US Nats Practice Tidbits

Doggygirl · Jan 9, 2006

Well, it was quite exciting to see my first ever live "competitive" skating (even tho it was practice). Sr. Pairs SP tonight. I'm going to be brief, in large part because this laptop keyboard drives me totally nuts - the worst one I've ever tried to type on. So if many typos abound, you know why.

For me, Nam/L stole the show tonight. Talk about presence!! If they can keep building an arsenal technically, look out!

I/B had their group to themselves. I suspect they approached their practice accordingly they practiced a few throw A's at the end, but I think a clean T2A was as good as it got. I don't think that last one was a 3A, but of course I could be wrong - correct me if I am. They looked good though - at ease and comfortable.

O/L were a no show for practice.

I did not stay for the last group and I'm not sure who all was scheduled for that. Can't wait to get a program tomorrow so I feel less "in the dark" as things happen.

I'm tired...and LOL tired of this keyboard. OK - one last funny thing. It reminded me of when Sasha spit water over the board on camera. When Nam and L first came out for the practice session, they warmed up a bit, then went up to the boards by their coach. Nam leaned down, and gingerly picked up a dirty kleenex off the ice and tossed it over. Looks to me like spit and snot, etc. must just be par for the course. FS really IS a SPORT!!!!

Nighty night. I have more notes on other teams, but for now just a few highlights.

DG

SailorGalaxia518 · Jan 9, 2006

Thanks for the reports, Doggygirl

Can't wait to see how Naomi Nari Nam does with her partner during this competition

purplecat · Jan 9, 2006

Go Naomi!

(And Themi of course!

)

sk8fanconvert · Jan 9, 2006

We're about to leave for the airport, so we'll be there tonight for the practice. Where are you sitting Doggygirl? I'll be wearing a light blue izod short sleeve shirt (it's pretty warm here right now). I might have an enormous blue coat over that! Hope to see you tonight.

Jeff

emma · Jan 9, 2006

Thanks for the reports Doggygirl, awesome!!!! I hope you have a super great time too!

Mathman · Jan 9, 2006

Thanks for the report. Will you get a chance to see any of the novice or junior skaters?

eliza88 · Jan 9, 2006

I love reading practice reports! Thank you thank you! Cannot wait to see NNN and partner! Hope they do well enough to make the broadcast.

I was at Nats last year...very curious to see how some of the Novice champs will do at the Junior level!

eliza88

Doggygirl · Jan 9, 2006

Hi all. I just posted some notes over at FSU about Jr. Dance CD's. I know lots of people at least check for updates on both boards. I will try to cut and paste to both places, but you on GS have my permission to cut/paste any notes of mine on FSU to GS if I miss anything. I'm not fast enough to catch a whole PBP of every skater - I'm sure as the week goes on and more people arrive there will be better reports available.

DG

sk8fanconvert · Jan 10, 2006

Sr. Pairs FS Practice

Last night we saw the senior pairs practicing their free skates. Some notes:

I & B hit a throw 3 axel, but she fell on it several times too. He was having a hard time with side by side jumps.
O & L mostly pulled their punches- during their run-through, they skipped all the jumps and throws and lifts. Later she hit a couple huge 3s and they did sidebyside 3-2.
H & P totally skipped all the jumps and throws in their run-through. I don't recall them doing any triples at any other time either.

Castile and Okolski were very impressive, as were Nam and Leftheris.
Evora and Ladwig were the only ones to do a complete run-through. They have an interesting program- elements are stacked, like a triple twist, right to a throw. She fell on one throw 3, and doubled one of the sidebyside jumps.
Jordan and Barrett: She's grown a lot, but she's still super skinny. She fell a lot.
Fein and Scott: A little rough, but not bad, for a new partnership. She looks the same. Surprised to see that Philip Dulebohn is one of their coaches.

Overall, there were a whole lot of very interesting, complicated, and beautiful lifts.
Bye for now.

P.S. Sorry guys, but it looks like the SkyCam is back. Maybe we should start emailing ABC now...

