I have always thought it's wrong and very risky to participate in too few competitions because the athlete will lose a sense of the competition atmosphere. Especially when there's a completely new system in play, skipping competitions is a big no-no. The fact that she was quoted as saying she was mechanically thinking through the whole performance in the QR such as counting revolutions, consciously executing the moves ...etc indicates that she was trying to familiarize herself a little too late.
Because she still did very well in 2003-2004, she was willing to continue to take the risk. The healthy body she gets in return is a good bet after all. Cutting down on competitions is good for athletes who have been competing too long, but to totally skip competitions and not have themselves evaluated under the new system at all before the big one is a huge mistake. This gets me thinking that she became over-confident (not in a negative way), she probably didn't know she did. I'm not criticizing her for the choice she made. everyone makes an important choice in a certain stage of their lives and it's ok to make mistakes as long as they learn from them.
From a report by USFSA, Michelle was quoted “One change is huge in skating,” Kwan said. “I don't look back. I made a choice and I feel good. A lot of people came in here with injuries. I am fine 100 percent. It just didn't happen.”
That's my girl. Never regret, just move on.
Because she still did very well in 2003-2004, she was willing to continue to take the risk. The healthy body she gets in return is a good bet after all. Cutting down on competitions is good for athletes who have been competing too long, but to totally skip competitions and not have themselves evaluated under the new system at all before the big one is a huge mistake. This gets me thinking that she became over-confident (not in a negative way), she probably didn't know she did. I'm not criticizing her for the choice she made. everyone makes an important choice in a certain stage of their lives and it's ok to make mistakes as long as they learn from them.
From a report by USFSA, Michelle was quoted “One change is huge in skating,” Kwan said. “I don't look back. I made a choice and I feel good. A lot of people came in here with injuries. I am fine 100 percent. It just didn't happen.”
That's my girl. Never regret, just move on.
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