Discussion On Cheating Continues In ‘X-Race In Berlin Today’

The thread X-Race in Berlin today continues to feature rich discussion on cheating & officiating-

We all know who it is in the video and has been this years trouble maker but until he is dealt with (it is being addressed) thru the correct channels we have to be careful what we say. He knows he has been caught clearly on video so right now he is treading on hot coals waiting for a verdict. Also the race director has to start listening to his reffs or they will refuse to umpire races for the pittance they are payed. We are losing skaters because the good guys don’t want to have their chances ripped away from them with a punch in the head from this guy. We really are trying to clean the sport up in this part of the world but it takes one bad apple to spoil it for everybody.

I have to agree with Bill, you can’t let the misfits intimidate you folks, you have to speak up, but then you can’t disagree with Niki either in to be careful on what is being said. Don’t speak alone either, make sure you are all on the same side and speak as a group of sportsmen who want to compete in a fair race and want the sport to grow, so no hatred, no “Lets hurt the competitive team” BS, speak objectively, and straight to the point you want to make, and they will hear you.

Meanwhile two ESPN people came up to me, trying to get me to leave the results as they had announced – they had come back from commercial but we still weren’t finished with the appeal process – they cut to another sport – I informed them that they were wasting my time and contractually we were going to finish our process according to the competition rules.

Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association Seeks A Director Of Speed Skating

Alberta Amateur Speed Skating Association seeks a Director of Speed Skating to lead Alberta Speed Skating in the integration and application of the Speed Skating Canada LTPAD (Long Term Participant and Athlete Development) Model. The Director of Speed Skating will work at a Provincial level to bring every Alberta speed skater to his or her high performance potential.

Find more information here; AASSA Looking for a Director of Speed Skating.

Enforcing Rules- Fighting At The Berlin X Race World Inline Cup

With a few recent events featuring infractions including fighting but no calls/ disqualifications/ declassifications coming  from officials, skaters & fans are venting and sharing their thoughts in the thread X-Race in Berlin today–

I personaly tried to get the officals to disqualify the skater even in the 3 SIC races before and even was pointing out the person to the judges before the race and nothing happend! From the rule book you can not disqualify someone after the race! I hope we have some clear calls next season!

From the Beil evidence the skater has to be outed, forget some of these guys who do not know a skate from a motor car, that think they are interpreting the rules the right way. Its Blatant, its clear & its rubbish, you can not have standover man tactics happening regularly & do nothing, you have to stand up to them.

Bringing the sport into disrepute is a strong enough offence to be outed on, when you have skaters scared of an opponent who has a reputation, as an enforcer in the finishing Zone area, who blatantly breaks the rules of fair play, its time someone took action.

Its like the closely related coach, who told me in a moment of anger in Holland, to never walk on the same side of the road as him in future. The first thing I done the same day, is deliberately made sure I Did.

Like the small skater who did not get his own way when I was a team manager & then told me he was connected, I then told him I had ordered the Boss from Palermo’s Girfriend out of a CIC meetting in Italy & she was connected also, so don’t bother scaring me with that story line.

Stand up & be Counted, whoever is running the show!

Yet another reason there needs to be a strong technical committee, separate in every way from the influence of sponsors money , and also a big reason the race director should not have any say in officiating issues, because we all know what happens when a race director , team manager, coach, or similar, is allowed to participate in the officiating process.

A solution is : Separating “PRODUCTION” issues and operations from “COMPETITION” issues and areas.

Production includes : Sponsors (raising money, public relations, anything to do with making teams or skaters comfortable, raising prizes or money, dealing with the media, that sort of thing)

Competition includes : Tabulation of results, interpreting and enforcing rules, course safety issues, equipment standards, etc.

There is an issue of course, of who funds the technical committee – however there should always be a contract separating the two areas of “production” and “competition”.

In production, its their job to make people smile, keep people happy, including sponsors, teams, spectators, media, athletes, city or government permits and permission, collecting and soliciting the prizes etc.

In competition the “technical committee” has a narrow focus of ensuring that the “technical rules” of the race / federation/ rulebook are are enforced in black and white fashion – no favoritism, no pandering or ass kissing of sponsors, big name athletes, no cozying up to the race director, no special favors granted to famous athletes, that sort of thing.

