CHRISTOPHER BUCHANAN

I have been an active member of BIS for almost 50 years and have been very heavily involved in all aspects of the work of the association at all levels. In that time, I have been an active club member and was Chairman of the Altrincham Ice Skating Club for a number of years. My time as a BIS member has also included time on the NISA Board as both a discipline representative, Finance Director. I was also a NISA Technical Committee member for many years. Providing support for the Performance Group as well as being a regular trainer and moderator at BIS seminars and our Coaches Congresses is also part of my contribution to our sport. I am currently the BIS Nominated Director for Synchronized Skating and have completed a four year term.

I recently retired an ISU Referee, Controller and Judge for Ice Dance and Synchronized Skating after having officiated at many Olympic, World and European championships. I am a very experienced moderator and examiner for the ISU for Coaches, Judges, Referees, Controllers and Specialists having delivered training seminars and moderated examinations all over the world. I am also a BIS national level Singles judge. It has been a great pleasure for me to have a strong and long association with our Adult Skating events and have supported the ISU Adult event in Oberstdorf since its inception.

Working with a very supportive and enthusiastic group of individuals, I was part of the organising committee that established the only annual ISU competition we had in the UK at that time, the Trophy d’Ecosse. At the club level, to help grow the Synchronized Skating participation, I worked with a number of our rinks and volunteers to set up and run a series of developmental competitions round the country for grass roots teams. This resulted in growing the number of Synchro teams from around five to almost one hundred today and bringing over 1,500 members to BIS.

I was also ISU Synchronised Skating Technical Committee Chairman for 8 years, so am very familiar with the working of the ISU and have many strong relationships with the ISU members that have proved beneficial for BIS. I was responsible for making the first application to the IOC for the inclusion of Synchronized Skating in the Winter Olympic Games.

From a business and organisational perspective, I have been working at Board level in major international financial and logistics organisations for over 45 years and bring a strong organisational, financial and strategic experience.

My principal objective is to help grow grass roots participation in all of our skating disciplines that will help underpin the promotion and development of all recreational and competitive levels for our skaters of all standards and ages.

I truly believe we have the skaters with the talent and capability to be at the highest levels in all areas of skating. The challenge we face is in finding better ways of fostering the talent we have in our skaters and coaches. It is all very well having the raw talent but without our coaches, we have absolutely no possibility of realising any competitive ambition on the world stage. I believe we must invest more heavily in bringing our coaching system to at least the same, but preferably better, level than our main international competitors.

This can only be achieved by having a strong collaborative approach between BIS, the coaches, the skaters and all of the people that support our skaters. We have a huge pool of willing talent in all areas of skating, business and support services that could be called upon to help build a stronger and brighter future for our skaters and our association. So, instead of always relying on a gallant few we must welcome and encourage a much wider participation in all on and off-ice activities of the association. We have the capability, now we have to galvanise all of our resources in a concerted drive to achieve the goals and ambitions laid out in the BIS strategic objectives.

My officiating and international experience stretches back almost 45 years, and I have worked, and continue to work, with skaters and coaches from all of the leading skating nations. That being said, I also work hard within BIS to help develop our skaters and coaches by contributing at monitoring sessions, seminars, training camps and competitions at all levels.

My time on the BIS Board, as Chair of an ISU Technical Committee and Chair of the BIS Synchronized Skating TAC, have given me a strong understanding of all of the other factors that we must deal with and address if we are to achieve success at the highest levels as well as seeing what is happening with our international colleagues that could be used to grow participation in our own country.

I believe my business and skating background, combined with my ISU experience, would make me a suitable person to represent our members as a BIS Board Director.