Gracie Gold will go senior in 2012-2013 | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Gracie Gold will go senior in 2012-2013

Jammers

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Well with the skaters today and their inconsistency i would say it's almost spectacular. Hopefully she can keep it up since now she will be asked to do even more with her skating since she's a Senior now.
 

Mrs. P

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Is that spectacular or just very consistent?

Maybe spectacular isn't the right word...

That said, it is very consistent. It's also noteworthy, if not an outstanding achievement. We're not talking about someone who has done two 3-3 combination in one competition. We're talking about someone that has hit BOTH combinations consistently pretty much the entire season. As far as I can see she has been 5/5 for the 3F-3T and 4/4 in the 3Z-3T (hopefully 5/5 after tomorrow) for both in her national and international competitions (JGP Estonia, Midwestern Sections, Nationals, JW and SP at WTT).

My point is, is yes she has stuff to work on, but let's give credit where credit is due.
 

Mrs. P

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Bah, all this won't matter next season.

I get your MO is not to hype skaters too much and all, but can't people appreciate her achievements? Well, I will. And Gracie seems like such a good sport -- she clearly respects the veteran skaters like CaroK and Daisuke and it's been fun to see her enjoying the competition.
 

drivingmissdaisy

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Feb 17, 2010
I certainly am very excited about her and do see her as a potential savior of US ladies figure skating. She has had incredible achievements this season but I am cautiously optimistic. A lot of skaters have had one terrific season, such as Sokolova, Zhang, Harding, etc. so this could be the beginning of a great career or just one great season. Things can unravel quickly in a sport where career-threatening injuries, eating disorders, lack of confidence, and federation pressure are commonplace. Gracie has held up very well thus far but now she will begin facing the weight of expectation.
 

Mrs. P

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I certainly am very excited about her and do see her as a potential savior of US ladies figure skating. She has had incredible achievements this season but I am cautiously optimistic. A lot of skaters have had one terrific season, such as Sokolova, Zhang, Harding, etc. so this could be the beginning of a great career or just one great season. Things can unravel quickly in a sport where career-threatening injuries, eating disorders, lack of confidence, and federation pressure are commonplace. Gracie has held up very well thus far but now she will begin facing the weight of expectation.

That is true and I agree that anything can happen.

But I'm simply just appreciating where she is at right now. If you read my posts I haven't said anything about her being the future of U.S. skating or anything like that. And quite frankly, I don't even think about that. Rather, I am focused on the things I appreciate about her now and hope that she will continue to progress in the future. (I have a similar feeling with Jason Brown, despite his lack of a 3A).

I think the one thing she has going for her is that she had her expectations meltdown early (last season) and a lot of the things she learned in dealing with pressure as a junior I think she can apply when she moves up to seniors.

Also I wouldn't count Adelina out either. She's had some setbacks, but she still managed to podium at all her events this season.
 

mskater93

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Oct 22, 2005
I think this is the first time I've ever really seen her cut loose and have fun like a teenager should. I know Dai and CaroK are two skaters she greatly admires (and she tweeted about Dai during Worlds), so probably just sharing the ice with them makes it more exciting for her. One thing I do know, she will take whatever she learns from being around the top Seniors this weekend and apply it going forward. She's like a sponge in that regard.

As for Scott B, I didn't think too much of what he had given her as programs this year until I actually SAW them working together. When I see her skate, she's usually with Alex O and it's about tech, tech, and more tech. When I saw her working with Scott B, it was different - he definitely has a vision about what he wants out of a program. Very cool to watch.
 

Serious Business

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Scott Brown may have done good work with other skaters, but his programs for Gracie were pretty dreadful. Maybe he can't properly communicate his vision to Gracie, or maybe he has the wrong vision for her altogether. Either way, he seems to be the wrong fit for her. I hope she gets not just a new choreographer, but someone to regularly help her with performing on ice.
 

macy

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Nov 12, 2011
i wouldn't be too quick to write off her choreographer just yet. after all, she was a JUNIOR this season, and knowing that Gracie hadn't made an impact at all before this season, he probably just gave her normal junior programs. now that she's starting to make a name for herself, he may step it up a notch.
 

blue dog

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Dec 16, 2006
I hope Gracie Gold has a great skate in the FS! Her first senior FS competition!
 
