USA Athlete envelopes announced

[attyfan]

...

Speaking of MK and the discussion above, how can she fit in this mix of GPs. With the changes in the seedings, I wonder if the 'extra' skater by the host country is still in effect.
...

Joe

As I understand it, the host country still gets the extra skater. Furthermore, I have also heard that SA is held sufficiently close to regionals or sectionals (I forgot which one) that MK could get a competition bye out of one of those events to go to SA. Some people have thought that the USFSA has security and crowd control issues about MK at regionals/sectionals, should she choose to compete next season (which is still a big "IF").

 

[Mathman]

...Some people have thought that the USFSA has security and crowd control issues about MK at regionals/sectionals, should she choose to compete next season.

Wow, I never thought of that. What if Michelle goes to regionals and five thousand people plus a couple of television crews show up to see her?

 

[Sylvia]

Wow, I never thought of that. What if Michelle goes to regionals and five thousand people plus a couple of television crews show up to see her?

I doubt it will happen re. regionals. Kwan's regionals (Southwest Pacific) is scheduled for the first week of October, and the Campbell's International "cheesefest" is scheduled to take place on October 7, according to the ISU site. The date/location for the Pacific Coast Sectional Championships (the final qualifier for 2007 Nationals for the western part of the U.S.) is currently TBA. Of course, this is all just speculation since we don't yet know what Kwan's skating status will be in 2006-07...

 

[attyfan]

Wow, I never thought of that. What if Michelle goes to regionals and five thousand people plus a couple of television crews show up to see her?

I've heard that regional competitions often sell tickets for something like ten dollars each event. IF Michelle should go to regionals, I think the ticket prices will increase -- probably dramatically.

 

[gkelly]

Well, that doesn't seem fair. Why should friends and family have to pay several times the normal entry fee to watch, say, a granddaughter compete several hours earlier in novice ladies?

I could see them grouping the senior events together and charging a separate admission for those events, but even so it would be a hardship for family members of the lower ranked senior skaters if the prices were significantly higher.

Maybe they could sell extra chaperone passes to the competitors first and then sell additional tickets on a first-come first-serve basis as space will be available.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

It seems that the only competition she is genuinely eligible for is Regionals and in the West Coast that is around the time of Campbells which she can be invited. There is also Skate America around the same time where she can be selected by the host federation.

Apparently these are three possibilities for speculation but will the injury be healed? I don't think so. So what happens to Nationals?

Joe

 

[attyfan]

As I understand it, the Exhibitions for Nats (at least) are already sold out, so I suppose that the rest will do OK:

http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=34350

 

[JonnyCoop]

I wasn't expecting to see Stephanie Rosenthal on any of the envelopes, anyway; I think even if she had made the criteria, they would have at best sent her off to the Golden Spin of Zagreb as the 3rd alternate or something like that. The USFSA has continually over the past several years, shown a penchant for pushing 12, 13, 14 year olds and giving them many opportunities. I imagine, given their fondness for the teenyboppers, the USFSA sees her as some old hag who took FOREVER to make it to Nationals, and then had ONE good competition. If she were 13, she'd probably be in Envelope B.

 

[Sylvia]

I wasn't expecting to see Stephanie Rosenthal on any of the envelopes, anyway; I think even if she had made the criteria, they would have at best sent her off to the Golden Spin of Zagreb as the 3rd alternate or something like that.

Well, Stephanie did end up as the 1st alternate to 2006 Junior Worlds back in March after the first 1st alternate (junior champ Megan Hyatt) replaced Katy Taylor. BTW, being in a team envelope doesn't guarantee the skaters an international assignment. I do think it's possible that Stephanie may be considered for a senior B international this fall, but she will likely be monitored at a summer competition first.

The USFSA has continually over the past several years, shown a penchant for pushing 12, 13, 14 year olds and giving them many opportunities.

True.

I imagine, given their fondness for the teenyboppers, the USFSA sees her as some old hag who took FOREVER to make it to Nationals, and then had ONE good competition. If she were 13, she'd probably be in Envelope B.

If Stephanie had met any of the criteria for Team B, then it wouldn't have mattered how old she is (currently 18) because the USFSA actually followed their envelope criteria exactly this year. 2006 Nationals was actually Stephanie's fourth consecutive trip to Nationals -- she made it as a junior in 2003 and as a senior for the past 3 years -- obviously being shown on the the national TV broadcast and performing as well as she did in St. Louis made the big difference for her visibility this year.

 

[antmanb]

It seems that the only competition she is genuinely eligible for is Regionals and in the West Coast that is around the time of Campbells which she can be invited. There is also Skate America around the same time where she can be selected by the host federation.

Apparently these are three possibilities for speculation but will the injury be healed? I don't think so. So what happens to Nationals?

Joe

Well if she isn't healed in time to take part in regionals, or a competition/cheesefest that would allow her a bye through it then she wouldn't be able to compete at nationals - medical bye's through regionals and sectionals were abolished a few seasons ago weren't they?

Ant

 

[JonnyCoop]

If Stephanie had met any of the criteria for Team B, then it wouldn't have mattered how old she is (currently 18) because the USFSA actually followed their envelope criteria exactly this year. 2006 Nationals was actually Stephanie's fourth consecutive trip to Nationals -- she made it as a junior in 2003 and as a senior for the past 3 years -- obviously being shown on the the national TV broadcast and performing as well as she did in St. Louis made the big difference for her visibility this year.

I actually didn't know Stephanie had been to the Nats that many times; I thought this past one was only her 2nd.

She certainly hasn't gotten much of a push from the USFSA in the past, though; there are many her age who have been to 5, 10 internationals. Therefore she's had to qualify for Nats strictly by way of Regionals and Sectionals, which IMO is a much more impressive way to get there than by getting byes from Regs & Sects simply for going to the JGP of Azerbaijan and finishing 14th, but I have noticed a tendency among the US judges at Nats to rather ignore skaters who went thru Regs & Sects to get there as opposed to skating a few internationals; they just don't seem to get "the buzz" that is supposed to be so important. Well, Stephanie does have "the buzz" now so hopefully she'll be able to build on it.

I will allow, too, that despite her marvelous style and showmanship, she doesn't exactly have the technical content that others less interesting do. But I found it extremely interesting -- and impressive -- that she did a 2-2-2 in her free program at Nats. No, that wouldn't exactly blow Irina Slutskaya out of the water in that category, but the fact that this lady is willing to do a 3-jump combination with what she DOES have indicates, to me, quite a competitior.