So when a competition decision is rendered (such as a penalty , or change of placement, or a fine, and the athlete or team files a “protest” or “appeal”, the jury that decides on the original decision or appeal, should NOT include the race director.

The officials should have (be furnished by the race itself) sufficient number of motorbikes with skilled drivers, to be able to be all over the race – always changing position around the peloton , be in radio communication with each other, be able to pull people out of the race, be able to inflict instant time or placement penalties on offenders (and with chalkboard , clipboard, and megaphone(bullhorn/loudspeaker) instantly inform the offender/peloton of infractions/penalties .

Just my opinion…

Is Toronto A ‘World Class’ Sports City Ready To Host Pan Am Games?

This weekend the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) and its evaluation committee will pay a visit to see if Metro and the Greater Golden Horseshoe have what it takes to host the 2015 Pan Am Games.

For more, go here; Is Toronto a “world class” sports city?.

Geisingen (Germany) Arena Kids Camp

These past days there has been are really sucessful kids camp happening at the new skate arena in Geisingen, Germany.

Its been really positive to see a group of kids come out and have fun on their skates. And at the end of a long day they are still tearing around with more energy than me!

Read more here; Geisingen Arena kids camp.

Photo from here

Victor Van Den Hoff Named KNSB’s Interim Director

Victor Van Den Hoff was recently named KNSB’s interim Director. You can find out more here; Victor van den Hoff interim algemeen directeur KNSB.

What Makes Inline Speed Skating NOT An Olympic sport!!!

The world as we know it is quite amazing; it features a constant never ending drama stream that in the human side would never cease to surprise people by its lack of change! It is the same nonsense going on over and over again in this vicious circle called history, and history shows very clearly a humanity with a MASSIVE addiction to stupidity, nonsense, and above all the preservation of the last two things mentioned as actual values that people will defend with their lives, and to be quite frankly we are all part of this dilemma, it doesn’t matter if you are lovely Nicole Begg, genius Albert Einstein, or this humble ANGRY poster, if you are a Homo Sapiens then you are part of it.

Read more here; What makes Inline Speed Skating NOT an Olympic sport!!! Please read.

Le Patineur Du Futur (8/8): Le Cerveau

La génétique n’est pas encore assez avancée pour à la fois entrer dans le cerveau humain et être capable de le modifier. Heureusement ? Allez savoir… Les utopistes pourraient arguer qu’il y a toujours des fonctions à éliminer dans les cerveaux des hommes. Mais qui dit que c’est possible ? Et qui pense qu’on ne toucherait pas là à ce qui fait notre humanité justement ? L’homme est peut-être un cataclysme capable de sourire finalement.

Lisez plus ici; Le patineur du futur (8/8) : le cerveau.

Dust Still Settling On Roller & Inline Speed Skating’s Unsuccessful Olympic Bid

The dust is still settling on roller & inline speed skating’s recent unsuccessful bid at becoming an Olympic sport.

There are lots of thoughts and opinions as the skating community is trying to figure out what to do next-

• Olympic Committee Recommends Golf and Rugby (Not Skating)
• What makes Inline speedskating an olympic sport!! (4 pages of discussion)
• New York Times- Going for Olympic Gold
• Roller Sports Rejected … Again (still with 2 pages of discussion)
• Which sport is in? Breaking down potential Olympic additions

It’s not influx from the Olympics, it’s stopping the bleeding TOO the Olympics. We can’t create a sustainable growth for ourselves while we’re being over-harvested.

So this is problems we have, and Olympic nomination would solve them in few moment. I could go around school’s to gain kids into Olympic sport, we would get money injection to keep top athletes expenses covered when they race for country, we would be able to pay some real coaches and well we would have more than 5 people watching smaller races. Any ideas on how else we could do this?

Roller Sports

Why it’s in: The sport may appeal to the younger demographic that the IOC covets, and the committee saw the way snowboarding helped increase the appeal to that demographic at the Winter Games. If the committee can bring snowboarding and BMX into the Olympics, why not roller sports? The races that would run between 500 meters and the marathon have already played well on TV during the Asian Games, where they are a regular staple.

Why it’s out: The sport’s leaders have simply been too low-key in their lobbying of IOC members, many of whom may never have seen the sport, even on television while the other sports can be found on many international channels. The potential Olympic races could be held indoors or on the roads, but the type of venue hasn’t been specified for 2016.

