Don't you think...

[anything_for_skating]

I was thinking about this. Some JGPs this year are "easy" and some are "hard". I dont think you understand me, so let's say like this:
for example, ladies event.
for example, comparing mexico and netherlands jgp:
In Mexico, there were 13 ladies.
And in Netherlands you've got 35.
Dont' you see the difference? Don't you think it's much more easy to compete at Mexico jgp? LET'S JUST FOR A MINUTE FORGET ABOUT CAROLINE ZHANG. Focus on others, who are maybe even not fighting for medals. So, what do you think?

[Buzzz]

Hard to say without seeing these young people do their thing. But the US does have some excellent junior skaters. I want to know more about Stephen Carriere who won two JGP events this season! He looks promising.

[chuckm]

Few skaters were ready for the season in late August and early September, so Courchevel and Budapest didn't have very large rosters. The huge majority of the skaters are from Europe, some from very poor countries who can't afford to send skaters to Mexico (or Taiwan), so it makes sense that the European events in the latter part of the series would have the largest number of competitors. Traditionally, the last event of the JGP has been really crowded and competitive, but this year, The Hague had a huge field, too.

[Joesitz]

Mexico originally had Rachel Flatt which would have made it more interesting.

If you take away Zhang from this competition, the results are pretty exciting for those young skaters who participated.

Chuckum is correct re the expense involved in making these trips to venues.

Joe

[Nigel]

Few skaters were ready for the season in late August and early September, so Courchevel and Budapest didn't have very large rosters. The huge majority of the skaters are from Europe, some from very poor countries who can't afford to send skaters to Mexico (or Taiwan), so it makes sense that the European events in the latter part of the series would have the largest number of competitors. Traditionally, the last event of the JGP has been really crowded and competitive, but this year, The Hague had a huge field, too.

Chuckm...When is a skater considered ready for their season? We watched the Campbells fluff event yesterday and heard Dick and Peggy say the same thing, and okay, I can be more forgiving of the elite skaters who have been on tour all summer, but for the junior level skaters who are going out to JGP events beginning in late Aug/early September....what have they been doing all summer? Shouldn't they be training? Most of these kids have been out of school for the summer and their programs should be choreographed by early to mid summer. So, when would they consider themselves prepared for a JGP? Assignments are made here in the US shortly after governing council, so at the very least, most of the US skaters know the dates of their assignments with plenty of time to train (and they use the bigger summer events like Broadmoor, Liberty, Detroit, Lake Placid and Indy for monitoring). What about the skaters from other countries? Do their federations make their assignments in a similar time frame as USFS? Does it just come down to location and budgets for so many of the other federations?