> We just got back from Tulsa where North Central Regionals were held. There
> were only 2 skaters in the inline singles division. Actually there was only a
> total of 14 freestyle skaters in all divisions combined-quad and inline.
> Chelsee won the elementary division and was the only skater to receive a
> standing ovation!

Congratulations to Chelsee! I have seen some of her online video and I'm
very impressed. Keep going girl!

I'm distressed at the size of the turnout at the NC Regionals! How long has
it been like this? I was a quad skater back in the early seventies in
California when Artistic skating was huge. I coached for a little while
after we moved to Colorado Springs, and though the Regionals were small
compared to California, they were still well attended. Gosh. It's a shame.

Up in Boulder where I now live, there is no roller rink. The closest one is
in Longmont and it nearly went under, but was resold recently and now has an
inline speed club, but no artistic club. The nearest Skate City in Thornton
also has speed and hockey but no artistic. What has happened? How has
artistic skating failed to attract new youth?

Dance skating was hopelessly old fashioned and outdated even 30 years ago
when I was skating. Even then to use today's vernacular, the music sucked.
Dance was always where young skaters started, the easiest form to begin
with, (not to master of course) freestyle came next, and figures for those
not so athletically inclined. Today, nobody even knows what figures are.
(They were required back then!)

Are today's American kids just too fat and lazy to take up a sport requiring
skill, discipline, and dedication? Are parents just too busy, lazy,
univolved, or cheap (pick your adjective) to drive them to practice? What
the heck happened? (You people reading this newsgroup of course don't fit
the American 'supersized' mold.)

Skating was on the way downhill, and out of fashion when I was coaching and
after the two rinks I tought in went belly up, I finally gave up. I still
love the sport, and would love to see it revived, in-line or quad. Obviously
something needs to change to attract today's youth (and their families).
What do you all think? What would need to happen to make this sport come
back? What would motivate people to come back to roller rinks? In fact do we
need to re-think the whole idea of roller rinks? (Personally, I can't stand
the loud, awful music, the crowds, and just going round n round. But I'm an
old fart now so my opinion probably doesn't count.) I'm curious to hear from
those of you who still skate with a club. Have you seen a drop off in
participation? Am I way off the mark? What do kids want today? What do their
parent's want? Why has ice skating grown, while roller skating has died?
Hmm?
Ex-skater Sue