The International Olympic Committee’s executive board voted last Thursday to include women’s boxing in the 2012 Summer Games in London, and recommended that rugby and golf be included in the program for the 2016 Games, rejecting baseball, karate, roller sports, softball and squash. The news was greeted with cheers and jeers.

But does adding golf or rugby make sense? Should the board have said yes to women’s boxing after eliminating softball? What exactly should be the criteria for choosing which sports to add to the Olympic program?

Dangerous Skating & Cheating Need To Go Before Roller & Inline Speed Skating Becomes An Olympic Sport

Dangerous skating & cheating need to be adressed before roller & inline speed skating should be considered as an Olympic sport.

See the following links;

• What makes Inline speedskating an olympic sport!!! (page 3)
• Roller Sports Rejected … Again (page 2)

That there are other sports (even olympic sports) with bad actions by players, has little to do with this. If you jump off a cliff, I should jump to??? It’s about being a clean and fair skater, about being proud that you won that race. I wouldn’t be so proud if I was Locci and saw this video. Maybe he didn’t know anything about it, but still I would have a bad feeling about it.

After seeing the Bont girls rubbed for a few Minor Indiscressions this year, its about time some of the true perpertrators were punished, the Beil video & the European ones are an absolute disgace fullstop.

Golf is an extremely popular sport world-wide. Just about every U.S. town has a golf course. I live in a town of 100K people where there are 6 golf courses – yet I don’t have a good place to do hard skating workouts. I skate on the roads in my neighborhood and drive 80 miles to the better skating options.

Golf is very well organized. The “First Tee” is a very well established program to introduce kids to golf. The USGA (U.S. Golf Association, has been in place for 100 years) is the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. It has contributed tens of millions of dollars to golf programs for underprivileged youth and individuals with disabilities, and is the largest contributor to the First Tee program.

Just about every little town of 15K -20K people or more has a golf course. Most schools include golf as a sanctioned sport. The national amateur golf title is very big deal. There are several professional level golf tours just in the U.S., and there are also the European Tour, Japanese Tour, and several other professional golf tours. Many golfers from other parts of the world play on the U.S. PGA tour (from Asia, Africa, South America, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and all over Europe). The first place winner of a PGA event on a given week typically earns $1M or more. Last weekend, the winner walked off with $1.35M. The total purse was over $7M.

Golf has Tiger Woods – perhaps the most recognizable athlete in the world.

A few weeks ago I told someone I did inline skate races – and they didn’t know what inline skating was. I told them they might know it better as roller-blading. They asked if that is the sport where people knock other people down when they go around the track.

Roller sports has a very long way to go to get into the Olympics.

Discussions On Roller & Inline Speed Skating’s Unsuccessful Olympic Bid Continue

There is good discussion about roller & inline speed skating’s failed Olympic inclusion in the following topics-

• Roller Sports Rejected … Again.
• Welp…we didnt make it to the Olympics. (page 2)

You can also read more here A SAD DAY FOR THE WORLD OF ROLLERSPORTS…...

Wow, such negativity pertaining to golf. I’m going to defend it’s appeal for a moment, and I do so as an avid golfer, and and avid skater. I’m pretty good @ both. So I have a perspective that seems to be in the minority here.

We did not make the public aware of our “Awesome Rollersports”. We have to take a deep look at this and to look, listen, learn and plan our future. NOT run and jump to ice. If all of us run and jump to ice, then you can forget our great sport and watch it fade away. I have seen a decline in all that we stand for here in the USA and have seen a decline in the way we think of competitions. If we don’t start supporting the movement, then we can kiss our Rollersports away!

I believe that with the proper support and love, we can still succeed and one day see the Olympics and more. Please do not give up and do not forget the sport that we have all loved and have supported for the years past. Stay strong and let’s build and learn from this experience we have had with this Olympic push. Train hard, and show the world what they are missing!

Morgane Echardour- Everything You Wanted To Know- From Road Rash Chronicles

Road Rash Chronicles shared an interview with Morgane Echardour- Everything you wanted to know…. Morgane Echardour–

7. What other skater has an attribute you would love to possess? What is it?

Technique,technique, technique! I love Korean skaters, I could watch them for days they’re so fluid. I look like an elephant skating beside them!!!!

