The New Year is upon us and we're about to close out 2007 and welcome in a new year. Will this be the start of a new beginning for our sport? Well, that is entirely up to us. It is in our hands now. Each and everyone of us has a role to play in this new beginning. Now we must look to ourselves and each other for the guidance and inspiration that we need to rebuild.

This sport was developed by a group of inspired individuals who took sound business practice, modified and tweaked it to produce what would become the largest and most powerful Roller Skating Association the world has ever known.

They were the originators of the structure that was to become known as the Roller Skating Rink Operators Association or R.S.R.O.A. Simply put, they invented the sport of competitive Roller Skating. And it’s important now that we understand how that was done so many years ago.

Yes, I know all about the differences between what is now and what was then. I am fully aware that there are many more things for the children of today to amuse themselves with. So what are we supposed to do? Do we just give up? Has the sport of Ice Figure Skating given up under the pressure of today’s world? How about Ballroom Dancing or Gymnastics? Do you think they don’t have to compete for the attention of the future athletes that make up their sports? Do they just throw up their hands in disgust and say the hell with it? But if we can learn from the successes and failures of the past then perhaps we can still have a future.

So now we must take matters into our own hands.

Its no longer up to Lincoln. Its up to us. If we don’t turn this thing around now its our fault, not Lincolns. We can’t blame them any longer.

So, we must attack this problem on two fronts.

The First Front

Each and every teacher/coach must go back to square one and re-evaluate their local situation. Where did the competitive skaters of today come from? They came from someone’s beginner class, hopefully yours. This is where new skaters, the future champions of this sport are discovered. They didn’t just appear out of thin air one day and announced here I am. It took a talented teacher/coach to recognize a child with ability, and then encourage that child and their parents to develop that ability into something special. It was hard work to be sure. But nothing of value is ever easy. But this is where our future is to be discovered if indeed we are to have one.

So we must now, for the first time in the history of this sport, create a national program to re-develop the beginner class structure in each and every rink where it is feasible to do so. And the priority assigned to this program must be nothing less then desperate. We are in the middle of an Extinction Level Event. And it will take nothing less then an all out effort to re-prime the pump. And it must be done at the beginner class level. Hey coaches… want a raise? Go out and get a new skater from your Saturday afternoon Matinee session.

Every rink has assets. There are new champions waiting to be discovered in every Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon sessions. But how many coaches are actually doing this? It would seem not many. If everyone was doing it then I wouldn’t be writing this and you would be reading it. But there are teachers out here in the real world who are working hard to produce new skaters. And they are running successful class and club programs and they are getting positive results.

So here is what I’m asking everyone.

If you are running a successful beginner level class or club program in your rink, PLEASE send me a complete outline of this program, in as much detail as is humanly possible. This includes Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Church groups, school groups. Anything that is producing good numbers where you’re teaching them to skate. PLEASE don’t leave out ANYTHING. As they say “The devil is in the details.”. Remember there are many out here who have no training in marketing or sales. There is no business training school for Skating Teachers/Coaches. Some people have great difficulty in doing something as simple as starting a conversation with a stranger. Please share your experience with them. Please include scans of any promotional materials such as flyers, brochures, newspaper notices or adds that deal with the program.

I will, with your permission, post them here on the website in a special section so that others may gain from your knowledge and expertise.

We MUST now help each other. We are the only ones that we can depend on. Don’t blame Lincoln any longer. In this effort Lincoln is out of the picture, far out of the picture. They don’t have the skill set or apparently the interest in getting involved in the effort to rebuild this sport so it is up to us. We must reach out to each other for assistance and that is where our strength lies.

There is not much time left so in order for this to work we must have an all out desperate nationwide effort.

The Second Front

The current artistic competitive structure is a disaster. The focus and ideology is just wrong and it must be changed. It is focused on the few rather than the many. And it will take the most significant shift in concept in skating history to fix it.

It is a structure that is designed not to produce new skaters for the future, but to produce increased revenue for Lincoln. It really is that simple. Create new events for the same skaters to enter rather then to take time, energy and creativity to produce marketing materials that a coach can use to create new skaters. Lincoln, it seems, would rather invent new ways to get more money out of the existing skater pool rather then invent new ways to attract new skaters into our sport.

So be it.

We’ve seen what could have been a wonderful concept, the Junior Olympic Program, prostituted into a disaster that has done nothing but increase entry fees for Lincoln and recycle the same skaters into an endless list of meaningless events. Each year new events appear out of nowhere. Not new skaters, just new events for the same skaters to fill and of course, additional entry fees.

But it is imperative that we take the assets that we currently have, the skaters of today, and do what’s right by them. That means we must eliminate ALL the “B” and “C” level events from the National Championships Program. They simply don’t belong there. To ask the parents of the skaters in those events to go to the expense of traveling to Omaha, Lincoln or any place else is just plain wrong. These events should end at the Regional level and no higher. If the National Championships event list were restructured to reflect a proper and meaningful format there would be no need to run a meet for 16 days in an empty building.

When the merger occurred in 71-72 this was a thriving healthy sport. We had tens of thousands of active registered amateur skaters. We were the largest roller skating association in the entire world. We sent our coaches to Europe, South America and New Zealand to spread the knowledge and expertise we had developed since the R.S.R.O.A. invented this sport back in the late 30’s. So what happened?