SailorGalaxia518 · Jan 10, 2006

Well, I'm just hoping that the Pairs competition won't be a splatfest again

show 42 · Jan 10, 2006

Thanks for the reports, DG and Sk8fan........most appreciated.........Egad.....not the "Return of the SkyCam!"......where's my dramamine?........42

Dee4707 · Jan 10, 2006

show 42 said:
Thanks for the reports, DG and Sk8fan........most appreciated.........Egad.....not the "Return of the SkyCam!"......where's my dramamine?........42

DITTO11111

Dee

Tonichelle · Jan 10, 2006

DG where are you sitting during practices? I'm in the 2nd row of section 103 most of the time... I have a leopard print jacket and blanket... just to let you know (though presently I'm in my UAA tshirt... it's not that cold right now lol) Sasha's on the ice! WOOT! :rock:

Doggygirl · Jan 10, 2006

Hey Toni...

I'm in section 110, row C, seat 6. I noted your practice seat, and will look for you. I'm on a break now, but getting ready to head back for CD, Jr. Men FS, and OD. This is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

On a more general note, I'm going to copy some stuff I wrote up here that I also posted on FSU re Mens and Ladies SP practice. Let me know if you want me to keep trying to do that, or if you see it already on FSU. It's no technical for sure - just observations and comments mostly.

DG

Doggygirl · Jan 10, 2006

Ladies SP practice stuff (warning - pack a lunch!)

Group A Bugaeva (sp) and Czisny were no shows. Of the rest in this group, I was more impressed with Kahle than the others. The only negative was that she gave the first B-man siting. It was during her spiral, and it was not good. VERY bent leg – I’m not sure her foot was all the way over her head. Why oh why do the ladies insist on doing this move if they can’t do it. Overall her jumps looked pretty good from what I noticed. She really worked hard during this session – when the announcer said “one minute remaining” she was the only one still on the ice practicing.

My “stand out” note about Legg is that she did a really nice long spread eagle into a jump – her 2A I think? I need to start paying more attention to the details as I certainly know an A from the rest.

Madorski (sp) – I felt bad for her. Early in the warm up she was doing a basic spiral position, and pitched forward onto the ice (caught herself with her hands thank goodness – otherwise it would have been face first). Then when her music came on, she fell on what I think was footwork into jump (jump never happened of course). Then she fell again during SL FW. She sort of smiled and giggled after these falls, but I suspect it was a very nervous sort of thing – not an “I don’t take it seriously” sort of thing. That’s how it seemed to me, anyway.

Zukowski also seemed to be really working hard during this session. She fell on her 2nd jump during run through, but made her 3/2 and 2A.

Void note – in my Sunday night report, I mentioned some melting blob that someone spit on the board right in front of where I’m sitting. Of course it’s all melted now, but still there. Yuk. Wonder what else is still there on the floor or whatever.

Group B. This group was a ZOO. They had 7 skaters in this group, and all showed up.

Archambalt (sp) – now she got off on the wrong foot with me right away. I know it’s “hot” for the younger gals to wear hip hugger pants, and waist length tops leaving 2 – 4 inches of below the belly button midriff showing. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. This was actually quite distracting for me. I was anticipating a plumber crack moment everytime she bent over – so I missed a good deal of what she was actually doing. She only did about half of her run through, then sat the rest out. Mean time, during everyone else’s run through, she seemed to be the one who was most often in the wrong spot, appearing to cause others to abandon moves because she was in the way.

Boulos (sp) – she was there working, I didn’t have anything special to note. (that doesn’t mean she had a bad practice, there was just a lot going on)

Cohen. Seemed to take it easy (probably by plan – this is not criticism) during this practice. The main moves she did during her run through were the opening (stopped before the first jump), the spiral sequence (great positions as always), and the SL FW section. Somehow I expected all of the above to seem a bit faster over the ice. But she was taking it a little easy, so maybe this will look different to me on comp day. She did a little jumping, but not much. Did anyone else notice any triples? I didn’t, but with 7 girls out there….

