Junior World Team??

Has Skate Canada made any announcements about the junior world team? If they have, I haven't been able to find it on their site...

I'm guessing

for ladies

1. Diane Szmiett
2. Kathryne Kang

for men

1. Kevin Reynolds (why not? He is still age eligible, right?)
2. Elladj Balde


for dance
1. Kharis RALPH/Asher Hill
2. Karen Routhier and Eric Sauke-Lacelle
etc.

for pairs

Our junior pairs fall behind the worlds standard. Does it really matter which team SC will send?

fumie_fumie said:

I'm guessing
for dance
1. Kharis RALPH/Asher Hill
2. Karen Routhier and Eric Sauke-Lacelle
etc.

for pairs

Our junior pairs fall behind the worlds standard. Does it really matter which team SC will send?

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for dance: Harvey/Gagnon ( 2nd in junior) will go with the 2 you stated.

for pairs: I looked at the highest scores of age eligible pairs in both junior and senior and came up with these 2.

1. Paige Lawrence / Rudi Swiegers ( 4th in senior)
2. Sara Jones / Jeremy Sandor ( 2nd in junior )

Unfortunately our top junior pair Brittany Jones / Kurtis Gaskell who won juniors by 14 points can't go as Brittany is only 12 years old. Sad as they look the best of the whole bunch. They one scored one point less in juniors than Lawrence/Swiegers in senior and considering the extra elements seniors can do, in reality Jones/Gaskell outperformed Lawrence/Swiegers at nationals.

The official announcement is up...

http://skatecanada.ca/en/news_views/press_room/news_releases/2008/jan20-09.cfm

Junior World Figure Skating Championships, Sofia, Bulgaria, February 23 – March 1, 2009
Men:
Elladj Baldé, 18, Pierrefonds, Que.
Andrei Rogozine, 15, Richmond Hill, Ont.

Women:
Diane Szmiett, 18, Watford, Ont.
Kathryn Kang, 19, North Vancouver, B.C.

Pairs:
Paige Lawrence, 18, Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Sweigers, 21, Kipling, Sask.
Maddison Bird, 14, Barrie, Ont., and Raymond Schultz, 18, Bradford, Ont.

Ice Dance:
Kharis Ralph, 16, Toronto, Ont., and Asher Hill, 17, Toronto, Ont.
Karen Routhier, 17, Québec, Que., and Eric Saucke-Lacelle, 19, Sherbrooke, Que.
Tarrah Harvey, 19, Vancouver, B.C., and Keith Gagnon, 21, South Surrey, B.C.



OK, I agree with ever choice that they made, even though that left Kate Charboneau out of the mix. I'd love to know, however, why Jones/Glaskell and Jones/Sandor were left behind, while Bird/Schultz were named. They onlt came third.

Jones/Gaskell - she's too young.

skatingfan04 said:

The official announcement is up...

OK, I agree with ever choice that they made, even though that left Kate Charboneau out of the mix. I'd love to know, however, why Jones/Glaskell and Jones/Sandor were left behind, while Bird/Schultz were named. They onlt came third.

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Jones/Glaskell could not go the worlds as Britanny Jones ( 12 years old) is too young. They won junior pairs at nationals by a huge margin ( about 14 points ).

Bird/Schultz did have better JGP results than Jones/Sandor though ( although neither had great results). Actually all of our pairs did very badly on the JGP so I am surprised that JGP results went into the reckoning at all.

Jones/Sandor finished 11th in Mexico JGP with a score of 99.41.
Bird/Schultz finished 7th in Golden Lynx JGP with a score of 116.53.

Thoughts:

Men - A little surprised that Kevin Reynolds did not get the assignment. A Reynolds/Balde combination is our only chance of securing 3 men for JW in 2010. However Balde should manage to finish in the top 5 countries, keeping our JGP slots to a maximum ( which is much more important). Rogozine ( our youngest JGP competitor this year ) should get valuable experience though. We should be able to keep 2 men though in JW but we have no chance of 3.

Ladies - Great pick. Kang ( who will definitely get Nebelhorn barring any huge surprises over the summer ) needs this to get on the season best list for GP consideration ( other than Skate Canada) as she ages out after junior worlds. Should secure at least 2 2010 JW spots ( outside chance for 3 ) and top 5 country status. Kang will likely be skating in the starting early group since her ISU ranking is very low and she did no JGP assignments this year and her results from previous years are very bad. That will make 3 JW spots for 2010 difficult.

Dance - Definite top 5 country status and a good chance for 3 JW spots. In fact dance is our best chance to secure 3 JW spots for 2010 in a discipline.

Pairs - Fortunately our placements have no bearing on JGP entries. Will have 2 JW spots ( no chance for 3 ) for 2010.

nadster said:

Thoughts:

Men - A little surprised that Kevin Reynolds did not get the assignment. A Reynolds/Balde combination is our only chance of securing 3 men for JW in 2010. However Balde should manage to finish in the top 5 countries, keeping our JGP slots to a maximum ( which is much more important). Rogozine ( our youngest JGP competitor this year ) should get valuable experience though. We should be able to keep 2 men though in JW but we have no chance of 3.

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I get the feeling that Kevin declined SC's offer for a JW spot, as he was aiming for Senior Worlds and JW spot was a letdown. If that is the case, he is missing a valuable learning experience. The current top junior men, especially guys from US, have much better basic skating skills, speed and flow of jumps. If Kevin were in the mix at JW, I would think he would be definitely placed behind the current top junior men and he would come to realization that he would go any higher in ranking unless he improves his skating skills dramatically. Oh well. I think he is still young enough to get some good learning experience out of JW.

fumie_fumie said:

I get the feeling that Kevin declined SC's offer for a JW spot, as he was aiming for Senior Worlds and JW spot was a letdown. If that is the case, he is missing a valuable learning experience. The current top junior men, especially guys from US, have much better basic skating skills, speed and flow of jumps. If Kevin were in the mix at JW, I would think he would be definitely placed behind the current top junior men and he would come to realization that he would go any higher in ranking unless he improves his skating skills dramatically. Oh well. I think he is still young enough to get some good learning experience out of JW.

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Not surprised if Kevin turned down junior worlds. I am sure the Mcleod camp would see junior worlds as an insult to Kevin.

Kevin has already been to junior worlds 3 times. With his position actually dropping last year at junior worlds ( from 5th in 2007 to 6th in 2008) you would think he would have seen that lesson by now.

Kevin is going about improving his PCS scores the wrong way. Improving choreography does nothing if you don't improve the basic skating skills first. It is like skating skills is the bottleneck to everything else. You can't perform a well-choreographed program with weak skating skills. If Kevin simply improved his speed, his jumps would at least have more distance ( distance on jumps is highly correlated to one's speed.) thereby improving both TES and PCS at the same time.

While Ten uses Kraatz as a secondary coach ( who at least makes sure that Ten's basics are sound) I have not heard of Kevin doing the same thing. The only thing Ten is missing is a coach who can teach proper axel technique ( which Mcleod can't do).

nadster said:

While Ten uses Kraatz as a secondary coach ( who at least makes sure that Ten's basics are sound) I have not heard of Kevin doing the same thing. The only thing Ten is missing is a coach who can teach proper axel technique ( which Mcleod can't do).

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I noticed that Ten's axel is very similar to that of Sandhu. Both of them land on inside edge quite often.

nadster said:

Jones/Glaskell could not go the worlds as Britanny Jones ( 12 years old) is too young. They won junior pairs at nationals by a huge margin ( about 14 points ).

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Jones is 13 now so she's good to go for next season