Two things really;
1. The merger
2. We all got visions of five multi-colored rings.

When the merger was finalized we first divided our focus and then we totally lost it entirely. In the beginning we established an “International” style of dance to run in conjunction with what we called “The American Structure”. Initially we ran separate contests for each style at the Junior and Senior level. But then it was felt that the need existed to include the lower divisions as well. So from Freshman to Senior, “American” and “International” were run in conjunction with each other. Particularly in the Dance events there were severe differences in “Style” and “Technique”. THAT WAS A MISTAKE!

In the beginning the former A.R.S.A. Dance coaches held a significant edge because of their experience in dealing with this style and technique. But, our better American Dance coaches quickly leveled the playing field and were competitive from top to bottom. And as our “American” style dance teachers and skaters began to understand the “International” requirements the table was turned. And at some point the awards platform at Nationals and the World Championships for “International” style dance events was occupied by former “American” skaters. Why? Because the “American” Dance fundamentals are more sound and have a much stronger base in physics then the “International” style. Even the better former A.R.S.A. Coaches were producing few if any championship quality skaters who didn’t have a strong “American” base. It’s just an opinion but all you have to do is look at the numbers.

But then we really started down the wrong path. We started to de-emphasize the “American” structure and we started to lionize World Class at the expense of everything else. Many of our coaches and skaters began to see visions of Olympic rings dancing in their heads. We all bought into it, myself included. I “believed” what we were being told. Well, I was lied to and so were you.

In the mean time the focus on this sport, dictated by Lincoln, was to eliminate many of the upper level “American” events which had the intended purpose of forcing everyone into the Junior and Senior World class events using strictly the “International” style. And what was the eventual result of this decision? Dance skaters started to drop out of the sport.

I want to say here and now that it is my belief that the World Class Senior dances are far and away the most difficult and challenging dances that can be done. And I take my hat off to any team that can even tackle them let alone master them. But therein lies the problem. Because they are so difficult there is only a tiny percentage of the skaters that will ever be capable of truly performing them. So to force every dance team into that position was one of the prime reasons that resulted in the massive decrease in the numbers of skaters skating dance.

What is the averge percentage of athletes in any sport who ever rise to "elite' status, perhaps 1%? When we were 30,000 strong that would translate to about 300 atheltes that could be expected to reach those heights. But now that we're under 2000 that number translates in to 20. And thats across the entire skater pool. Now break down those number and percentages by event, and 1% of 6 World Class Dance teams equals what? Is there any wonder why we have become an afterthought in the world arena?

Then there is the original dance and the free dance issues. In a given pool of skaters there are many who do not feel comfortable and therefore would not attempt to skate free dance. And since the nature of the “Original Dance” has gone more towards a shorter controlled free dance, rather then the creation of a “doable” set pattern dance, the feeling is the same. In addition, the nature of the “Artistic level” required in World Class Dance is not something that many, if not most skaters would feel comfortable doing. So, they didn’t, they just quit. How many dance skaters did we loose because they may have been more comfortable with the “Technical” style of the American Dance Structure rather then the “Theatrical” nature of the International Style. Senior American Dance skaters were forced into the World Class events and many were not able to, or were not comfortable with skating Free Dance. So they left the sport. The quantity continues to go down and now the quality has suffered significantly.

There are many skaters who would not skate “International Free Style” because they could do the figures but not the free style. So eventually we did away with the requirement for the combined event but we never eliminated the figure only events to try to force the figure skaters to learn free style. We have had hundreds if not thousands of dance skaters who dropped out of the sport because our governance tried to force them to skate a style of dance that they were either not capable of or refused to do by eliminating the upper “American Dance Divisions” that they skated. There are many dance skaters who are great technicians but not necessarily “Artistic”. By eliminating their events you eliminated these skaters from the sport. And if many of our teachers and coaches had not put their ego ahead of their common sense this might not have happened. There’s more glory in “World Class”. Perhaps, but if you have no one left to coach in the event then there’s no glory for anyone and your unemployed.

I do NOT want to eliminate World class events. They are the ultimate achievement in our sport. But we must re-establish a strong “American” structure at the lower level and re-install the upper “American” events in Junior and Senior so that those who reach that level will again provide a large and skilled pool of skaters who can “choose” to skate World Class not be forced into it by the structure.

We need a complete and total restructure of the Artistic Competitive Program, and we need it fast. We need to set up Regional groups to discuss the changes that need be made to this structure. These groups must contact other groups in other regions and share their thoughts so that a consensus can be formulated. It is the only way to consolidate the current skater pool that we have now to make it meaningful once again, and to start to prime the pump for the future.

And then our governance MUST pay attention and listen to those out here who have the greatest stake in this sport. To the USARS Board of Directors, the structure we have now is NOT working. Changes MUST be made. And those changes MUST be geared to creating new skaters for the future, NOT just new meaningless events to raise more entry fees.

I know that you all must have ideas and thoughts on these important topics. The letters section is now open again. PLEASE share your thoughts with me and allow me to post them for others to see. Disagree with me? Then tell me. But please support your thoughts and ideas with your reasons.

As always, best wishes to all of you for good skating and a bright future.

The Ghost

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