19. Do you think you have a reputation? Good or bad?

I don’t know what people think about me. Do I care?…Not really I am not skating for what people think of me but because I love it. I like to think that people see me as a fair skater other than that I don’t really care.

20. What is your most embarrassing skating moment?

Probably when I was 7 I started Figure Skating and at our end of the year show instead of following the routine I just decided to race to the front dressed as a pigeon. I still remember the crowd laughing but I guess it’s because it was cute. Since then I switched to speed skating.

Canadian Official Mike Makowsky Added To ISU Championship List

Speed Skating Canada is pleased to announce Mike Makowsky from Regina, Saskatchewan has been upgraded to a Level V Starter by the ISU and added to the Championship List. A starter for the last sixteen years, he acknowledges the support received by his mentors, most notably Eugene Hearne, Hans Terstappen, Yves Belanger and Guy Marcoux. A believer in the education and development of officials, one of Mikes greatest accomplishments was working with Jim McClements on developing the “Clearing Path: Planning for Speed Skating Canada Officials Development” in 2005. Mike believes that the opportunity to participate as a parent, official and volunteer with people in all walks of life and from many communities in Canada has been the highlight of his involvement in speed skating.

Read more here; Canadian Official Mike Makowsky added to ISU Championship List.

August Edition Of ‘The Buzz’- From Speed Skating Canada

Speed Skating Canada published is August edition of The Buzz (click for PDF file).

The 2009 Speed Skating Canada Coaching Symposium brought together more than 160 coaches from 124 different clubs and training centre programs from across Canada together in Richmond, BC for 3 days of professional development from June 19th to 21st. Delegates were treated to many presentations by world leading experts as well as a special visit of the Richmond Olympic Oval, home to long track speed skating for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Roller/ Inline Speed Skating Community Dealing With Failed Bid At Olympic Inclusion

The roller & inline speed skating community is coming to grips with roller speed skating’s failed attempt at gaining Olympic status.

Articles and posts convey mixed emotions and strong feelings.

So let’s face it: unless a cosmological miracle happens, or the politicians feel the need to screw karate or rugby, we’re not going to be an Olympic sport as yet. The good news is, we won’t die, and in the worst case scenario, nothing will change for us. We need to keep working towards an international & professional set of races that’s TV worthwhile, we MUST put a great deal of effort in bringing as much kids as possible to SKATING (NOT speedskating, at first), and finally we should keep proving to the world that the true Olympic spirit absolutely lives in our sport, in which fortius citius altius are perfectly epitomized.

Because if the Olympic Games are still run by the same crooks last seen in Singapore, they can take the whole five rings and shove them up their arses. Starting with the red one, please.

I don’t think there’s any sense at attacking or putting down other sports and their athletes. Roller & inline speed skating has to continue doing its best at improving and striving to be the best sport it can be. We’ve got to stay positive, focused, and come together with common plans and vision. And we all have a role in this-

• Vote count- round-by-round- IOC EXECUTIVE BOARD – Berlin, 13 August 2009
• Sk8ologist- Issue 5- Olympics my arse
• Olympisme : la fin du rêve pour le roller
• 2016: Le golf et le rugby à VII plébiscités
• Michael Cheek- Olympics
• X Games ?
• OLYMPICS NOT A DONE DEAL
• Welp…we didnt make it to the Olympics.
• Jimmy Blair- The long day….

It’s possible we were fighting a losing battle from the very beginning. The 2 sports that did get in have money we can’t compete with. I’ve always stated that you never talk down on someones passion, so I’m not gonna start talking badly about rugby or golf. Because if we would have been lucky enough to get in, I would hope for the same from people in other sports.

I was just sitting here bummed about the olympic decision. And I was wondering what about the X games. I think banked track racing with all the allowed contact and intense racing would be a perfect fit for the X games. There is a ton of sponsorship money and a huge and growing following world wide. Athletes from all over the world compete in the X games. Although it is not the olympics I do believe it would help grow the sport in a huge way and would also give our athletes something to look forward to. Maybe this would be something to pursue .