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Jammers

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Well i hope Gracie realizes that she's about to hit the big time and she needs big time coaches and choreographers.
 

drivingmissdaisy

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Feb 17, 2010
i wouldn't be too quick to write off her choreographer just yet. after all, she was a JUNIOR this season, and knowing that Gracie hadn't made an impact at all before this season, he probably just gave her normal junior programs. now that she's starting to make a name for herself, he may step it up a notch.

I agree. Just because we think she can do more difficult choreography doesn't necessarily mean she can. I don't think it's easy to balance the PCS with doing difficult jumps. It's clear she has focused on her jumps in the last year and that has taken her from a non-factor in national junior competition to a world junior medalist.
 

Serious Business

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Just because we think she can do more difficult choreography doesn't necessarily mean she can.

That's not my argument against Scott Brown at all. I don't think his choreography for Gracie Gold is too easy/difficult, that's not my concern at all. My concern is that his two programs for her (did he do the exhibition number too?) were awful. The pieces he used range from banal and uninspired (the Morricone pieces in the FS) to the ear-bleedingly awful (the trying and failing to be hip reversion of Tchaikovsky for the SP). The movement, the steps, nothing is particularly special. He has failed her as a choreographer. The idea that she, the client, has to somehow live up to his choreography is ridiculous. She's first and foremost a competitive figure skater, not a dancer contracted in a troupe who has to dance assigned choreography. The choreographer works for her and her career, not the other way around. If he can't bring out the best or at least the halfway decent in her, then it's time to move on. At least the next choreographer will likely have better taste in music.
 

drivingmissdaisy

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I'm not sure if the choreographer or the coach is responsible for some of the less attractive aspects of her presentation, like slumped shoulders or awkward arm movements into jumps. Regarding her music, there were several people who could have objected, including Gracie, her coach or her parents, so I can't blame him for that either. Her SP music is every bit as bad as 'Hot Problems'.
 

Mrs. P

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Lots of Gracie-related stuff in the Alissa thread so just bringing it over here.

If Gracie improves during the off season then i think we saw our team for Worlds next year. Finally two skaters who seem to be good competitors and will fight.

Ashley is a much better skater then Hughes ever was and Gracie has more potential also. We'll see next season. It should be fun.

My only concern for Gracie is that she's still young enough that her body could change like Kimmie's did and totally throw off her jumps/consistency. Meissner didn't struggle with the puberty monster perse because her struggles came after puberty. Her height was the same when she won Worlds to when she was struggling so much the following two seasons, but her body build was much different. Gracie probably isn't growing any taller, but like Kimmie she also used to be a little waif and now is getting sturdier. I guess the fear is that if she continues to fill out, it could hurt her jumps, although maybe it's different, because Kimmie's jumps were never as big and her 3-3s were always suspect, and Gracie's jumps actually seem to have gotten bigger since she started filling out, but who knows. Also the pressure could get to her later, Adelina seemed to be fearless just last season and now the pressure seems to affect her a lot. Ashley is really impressing me this season but for Gracie, I want to see how she does in her first senior season first.

Gracie is similar to Agnes in a LOT of ways and Agnes has not exactly taken the senior international ranks by storm, at least not yet. She was consistent the year she won junior, and though her body did change some since then, she still has enormous jumps, she's just no longer very consistent, and her weaknesses (bad packaging, awkwardness, lowish PCS) still seem to be hurting her.

I think Gracie is further ahead in her development then Agnes.

Anything can happen of course, but I have been impressed with how she handled herself at this competition. She really soaked up the experience rather than worry about the pressure. I think it was smart she had her senior debut here instead of the GP. Unlike Agnes, who basically came into the GP cold turkey, Gracie now knows how she stacks up with the top competition and what she has to work on. (It's pretty awesome to get compete against the top 5 from the World Championships, I'm sure!)

She seems to LOVE Daisuke and CaroK, so I'm hoping perhaps she glean some lessons on what makes them tick and apply them to her own skating.


As for her body, she seems pretty developed, both height and lady wise.

