Effects of Growth Spurt on Promising Young Stars

[skateflower]

That's Yasmin Siraj for sure!

I probably should take back what I said about Yasmin after re-watching several of her videos on youtube. The jump height is actually decent relative to her body size. However, she's very erratic and so tiny. She'll likely have a huge growth spurt which will no doubt make her jumps even more inconsistent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjlPEN4iV_8&feature=fvwrel

Vanasse(?)'s jumps are definitely tiny. She won't be able to do them after growth spurt.

 

[CARA]

I don't know which promising current girls do better after the growth spurt, but here are the variables to take into account:

1. As many of you point out, perhaps the most important variables is excellent jumping technique.
Example: Yuna Kim & Mao Asada. Both were talented and Mao initially prevailed. However, Yuna steadily improved her expressivity, spins, etc to become a complete skater. She never lost her jumps due to her text book technique. On the other hand, Mao is paying the price of her shaky jump technique to this day.

2. Discipline/motivation: Mirai is as talented as any of the current most promising girls/ladies, but she is not necessarily the most disciplined. It is interesting that she has not done well after her coach moved away to a new and far away facility. Mirai admits that she does not practice now as much as when she was with her coach everyday, and when she practiced with Evan, a proven self-motivator and a hard worker.

Both Mao and Yuna are known to be extremely hard-workers. For instance, Brian Orser admitted that he was "spoiled by Yuna" who did not need to be pushed at all.

Another important part of discipline is disciplined eating/dieting, as even small fructuation of weight can affect your jump.

3. Managing injuries - Many promising careers can be destroyed by untimely injuries, and the growth spurt phase can be vulnerable to injuries due to constantly changing balance of your body. Also bad jumping technique may make you accident prone. With no-so-great technique and her leg injury, I am personally concerned about Hick's prospect. Even Yuna Kim did not become Queen Yuna until she learned to manage her herniated disc from 2008-2009 season on.

 

[havefun]

Gracie is fifteen. Went through large growth spurt last year. She earned 172 points and won mids sectionals tonight. Fall on a double axel. Skated clean short and long programs last 3 comps with 3/3 in both short and long programs And 2ax/3t in longs. Fast and powerful. Gorgeous true edge on lutz. Technique looks sound at this point.

 

[havefun]

Sorry. Turned 16 in August.

 

[skateflower]

Gracie is fifteen. Went through large growth spurt last year. She earned 172 points and won mids sectionals tonight. Fall on a double axel. Skated clean short and long programs last 3 comps with 3/3 in both short and long programs And 2ax/3t in longs. Fast and powerful. Gorgeous true edge on lutz. Technique looks sound at this point.

Thanks for the info. Just looked up the protocols on the icenetwork.
http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2012/68255/results.html

sp:
3f+3t, 3lutz, 2a, all +goe
lp:
3lutz+3t, 2a+3t, 3lo, 3f, 3lutz, 2a(fall), 3s. All +goe except for the fall on 2a. If international judges are fair, they should give her massive goe on all those jumps. I believe she is THE best female jumper in the world as of today.

She is very consistent this season. Looks like she's gained lots of power in jumps after a large growth spurt.

If US figure skating federation is smart, they should send her to the world championships this year to let her meet international judges.

 

[Mrs. P]

Thanks for the info. Just looked up the protocols on the icenetwork.
http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2012/68255/results.html

sp:
3f+3t, 3lutz, 2a, all +goe
lp:
3lutz+3t, 2a+3t, 3lo, 3f, 3lutz, 2a(fall), 3s. All +goe except for the fall on 2a. If international judges are fair, they should give her massive goe on all those jumps. I believe she is THE best female jumper in the world as of today.

She is very consistent this season. Looks like she's gained lots of power in jumps after a large growth spurt.

If US figure skating federation is smart, they should send her to the world championships this year to let her meet international judges.

It's probably worth noting that her score for juniors at Midwestern sectionals, would have far outranked her counterparts at the senior level (by about 20 points)

The international judges have spoken: Gracie is No. 8 on the SB list both in SP and overall. She's actually 7th in the FS. Within the JGP itself, she's only second to Julia Lipintskya.

