Bebe Liang out of Golden West | Golden Skate

Bebe Liang out of Golden West

maxell1313

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Someone on the SkateFans list said she's withdrawn due to a "minor hip injury". Exactly how "minor" is anyone's guess. And if she wants to go to Nationals she HAS to skate in the GP, so I hope her injury does heal fully before she has to endure that grind.

Once again, another talented skater out because of the demand for more 3/3 and quad jumps. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
 

mmandel

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Since 98', we've seen many high profile skater out with hip injuries. I wonder if the injury is from the mechanics of the jumps or is just poor skater technique? Any thoughts?
 

dewet

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
IIRC, at junior words she said she had some pain in her hip at that time. I wonder if this was somehow related to that.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Anka - Shame on you. BeBe is a Sasha wannabe. Total bravura style of skating. I'm hoping the hip problem is no worse than Sasha's was back in 2001. I actually see Bebe winning in 2006,

All these problems seem to be on the back outside edge. It's the edge skaters land on from almost every jump. And combing that with the loop jump which takes off with a back outside edge just complicates the injury all the more. Tara could explain that better than me but I can feel it.

Why girls and not boys? Who knows. Yags was genetic so it was bound to happen anyway at some time.

I'm really floored with this news. I was so looking forward to her Nats and GPs.

Joe
 

nymkfan51

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Bebe Liang

Joe ... I can't say this surprises me ... all these 3/3's at such young ages, before their bodies have had a chance to develop ... especially the loop jumps as you stated.
I do feel badly and hope it's not serious ... I was looking forward to seeing her this year.

I also read that her coach Tiffany Chin is pregnant and due in February.
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Its very simple. Joints do not fully develop and growth plates in bones (epiphyses) do not close until post adolescence, often well past. (I didn't reach my current height until age 22). If you put constant and repetitive stress on a joint, such as doing too many triples at a young age a la Tara, you are going to pay for it later.

Many criticize Michelle Kwan for not "upping the ante" and gaining more difficult 3/3's, but she's been around, consistent and relatively injury free for many years (aside from the toe in 98), and she has gotten one heck of a skating record out of it. I still shiver when I think of reading Tara's quote in a supermarket publication that it was her repetitive practice of the triple loop/triple loop that cause her continuous hip problems but in her words "it was worth it." Let's see how shiny that OGM is for her when she has trouble with even walking when she reaches her forties. I don't mean to sound cruel, but she's likely going to pay for it as she gets older.
 

sk8ing_lady2001

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Poor Bebe. How I wish skating was not so demanding even though it is a sport, because I want skaters to skate beautifully and be free of injuries. :(
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Maxell, why does Bebe have to skate in the Grand Prix to be eligible for Nationals? Can't she qualify in sectionals and regionals like everyone else?

Are the top skaters from last year automatically seeded? I assume, for instance, that Michelle could just show up at the door and say, let me in, even if she doesn't compete at all from now until January. Is this right?

Mathman
 
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lil_icesk8er915

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Nooo!

Maxell, why does Bebe have to skate in the Grand Prix to be eligible for Nationals. Can't she qualify in sectionals and regionals like everyone else?

Yeah, I was wondering that too! I hope she gets well soon!
 

toutestgrace

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Bebe is reaching the age when her body mass is beginning to stress her landing leg. It's only a matter of time before pint-size jumping beans start feeling the impact on their joints. How many years has it been since Tara? You'd think the coaches and parents would get it by now.

Yazmeen, ITA about MK's strategy of consistency and technical excellence vs. tricks.
 

maxell1313

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Mathman said:
Maxell, why does Bebe have to skate in the Grand Prix to be eligible for Nationals? Can't she qualify in sectionals and regionals like everyone else?

Are the top skaters from last year automatically seeded? I assume, for instance, that Michelle could just show up at the door and say, let me in, even if she doesn't compete at all from now until January. Is this right?

Mathman

According to someone at FSU, Bebe's GP events will conflict with sectionals and regionals, so that's why the USFSA is giving her a bye to Nationals. Her GP competitions will get her out of sectionals and regionals. They've also got a new rule that they won't give someone an automatic injury bye to Nats anymore. So if Bebe can't skate in the GP due to injury, it would also mean she can't skate in sectionals and regionals. Therefore, her season is finished before it even started.

As far as everyone else, the top 6 finishers at Nats will get a bye straight to Nats without having to qualify. Everyone else must have a reason for the USFSA to let them skip straight to Nats, and as Bebe got 2 international assignments (3 if she makes the GP Finals) she gets to pass go and collect $200.

I think the USFSA website has a list of all the bye skaters listed somewhere.
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Yazmeen said:
Its very simple. Joints do not fully develop and growth plates in bones (epiphyses) do not close until post adolescence, often well past. (I didn't reach my current height until age 22). If you put constant and repetitive stress on a joint, such as doing too many triples at a young age a la Tara, you are going to pay for it later.

Many criticize Michelle Kwan for not "upping the ante" and gaining more difficult 3/3's, but she's been around, consistent and relatively injury free for many years (aside from the toe in 98), and she has gotten one heck of a skating record out of it. I still shiver when I think of reading Tara's quote in a supermarket publication that it was her repetitive practice of the triple loop/triple loop that cause her continuous hip problems but in her words "it was worth it." Let's see how shiny that OGM is for her when she has trouble with even walking when she reaches her forties. I don't mean to sound cruel, but she's likely going to pay for it as she gets older.

