I am disappointed since I didn't think they reached their potential.
I do think there was too much pressure on this young team. Winning everything as Juniors, a lot of people expected the same at Seniors immediately and I don't think that's realistic.
I wonder if they thought about not competing this season and just concentrating on learning to skate better together. I think it would've benefited their team to do so.
It's possible that she might change her mind by next year... and if he doesn't find a suitable partner, maybe they could re-team.
Yup. That thought crossed my mind as well. If she's really just a bit burned out from the competition and pressure, maybe a year to relax and focus on skating well in training may have helped. Then, when they were ready to re-enter competition, they could have flown under the radar, which they had never gotten to do before. I know going to the competitions is probably half the fun of it, but I do wonder if taking a step back and just training for fun without eyes being on her could have really helped her outlook on things. It's just disappointing to see it end as it did.
As for re-teaming, we've seen it before with Denney and Barrett. This isn't the same type of scenario, but there are similarities. It's of course uncertain if Rockne can find a truly suitable partner and get to (or surpass) the level he is at now. And it's also uncertain that Keauna will want to stay out of the sport for very long. If they are willing to skate again with each other in the future, it is possible.
this is what's wrong with how we teach sports in this country now. nobody loses everyone wins. Then we realize that's not how it's done in olympic sport and suddenly every time a player/athlete loses and then gets discouraged we blame the sport. Someone had to lose, someone had to stay home. Keauna would not have had an easier time at teh Olympics. They were expected to make the team, yes, they had sponsors riding on that hope, so I understand she let people down, but there are a lot of other skaters who also didn't make the team that had sponsorships and they're continuing on. It's not the sport that's cruel as it is the individual on themselves. No matter what sort of criteria they use, she'd still be discouraged if she didn't make the team.
I definitely agree that she would still have been discouraged if she didn't make the team. But if you know you didn't make the team because you didn't do well at Nationals AND your recent international results weren't good enough, it would be easier to take than knowing you didn't make the team because you just had that ONE chance at Nationals and blew that ONE chance.
I just think a skater's overall mental state would improve if they are not stressed to death over Nationals (especially if you are heading in as one of the "favorites"). There is so much emphasis on Nationals that it has almost become as important as the Olympics. If you mess up at the Olympics, oh well, you place lower. But if you mess up at Nationals, there are major consequences and your season will end prematurely. And for the top skaters who anticipate making an Olympic + World team and therefore do NOT want to peak at Nationals, I imagine the thought of Nationals deciding EVERYTHING adds a lot of extra stress to a skater's season
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