Sarah Hughes and Nats

[attyfan]

Even though the Russian and Canadian federations do not have the same rules as the USFSA on tours, I believe that most Oly-eligible skaters prefer to skate with COI, rather than SOI, because SOI tours during the competition season -- and combining touring with competing is extremely difficutl. Todd Eldredge, for example, did Nutcracker in the '95/'96 season, instead of training for Nats, and he later said that it was a major mistake.

 

[skatingfan5]

Sorry, this is just what I heard from someone within USFS. It was my impression that Champions on Ice was approved by USFS for skaters wanting to remain eligible, but Stars on Ice was not. In fact, I can't think of a single eligible skater who has performed in Stars on Ice, but I can think of many who were with Champions on Ice.

COI has obtained (and paid for) a blanket waiver for all USFSA olympic eligible skaters to appear in their tour; SOI has not, so skaters must obtain individual waivers from USFS. The main reason you haven't seen eligible skaters touring with SOI is because their schedule in in conflict with U.S. Nationals and Worlds, among other competitions. Mike Weiss has a waiver to skate in SOI -- but he also only has a contract with SOI for a partial set of shows. He is NOT one of the "regular cast" and thus will be able to compete at Nationals .... and Worlds, should he again make the U.S. team. Todd's SOI contract was for the whole tour, thus not allowing him to compete at Nationals, etc. There was the problem with the USFS -- they didn't want to give him a contract for their "cheesfests" if he wasn't going to be competing at Nationals. Despite all that, Todd did not lose his eligibility until he competed in that non-sanctioned competition (I can't remember the event's name, but I believe it took place in Canada).

 

[chuckm]

After 2002 Olympics one major magazine interviewed Sarah Hughes' dad and asked him Sarah's plan for the future. Her dad said Sarah is going to continue competing, and hopefully she and Emily will compete at 2006 Olympics side by side. I guess the plan is on the right track. I wish them the very best...

That might have been a possibility back in 2002, when Sarah had won the OGM and Emily finished 11th at Junior Nationals. But Emily didn't progress rapidly the way Sarah had. She finished 11th again at Juniors in 2003, and in 2004, she didn't make it out of Junior Sectionals. Her low Nationals placements in 2002 and 2003 kept her from getting JGP assignments, so Emily has had little exposure to international judges. This past summer, she competed at and won the Junior Crystal Skate in Finland (a non-USFS-supported event), and that to my knowledge is her only international competition. Emily is now competing as a Senior, and she is doing well at Regionals, but she'd have to make a major move up this season to have any chance at a Nationals podium in 2006.

And unless Sarah is fully committed to regaining the form she had in the 2001-2002 season--and that means rigorous training from today on (2006 Nationals is only 14 months away)--she isn't guaranteed a place on the 2006 Olympic team either. Since skating in SOI this season will prevent her from maintaining a regular training schedule, she'd have a mountain to climb in a very short time to get in good enough shape to be competitive with the top US ladies. I just don't see that happening.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Sarah was on TV last week and a clip of her skating was shown. She has only double jumps, and small ones at that. It's doubtful she could make the World Team with that technical repertoire. Sarah hasn't competed since the 2003 USFSA April cheesefest, 19 months ago, and she was last of 8 in that competition. And she hadn't trained at all since then, until this past summer.

Skating with SOI will not give her much opportunity to create and work on competitive programs, and she needs to build up stamina to even attempt a competition FS.

If Sarah is toying with the idea of coming back to eligible skating, I think she wouldn't be able to do so until next season at the earliest.

If Sarah Hughes only has "small double jumps", what in the world is she thinking that she can be competitve at Nationals? Sure, she may be awarded a bye as the defending Olympic Champion, but if she shows up at Nationals and has a program filled with nothing but doubles, she'll be lucky to finish in the top ten, Olympic gold medal notwithstanding.

IMHO, it would be downright embarrassing for the Olympic champ to return to competition with such a watered-down arsenal of jumps. If Sarah regains her triples and fighting form, then - GREAT!! Otherwise, IMHO, she'd be better of skating with SOI or returning to Yale.