Now i don’t have the answer to “grow” our sport at all.. to be honest, I’m not sure anyone does.. The way that we would eventually get in the Olympics would be to be in the media, TV, movies, papers, etc…. The way to get in the media is to have major sponsors that pour tons of cash into advertising. To get sponsors to see us is to be on TV.. see what I’m getting at here? we are stuck between a rock, and a really hard place. I hope that everyone can work together to build up skating in the public eye, we could use it..

So, we aren’t in the Olympics.. eh, whatever.. do i wish we got in? yes, very much so! do i think that we will still continue to do what we do? yep, of course!

No Olympic Inclusion For Roller/ Inline Speed Skating, Golf & Rugby

The roller/ inline speed skating world is reacting with strong emotions after learning that roller/ inline speed skating won’t be joining the Olympic family.

I’ve got about 1400 friends on Facebook, many of whom are posting comments and their reactions about today’s decision. Here is what I wrote in my Facebook status;

Roller/ inline speed skating is a great sport, with or without Olympic status.

Look at where the sport is and how great the sport is. Great athletes from all over the world are fueling exciting racing. Good coaches develop young talent and fantastic events bring the masses.

We haven’t lost anything. Not gaining Olympic status won’t take anything away. Take this as a chance to build, improve, grow, and get stronger.

Bill Begg shared his thoughts-

A bunch of many outdated relics & out of touch with reality, we need to start cleaning these relics out of our National Olympic Committee’s.

Todays decision was an utter disgrace & money ruled.

What happened to the introduction of the new modern sports, well we stuffed ourselves up a bit, with this roller sports crap, as half them do not know what roller sports is.

THE TICKET SHOULD OF HAD SPEED SKATING, forget Inline or anything else.

ESPN showed Golf as a dull & boring game compared to Speed Skating at the World Games, I thought sports come out of the World games, no Golf & no N.Z. rugby team there ??????????????????????????????????????????????

We need to get rid of the incumbents & change the entire system.

Without Tiger woods golf is nothing, except an exclusive game for the rich.

Make sure you confront your Olympic Delegates the 15 men & start off with Rouge in Belguim, as he came to N.Z. & had meettings with Golf & Rugby, does not seem like an invitation to speed skating, what utter arragance.

Yes a disgrace 2 Swiss in there with the 15, no rugby played there & little golf, what did they do ?

And Samey from South Africa, well obviously Rugby was the first choice.

What about the Italian, I suppose he could not be trusted either ?

SO we need to make an effort to hunt them down & confront them eyeball to eyeball & tell them what we think of there wayward ways.

Here are a few links/ resources for you-

• Golf & rugby set to join Olympics
• Sueño Sin Cumplir: El patinaje no es finalista.
• OLYMPICS NOT A DONE DEAL
• Tras mucho tiempo de espera, el Patinaje de Velocidad se quedó fuera de los Juegos Olímpicos. Rugby Seven y Golf pasan la criba
• Golf and Rugby Get Boost for 2016 Olympics
• Roller Sports Rejected … Again

Golf is set to return to the Olympics after a 112-year absence in 2016, and rugby sevens will also be recommended to be part of that year’s Games.

The International Olympic Committee’s executive board voted to include both at its Berlin executive board meeting.

The recommendation must be rubber-stamped by a full meeting of the IOC congress in Copenhagen in October.

Softball, squash, baseball, karate and roller sports were also hoping to be included, but have all missed out.

Roller & Inline Speed Skating’s Olympic Quest

The roller & inline speed skating community will be holding its breath during the next few days because important decisions will be made about the sport’s possible Olympic inclusion.

Only 4 days remaining to the IOC Executive Board Meeting in Berlin, Germany, where the 15 Members will choose 2 of the 7 Sports Candidates to be into the 2016 Olympic Summer Games. Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo are bidding for the 2016 organization.

PatinCarrera.com just launched the new special exclusive coverage with the hottest information abou the candidature of our sport to be part of the Olympic family!.

Keep updated at http://www.patincarrera.com/patinaje2016/

Roller/ inline speed skating’s possible Olympic inclusion brings along mixed feelings. Some say that the sport, because of dirty skating & lack of structure in some countries, needs more time to develop before gaining Olympic status.

On the flip side, the skating community has come up with many arguments about roller/ inline speed skating’s readiness in gaining the revered Olympic status. If you’d like to read some proff about this, go to Which sport would you most like to see added to the 2016 Games at October’s IOC Session in Copenhagen?.

