2016 U.S. FIGURE SKATING GOVERNING COUNCIL 2016
B U
Skating legend Scott Hamil- ton delivers an inspirational keynote address at Governing Council.
‘GETTING UP’ HAMILTON DRIVES HOME IMPORTANT LIFE MESSAGE Olympic champion Scott Hamilton opened
the 2016 Hilton Governing Council in Columbus, Ohio, on April 29 talking about the energy sur- rounding the sport right now, as evidenced by the large, enthusiastic crowds at the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston and the KOSÉ Team Challenge Cup in Spokane, Washington. “T is is one of the crowds that I can step in
front of and there’s just one degree of separation,” Hamilton said of the 400 attendees. “We all love the sport and we all love this community. “Looking at the crowds in Boston, you can
see the sport is defi nitely on the upswing. We have to understand struggle to understand what triumph really means. We can defi nitely see by the crowds in Boston and the success of the Team Challenge Cup that the sport is on its way back.” Hamilton also talked about the Scott Ham-
ilton CARES (Cancer Alliance for Research Ed- ucation and Survivorship) Foundation, and how it is important that the skating community help in the fi ght against cancer. T e disease will now aff ect one of every two men and one of every three women, he said. Hamilton’s inspirational story includes a
bout with testicular cancer and a later scare with a brain tumor. He also talked about the sport of fi gure skating and the life lessons skaters can learn from the sport. “So much about skating is about getting up,”
Hamilton said. “What skating does better than any other activity in the world is that it’s a sport that is about getting up. T e fi rst thing we do in Basic Skills is teach how to fall and how to get up. “We’re going to face a lot of diffi cult things in
our lives. It’s the getting up that defi nes everything. You fall down. And you get up. You’re diagnosed with cancer, that’s getting knocked down. What do you do? You get up and you do everything you can to fi ght back this insidious disease. You fall in
8 JUNE/JULY 2016
the most important competition of your life, you get up and you face what’s next with courage, de- termination and conviction.” U.S. Figure Skating President Samuel Auxier
presided over the meeting. Attendees began to arrive on Wednesday, and business offi cially concluded on Saturday afternoon. Various seminars, including Learn to Skate USA, Future LOCs and Club Edu- cation, took place on Wednesday and T ursday. On Friday afternoon, U.S. Figure Skating’s
Chief Marketing Offi cer Ramsey Baker presented an update on the organization’s Brand and Image initiative, which tied in very well to one of Friday’s central themes: getting up. T e multiyear campaign, which will launch
in the fall of 2016, has been in development for two years and is set to boost the image of and ul- timately draw more participants into the sport of fi gure skating. “Kids want to have fun but also have mean-
ingful experiences,” Baker said. “T ey like the community aspect of fi gure skating. Studies in- dicate that parents are looking for activities that help their children grow and learn life lessons. Our research has shown that kids, just as much as par- ents, want to be challenged in their extracurricular activities, and fi gure skating off ers both fun and the development of the whole person.” T e mantra of the campaign focuses on per-
sonal growth and social belonging, which will put emphasis on the transformational characteristics that fi gure skating off ers. On Saturday, U.S. Figure Skating’s Senior
Director of Membership Susi Wehrli-McLaugh- lin and Director of Membership Development Brenda Glidewell, along with many of the Learn to Skate USA business development specialists, in- troduced the new Learn to Skate USA program to a receptive crowd. T e program offi cially launches on June 1.
Learn to Skate USA, which is endorsed by
U.S. Figure Skating, U.S. Speedskating and USA Hockey, among others, is designed to provide a fun and positive experience that will instill a lifelong love of skating. Wehrli-McLaughlin and Glidewell shared information about the new brand, new management system, and many other benefi ts that participating programs will be able to take advantage of. At the end of the meeting, PSA Vice Presi-
dent Rebecca Stump awarded Doug Williams the PSA’s Distinguished Offi cials Award. “I’m passionate about the sport,” Williams
said. “I do all of the things I do because I love it. I do it because of the athletes that are here now, the athlete that I was and the athletes that are coming [to our sport] because of this new Learn to Skate USA program.” Next year’s meeting will be held May 3–7 in
Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Doug Williams receives the PSA’s Distinguished Offi - cials Award from PSA Vice President Rebecca Stump.
PHOTO BY LEXI ROHNER
PHOTOS BY GIANNI MAROSTICA
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