Industry News: Icing an Inline Link
USOC plans hookup with inline skating, transition-to-ice program
By Robert "Just the Factoids" Burnson
(posted Tuesday, May 30, 2006) The U.S. Olympic Committee confirmed plans today to provide financial help for inline speed skaters and to create a program to help top skaters move to ice. The USOC's Kelly Skinner said financial aid will most likely come in the form of one-time payments for skaters headed for the annual World Speed Skating Championships. He said the USOC had not yet decided what portion of travel expenses it would pay. The offer appears to be conditioned on the success of the other half of the USOC proposal: the inline-to-ice training program. Skinner said five to ten inline speed skaters a year would be recruited for the program. The USOC would provide monthly financial support and services, such as health insurance. "Most importantly," Skinner said, the athletes would also be sent to four to six inline-to-ice speed skating camps. "During the year, athletes in this program would be required to skate for both U.S. Speedskating and USA Roller Sports," Skinner said. "After 18 months, they would either go 100 percent to ice or stay with inline." The program would represent the first and only collaboration between USA Roller Sports, the national governing body for inline skating, and U.S. Speedskating, the national governing body for ice speed skating. It's clear how the program would benefit U.S. Speedskating. With ice skating programs drying up around the country, the organization has relied on former inline skaters to fill its ranks. The new program could only help by providing a clear path for inline skaters who want to chase the Olympic dream. It is less clear how the program would help USA Roller Sports. No doubt it would continue the drain of talent away from inline skating, which in recent years has lost such stars as Jennifer Rodriguez, Derek Parra and Chad Hedrick to the ice. But no doubt the program would come as a relief to World Team members and their families. Poorly funded USA Roller Sports hasn't been able to provide money for athletes to travel to world competitions. So it has relied on the USOC for travel money ($100,000 last year). Under the new program, skaters could focus on training for World Championships rather than how they are going to get there. Skinner warned that the USOC plans may still change. "The plans are not final," he said. "There is still a great deal of work to be done. The good news is that we are finally pushing this to happen and could have a program up and running this fall." • Go to extended comment from Kelly Skinner. Related reading:
• USOC may reconsider funding for Roller Sports (Go to story.)
• USOC cuts off money for inline skating (Go to story.) | 
