Is Rachael the one?
- Thread starter Mathman
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2008
- Country
-
I disagree.
Well I mean, yes, she improved her stroking and posture.
But she skated with far more energy in her 2006 program and also interpreted the music better.
When Kimmie tried to skate to more mature music in 2007 and 2008 she became lost. That's simply not who she is. She isn't able to bring that kind of music to life. Kimmie should have stuck with peppy. She is the nice girl next door, NOT the dramatic actress or the ballerina or the tormented soul.
Ohh. Well, are you assuming there will be no gifting this year? That's a big assumption. Or are you trying to determine who will be "the one" who will be gifted?
I think at this moment, Rachael is definitely "the one" who will be gifted at Nationals. Beating freaking YUNA KIM in the free skate at SA has ensured that. Well, that and everybody else's partial implosions.
If Rachael Flatt wins Nationals, it will NOT be because she was "gifted". She has the best technical arsenal, she performs consistently well in every competition, especially under pressure, which can't be said for Czisny (who WAS gifted last year). Ashley Wagner has also been known to succumb to pressure; although she has usually skated well in the GP, she was 12th in the SP at 2009 Nationals, dropped to 3rd at 2009 JW, and was 16th at Worlds 2008.
But is it "succumbing to pressure" or just simply inconsistency? I dunno, I think it's the latter...
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
Doesn't it depend on how she actually skates??
It's perfectly possible that she could do well technically and get gifted on PCS.
I hope that, if she does win, she'll do it with good and deserved PCS and prove she's capable of memorable performance and interpretation, not just competence and consistency. I'd be very proud of her if that were the case.
Hmmm. I spent a minute there totally puzzled. But I guess there IS a difference. In the case of Sasha - pressure. In the case of Mirai and Ashley, inconsistency. But doesn't it come down to the same thing when judging who might do well?
Flatt is the most consistent, although she might not have the highest scoring potential. There is a difference, and it depends on the risk you're willing to take. For Worlds or 4CCs it might be OK. But for the Olympics I'd imagine one would rather go for the steady performers since a) the pressure there is more than at any other event and b) the US hasn't a prayer at a ladies' medal anyway so who cares about scoring potential, you just want to have the strongest showing. Flatt can handle pressure situations the best of the current US ladies crop, although she's far from immune to cracking under it as well. I'd say Nagasu is probably second- I'm amazed at how much doubt she seems to have and still goes out and does a commendable job. Way to fight...
Everyone else is hot and cold just like the weather this time of year. Wagner? Fifty-fifty. Zhang? Struggling to maintain her status. Czisny? No explanation needed. Everyone else I haven't named? Not in Olympic contention (even if by some freak of nature they sneak into the top 2, I don't think USFS would send an unseasoned competitor with only 2 spots)
Everyone else is hot and cold just like the weather this time of year. Wagner? Fifty-fifty. Zhang? Struggling to maintain her status. Czisny? No explanation needed. Everyone else I haven't named? Not in Olympic contention (even if by some freak of nature they sneak into the top 2, I don't think USFS would send an unseasoned competitor with only 2 spots)
No, I meant more does it make a difference whether you are erratic because you are inconsistent or because u tend to crack under pressure. You seemed to be making a distinction.
ITA agree about Flatt of course, who wouldn't?
Also glad to hear you say that about Nagasu. She has been rather steady this season.
As oppossed to what happened at the last two Nationals which was Alissa and Mirai getting credit for triple jumps that probably would not have been credited at international competition?
Or Alissa getting positive GOE for her triple flips, when in an international competition she always gets points deducted for lipping. Or Alissa getting much higher PCS than she normally gets internationally?
Rachael doesn't need for the judges to give her HUGE PCS in order for her to be able to beat someone like Alissa. What she needs is for the USFSA judges to judge nationals the way international judges would judge nationals.
I mean lets be frank Alissa gets a lot of downgrades internationally. A lot but somehow she managed none, nada at Nationals. Same goes for Mirai who was getting tons of downgrades in her long internationally that year. But only the 3toe on her 3lutz/3toe at Nationals that year she won.
That was one of the big reasons the whole thing was suspect: And no it wasn't fair to Rachael. I'm not even a fan, but it certainly wasn't fair.
I mean if you want to talk about inflated PCS fine. But you can argue that Alissa and Mirai at the last two nationals got inflated TES scores.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2009
When you're trying to FIX the erraticness problem, the root cause matters a lot. Inconsistency due to technique issues is cured differently than inconsistency due to cracking under pressure ("nerves"). Some would argue the latter is more difficult or even impossible to completely cure, while the former issue is fixable depending on the skater. Couple of points to make:
1) If I was an elite skater, I'd be a lot less nervous if I had absolutely rock solid jump technique to always fall back on. When the mind goes numb with nerves or fear or just an inevitable "off-night", the body takes over and goes into autopilot. If the autopilot is set correctly, the plane will often fly reasonably well (Rachael), but if it's not set correctly through wonky technique (Caroline)....ouch. I've personally found this to be true when preparing for USFSA test sessions. I get terrible nerves and stage fright so the body has to be completely technically able to "do it's thing" without being under conscious mind control.
Technique is a coaching-learning issue so obviously trainable and fixable for most skaters--though once reaching junior/senior levels, fixing technique issues is much tougher. 2) When I've watched local practice sessions of skaters at about the pre-juvie thru intermediate levels, I notice one thing from certain coaches that I like: when their students are doing run-throughs of their programs to their music, they demand that in the event of a mistake or a fall, that the student picks up and keep on going and finish the program. Every time. Rinse and repeat. When translated into competitions, and again when they get to the novice+ levels (should they make it that far), I notice these students tend to generally do better. That if a mistake is made, you pick up, put the mistake behind you, and get right back into that program, never giving up. This is one aspect of mental strengthening and not "cracking under pressure" and some skaters never master it, but others were brilliant at it (Michelle). With completely clean programs becoming a rarity, especially among ladies and perhaps due to the COP, it's more important than ever for a skater to be able to ring-fence a program mistake in real-time, and not let it rattle the rest of the program (of recent performances, Leonova comes to mind, but Rachael is also pretty good at this).
I never said she would win BECAUSE she will be gifted. Just that she will be.
Similar threads
