Money Woes Put Skating on Thin Ice

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The words belong to Charles Dickens. But the sentiments are shared by Frank Carroll. Dickens was describing the French Revolution in “A Tale of Two Cities.” Carroll is concerned with a revolution of a far more minor nature, one that threatens not his life but, he feels, his livelihood.

If you don’t know the name Frank Carroll, you probably don’t know much about figure skating. Carroll is a coach in the sport, one of the best in the country. He has been at it for 24 years, coaching, he estimates, some 300 youngsters, including people like Olympic silver medalist and two-time world champion Linda Fratianne and others such as Tiffany Chin, Mark Cockerell and Christopher Bowman.

Bowman, who lives in Van Nuys, likely has the best of times ahead of him with roles in perhaps the next two Winter Olympics.

But Carroll reckons his own best times are behind him as are, he predicts, the best of times for figure skating, in general, in Southern California.

“I think we’re in a golden era here in Los Angeles for figure skating,” Carroll said, “but I think it’s going to go downhill after this Olympics.

“The future is dim because all of the rinks we train at locally are privately owned. Their first concern is to make money. And they realize they don’t make money off figure skating.”

One incident that particularly galled Carroll occurred earlier this month, the week before the national figure skating championships in Denver. Bowman and Carroll, preparing for the nationals, lost a day on the Pickwick Ice Arena in Burbank because a commercial was being filmed there.

“It didn’t matter that Christopher was training for the nationals,” Carroll said.

“The problem is money. I’m not blaming the ice rinks. I’m not accusing them of doing anything wrong. They must make a profit and they’re squeezing every angle they can. When investors put money in, they want money back. But when I complain about it, the answer is, ‘You’re lucky to be here, lucky to have an ice rink.’ ”

Carroll emphasizes that he is not zeroing in on Pickwick or any of the other 13 major ice rinks in Southern California. The problems, he insists, are common.

“I have people coming from the East Coast and from Europe to learn under me,” he said, “and they get bumped off the ice. This is very disturbing to them. They are not used to it. “We have to share the ice with public skaters,” he said, “hockey players and things like the commercial.

“There are other problems. You need to use hot water to make the ice smooth enough so it will resemble the ice in Olympic or world conditions. Many of the local rinks don’t use hot water because it’s too expensive to heat the water. They will shut the machinery down at night to save money. When the figure skaters come in in the morning, the ice is soft. It’s like skating on cream cheese. The skaters can’t even see their figures. The rinks aren’t heated in order to save money, so the rinks are always freezing. A skater, working on triple jumps or splits, needs to have his or her body warmed up. I have students coming from places like Montreal and Minneapolis who say they have never been in a rink as cold as some of the ones out here.”

Carroll makes $60 an hour, not the top of the scale for coaches but not too far from it. For that, he must put in 10 to 12 hours a day on the ice five days a week in a job that has no medical benefits, no health plan and no pension. And a percentage of the money, as much as 20 percent, is taken back by the rink as commission.

“I bring in this business from all over the world,” Carroll said. “The skaters spend money for the ice time and equipment at the rinks. They spend thousands of dollars a year to skate in these facilities. I should be getting the commission for the ice that I sell. The rinks’ feeling is that I should pay them for coming in and using their facility. It’s terribly amazing to me. I resent paying for the privilege of coming in and freezing my behind off.”

Now, Carroll feels, he is being undercut by some rinks that are hiring their own teachers, paying them considerably less, perhaps $8.50 to $15 an hour, but still charging the students about the same with the profits going to the rink.

“When your only interest is money and profit,” Carroll said, “quality has to go. Figure skating is pricing itself right out of existence. Management has no idea what they are doing to the sport. They do not see the picture in the future. They do not see the deteriorating quality.”

Mike Paikin, an owner-operator of several ice rinks in the Valley area, sympathizes with Carroll but knows the other side.

“You have to pay the bills,” Paikin said. “In prime time, you want the largest number of skaters out there. And figure skaters are the least advantageous from that point of view. It’s better to have public skating. It would be like having one tennis court. Who would you rent it out to, singles players or a doubles team? You’d want to have as many people out there as possible.

“It’s getting to the point where some independent contractors are making a living off these facilities. If we hire our own teachers, we would pay them $15 an hour, which is not exactly peanuts. I’m not doing that, but others are. There has to be a mix between that and the coaches like Frank.

“In other areas like the Midwest, schools have their own ice rinks. They would also like to make money, but even if they don’t, the activities there are part of the physical education program. In some area, municipalities pay for the rinks. You have to find some way to pay the freight.”

Carroll would like to see something comparable locally.

“It’s a shame,” he said, “that the City of Los Angeles can’t do something about it.

“Americans have won more gold medals and more overall medals in figure skating than in any other winter sport. I don’t know why, with that reputation, something can’t be done to provide some facility in Los Angeles.”

Paikin and Carroll are doing more than just complaining about the situation. Paikin, with Carroll’s help, has been trying for two years to get a multisport complex built in the Valley, perhaps at Cal State Northridge. That proposal is still being studied by college officials. Carroll estimates it would take $5 million to build the type of facility world-class skaters need.

One possibility would be to obtain money from the surplus funds generated by the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. But a formal request for such money could not come until a site is obtained.

Carroll, 49, is not waiting. He has had offers from all over the country to coach, but hates the thought of leaving sunny California. He reasons he already spends too much time in the cold. So he’s invested in a Burbank restaurant and is pursuing a real-estate license in Palm Springs where he has a home.

“I would ultimately have to leave here if I want to stay in my profession. People like myself are not going to continue in business in L. A. much longer. The era of coaching figure skating being a top profession may be over. By hiring teachers for the rinks, you are not going to get the level of expertise required to be an Olympian,” he said.

“It’s difficult to reach the height of your profession and have to say, as I am, was it a mistake? Was all this for nothing--all these hours, all these kids, all these world champions? Was it all a mistake?”