Amber. I just love this lady – she just seems like such a class act. Most of the skaters took the ice with jackets on. (which is fine) Amber had a nice dress on (may be her actual SP costume) with a cute pink sweater over it – the kind that ties in the front above the waistline. When she took that off, she had the long gloves on. No tiara, but heck this is practice. Her jumps were looking very good, and I hope she holds this for the SP. I keep thinking her earlier season jump melt downs must have had something (injury?) behind them. No trace of that today. She did a 100% full run through including (I think) the 3/3. Her non jump elements are not as difficult or strong as some of the other ladies, but I give her credit for doing what she CAN do as well as she can do it. HUGE LURVE from the audience at the end of her SP. She also gave big smiles to the audience during her program. Most of the run throughs – the skaters might look up (like, insert facial expression here) but its like they look through you. She smiles and you feel like she’s looking AT you.

Evidente – nothing stand out to note.

Hughes II – First nice B-man position I saw today. It was in a spin. Her jumps looked pretty good. I was running out of room for notes – I IRC she did parts of her program and skipped others. Probably because that dang Archambalt (sp) was getting in the way. She shows such an ease and joy about her, she’s just really pleasant to watch IMO. She does a really nice classic spiral position too IMO.

Roth – either it was a bad day for her, or she’s pretty outclassed in the field. BUT – it’s a major accomplishment beyond what I can imagine just to make it here. So I wish her well in the comp, and congratulations for making Nationals. I hope she finishes ahead of Archambalt just because. (OK, I’ve vented, and I promise I’m over the near plumber crack misses, and the near collisions now. Thanks for humoring me).

Group C. Meissner a no show (and no music either). Another missed opportunity to mislead NBC guy.

Liang. They must have had some problem with her music, because no music played when hers was supposed to be playing. They ended up playing it last after all the others were done. This seemed a light workout for her. She didn’t do everything in her run through, but did attempt all the jumps (unlike other partials, where mainly the jumps were left out or lite jumps). She had a strange landing on the 3 of the 3/2, but managed to get the 2 up. Her triple was clean I guess, but seemed a bit low and sort of “barely.” I got a similar impression of the 2A, but that one happened farther away from my seat so not sure. The spins she practiced looked nice to me. Since this seemed a bit of a lite practice for her all the way around, I’m not sure what to think. I have always liked her and hope she puts out 2 really good skates.

Oster – another really bad B-man position during a spin. WHY?? She didn’t do a full run through. I didn’t note anything really outstanding about her. (doesn’t make her bad though, of course)

Rosenthal – This was one of my favorite run throughs of the day, second only to Amber. WOW is this girl and entertainer!! I’m generally not a fan of techno music (just personal taste) but THIS chick can do TECHNO!! She was clearly having a blast, and I bet her smile radiating to the top most obscure seat in the house. LOL, she has these really interesting hand and arm positions during spins, spirals, etc. On anyone else they would probably look silly. This is hard to describe – and of course I have no idea what she’s really thinking, but this is my impression. It’s almost like it’s done with a comical attitude, like a comedian would roast another comedian. Like she’s roasting silly positions or something. It was awesome, and she got by far the biggest applause in this group. She did no triples in her program, and I’m not sure whether she did any at any other time. But she is fun to watch without the big jumps. I could see her doing an EX program to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (full bore Lauper). Very high energy performance.

Williams – Stewart. Another REALLY hard worker. Nothing I noted as a stand out, but I like her hard workin’ style – a lot.

Taylor – She ties with Stewart for the worked it hard prized. She really looks good IMO. She did a full run through – hit all the jumps. My only complaint is yet another IMO weak B-man position in the spiral sequence.

I nominate Rohene to start up a spiral clinic. He could teach the ladies a thing or two about speed and HOLDING positions, and deep edges. You ain’t gonna get an L4 (or close) with craptacular positions that are held for about 2 seconds, and that’s being generous. While Amber’s spiral positions are not the greatest or the most difficult, at least she does what she can do and holds onto it for awhile. OK, spiral rant over.

OK – off for some adult beverage or other and some food before Sr. Dance CD’s!!

