I understand your point, but I mean the same can be said about people living in different countries. If Jenna McCorkell lived in the US, she likely wouldn't make it to nationals, but because she is from Great Britain, she's been national champion several times and always gets to skate on the grand prix and other big international competitions. Why do you think Ksenia Makarova skates for Russia and not the US? And I actually think the level of difficulty at all the US sectionals is pretty comparable, as a lot of skaters hail from the northeast, midwest, california, and colorado. The system maybe isn't super fair but it's just the way things work. In the US, it's tough to make nationals and really difficult to make World and Olympic teams but that is just the reality of being such a strong skating nation. In countries where skating isn't very popular (Austria, Germany, China, eastern Europe apart from Russia all come to mind), the standards are not quite so high, but you can't chose what nationality you are or if you live in Colorado or Boston so really I think the system will just stay the way it is, because it is so hard to get to nationals it means the skaters that do make it there are of very high quality.
First of all the system is unequitable there are sections where its easy to qualify and sections where its not easy to qualify. That's just a fact Silverlake.
Second the issue with Murakova representing Russia not the US has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. Russia has its own system to determine who is best to represent them for international competitions.
What I'm talking about is the US system. Where, perhaps if the US wants to be highly competitive with rest of the world, its smart to develop a system where the best US skaters can get the international experience necessary to succeed on the international stage. Especially for ladies-which has been dire for the US. It was clear the situation at Junior Nationals was dire last year, and we haven't had a medal at worlds in four years. A system based on where you live, is not the "best way" to ensure the "best" US skaters represent our country. Marta Karoyli understands this for gymnastics. Her goal is to ensure that the US wins medals at the Worlds and the Olympics. Not to ensure that every section from every part of the country gets representation at Nationals-Karoyli could care less about that.
Once again why should the USFSA care if it was fear that Nakano didn't go to the Olympics. (They might even be glad about that one). But they should care about making sure that the best US girls get international experience at a young age, so that we can be competitive at the international stage. The fact that in the past 4 years two of our Junior National champions didn't make it to Junior Nationals the year before-really shows that especially when your talking about 12 to 13 year olds, one competition may not be the best way to determine who gets international JGP spots or not.
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