Concern for Caroline Zhang?

I am a student taking a weight lifting class at a community college and today I was reading p.118 of a my class textbook called Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier about the tissue between the knee and the lower leg and called Meniscus. If Caroline has a lack of tissue or torn tissue there I think that might be why she lacks in the areas of her skating that she has yet to succeed in. Speed, underotations etc.

Without Meniscus tissue your knee rubs abrasively against the bones on the upper part of the lower leg. I hope I'm wrong but the characteristics of her injury which occured this summer seem related to me. I sincerly hope she doesn't handicapp herself.

I remember an article somewhere that stated that she did NOT have a meniscus injury. It was a tendon or something like that.

Perhaps she doesn't have a meniscus tear, but either way I'm still concerned for her. I'm kind of glad Rachael skated lights out at SA, because while I want Caroline to make the Olympic team, I want even more for her to do so skating better than everyone else skating their best. That said, I hope she feels the pressure in a motivating way. Do we dare hope she'll be much faster this weekend? My worry is that even if she increased her speed, what is she going to do to fill up the rest of the music? There's not even much choreography as is...

I also agree with whoever first brought this up-- that she needs a PR coach badly! No more shaking her head and looking disgusted when given scores-- even if she's only upset with her own skating. Its just incredibly unbecoming, much as I love Caroline (despite herself, sometimes!).

Yeah, she needs a coach like Frank Carroll, to cheer her up in the K&C, to smile, to think positively. Frank was an angel to Mirai and Carolina at their last GP.

As for Caroline, I think she thought it was meniscus tear, but it turned out to be a ACL tendon tear, I think... Not 100% positive.

I just looked at her TEB SP. That program really does have potential!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-UakZpskW8&feature=related

I also rewatched her Spanish Gypsy SP, the one she came in second with at the GPF at age 14!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE0pKn3iQ6s

I think her speed has improved a bit (especially obvious in the footwork sequence), as has her presentation. But her jump technique has deteriorated -- she almost didn't have a mule-kick in her flip by the GPF. And her jumps didn't look especially low, even though they were never really high. Most importantly, she didn't look like she was struggling *so* hard just to get some speed and life into her skating. She also looked more relaxed and enjoying the moment more.

At TEB this year, she really looked like she was annoyed with skating and with her skating the whole time. That attitude kinda worked for the SP, as it went with the music and the choreography; but it was jarring in her LP. She needs to be a lot more cheerful & joyful in that pas de deux. She said in the GS Skate Canada article that she's been working on her presentation for the LP, I really hope that it shows!

like feraina, i hope that caroline will be able to show more playfulness and joy, to radiate feelings other than frustration while she skates at SC this week. i certainly feel for her--she knows what speed and flow and height she's looking for, and she knows how hard she has worked (despite injuries) to improve these, so it's only natural for her to look annoyed when these improvements elude her at the very competitions she's been training for. i do agree the SP music and choreography hides that frustration better than the nutcracker LP.

on a purely superficial level i look forward to seeing which costume she'll choose for the SP this time, since it appears the TEB dress was different from the golden west dress

feraina said:

Yeah, she needs a coach like Frank Carroll, to cheer her up in the K&C, to smile, to think positively. Frank was an angel to Mirai and Carolina at their last GP.


I just looked at her TEB SP. That program really does have potential!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-UakZpskW8&feature=related

I also rewatched her Spanish Gypsy SP, the one she came in second with at the GPF at age 14!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE0pKn3iQ6s

!

Click to expand...

Is it just me or does "Spanish Gypsy" look totally superior to Caroline's new SP?

I don't just mean that I like the choreo better - but that Caroline's skating looks much better too.

The 2A out of the spread Eagle is always appealing and far superior to the way her 2A's have looked recently. She also looks more expressive and even her mule kick did not look as exagerated as what we saw at TEB

I almost wish I hadn't viewed the two clips because the comparison does not seem very positive imo.

janetfan said:

Is it just me or does "Spanish Gypsy" look totally superior to Caroline's new SP?

I don't just mean that I like the choreo better - but that Caroline's skating looks much better too.

The 2A out of the spread Eagle is always appealing and far superior to the way her 2A's have looked recently. She also looks more expressive and even her mule kick did not look as exagerated as what we saw at TEB

I almost wish I hadn't viewed the two clips because the comparison does not seem very positive imo.

Click to expand...

wasn' t she younger, lighter, less injured, and not yet subjected to miserable downgrades and frustrating coaching changes back then?

i wish i could see the smile from her 'you raise me up' exhibitions back in the 06-07 season again. she can even go back to wearing her watch while she skates if i could have caroline's smiles again