Doggygirl · Jan 10, 2006

Men's SP practice tidbits (warning, pack a cigarette)

Well, the last thing I came prepared for was misty rain. Good thing I grabbed the newspaper from the front of my door on the way out – saved my program from getting wet. J I arrived during Zamboni time right before Men’s practice. ABC is now camped to my right (where Porny Peter was the other night) and LOL – the NBC Oly crew is to my left. I caught the ABC guy in a yawn and said – HEY this ain’t so bad is it? He laughed. At that moment I saw someone with a coffee cup. I hadn’t seen any of the snack bars open on my way in. I asked ABC guy if he knew where the coffee was coming from. He said “just a minute” and talked into his little Secret Service looking microphone, and came back with “section 123 stand is open.” J While ABC guy (this one) was FAR from porny, I sure liked him.

Men’s Group A: Weir gets the overall nicest men’s practice getup award. Black pants (tights!) and black shirt. I only noticed the shirt detail up close – it had some cut outs in it where it had a black sheer fabric instead of full black fabric. Very stylish. Maybe on the subtle side for Johnny….but still so Johnny. Johnny’s jumps looked awesome – a few step outs here and there, but many nice 3A’s, 3/3’s. A cool 3/2tano/2tano, and later a 3/3/2tano. I assume the starting 3’s are 3Z’s, but don’t count on me for teknik. He didn’t do many elements during his music. Nice SL FW, nice final spin.

Jahnke did almost a full run through in “jump lite” mode (i.e. doubles that looked intentional). Jumps hit and miss in early practice – some nice loops (and maybe sals?) towards the end, including a 3/3 and 3/3/2 all edge jumps.

Smith – Did what looked like all his elements except jumps during his music. He is very pleasant to watch. He just seemed to struggle with jumps throughout the practice – rather hit and miss.

Wilson. I really enjoyed watching this guy. He’s got more of what I would call a powerful style. He’s a bit sloppy and doesn’t seem up to the other guys, but he’s just an interesting contrast to the smore smooth and subtle skating. Steenburg was no show.

Group B NBC Oly video guy comes over to where me and two other ladies I met yesterday were sitting. These other two ladies are mother and daughter, and try to go to Nationals every year. So they tend to recognize most of the skaters, and they “know the drill.” We became consultants to NBC guy at this stage. J They were obviously looking to get some practice clips of specific (top) skaters, and they had no idea who was who. In this group, he was looking for Goebel, who we pointed out and Weiss, who wasn’t there. My 2 friends mentioned that Mike usually doesn’t come to the SP practice early in the week. He came back to us for skater ID’s the rest of the men’s and ladies groups. MAN could we have toyed with that one!!! We should have told him that Rohene was Weiss – maybe Rohene would get some air time, but more on that later!!

Shit. This Dang Keyboard. Just lost a bunch of typing. Gotta save more often.

Goebel. He looked really good. He was up first, and did his run through sans jumps. His spins, FW, etc. looked really good to me. Much better than my impressions from previous seasons – of course from TV. Later when he was warmed up, his jumps looked very good. Lots of 3A’s, 3/3’s, and for sure 1 4/3, and I suspect other 4’s. I was a bit distracted – will get to that in a minute. I hope he skates this relaxed and happy in his programs.

Phan – I feel guilty that I didn’t pay much attention to him. He was working very hard out there, I think.

Rohene. OH MY. I’ve heard all the talk, and only seen him on one internet video download that was sort of scratchy. YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS GUY!!! First the skating stuff, then the porny stuff. J I am so glad I saw this practice because this guy has so many moves there is no way he could fit them all into 2 programs. During the 6 minute warmup before Goebel’s music kicked off the programs, Rohene was doing spirals out there that IMO were better than all the ladies I saw later with the exception of Sasha. Including a Charlotte. Fast, deep edges, held positions for ages. He did a catch foot (just behind him – not B-man attempt thank goodness), than short FW on one foot, then up to a tripple. That isn’t even the FW he did in his run through. OK – highlights from run through. He does 2 full illusions during his SL FW. He does the SPLITS (yep) during his circular FW before the final spin. He does a position that must have a name, it’s like a spread eagle, but with a very deep knee bend. He bends WAY far backward, and holds it for a good while. Then up and maybe a step then into a jump. His final spin is interesting. He has so many out of the ordinary moves. I’m with many others complaining about the lack of a good scratch spin. So guess what his final spin position is. J He does amazing spread eagles. Someone who knows more than me should comment, but I’m guessing they rival Boitano’s. It is so sad that his jumps are so inconsistent. When they are good, they look HUGE. But sadly, many step outs, hand downs, etc. Only one hard fall that I saw, but it looked hard. That was towards the very end of practice. I’m praying this guy stays on his feet enough to make the cut for TV. This is a skater I could watch for days without him ever doing more than a double jump. (hmmm….maybe there should be a Rohene Rule excusing one from triples if they have THIS much cool “other stuff. He got the biggest applause of all the men in practice, (all groups) with Tim in a close second for that. Now for a quick Porny. If the spanking line gets too long waiting for Ben, get in Rohene’s line. J

The rest of this group were no shows.

