Figure Skating Pet Peeves | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Figure Skating Pet Peeves

louisa05

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Well, the females in Dance and Paris don't seem to have much issue with their hair...

I would say that it is a personal preference to some degree. Some women don't mind hair in their face. Some of us hate it. I have long hair at the moment and can't even stand it hanging down in the way when I cook dinner, let alone doing something athletic or dancing. So there is no way I'll criticize a skater for a neat bun just on "style" grounds.

And by "dancers", I meant ballet dancers. You are not allowed in class at most studios without pulling long hair away from your face (even adult recreational classes), and en pointe students are generally expected to have it in a bun.
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
The A-Frame spin! It looks like a dog peeing on a hydrant.
Also, spirals where the skater doesn't stick their foot back, but to the side. It's a cheat to try to make their extension look better than it is (Ann-Patrice McDonough and Yukina Ota used to do this).
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
RE: Hairstyle comment--

I think all the skaters are beautiful. That being said, I am annoyed when they choose to have bangs that hide their face, like Leonova. She is such a beautiful woman! Why hide your face? It only serves to distract from the skating.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
^ The only time I've seen a skater's head actually bounce off the ice. She had to feel back there to make sure it was still attached to her body before continuing.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
^ The only time I've seen a skater's head actually bounce off the ice. She had to feel back there to make sure it was still attached to her body before continuing.

Whoa, what a dangerous fall. If that happened more often, skaters would be required to wear helmets and there wouldn't be criticism of hairstyles, buns or no buns.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Pairs is the discipline that seems like there would be career-ending and life-threatening injuries. I just hate to see the pro pairs skaters doing head-bangers and other death-defying tricks.

By the way, Naomi Nari Nam won the hearts of everyone in attendance by continuing after that fall. She gave a great free skate and almost beat Michelle Kwan, finishing second overall. But she was too young to go to worlds.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Pairs is the discipline that seems like there would be career-ending and life-threatening injuries. I just hate to see the pro pairs skaters doing head-bangers and other death-defying tricks.

Most of the time, the girl is being swung face down with her hands ahead of her protecting her head if it goes too low. It's scary when she is swung face up but that is often done high off the ice, from the guy's neck. I have seen low swing of the girl face up and it gets me really nervous. Of course at higher level, a fall would be very dangerous, as with a lift and twist throws, plus the centrifugal force. I've always maintained Pairs girls are the gutsiest though tiniest athletes around.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
That is so true, SF! Remember Christine Hough, who was called Toughy Hough? Those pairs ladies are sometimes less than five feet tall, and they don't just get wafted around in the air--they have to jump like their partners and then get thrown to the ground, so to speak. There are times when I feel almost guilty watching pairs routines, because I'm tempted to feel that we shouldn't be encouraging them. But, like football players and snowboard daredevils, they'd do these tricks whether we watched or not.

One lady who recently scared me even more than an eligible pair lady was Gordeyeva, in her recent stint on Battle of the Blades, that Canadian contest with hockey skaters trained to compete as part of a pair. There was one lift where her partner kind of swung her down head first. All very well that he was strong, but if he didn't have enough finesse to keep his balance, or to know how to hold her tightly, what would have happened? >shudder< But she took it as coolly as if she were wearing defensive foam padding.
 

SGrand

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
Hi there,
First post :)
Can agree with a lot here and have had quite a few laughs.
~I would have to say that skaters attempting hip-hop 'moves' look just plain ridiculous and it drives me insane. Dance helps in so many areas with skating, but not here.
~Lack of flexibility and doing movements that actually show it off. Every skater should be made to work on this as it is important for not only their lines, but also for injury prevention.
~Awful costume choices (along with obvious costume choices) and illusion fabric that doesn't match a skaters skin tone.
~Floppy feet that are never pointed.
~Too much make-up on female skaters; I know they want their faces to be seen by many in audience, but it looks horrible and it often done in a dated style as well. Michelle Kwan always stood out to me with her beautiful clean skin and little else (although I'm sure she had more on).
~Long jump set ups that almost always end up with a less than perfect jump because they just waited...and waited...

:)
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
1 Swing music like Take 5, Sing Sing Sing, and many others. Only Jeremy Abbott's suspenders program can suspend my dislike.

2. Playing with suspenders. This goes to show what a masterpiece Jeremy's program is if I can like it in spite of the dang suspenders.

3. Long stretches of mandatory one-footed footwork done by every skater regardless of whether they do it well or the choreography is of any interest.

