Pretty Skater & Pretty Positions | Golden Skate

Pretty Skater & Pretty Positions

orchid

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
How much less consistent are Alissia's jumps when compared to ,, well, Sasha? :scratch:
 

VIETgrlTerifa

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
When I first saw Alissa, I thought she was a much more fluid version of Sasha but even more inconsistent on her jumps.

I think Alissa clearly has the best spins and spirals in the U.S., maybe even in the World.

About her chances for the third spot, they're as good anyone below Meissner and better than Kirk's.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Alissa and her sister Amber, also a fine skater, are from this neck of the woods (St. Claire Shores, Michigan). They go to college in Ohio (in fact, Alissa is the U.S. collegiate champion and Amber is the silver medalist), but come back to the Detroit area a lot. I have seen Alissa skate live quite a few times. She is -- what Vietgirl said, LOL. Very smooth and fluid, with excellent transitions between her elements.

But you do have to hold your breath on the jumps -- more so than Sasha. With Alissa, I don't know if it nerves or what.

Sasha is not too bad in this area, IMHO. Sasha usually hits 5 out of 6 or so. That's an .833 batting average. Not bad. Not bad at all.

MM
 

Fozzie Bear

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
:love: If she skates more performances like her "The Mission" SP from Skate America and Jr Worlds, then she should be right up there. But as Mathman said...

I really hope that if Bebe doesn't nab that third spot, Alissa will.
 

VIETgrlTerifa

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Fozzie Bear said:
I really hope that if Bebe doesn't nab that third spot, Alissa will.

Do we share a brain?

The one problem I have with Czisny's skating is that her jump landings can be a bit...ugly and short-edged. At Jr. Worlds LP, all of her triples landed very awkwardly with a short sort of hook at the end. I hope that she works on it for next season.
 

Fozzie Bear

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
VIETgrlTerifa, considering the skaters in your signature, I think we really might be sharing the same brain. :laugh: Although I'd probably replace Buttle with Jahnke and Lambiel with Klimkin (I like all of them though). ;)

Czisny seems similar to another favorite of mine, Yukina Ota. They both have light and beautiful movements, spins, spirals, lines, etc., but I wince sometimes when they jump.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Czisny's got it all except for the jump consistency as MM says. I first saw her at the Atlanta Nats and thought this gal could be among the greats. Unfortunately, she can not get those jumps down in front of an audience.

If she could get 6 months with Arutunian and a good sports psychologist, she would be yet another American contender in the Ladies Division.

Joe
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Mathman said:
Sasha is not too bad in this area, IMHO. Sasha usually hits 5 out of 6 or so. That's an .833 batting average. Not bad. Not bad at all.

MM

I would say it's more like 4.5 out of 6. (that translates to exactly 3 out of 4 jumps- for every 4 jumps she attempts, she'll land three of them.) She (typically) falls on a jump and messes another one up (but stays on her feet).

And about Alissa's chances: Kwan and Cohen are virtually on the team; they just have to show up. Of the rest, I'd give Kirk and Meissner a slight edge over the others for the third spot. So I would say it's possible, but not that great.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I'm not sure if Orchid intended this to be a thread about Alissa Czisny specifically, or pretty skaters in general.

There are a lot of pretty skaters at all levels. Some of them are also good at triple jumps, and sometimes the jumping and the aesthetics do not go hand in hand.

I tend to think of "pretty" as girlish and lightweight. For some skaters with more womanly bodies the words that come to my mind are more often beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, etc. Sometimes the same skater can inspire many positive adjectives.

I've been looking for examples and found a lot. Here is a representative sampling, not anywhere near exhaustive.

On the pages with several pictures, there was at least one that made me think "Wow, that's pretty (beautiful, stunning, gorgeous)" or "Wow, she's flexible," or in a few cases "Wow, that's a deep edge" or "Wow, that's an interesting position." There may be other photos on the page that don't have the same effect. And if you browse the sites where I found a lot of skaters, you'll find others who are also noteworthy.

I've chosen an oversampling of Biellmann positions in reference to the other thread.

http://www.catslair.com/skating/2004/nationals/pics/nov/ladies/short/Oberstar.shtml

http://www.catslair.com/skating/2004/nationals/pics/nov/ladies/short/Hacker.shtml

http://www.catslair.com/skating/2004/nationals/pics/sr/ladies/short/rosenthal.shtml

http://www.catslair.com/skating/2004/nationals/pics/sr/ladies/free/reiten.shtml

http://www.catslair.com/skating/2004/nationals/pics/sr/ladies/free/liang.shtml

http://www.catslair.com/skating/2004/nationals/pics/sr/ladies/free/beck.shtml

http://swpskating.com/christiebaca.html

http://swpskating.com/biancabutler.html

http://swpskating.com/stepdalpor.html

http://swpskating.com/narinam.html

http://swpskating.com/beatrisaliang.html

http://swpskating.com/zhaozhang.html

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~walker/photos/04-01-06_Atlanta/2004-01-10-1JLF/photo039.html

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~walker/photos/04-01-06_Atlanta/2004-01-10-1JLF/photo006.html

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~walker/photos/04-01-06_Atlanta/2004-01-08-3CLS/photo050.html

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~walker/photos/04-01-06_Atlanta/2004-01-10-4CLF/photo070.html

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~walker/photos/04-01-06_Atlanta/2004-01-10-4CLF/photo004.html

http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/reports/2003-new-englands/archambault-3.jpg

http://www.skateygirl.com/nat2002/NoviceLadies/Hadford/pages/r11n25_jpg.htm
 

~Rainbow~

Match Penalty
Joined
Aug 20, 2005
Joesitz said:
Czisny's got it all except for the jump consistency as MM says. I first saw her at the Atlanta Nats and thought this gal could be among the greats. Unfortunately, she can not get those jumps down in front of an audience.

If she could get 6 months with Arutunian and a good sports psychologist, she would be yet another American contender in the Ladies Division.

Joe

Exactly what she needs, I absolutely loved her skating from last year at Skate America. I believe she can be one of the best ever if she works with Artunian.
 

Crizzy

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
MM, who is she? I think I might have seen a short clip of her skating before.


Yes, I have I :love: her. I just can't remember her name
 

KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 24, 2003
^^^^^I believe the young gal in that picture that Mathman posted is Caroline Zhang. She was 4th in Novice Ladies at US Nats this past year in Portland and she is adorable.. She caught my eye as one to watch when I was out there for Nats and I really hope she makes it back to Nats this year! She's got tons of talent and a great presence on the ice. :clap:
 
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