Whats next for U.S. That the 2 of the touted youngster didn't get 3 U.S. for next ye | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Whats next for U.S. That the 2 of the touted youngster didn't get 3 U.S. for next ye

autounion

Spectator
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
There is a difference in the mental strength department between the 19-year olds Mao & Yuna, vs. a 16-year old Mirai. It comes from experience and battle scars.

There is no question nerves and pressure got to Mirai after her unexpected lead in the SP at Worlds. She is a very self-aware young lady, she knows it is the same demon that haunted her at the Cup of China. Her challenge is to work towards conquering that demon. It is not easy, as you can't easily simulate such pressure and expectation in another setting. Most of the learning has to come from real experience. Unless you are fortunate enough to be born mentally tough without even working at it, you have to deal with it the hard way. I certainly know my limitation when I was 16.

Look at it this way, the glass is mostly full, not a little empty. There is little question Mirai has the raw talent, presence and personality on ice. When she is relaxed enough to let her considerable charisma show, the judges and audience find her irresistible. She needs to get to the point when she is in the lead in a major event, she is no longer in shock, but be relieved and consider it a nice cushion going into the LP.

With Frank's help and her natural spunk, she has a good shot at getting there. And trust me, she will go into the LP at major events with a lead again, and again.
 
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Poodlepal

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
I hope you guys (silverlake, etc.) are right about Mirai. I like her a lot, and I know how anyone can have a bad skate, like Carolina and Brian at the Olympics. I don't mean to disrespect her, but I still worry that this might become a pattern she can't beat, of having a great short but losing ground in the long, like Sasha and Johnny.

Time will tell, I'm sure. By next year, she could be the World Champion, my fears will have amounted to nothing. I hope!
 

PROKOFIEV

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
There is a difference in the mental strength department between the 19-year olds Mao & Yuna, vs. a 16-year old Mirai. It comes from experience and battle scars.

There is no question nerves and pressure got to Mirai after her unexpected lead in the SP at the Worlds. She is a very self-aware young lady, she knows it is the same demon that haunted her at the Cup of China. Her challenge is to work towards conquering that demon. It is not easy, as you can't easy simulate such pressure and expectation in another setting. Most of the learning has to come from real experience. Unless you are fortunate enough to be born mentally tough without even working at it, you have to deal with it the hard way. I certainly know my limitation when I was 16.

Look at it this way, the glass is mostly full, not a little empty. There is little question Mirai has the raw talent, presence and personality on ice. When she is relaxed enough to let her considerable charisma show, the judges and audience find her irresistible. She needs to get to the point when she is in a lead in a major event, she is no longer in shock, but be relieved and consider it a nice cushion going into the LP.

With Frank's help and her natural spunk, she has a good shot at getting there. And trust me, she will go into the LP at major events with a lead again, and again.

Thank you very much. I totally agree with you. I have a feeling that Mirai is the one. I mean she has everything to be a whole package skater. She will keep on improving and I know one day she can be a world champion. US has Rachael who still is the most consistent skater. And I am excited about Agnes and Christine. They have a great potential. Caroline may surprise us. It is really exciting. I just can not wait for the next season to start!
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Thank you very much. I totally agree with you. I have a feeling that Mirai is the one. I mean she has everything to be a whole package skater. She will keep on improving and I know one day she can be a world champion. US has Rachael who still is the most consistent skater. And I am excited about Agnes and Christine. They have a great potential. Caroline may surprise us. It is really exciting. I just can not wait for the next season to start!

Next season will sure be interesting! If Alissa and Rachael aren't competing, which I have a feeling they won't be, especially Alissa, it will be very different from these past few years. I hope more than one US lady makes the GPF this time around and I'm curious to see if Caroline can come back with a vengeance next season after this very disappointing year she has had. Also, Agnes and Christina - JGP or GP? Depending on which they chose, that could be interesting too. Then there's Amanda Dobbs, I really like her too, hopefully she stays in singles and gets some of her harder triples, she is just so beautiful! And I'm guessing no Bebe next year either. I think things are really starting to change!
 

Simoncat

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
What this means is that the large pool of US Ladies will have to fight it out at Nationals. It can only be an advantage to the US when this happens. In the meantime the promising ones will be given some international experience. My own country simply holds up one chosen skater with support and funding and even if they skate terribly,don't allow the up and comers an opportunity to replace them,and don't give any international experience-then they wail over the state of Ladies skating.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I beg to differ. Neither Miki or Akiko are guaranteed to end up on the podium.


If I may clarify, I didn't mean Miki or Akiko specifically. The point I was making is that Japan has such a deep field that there's always someone new coming along to excel on the world stage. The next Japanese world champion may be Miki or Mao again, but it's equally likely to be someone we haven't even heard of yet. By comparison, a country with just one great skater might have a long dry period before the next world-class champion comes along.
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Mirai fixed her lutz and took off from the slight outside edge from the slow mo on Universal Sports. Both her lutzes were bad. I'm afraid she's like Mao, spent so much time fixing the lutz and it became an unstable jump.
Next season, we'll see if she still has the lutz. Too early to tell for Mirai.
 