4. Cutesy shoulder- and hip-wiggling by female skaters. It happens a lot with very young skaters but alas, they don't stop when they're in seniors. To me it's cheap-looking. I mean, really - what does it have to do with skating?

5. Costumes for girls that don't cover the butt and costumes for ice dancers that have long raggedy skirts that look like they're going to get tangled up in a blade. (Kostner and Bobrova, I'm talking to you!)

6. Most exhibition skates and the props, hats, and pop songs they use. I usually skip galas and SOI-type shows. I miss some wonderful show numbers, but I also miss a lot of ____ like the great Shen and Zhao doing a clown routine. :cry: There's always Youtube for the occasional wonderful one that I hear about on GS.

Ha! Totally with you on the skirts thing. Carolina should always wear a slightly longer skirt.
 

Scrufflet

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Excellent comments here.

1. The cutesy name factor really bugs me too. Kim is Kimmie, Kate is Katey,etc. Even the guys get it. I hated it when Scott Hamilton was called Scotty. It sounds so patronizing. These people are men and women, superb athletes, not little kids. I know some of them are really young but the females especially get the little girl thing from the commentators.

2. Skaters who bless themselves out on the ice before they skate. Toller Cranston had some hilarious comments about this. I really wish they'd do this in private, off the ice, before they come out.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Welcome to the forum, Scruffy. Bless you.


:biggrin:

Sorry. .

eta. I apologize, Scrufflet. Now will you tell us what Cranston said?
 
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SGrand

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
^ Thanks so much Mathman! Been "lurking" here for a few days and have learned so much! Happy to be here with fellow FS fans. :)
 

Scrufflet

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Oops, sorry. I can't quote directly but to the effect that, God isn't going to win you this skate, you have to do it! Toller is such an outrageous character; he was hilarious as a commentator.
 

meem

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
I have really enjoyed this thread and really can't think of anything to add - you've covered it all (I think). Those silly gestures in the K&C have been done forever and the one that always made me cringe was that baby wave (especially when male skaters did it). You don't see that any more thank goodness. Recently a poster here or over at SkateFans mentioned Michelle Kwan doing her pistol gestures in the K&C and that Frank made her stop doing it (have to confess that I always got a kick out of this elegant skater acting like such a tomboy after she got off the ice). There is something that has really irritated me and that is when ice dancers or pairs skaters get into character before they've taken center ice (not mentioning any names). Do they really think they're pulling us into their program before they even get into their starting position (while in the background we see all the sponsors' ads along the boards).
 

Rachmaninoff

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
I don't normally mind nicknames for skaters, but I hate how Sotnikova is called 'Sot'. It sounds too much like 'snot'.

referring to pair and dance teams by initials only without first establishing who's being discussed -- even worse when it's initials for a coaching team, or first names instead of last, or man's name first

With you on this one. I hate reading a discussion when everyone's throwing initials around, and I have to rack my brain to figure out who everyone's talking about.

By the way, Naomi Nari Nam won the hearts of everyone in attendance by continuing after that fall. She gave a great free skate and almost beat Michelle Kwan, finishing second overall. But she was too young to go to worlds.

Sigh. I remember that performance. She didn't "almost beat" Kwan; she didn't have the jump content. But lord, could she ever perform. Too bad about all her injuries afterward. I wanted to see what kind of performer she'd become.
 

skatinginbc

Medalist
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
I dislike watching a coach being angry or upset at the poor performance of his student while the latter was putting on a "I'll be good" face and trying to be nice at the K &C. That hurt me emotionally. I could feel the disapproval, neglect, pain...... :cry:

I dislike side-by-side camel spins, which have caused head/face injuries for several female pair skaters. Too dangerous for my taste. There are many types of spins, why do the vast majority of pairs perform a camel? Can't they do something else instead?

I dislike the image of a married male coach getting too lovely-dovely with a female student. When watching skating, my brain is set for esthetic pleasure, not for a moral conflict. It disrupts my mood.
 
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Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
1. The cutesy name factor really bugs me too. Kim is Kimmie, Kate is Katey,etc. Even the guys get it. I hated it when Scott Hamilton was called Scotty. It sounds so patronizing. These people are men and women, superb athletes, not little kids. I know some of them are really young but the females especially get the little girl thing from the commentators

Scott's friends in skating call him Scotty or Scooter (his two nicknames from childhood). They use them in interviews so it sticks.

I've been Tonichelle since I was a toddler. and a friend of mine is Kimmie and she'll be 30 this year. *shrugs* some folks don't mind.
 
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