So that leaves rugby sevens and roller sports. I like the chances of both making it as medal sports. Sevens doesn’t need a purpose-built facility. It can use the main stadium for two days between the opening ceremony and the start of the track and field programme.

It also offers real medal chances to smaller nations like Fiji and Samoa. This year’s Sevens World Cup in Dubai was a huge success with big TV audiences, and the women’s competition as popular as the men’s. That’s likely to be the most watched rugby event of the year.

Roller sports ticks all the boxes. A combination of speed skating and dancing events could do for the Summer Olympics what ice skating does for the Winter Games. There’s tremendous TV appeal, young participants and, as with BMX racing and whitewater canoeing, there’s a real sense of excitement about racing on in-line skates.

You can use the links below to find the pulse on what’s going on, about who’s doing what, and about what’s coming next in roller & inline speed skating’s Olympic quest-

• Roller sports’ Olympic game plan
• Scene set for rugby sevens-skating showdown
• CTV Commercial- Paisley Perrie- Do You Believe?
• Speed Skating on the WAY ?????????????????????????????????????????????????
• DECISION 2016: Roller sports believe youth appeal gives them the edge
• Keith Carroll- Citius, Altius, Fortius

Roller sports offer pure performance – it is like watching an athletics race at the speed of a bicycle.

And that is why it is so exciting for younger ones.

It is also a sport practiced in five continents by men and women, with objective results guaranteed by a photo finish.

Speed skating is a fresh and young sport: the sport of the 21st century’s youth.

But roller sports is not only a sport. There is also a social element to roller skating that attracts over 50 million people to the sport around the world.

Discussion Continues About USA Indoor Nationals On the East Coast

There is still lots of discussion and sharing of opinions in thread Indoor Nationals on the East Coast in 2011 or 2012?–

Getting back to the original subject. In my opinion keep it in Lincoln where the best floor is. And the least distractions are. The only thing on Our skaters minds should be the next race, not where can we go have fun. After all the sacrifice on the athlete and the parents for the entire season skating should be the focus at nationals.

If we don’t throw in a little fun once in a while, there will be less and less kids wanting to continue in the sport. After skating intense practices for 8-10 months, doesn’t every person deserve a little fun as an award for the hard work all year? A little side distraction keeps the mind clear and the body loose and relaxed. I know for myself, sitting in the arena, contemplating all the what if’s and nervously anticipating the upcoming races doesn’t do me any good when it’s time to roll up to the start line. You have to throw in a little fun and distraction in my opinion, to make it your best day possible on the floor.

Its families like yours that I love! Thanks for spending your only vacation every year at Nationals. Thank you for the support when you could be going to a different location and giving one cent or one minute to our national championships. One or two days of exploration in a new town is great for a family. That’s all I’m fighting for… Not everyone is in this sport to be the next Chad or Joey.

Le Point Complet Sur Les Diplômes Du Roller Skating

A l’heure de l’Europe, faisons un bilan sur les diplômes permettant d’enseigner le roller et leurs reformes.

D’abord, il faut distinguer les diplômes professionnels, permettant d’enseigner contre rémunération (diplômes inscrits au RNCP, répertoire national des certifications professionnelles ) et les diplômes fédéraux ne permettant pas de prétendre à une quelconque rémunération (sauf s’ils sont inscrits aux RNCP, voir CQP).
Nous allons parler ici des principaux diplômes liés à la discipline du Roller.

Lisez en plus ici; Le point complet sur les diplômes du Roller Skating.

Ask Bill Begg! Can Skaters Train on Both Inline and Ice?

The latest Ask Bill Begg! article is Can Skaters Train on Both Inline and Ice?–

Hi, Gaby: When children are young and flexible, it’s OK for them to do a variety of sports. Only later, when they are 14 or 15, do they need to focus on one sport — and only if their goal is to reach the top levels in international competition.

I don’t know many skaters who successfully move between inline and short track skating, although a few Canandian short-trackers have done this. But, as I said, lots of skaters have rotated from inline to long-track ice, including Elma De Vries, Sijird Huisman, Shane Dobbin and Pascal Briand.