You know I still wonder if she really still believes it was worth it because it certainly didn't get her what she wanted. I truly think she thought that she would be the popular one and we all know it didn't happen. For 2 years after her win she was a semi popular skater (not of gold caliber) but that faded fast and she also lost her ability to do the things that garnered her fans in the first place (triple jumps).
 

Sk8harvest

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Such a shame. I hope the injury is not too serious. I was really looking forward to seeing her in the GP events this year. She is one I think will be a major US contender in couple of years, plus she is an adorable kid.
 

maxell1313

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Okay, before people start panicking, no one's saying Bebe definitely ISN'T skating in the GP. She's still got 10 or 11 weeks until her first GP event so if her current injury is minor, it should be healed up and her hip perfectly fine by the time the comp rolls around. She's just not skating in the Golden West comp this week.
 

Dave Amorde

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
maxell1313 said:
Someone on the SkateFans list said she's withdrawn due to a "minor hip injury". <snip>
Once again, another talented skater out because of the demand for more 3/3 and quad jumps. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

As the orginal source of the injury report, I find the above to be way over the top. What part of "minor" do you not understand? Don't people realize that Goldenwest is simply a local club competition? She's a little sore - THAT'S IT!

Skaters withdraw from club competitions due to injury all the time. Juveniles who couldn't do a double Axel to save their lives get hurt all the time. It is the nature of athletic competition. It is ignorant, foolish, and potentially damaging to a skater's career to make the leaps of logic such as what is being done here and in other forums. Sheesh. I guess next time I'll say she slipped on a banana peel.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Last year at Jr. Worlds Bebe skated her LP on a seriously injured and very painful hip. The commentators applauded her "guts." I shook my head and thought, "Here's another skater with incredible potential who may never realize it.

As for comments about Tara and how she put in the 3/3 just so she'd win and be "the popular one" but it didn't work out that way, I think it misrepresents Tara's situation. Tara was the first ladies skater to do a very difficult 3/3--the 3lp/3lp. She was also very young when she perfected it -- 14, 15. At that time, NOBODY, not coaches, not skaters, nobody knew the damage that doing 3/3s could wreak. Tara has been criticized a lot for a comment she made in an interview when she said, "I was practicing like 50 3/3s a day." Greedy Tara, some said. I say, Where was her coach, Richard Callaghan, to say, "Tara, you're overtraining the 3lp/3lp. You're risking injury." She was 14 and a bundle of energy for gosh sakes! Sure her hip started hurting but it's ingrained in elite athletes to "work through the pain." A little pain now, then I'll rest it and it after the Olympics and I'm sure it will get better. Even after the Olympics when she was in constant unbearable pain, it took doctors several years to diagnose the hip problem.

I'd like to propose a moratorium on "It's Tara's own greedy fault" posts. Tara was the first to be able to do a skill that turned out to be much more dangerous than it looked. Nobody is saying Yagudin's hip injury is his "own greedy fault" for doing all those 4s and 4/3s. Tara was doing what athletes are told to do: push yourself to your limits and beyond.

Every skater who gets to Worlds and the Olympics has winning as their one and only focus, especially if they go into the Olympics as World Champion. She did not get good advice from her coach or the other training staff. As I understand it, Callaghan concentrated on Todd Eldredge since it was really his last shot at an Olympic medal and Tara was mostly left on her own to train.

Tara is not a bad person. She has good values. She does charity work. She has suffered incredibly for being the first woman to consistenly land a 3lp/3lp, not only from the pain of the injury, but from the lack of proper diagnosis from the medical profession. Though in some ways you can't blame the doctors. Hip injuries of that kind and severity were never seen in athletes before, especially ones that young.

Tara is going to be either in pain or restricted physically for the rest of her life. She will never be able to skate again at even a professional level, and whatever you feel about Tara, the girl LOVES skating. Michelle has been probably the most beloved skater who ever lived for close to a decade. She's won it all and more, unless you count the OGM--and that determination was in the judges hands, not Tara's. So starting now, how about giving Tara a break on the whole 3/3 and hip thing. You don't have to like her, but you also don't have to diss her every time the subject of ladies' hip injuries comes up. JMO.
Rgirl
 

EricAba

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 27, 2003
I enjoy Bebe Liang's skating a lot, and I hope that the reports and speculation about her injury are greatly exaggerated.

It really seems that something needs to be done to prevent young athletes from pushing their bodies to the brink in order to achieve success. This may be a bit off topic, but with the U.S. Open going on right now, women's tennis seems to be echoing these concerns. With the bar being raised in the game in terms of speed and power, the frequency of injury is much greater, and it seems that the top players are singing a different tune. Sure, they all want to win, but in interviews, most players seem to be talking about how weary their bodies are, how difficult it is to cope with the demands of the tour, of playing week in and week out, and how important it is to pace themselves and stay in good physical condition in order to continue playing good tennis.

Perhaps a bit of this mentality needs to be injected into today's figure skaters, especially now that the technical bar in the sport has been raised, and now that, as RGirl says, more is known about the devastating effects of overtraining.

It's a complicated issue, and I'm sure that each skater has his or her own motivations for acheiving success, whether it stems from their own desire to win at all costs, or to create a decent living for their families, or from a general "love of skating", but the health of the skater should definitely come first, because without that, great skating wouldn't be possible.

My question is, what can be done in the sport in general to make skaters' health a main priority? Does the responsibility ultimately lie with parents and coaches? Do training methods need to be changed, i.e. more focus on secure edging and the "basics"? Or does the rulebook need to be changed, in order to make winning possible without the risk of serious injury?
 
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