Group C Of course after Rohene, I had to go smoke a cigarette. So I missed part of group C. Lysacek looks in very good form. He did a full run through inc. all the jumps, and was speaky clean from what I could tell. (of course we identified him and Savoie for NBC guy.) Savoie – I really like his skating and his style. But seeing him and Evan on the ice at the same time, Lysacek just seems to have a little more of most things. A little more speed, a little more flair, a little more jump security, etc. I still like Matt though.

La Roach (sp) does an AWESOME hydroblade. Long and low. Pennington did a full run through – only a couple minor bobbles that I noticed. He’s OK – nothing wrong with his skating, but just nothing that really stands out for me. I missed Bradley and Delmores music, but no stand outs there either.

A couple final voids – Matt’s coaches were sitting right in front of me so got to wish Matt good luck when he was retrieving his jacket after practice. I also passed Wilson in the hallway as he was leaving and got to wish him luck as well.

I am so GLAD I got to see this!! I will save this and post it, and do ladies in a separate thread.

Mathman · Jan 10, 2006

:agree: These two practice reports win the GS Post of the Year prize! Thanks for all the personal impressions.

Keep going! The USFS web site is down, and you are our only hope, LOL!

MM

PS. I assume that you are composing in a word processing application and then copying and pasting into GS. Is it OK if I put your posts into a bigger font? The young-uns on the board won't care, but I'm doing my pirate imitation squinting t the the monitor.

(Also, whatever you are doing, you tricked the supposedly foolproof built-in GS censor that automatically makes words like s**t appear as ****, LOL.)

nicole_l · Jan 10, 2006

Doggygirl said:
He does a position that must have a name, it’s like a spread eagle, but with a very deep knee bend. He bends WAY far backward, and holds it for a good while. Then up and maybe a step then into a jump.

That's a cantilever. Ilia Klimkin does one, too.

emma · Jan 10, 2006

Doggygirl said:
Group C Of course after Rohene, I had to go smoke a cigarette. So I missed part of group C. [

OMG I did that thing with water all over my screen AGAIN!!!! You crack me up!

Seriously, these practice reports are awesome, thanks soooo much. I do wish I could be there, but these reports do make me feel like I'm right there! I'm so glad you saw Rohene and all his splendor. I've read so much about this guy, but have never seen him live (I do hope I have the opportunity some day). I too hope he makes the cut for TV. Enjoy!!!!

Doggygirl · Jan 10, 2006

Mathman said:
:agree: These two practice reports win the GS Post of the Year prize! Thanks for all the personal impressions.

Keep going! The USFS web site is down, and you are our only hope, LOL!

MM

PS. I assume that you are composing in a word processing application and then copying and pasting into GS. Is it OK if I put your posts into a bigger font? The young-uns on the board won't care, but I'm doing my pirate imitation squinting t the the monitor. (Also, whatever you are doing, you tricked the supposedly foolproof built-in GS censor that automatically makes words like s**t appear as ****, LOL.)

MM - I'm only back real quick, then off to grab a bite and back to the arena. Yes I'm typing first in word because of this s**t keyboard I love so much. Feel free to change the fonts and also edit anything you think might not be appropriate for GS.

MAN this is cool!

DG

US Nats Practice Tidbits

Doggygirl

SailorGalaxia518

purplecat

sk8fanconvert

emma

Mathman

eliza88

Doggygirl

sk8fanconvert

SailorGalaxia518

show 42

Arm Chair Skate Fan

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Doggygirl

Doggygirl

Doggygirl

Mathman

nicole_l

emma

Doggygirl

Similar threads

Connect with us