Holly & Mike Snow, Olympic Speed Inline Racing- Enola, PA

Holly & Mike,

Ya, putting it out there but in a good way. I hope the retirement from the sport serves you all well; but we all will be missing out from two great people.

Read more here; Holly & Mike Snow, Olympic Speed Inline Racing – Enola, PA.

Speed Skating Canada’s ‘The Buzz’

Click here for Speed Skating Canada‘s most recent ‘The Buzz‘. [PDF version]

At Speed Skating Canada’s 2009 AGM in Richmond, the final report of the LTPAD Competition and Events System Review was released to the membership. The report outlines the recommendations of the review team as to how to align to the competition and events system for speed skating in Canada with the LTPAD model. Printed versions were distributed to all AGM delegates and Coaches attending the Coaching Symposium. The French version will be available in August.

The report was received by the membership and the following the resolutions unanimously adopted:
o The Guiding Principles for Competitions and Events
o The Developmental Constructs in principle
o The Developmental Recommendations in principle

Bill Begg Shares His Views On The Current State Of Inline Skating

Bill Begg shared his views on the current state of inline skating; What’s the Current State of Inline Skating?–

In this tough economy, the skate companies are struggling to continue their support for the World Inline Cup. In recent years, it has cost about a quarter-million dollars to field a winning team — and that has proved too much for the likes of Hyper, Verducci, Salomon and Fila. At this point, Rollerblade is just hanging in there. And Bont — after years of six figure World Cup support — is downsizing its commitment.

Everyone is suffering. But skating is like an ocean with its ups and downs. We’re in a trough right now, but hopefully we can catch a big wave back to shore.

On the bright side, I’m optimistic about our chances for Olympic entry, especially after attending the World Games in Kaohsiung. Inline speed skaters were the local heroes of the event, racking up gold medals and media attention (even as some current world champions from Europe and the Americas failed to medal).

Register Today For A2A! Race Organizers Meeting Tonight To Determine Whether 2009 Event Will Happen

Race organizers for Athens to Atlanta are having a meeting tonight to determine whether or not the event will happen this year.

As it stands there are only about 50 people registered. The minimum number of registrations necessary for the event to go-ahead is 100 skaters.

If you are considering skating the 2009 edition of this great event, make sure you register as soon as you’re done reading SpeedSkateWorld.com.

Duo Burn Up Roller Skating Track

Doucet and Echardour won’t be passing up any medals by staying home. While Canadian skaters are as dedicated and passionate about the sport as athletes from other countries, the coaching just isn’t available here. While he’s tops here, Doucet says he’s “middle of the pack” in international competition.

Read more here; Duo burn up roller skating track.

Vote For Roller Sports’ Olympic Inclusion

Here’s poll for you to take; go to GamesBids.com and take the poll on the left-hand side about which sport should be included in the Olympic program. Read more here; We need your support! > Vote for Roller Sports 2016!.

Another important poll just started on the famous sports website http://www.gamesbids.com/

What sport would you like to see in the Olympics? ROLLER SPORTS! Vote Now!

We are very close to get our dream!

Here is what Bill Begg had to say;

Good to see we are winning the race on previous votes, on a semi official site & one the new one, but we need everyone to log in.

With the World games it has created a big buzz for our sport, top racing, program running to time, good excited crowd & that much front line Media & Television present, other sports suffered, as with Chinese Taipei winning, the Focus the first 3 days was on Speedskating, but with good quality TV & ESPN taking all events up, it has spread to other places in the World.

In Kaoshiung one day two Front pages had Speed skating photo’s, as my daughter Nicole was racing the Local Hero & $212,000 USA richer Huang, she was on the Front page twice, back home in New Zealand her Bronze Medals saw her on the front page also in our newspaper.

Two requests for TV interviews & 2 for media coverage have shown that the sports profile has been greatly enhanced by the World games.

Also Roberto Marotta had a continual stream of important sport Dignatories come to view the exciting racing.

In this last minute push, we are closer than ever & in with a good chance, its the money sports / Or the new exciting sports, as to who will get the nod, cycling is in there, we are every bit in the same type situation as them, except their drug history is bad, we rely more on skill & human performance than the cyclists & less reliant upon equipment, lets hope that we have helped them open their eyes, that we deserve to be Olympic.

