UrbanSkaters

Hi Patrick. I’m a parent of one of the children taking part too. I know where you’re coming from, and I must admit, witnessing the show as it unfolded, I share some your views. The judges seemed to be more obsessed about facial expressions than actual raw skating talent. However, give it some time. You do see the teams progress through the series. My daughter had only been freestyle skating for a couple of months when she went to the heats. Her skating improved in leaps and bounds as the show progressed. Although I had massive issues with some aspects of the show, it is still a really interesting progression, and I’m sure it will provoke lots of arguments such as this.

The fact that the show was for kids is no excuse. There are kids their age that skate professionally shouldn’t this show be about giving them a bit of promotion? I didn’t see the original comment but I can bet that we were on the same page.

My kids watch it and they can see straight through it and are even quite baffled by some of the judges comments and err… judgements. The only time that this country will have a world beating anything is when we stop celebrating mediocrity.

Hi, as an outsider watching the show i feel the name should have been different, its not skating its all judged on dancing. plus i feel the way it was portrayed was that the 2 groups who are in the final were chosen from the begining. its become a very racist show, essence are still getting golds when they are making mistakes like others. whilst other groups are getting bronze’s. essance were in the bottom 2 once, but if you look at the audience they were all white on that day. i dont feel its been judged very farely. it wouldnt supriise me if essance sailed through and won it.

@Sean
hi sean/
i was there when it was filmed and your comments are spot on. i dont think it was racist but i felt that the programe was judged to much on dance moves and not skating skills.Your comments about the audience is also true.
i also felt that the final teams were chosen at the start.as the filming progressed we knew who would go out and who would progress,it wasnt to hard to work out.
No disrespect to any teams there was a lot of mistakes ignored and i felt that some progressed further than they should have to suit the bbc.
Anyway the programe is what it is and we have no hard feelings towards any off the teams because all they done was to skate to the best of there abbility.

@Rob
hi rob,
its easy to make comments like that
do you know what commitment and dedication it takes to become the world best.these are young kids having a bit off fun.
They are also very good skaters
Alot of the problem we find in speedskating is that we dont have the facilities avalible to skaters in europe.they train on top tracks every day,we have to make do with playgrounds and quiet lanes because we dont have the support we need

@patrick
Hi Patrick
I do understand the the commitment and dedication put in by most athletes, and thats why i appreciate the idea of a programme such as this that would give the skating community some much needed publicity, which could easily lead to better facilities.
I’m just speaking as a father who sits in with his children on a saturday morning watching cartoons and such. So I don’t know if my statement came across as a bit harsh. I just don’t get why teams that can’t skate are getting golds and teams that clearly can get bronze because they take what they do a bit more seriously. The show has done nothing in terms of getting my kids interested in wanting to skate, and shouldn’t that be part of the point?

hi rob,
i agree.We felt that the teams that skated were marked down and the teams that skated less but had dance moves were getting gold.They also wore quads with a big brake on the front.
Some of the judges decisions had me puzzled as i thought the programe was about skating and not dancing.I think that the filming was difficult,which is why the
skating area was so small,this led to the skating leaning to dance.
I wont go on as i dont want to sound like a bad loser because i have no problem with the other teams and wish them all well.
I did at the time have issues with the programe as it progressed and im sure other parents did also.i know that our skaters had so much more to give,having said that they picked up a lot of new skills on the way.
ill comment more when the show finishes as i dont want to give anything away about the outcome.Regards Patrick

hi, my sister was in one of the teams taking part. from being there and watching pritty much every show live i could see what actually went on. i agree with what sean is saying where it came across as the winners had been chosen from the start. as well as the judges making comments which either contradicted the show or comments where they didnt know what they was talking about.
for example:
- asha said ‘i think you did much better on these erm erm skates rather than your speed skates’ to the rapid rollers. But this is coming from the ‘professional skater’ who should know there called reck skates. plus the fact her special qualifications she has in skating are worthless.

- another comment was as consiquence of a teams routine, saying the routine wasn’t very good, but what they didn’t say on the program is that the teams routines are made up and taught to them by a choreographer, they dont make them up themselves.

i can say what i wanted to in my comments now that the programe has finished.
after all that went on,i do delieve the right team won the programe.i felt that coast bladders were the best skaters ! well done guys.

Hi Rob
As the parent in the team Coast Bladers I do find your comment a little harsh, are you referring to all teams that received golds as “unable to skate” I do understand all the posts that have appeared on the forum and can agree with patrick on a lot of his issues, but as an amateur group of skaters who only enjoy their sport for what it is, surely it goes to prove to young skaters that you do not have to be a ’semi-pro’ to be able to learn complicated new tricks, we didn’t enter the programme knowing it was dance based and had we known we probably wouldn’t have, but when it came down to it I believe we proved a lot of people wrong, and behind the scenes the ’semi-pro’ teams already believed from day one that they had it sewn up because they were the ‘experienced skaters’ thats what spurred us on to carry on going!