Look at this photo: http://yfrog.com/nvctkuij

She is about the same height as Ashley and Meryl and she's definitely no waif! In fact, I didn't know she was 16, I probably think she was closer in age to those two.

I just hope Gracie's body doesn't change much. Look at Mirai she is much more stocky then when she was Gracie's age. But luckily Gracie has much better jump technique so she may be all right in the future.

A lot of is also about WHEN you grow too...

Here's Gracie in September 2009 when she was a novice — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg8UyTVaNHU

Here's Gracie a year later in Skate Detroit 2010 (junior) — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDDWMKn9Npg

Here's Gracie at Skate Detroit 2011 (also as a junior) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEG7zOTuiSU


In this progression of videos you can see that she grew a lot between 2009-2010, but not much between 2010-2011, which tells me she's done growing for the most part.
You can also see how far she has come in just one year (between 2010 and 2011).

I seem to recall people loved Mirai's jumps when she was younger/slimmer, too. She had such a spring in her jumps. Her 2A was really spectacular. And at Gracie's current age, Mirai looked pretty developed too, but that didn't stop puberty from changing her body some more in the next two years.

We shall see, but Gracie's basically had the same figure since the summer of 2010, give or take a few inches. I don't really see her all of a sudden having a dramatic body shift. Any changes at this point will be modest and I have confidence that she can handle it.

And as I said, Gracie may be skinny but she's no waif. Again, look at the photos with her and the other lady skaters, she does not look like a skinny teenager next to Meryl or Ashley. I think she's still figuring out how to pose with her body in programs, but that's more of a packaging thing not a puberty thing.

Exaclty. At 16 Mirai was the same height she is now, didn't have a little girl's body, and didn't look that different from the year before when she was 15 and had just finished her big growthspurt. But then over the next two seasons she filled out a lot and began to struggle more with jump consistency. It's similar to what happened to Kimmie actually. Not the puberty monster but the one that comes after puberty, when it's common for girls to put on a bunch of weight. Rachael also went through the same thing starting in the Olympic season and that was when she started to have issues with URs. She was never a stick figure skater, but her weaknesses as a skater became amplified when she became more busty and womanly in her figure. Maybe Gracie will be more like Ashley though, who has always been very strong and muscular in her build and didn't gain a lot of weight post puberty. Already at 16 Gracie is quite muscular and her build is somewhat similar to Ashley.

Gracie has better jump technique then Mirai had or even Rachael or Kimmie despite the problems yesterday. But we will see next season. Hopefully she keeps those big jumps.
 

Mrs. P

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So for the sake of discussion here's the overarching points made so far.

1.) Will Gracie see more body changes? My take is, no, given that she's had the same height/figure for more than a year now. But of course continued growing and changes were still a factor for other skaters — i.e. Agnes and Mirai, so we'll have to see.

2.) Gracie needs improve in her artistry The key thing that keeps many from throwing support behind Gracie is her PCS, mainly choreography, interpretation and performance/execution. What she does in these areas over the summer will determine how her first full season as a senior will go.

3.) What other tricks will Gracie add to her arsenal? She has done a good job in getting a 3Z-3T and 3F-3T ratified in competition this year. Likely she will continue with two combos, but is a combo with a 3Lo in her future? Or a 3A? The 3A is not a big thing yet, but if she gets a, let's say a 3F-3Lo combo in her arsenal, it will put a ton more flexibility in her content.

4.) USFSA support — just throwing this one in there — With a solid placement at WTT, it will be interesting to see what kind of USFSA buzz/support she will receive. She should be in the Team B level of support for funding due to her silver medal at Jr. Worlds. She previously received NO funding until she was selected to compete for JGP, so this will be a great boost of funding for her.
 

drivingmissdaisy

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Feb 17, 2010
I agree with Mrs P except #3. Her jump arsenal is perfectly fine as it is now. She has a huge point-getting combo in the SP and is able to to do a 7 triple LP with 2 x 2A. For me, the time spent working on a 3A or ?-3L combo could be much better spent working on the other aspects of her skating needing improvement. Furthermore, not training harder jumps might also put less wear and tear on her body. Having said that, she seems to really enjoy training the jumps and I don't know if she is going to be as committed to working on the more subtle aspects that need work.
 
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