Skating on Thin Ice

Abstract

This study is part of a larger ethnographic project which examines human rights issues in youth figure skating, from both the skaters’ and the adults’ points of view. As in many first world, westernized sports available to youth participants in the late 20th/early 21st century, parental involvement and support is necessary for viable participation of children in figure skating. We examine the figure skating subculture(s) from the point of view of the aspiring national-class skater — which is, of course, a different view than that of eliteathletes who have already been identified as world class. We also interrogate the involvement of parents as co-actors in this figure skating subculture, examine the degrees to which this involvement is beneficial, and trace possible results of parental involvement in delivery of youth sport in the United States. In the reporting of the subjectivities and ‘lived experiences’ of our subjects, we have utilized a fictionalized amalgam which is meant to bring the reader closer to the actual lived experiences — closer to the affect of the experience of being a teenaged figure skater. As well, we discuss several key themes which impinge upon the human rights of youth figure skaters.