I don’t think any criticism should be aimed at any of the teams, as they all entered in good faith, and none of them knew what to expect when they auditioned – and none had any control over their fate once embroiled in the whole “Skate Nation” experience. I suppose it’s not too difficult to deduce from my previous post, way back in July, that I’m Katie’s mum from the Roller Rockets. As with all the teams, we really had no clue what the show’s format was going to be when they first auditioned – we thought it was a skating competition. The BBC rang their club and asked if they would put together “a few” teams to audition. I think they rang round quite a few different clubs, from different disciplines. We were under the impression that it was going to be a different skating discipline every week too – and all the kids were up for it (did you see how much Nathaniel loved the skate ramps when the teams swapped disciplines?) They were willing to have a go at lots of different challenges. It’s only when they were GIVEN their music and TAUGHT their routine for the heats, that it became apparent what the show was likely to be all about. Katie’s new to artistic skating, but she’d been along to a few fun sessions at her local sports centre – she’s done slalom, ramps and hockey, as well as simply skating round and round really fast to the disco. I know they’re getting knocked now for being “semi-pro”. But Kala hasn’t ever skated competitively as far as I am aware, and hung her skates up when she was 16 after being in an artistic skate club for just two years. She came out of retirement to do the show because they needed an 18+ year old who was related to at least one other team member – that was the criteria (she had to borrow her skates, because she doesn’t own any). Since the show, Katie entered her first competition, but at the time, had been skating “properly” for about 2 months. And they weren’t the only artistic team to audition – The Angels, Fab Four, Wheeled Wonders, Three Blondes and a Baldy, Blue Sherbert… all are artistic teams who compete nationally and/or internationally. Besides which, what does “semi-pro” mean? I know the term “pro” means that you are paid for providing a service. I may be wrong, so forgive me if I am, but I’ve been led to understand that some of the adult members from other teams class themselves as skate coaches? Is this not “semi-pro” – and if money exchanges hands for their services, “pro”? Much was made of the fact that Nathaniel was British champ – the BBC neglected to dwell on the fact that he was “male British champ in his age category”. I don’t want to discredit him, as he is a brilliant skater, but there aren’t many boys his age, in this country, who take part or compete in artistic skating, so the competition isn’t that fierce. It alienated the team straightaway, and we knew very early on that we were the “snooty, arrogant artistic team”. I don’t want to moan (but I can’t help it) because, no matter what, it was a fantastic opportunity and an experience that Katie will never forget. But none of the teams had any control over what routines they were given, what music, what costumes, or how they were portrayed. And looking back on the whole experience – and the final edit – there were lots of different factors involved, cleverly interwoven to provide drama, excitement, controversy – all the elements which make reality TV shows such as “Strictly”, “X-Factor” and “Dancing on Ice” such addictive viewing. The voting audience loved Essence and Coastbladers for their fun factor and entertainment value – as well as their skating ability. So I think the right teams made it through to the final. But, can I just say, for the record, that I absolutely hate Bruce Springsteen and those stupid bloody HUGE flags?

Hi
Its great to hear from the families of team members or team members themselves. I am Maya’s dad from the Rapid Rollers and she would like to say a big hello to all the friends she made on Skate Nation. It sounds to me like all the teams were in the same situation from the beginning of the show by not knowing it was going to be based on dance routines. It has been a fantastic experience for her and we must have watched each episode about 100 times. I hope that another series is made in the future and it will be interesing to see if any changes will be made to the format.

@dannyh7
congratulations to you and the other coastblader. After the Rapid Rollers went out we were routing for your team. If you have time Maya would love to hear of your experience in Taiwan.

Hi Mandy
Can I just confirm that I am with you on the Bruce Springsteen and huge flag scenario…. the post wasn’t aimed at you guys specifically it was just in response to a previous post that seemed to discredit all the work that teams had put in that hadn’t attempted artistic skating before, Nathaniel without doubt is a great skater, and he knew it, and in credit to you guys I did state that when you came back on the day of the final and the pressure was off the routine that they did was outstanding, had they have been like that all the way through it could have been different, but that’s my opinion.
Somethings have been said that the finalists were chosen from day one, if that was the case then all our hard work was for nothing and the boys have been given no respect for what they have achieved, however is it not the case that most of the show was edited after the final and could have been done in such a way that 2 teams were highlighted because of this?
I believe you know us well enough to know that we just went along with it as you guys did, and that we had no arrogance about us (apart from Ben D who thought every female loved him!)
We enjoyed every moment of it, and judging by the last episode I think you can see that we had no idea we were going to win it after a disastrous first routine, I’d do it all again if I had to because what we did achieve was meeting a great bunch of people that made the experience all the more special, with or without their personal traits!

@Mandy

Hi Dan
No probs. I understand where you were coming from with your post. I think there have been a fair few unjust comments about most of the teams on various blogs…. not just this one. Some saying they didn’t think the Roller Rockets should have been in the competition at all etc. Being Katie’s mum I feel very protective of my daughter, as well as the rest of the team. And you no doubt feel exactly the same about your boys. We know how hard they worked and how much time and effort “Skate Nation” took. All the teams gave up their lives to the show for weeks and weeks, and still had school, work etc to contend with. I spent so much time with the Rockets during the whole process, I felt like a surrogate mum (even to Kala). I got to know Nathaniel well and there’s quite a facade you have to break through to get to know the real 13-year-old – and he’s a pretty good kid underneath that “I know it all” exterior (although I don’t think Juan ever found it – LOL). I completely understand why you were upset about some of the comments on this blog. I felt upset for you too when I read them, and thought they were pretty harsh. I’m sure Jo and the rest of Essence would be be very upset too if they read them. I personally thought that out of all the adults, Jo was defintely the one who made the most progress throughout the series, and that was partly what it was all about. I didn’t get to know all of the teams sadly, just the 8 that made it through to the stadium shows. But I genuinely couldn’t have hoped to meet and compete against a nicer bunch of people. I know that myself and the rest of the Rockets thought we were beaten by very worthy opponents. I hope Taiwan was fantastic. I can’t wait to see the show in January. And yes, we too would probably (and stupidly – lol) do it all again. Good to hear from you. Pass on my regards to Colin, the Bens and little Jay.

Hi All. Does anyone have a copy of episode 6 on DVD? I am the karate instructor teaching the slap shots and would really like a copy for my CV

All help appreciated