 

[RealtorGal]

IMHO, it would be downright embarrassing for the Olympic champ to return to competition with such a watered-down arsenal of jumps. If Sarah regains her triples and fighting form, then - GREAT!! Otherwise, IMHO, she'd be better of skating with SOI or returning to Yale.

I think it would be embarrassing for her to skate with SOI with only doubles.

 

[Longhornliz]

Maybe all the buzz about sarah returning to the competition circuit is a ploy to drum up publicity for SOI??? If she is the headliner (and has been off the radar for a few years) then they probably need the boost of her being on television again.

 

[jesslily]

Someone posts that Sarah is taking lessons from a coach. Does anyone know who this coach is? It does not matter how small her jumps are now. If sarah has the right coaching situation, she works hard, and if she still has that drive she had before, it shouldn't be too long for her to get the triples back.

 

[chuckm]

I think if Sarah was really seriously thinking about returning as an eligible and defending her Olympic title, the last thing she would do would be to skate in SOI.

Touring with SOI will take up 100% of her time, leaving her no time to train for eligible competition. She needs to get back into competitive shape, including practicing the tough jumps and combinations, and putting together competition programs that incorporate all the technical difficulty demanded by CoP. Show skating in SOI will not be anywhere near the technical level she needs to be at to even perform well enough at Nationals 2006 to make the Olympic team.

 

[mzheng]

IMO, it's just talk the talk. To help cashing in whatever she hasn't cashed with her OGM win. With turino only 18 monthes away, once the new OGM crowned the SOI oppotunity may not exist for her anymore.

 

[nthuz]

That might have been a possibility back in 2002, when Sarah had won the OGM and Emily finished 11th at Junior Nationals.

In 2002, Emily was 11th at U.S. Figure Skating Championships, often referred to as "Nationals" skating at the JUNIOR level. Only intermediates and juveniles go to U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships which is commonly called "Junior Nationals".

Also just to be clear, regional and sectional competitions are never referred to as "junior regionals" or "junior sectionals".

 

[attyfan]

Sarah

I don't know. After all, Todd Eldredge toured before Nats in '96 (Nutcracker on Ice); while touring, he did run throughs of his competitve programs and skated well enough to win the silver (just before winning gold at Worlds). Sarah could do the same thing, with Yagudin to coach her, so she could be ready to make a comeback for Turino.

 

[soogar]

After seeing how poor Joubert's jumps were at SA, I'm beginning to doubt Yagudin's coaching abilities.

However I think SOI is a great opportunity for Sarah to get into shape. First of all, there is opportunity for cast members to practice on SOI. It's not as though they never get ice time to practice. Plus there are facilities for off ice training at the venues. These skaters need to keep their bodies in shape in order to meet the grueling demands of touring and stay injury free (to keep earning the $). The only difference bet SOI and eligible training is that the skater has to take more responsibility for maintaining skills and practicing jumps verses just having a coach push the skater to do stuff. Kristi Yamaguchi toured with SOI for years and kept her jumps competitive. I think that SOI is a good way for Sarah to get her triple jumps back if she feels the incentive to get her jumps back, plus she has the opportunity to skate in front of an audience which will give her confidence in her performances. Plus considering that Sarah already has proven to have a lot of discipline and focus, I don't think that getting her triple jumps back (if her body is willing) will be a problem if she sets her mind to it.

 

[chuckm]

You can't compare Sarah's situation to Todd's.

Eldredge had been competing on a regular basis---he hadn't been away from the ice for over a year and a half. He was in perfect physical shape with all his jumps in place and at his command, and his programs were already choreographed. The 'Nutcracker' Tour was in the fall before Nationals and was relatively brief. But even Todd himself said in retrospect the Nutcracker tour was a mistake, since it took him away from his training regimen, and he shouldn't have done it.

Sarah is starting from scratch and she is on a tour with heavy travel that will occupy the entire winter season. As a member of the SOI company and a featured performer, she will not be able to skip performances as she did in COI.