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
You're right about Japanese deep field of skaters. On the other hand, I don't see anyone besides Mirai who is able to carry the torch for US in the next couple of years. Christina Gao is promising and she has Orser but not all of his students may turn out like Yuna, so she's still a question mark. It's unfortunate that Caroline Zhang has so many technical issues because she does possess the maturiy and polish that Kwan had at her age.
 

ms9421

Spectator
Joined
Feb 19, 2010
what i mean- is this . because U.S. didn't get 3 women for next years worlds, how will we (us) be seen internationally--will it hurt or help because they are young.
because other us skaters we young in the past got three under 6.0's and with figures included
so does age make a difference.
or is it because they are young. or because other country skaters are older /caught up to U.S. in technqiue and style and personallity and jumps. us focus too much on artistry.
or because U.S. bases most of it on artistry and (i perceive as lack of doing a jump correctly-like ur, prerotation, underotation, wrong edges on landing/takeoffs) where costly points are taken off.

does this lack of 13 hurt our potential for U.S. women skaters to get on top or on podium in future years and next year.
rachel was 9th in free skate, mirai was 11th.
or does the Us women skaters need to buckle down and fight during competition and clean jumps and work on attitude instead of just skating.

i apologize if this comes across wrong. but i am wondering about overall concept of american womens skating in future .
because I as a fan assume /thought that the youngster, mirai, rachel, ashley, caroline zhang could and would get 3 women skaters. but apparently i am wrong-so now i am worried about the future of American Women figure skating.:sheesh::
just might thought--like i stated i apologized if taken wrong way.

Until you Fix the bad Caoching on the womens side get real Leadship Us Figure Skating Org. , and Put some one in Charge Like Marta did for Gymnastics Get that Figure head in charge of the program you will not see any American on top of the Podum period. Just look after BeJING in Diving got three Medals at Worlds. US Figure Skating needs some one to lead not some who know nothing about the sport of Figure Skating be President of US Skating. I would likie see Tara's or Sarah Former Coaches in charge help to devolop young Skaters into the next Tara, Kristy, or even better. I don't Blame Rachael Flatt nor Mirai don't anybody blmae them either they both weren't prepare for this one and other they were worn out from long season. We need to get rid of the bad Leadership in the US Figure Skating ORG.
 
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silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
You're right about Japanese deep field of skaters. On the other hand, I don't see anyone besides Mirai who is able to carry the torch for US in the next couple of years. Christina Gao is promising and she has Orser but not all of his students may turn out like Yuna, so she's still a question mark. It's unfortunate that Caroline Zhang has so many technical issues because she does possess the maturiy and polish that Kwan had at her age.

What about Ashley and Agnes? And I actually think Christina does have what it takes, I just think it will take her a little longer to get there, she is still very tiny and a bit juniorish. Also, any news on Caroline getting a new coach? If she does maybe she can work out her issues.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
What about Ashley and Agnes? And I actually think Christina does have what it takes, I just think it will take her a little longer to get there, she is still very tiny and a bit juniorish. Also, any news on Caroline getting a new coach? If she does maybe she can work out her issues.

I haven't heard any news about Caroline for quite a while. I guess she hasn't made any coaching changes or we would have heard about it.

Ashley seems to be close and not sure about Christina yet.

Rachael seems to have peaked last year and not sure if she will continue serious training.
Other than Mirai - I don't see any USA Lady having Worlds podium potential at the moment. Even with Mirai - as we just found out - it is still about potential, but Mirai atleast seems to have the talent to become an elite level senior skater.

Maybe it is best for Alissa and Sasha to comeback although I can already hear SL saying "no, no";)
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I haven't heard any news about Caroline for quite a while. I guess she hasn't made any coaching changes or we would have heard about it.

Ashley seems to be close and not sure about Christina yet.

Rachael seems to have peaked last year and not sure if she will continue serious training.
Other than Mirai - I don't see any USA Lady having Worlds podium potential at the moment. Even with Mirai - as we just found out - it is still about potential, but Mirai atleast seems to have the talent to become an elite level senior skater.

Maybe it is best for Alissa and Sasha to comeback although I can already hear SL saying "no, no";)

Sasha is past her prime and Alissa unfortunately I don't think has what it takes to be on top, even if she becomes more consistent. She has never really been able to score much more than 100 points for her FS and that is just not going to cut it. Plus with tech callers being so strict about URs, Alissa's in trouble. And she's so slow, her spins are really, really beautiful though :love:. I think she would be a great show skater and always wonder why she never tried ice dance? She has everything except speed and jumps, and in ice dance you don't need either!
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Oh and I kind of want Caroline or Christina to switch to pairs. I just think they'd be really good at it. I want Min-Jung Kwak to do pairs too, she's so flexible and light as a feather! Haha yeah I guess I just like pairs but if Caroline were to do pairs she wouldn't have to worry so much about her jumps and could abandon her mule kick flip and lutz and just do 2a and 3sal instead, which she can do very well :agree:. Christina I just think is cute and could be like Pang :love:
 

aftertherain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Oh and I kind of want Caroline or Christina to switch to pairs. ... I just like pairs but if Caroline were to do pairs she wouldn't have to worry so much about her jumps and could abandon her mule kick flip and lutz and just do 2a and 3sal instead, which she can do very well

If Caroline ever switched to pairs skating, I'd be worried about her partner's groin. It IS a triple LUTZ twist ...
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
If Caroline ever switched to pairs skating, I'd be worried about her partner's groin. It IS a triple LUTZ twist ...

:laugh: I just think she'd be good at it and maybe she'd be a little happier because she wouldn't get dinged for her technique? Idk. I definitely think Kwak should do pairs, she's so dainty and bendy.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I think he meant that USA entered Wolrds with two spots for Ladies - and that hasn't changed.

Ohh ok. It will be weird next season though if there is no Alissa, no Bebe, and no Rachael. I'm excited though because I really like Christina and Amanda and am curious to see how they will fair on the Grand Prix. Is anyone else really, really excited to find out what music the skaters programs will be set to next season? I can't wait!
 
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