What percentage of skaters do triple jumps?
- Thread starter Arwen17
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- Aug 1, 2003
Lack of available freestyle ice can be a factor as well, going into the idea of "time". I live someplace that has, relative to some other regions, a wealth of rinks and high quality coaches. But when freestyle ice ends before I even get out of work, my daughter can't skate more often, period, end of story. Not complaining - well, maybe a little - but it's part of the reality of the sport.
I hear ya! That is in addition to balancing skating and school. The nerve of kids to want to something in addition to just those two.
USFSA has a chart about "The Competitive Pipeline" where it estimates numbers as follows:
about 100,000 skaters do the basic skills
about 30,000 skaters move up to competitions
about 3000 do Regionals (that's going to be single axel and above)
about 900 go on to Sectionals (that's double axel and above)
about 300 go to Nationals
about 150 go on to novice, junior, and senior international competitions (triples and above)
about 100 go to Junior Grand Prix or Junior World Champs
about 15 go to Olympic level competitions (this group is the group that has the best triples and the quads)
http://www.usfsa.org/content/competitive pipeline.pdf
Obviously that's for USA only. And here in the US where skating is pretty much entirely funded by the family, there are many athletes who cannot rise to their potential due to financial constraints. Also eliminate those who don't have access to good coaches or good freestyle sessions and/or have competing educational, athletic or extracurricular interests, etc and it becomes clear that while only a very select few do get triples and above, there's room for many more to get there if our system worked differently. But they're still going to be in the minority I'm sure - very few skaters get that far.
The chart is dated 2013, and it may still be relevant. USFS probably has better data than what people in general could guess. However, I’m not sure if this USFS chart includes ISI skaters. My daughter started skating in ISI classes. So, instead of Basic 1-8, she went through tots, pre-alpha, alpha, beta, gamma, and delta classes. She eventually changed over to USFS levels in private lessons. If ISI is not included, then the number of skaters who start skating at basic levels is larger than 100,000, so the percentage of those who make it to doubles & triples is lower.
Also, of the 15 going to the Olympic team (in the chart), 9 are free skate and 6 are ice dance (no jumps in ice dancing). If the ratio holds, then I’m thinking that maybe the numbers for Sectional competition and above are 60% free skate and 40% ice dancing. The qualifying competitions for ice dancing don’t even start until Sectional. I think the numbers at the qualifying Regional competitions would be just free skate.
Good point.
Both pairs and ice dance start at sectionals not regionals. But especially at the higher levels, the majority of the teams in the country make it to Nationals.
You can find the full results for each of this year's US sectionals here:
Eastern http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2018/25073/results.html
Midwestern http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2018/25074/results.html
Pacific Coast http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2018/25075/results.html
You could count the number of entries in each discipline at each level. In many cases the number of pair or dance teams entered is well below the 12 that qualify from regionals in singles.
If you like, you could check the protocols for singles events intermediate and above and for pairs novice and above to see how many freestylers are attempting triples.
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2012
I have to agree - most skaters who put in 10-15 hours a week can learn triples. The issue is affordablity. I know my daughter would be able to land her double axel easily if she skated more than 5 hours a week (one of those is with a coach). But it is by far unaffordable for most people. She would skate costs would equal triple our family income. I know she will get a double axel soon, but it will take a lot more for it to be compeition ready.
Not sure I agree with this statement. I would say that any skater that puts in those hours should get all of their doubles up to a double axel.
But from a double axel up, even if a skater has good technique, a skater starts to encounter physical and mental limitations. These jumps require a certain amount of height (air time) and I'm not sure if most skaters get enough. And from what I hear from around the rink, lots of skaters are scared of the forward entry of an axel - they can push through a single but I think the double is a different beast.
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- Jan 12, 2018
I find this discussion really fascinating. One thing is though that often people dislike 2A more than 3S, I’m working on both right now (there’s two of us at my club who are and we both really don’t like 2A) and also the pain from falling on these is quite high and I find there to be a big jump pain wise from most doubles (not 2A) to 2A,3S,3T etc and it really can freak some people out. I’m used to coming home from the rink with at least five bruises.
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- Jan 9, 2017
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yes, and then the triples are a whole other beast within themselves.My daughter refused to wear butt pads until she had a couple of brutal falls when working on triples. Then she asked for them.
To do a triple, you have to jump higher and rotate faster so the falls are much harder on the body (more g forces at work). As a result, a good chiropractor is needed to put the body back into assignment. It is amazing how many skaters we see at the chirpractor's office.
US skaters start doing triples in competitions at the Intermdiate level. Last season at the summer competitions it was not uncommon at this level to see 4 withdraws (from group of 15 -20) before an event even started and another 1 or 2 before the event finals. I'm sure most of these withdraws were from failed triple attempts. Talk about survival of the fittest!
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:dance2:
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this made for good reading. ty.