 

[havefun]

Her jumps are mind boggling. The speed into them!! She literally flies. So great to watch.

 

[skateflower]

Her jumps are mind boggling. The speed into them!! She literally flies. So great to watch.

Is this her sister? Not really a good skater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_PBtBxJTx4

 

[havefun]

Twin I believe. Looks like she has fun and loves it....

 

[christinaskater]

GRACIE GOLD SP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D04eVuX_mbI

GRACIE GOLD LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enfbO9TTbU8

She is one of the skaters to watch out for in Sochi!

 

[christinaskater]

Gracie has the body of a woman already which is a good thing. She looks absolutely gorgeous!
Jumps ala Yu-Na Kim and spins nearly like Alissa Czisny with choreography ala Joubert

 

[skateflower]

Gracie has the body of a woman already which is a good thing. She looks absolutely gorgeous!
Jumps ala Yu-Na Kim and spins nearly like Alissa Czisny with choreography ala Joubert

It's a stretch to claim Gracie's spins are nearly on par with Alissa's . But I agree her jumps are on par with Kim's and the choreography is not great.

 

[seniorita]

Her jumps are mind boggling. The speed into them!! She literally flies. So great to watch.

Is she done with growth according to your reliable sources or 16 is OK anyway to compete at seniors based on your judgement? Doesnt look like a trained monkey to me, she looks great btw.

 

[DianaSelene]

Is she done with growth according to your reliable sources or 16 is OK anyway to compete at seniors based on your judgement? Doesnt look like a trained monkey to me, she looks great btw.

Well, the skaters that havefun likes are already mature, grown, and not trained monkeys. All those other short girls have no feelings or emotions. Their mommys make them come out on the ice and earn money for the family. Of course, Tuktamysheva's jumps are not mind-boggling at all and she'll probably lose her jumps when she grows a millimeter anyways.

 

[Mathman]

I tried to train my monkey in figure skating, but he was only interested in hockey.

http://www.99andbarry.com/uploaded_images/ice_hockey_monkey-701220.jpg

I worry about whether he will lose his slap shot when he turns 5 next month.

 

[seniorita]

^ cute

Me and my sis, we have a fluffy white duck for a pet (for real, saved her from Easter diner last spring!!).
We teach her the shoot the duck spin. Only level 1.:scowl:

 

[havefun]

Is she skating senior this year? I thought she just won junior sectionals?

 

[havefun]

I tried to train my monkey in figure skating, but he was only interested in hockey.

http://www.99andbarry.com/uploaded_images/ice_hockey_monkey-701220.jpg

I worry about whether he will lose his slap shot when he turns 5 next month.

That is funny

 

[LiamForeman]

I've been "in the trenches" watching these skaters. Regionals and Sectionals are hard to watch sometimes. You see a great talent, yet they seem to be doing the skating but applying to college bit. It's hard to describe. You see wonderful athletes, jumpers that have almost NOTHING in their programs. To the point where you think, where is the funding? This person could go places. I've seen Yasmin Siraj and she absolutely took my breath away (for a juniorish skater). I wonder who choreographed her, it definitely stood out that she had a vision, musicality, and execution of it. Her jumps are little and not always there, but the impression she leaves is remarkable.

 

[mskater93]

Is this her sister? Not really a good skater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_PBtBxJTx4

Carley is Gracie's twin sister. She struggles to learn new skills in comparison to Gracie, which has to be frustrating. When the pressure is off, Carley is actually a pretty decent skater.

Gracie last year grew 4 or so inches and it really affected her at Mids last year (in addition to be nervous) where she fell four times between her two programs and ended up 6th. She came back home and I don't think I have ever seen anyone in person work that hard to up their consistency, speed, and mental toughness as I did Gracie. Her coach has worked with some really good skaters from Juvenile/Intermediate on who were known for good technique (Natalie Mecher, Deedee Leng left him right before she won Junior Ladies at Nationals and then went downhill in jump consistency, and Megan Oster all worked with him).