Olympia, I agree. Also, it seems to be that once one has mastered figures to a certain level, you are able to maintain that advantage fairly consistently.The point that jcoates makes about school figures being time-consuming is valid, but I think that the difference in the physical demands of school figures and the demands of practicing triple-triples is more significant. For one thing, it's not so easy to get injured practicing school figures. On the other hand, practicing jumps incorrectly or while tired can lead to injuries that make everything harder.
If Rachael is at the top of the heap of US ladies skating at the end of the season then we are screwed for yet another year if that's the best we can do. Not hating just the way it is.
I would honestly be thrilled if my future children turned out a little bit like her. Smart, sweet, motivated, and wanting to push herself both academically as well as athletically... There is only one other skater I know of who was enrolled in engineering as a competitive skater, and that's Jeffrey Buttle, who was also doing chemical engineering but part-time.It seems to me, before she is even 20 yrs old, Flatt has a focus to her life that is unique to her and unusually driven for someone so young. She obviously values her education but also has valued the experiences that she has been provided thru skating.
Ooh, where did you read that? I thought she was doing the full workload.It’s really a matter of what’s expected of you and what you’re trying to get out of your college experience. Rachael’s taking three classes – that would be considered a rather light course load for an undergraduate where I live, especially considering that only one of them appears to be engineering-related.
for instance, as of last year, Kristoffer Berntsson was finishing a Master’s degree in electric power engineering at Chalmers University of Technology (Wikipedia indicates that this is a very good university); he told Absolute Skating last year that “Someday I won’t skate anymore, but I will still have my brains and my knowledge.” Indeed!
It was in the ESPN article that was linked in the first post:Ooh, where did you read that? I thought she was doing the full workload.
Doesn't seem like something she can't handle.In the meantime, she's a college student with three classes: computational mathematics, writing and rhetoric, and humanities. She has joined her friends to cheer on dorm mates who play on the men's and women's soccer teams.