Les Bras Du Patineur Du Futur

A quoi peuvent bien servir les bras quand on fait un sport de jambes ? Principalement à tenir en équilibre. Mais aussi, il ne faut pas l’oublier, à se situer par rapport aux adversaires. Car les patineurs de vitesse sont plutôt libres de leurs bras. Pousser, écarter, retenir, rattraper, relever : ce sont aussi les bras qui font tout cela dans une course !

Lisez d’avantage au sujet des bras du patineur du futur; Le patineur du futur (7/8) : les bras.

Roller In The Running For Olympic Inclusion- ‘For Sure We Are Right In There’

The following is from Bill Begg in OLYMPICS NOT A DONE DEAL;

Hi Skaters & Supporters,

Some very good & positive news comming out of the World Games, shows we are well in the running with a more than 50 / 50 chance.

Its down to two choices 1/ The Money sports & 2/ The modern sports, as to who will get the nod.

A number of big brockers close to the Olympic power brockers have been present observing the skating & what is happening here is giving our sport a very big boost in the push for Olympic Inclusion.

1/ Chinese Taipei winning has all the TV focusing reports on the skaters.

2/ The Front page of the Taipei Times has seed skating a big coloured photo, showing the ladies 1,000 meters 2nd Semi Final.

3/ On ESPN last night Golf first up, had nothing to offer compared to the exciement & racing spectacle at the Bank Track.

CIC President lost everthing in the big LA Aquilla earthquake & has thrown all his energies into the Olympic bid, it would be a wonderfull reward for Roberto to see his beloved sport gain Inchusion in the October voting showdown.

For sure we are right in there.

Sk8tologist #5- Olympics Won’t Happen

The Sk8tologist’s fifth addition is Olympics my arse–

The name counts, but it’s not critical. Last time, we –represented by FIRS- made a sorry appearance before the IOC’s members (featuring the most pathetic video ever produced), no wonder nobody took us seriously. Having learnt the lesson well, this time over Sabatino & Co spent the last 3 years -plus an unthinkable magnitude of FIRS resources- doing some lobbying, taping the right channels and broadly bribing his superiors in the Olympic food chain. True, it’s a zillion times more than what was done by his predecessors, but that’s just because none of them did anything at all, ever. It simply is not enough, compared with what can be done by the powerful rugby, golf and karate federations. Even squash looks impressive in its political influence. The general impression is that we did too little too late (once again), and are quite not up to the task.

So let’s face it: unless a cosmological miracle happens, or the politicians feel the need to screw karate or rugby, we’re not going to be an Olympic sport as yet. The good news is, we won’t die, and in the worst case scenario, nothing will change for us. We need to keep working towards an international & professional set of races that’s TV worthwhile, we MUST put a great deal of effort in bringing as much kids as possible to SKATING (NOT speedskating, at first), and finally we should keep proving to the world that the true Olympic spirit absolutely lives in our sport, in which fortius citius altius are perfectly epitomized.
Because if the Olympic Games are still run by the same crooks last seen in Singapore, they can take the whole five rings and shove them up their arses. Starting with the red one, please.

Discussion Continues Re. Breaking Downward Cycle In Roller Speed Skating

Discussion has been ongoing in the thread Reverse Cycle needed urgently in Speed Skating since I recently shared the link.

In my area alone I think I might be the only skater, I live in one of the largest cities in the east coast USA, where there is 4 million people. Of course I’m not the only skater but I haven’t seen any other and people ask me what is your sport? They think I’m going to say Soccer or Baseball, or maybe Cyclist? When I answer Inline Speed Skating they look at me like if I just made that up. How are we going to have a successful sport if people aren’t even aware of it? It’s our fault guys, simply our fault but we could certainly use a little help to take the sport further by having the pros participating more in social events designed to attract people to the sport not just the races

I have always felt that the USARS does not do enough for inline skating in the United States. With strong indoor participation one would assume that this would trickle over to all aspects of the sport. In fact, it does not. For some time USARS has continued to gouge its members with high fees for National Championships and has given almost nothing in the way of marketing or direction for the sport of inline speed skating, or roller skating as a whole.

Another issue of equal importance is how to approach the youth about it, we wouldn’t want the sport to become a Harley Davidson beautiful but for the old! Kids get lured in differently, we have to find a way to literally deliver the sport to them and that we have to figure it out as well.