the impression at all that she thought of herself as primarily at test skater. My guess as to her results (and I agree it's unlikely that she qualified for sectionals) mostly comes from her description of her skills. If she could land a double axel and a triple toe even part of the time, she was probably good enough to at least get out of the qualifying at regionals fairly regularly.

[WeBeEducated]

Oh, to me a test skater is a skater who has come to accept that she is definately not going to be a senior ladies competitor at nationals.
She understands that her skills are seen at the lower levels quite regularly(dbl axels) and that her chances of attaining competitve senior skills are highly unlikely. So, although she may "compete" she is not a serious "competitor" by skater's standards.
She completes her tests for Moves,and her senior FS, and moves on to other things.
That's what we call a test skater at our rink, and eventually most young women are in fact test skaters! When they are still young they cant bear to think of themselves that way though, nor can their parents.
Also, in my experience, a skater who has qualified for sectionals(which isnt easy) always mentions it, and the author did not .