Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Federations, Change and the International Judging System: An Interview with Chuck Foster Part 2



The sport of figure skating is always evolving and changing, but perhaps the greatest change took place during Chuck Foster's tenure as President of the USFSA. For better or worse, changes in television contracts and the implementation of the International Judging System have changed the sport forever.

6 comments:

  1. He seemed very guarded and not very forthcoming to me - except for how he felt about the new judging system, which I agree with him about - but he left us with no hope whatsoever about that.
    Please interview Jon Jackson if you can, and definitely Christine Brennan.
    I think judges should be paid, and I wish more former competitive skaters could be judges. The way it's set up, only rich old society people can afford to be a judge.

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  2. Thank you David and Jennifer. Actually what do you prefer to publicly be referred to as? Dave? Jenny? I am more formal and prefer calling you David and Jennifer. Let us know.

    This was an interesting interview in what he DIDN'T say which was so obvious. Old habits die hard, right? It's like that Boy Scout oath you took, David. He seemed to revert to the old party line. You nearly took him there, which was genius. Good try.

    And Linda Fratianne? Please. I was one who thought Lisa Marie Allen was ALWAYS the better skater, even with only a sal. Her jumps soared and she had a much better presence. FC might think of LF as the daughter he never had, but he also needs to get a clue and realize LF was not the skater he ever had. Interesting that Chuck had Fratianne first.... Thanks so much for these informative interviews. Do you think you could get La Katarina?????? You know she'd do it and be perfect, it would be as much a wreck as Debi!!!!! Please do La Katarina.

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    1. Yeah, give it a try with Mrs. Witt. Recently, she became a Weight Watchers spokeswoman and also had a made-for-tv-movie where she played a figure skater with an obsessive fan problem.

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  3. Good interview. He at least mentioned synchro but not adult skating which isn't right.
    I agree, WHY do they need 2 programs now? Maybe for dance but even that is questionable. For singles and maybe pairs, make it one and done. More exciting. For youth comps and that there is no need for these skaters to learn a short and long. Waste of time and $$$ for the parents. Only have it at the senior level if both programs are still done at Olympics. Even then it's a waste as there is almost NOBODY who even gets close to competing there. Let's see some nice spirals and fast spins without fugly positions even if only in the exhibitions. Stop with the arm/wrist waving, crotch poses, crotch in face lifts, and costume issues. I hope ISU reads this! Somebody let me know if they do.

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    1. Combine the short and long into one program? I remember reading something like that in a tongue in cheek post on a blog some time ago. I wouldn't put it past the ISU at all, though I never thought there was any real support for such an idea.

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  4. The singles if not all the teams too could just do the one program. What is the difference? No second chance. Win or lose. On the tv I wish they would just show the short programs so we could see more of the skaters not just the last flight.
    For the rest of skaters of all ages competing which is most all skaters save the stress on the body and they just skate one program too.

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