State of US Ladies in skating III: 2014-15 Season

[Sam-Skwantch]

It is sorta generic for jean's store

I found a pair of Lucky jeans at the thrift store ( ) and if you opened the fly the inseam read "lucky you"

Back to a more related topic. Can I go ahead and nominate Mariah as the US Ladies #1 (in our hearts)

 

[Mrs. P]

I found a pair of Lucky jeans at the thrift store ( ) and if you opened the fly the inseam read "lucky you"

Back to a more related topic. Can I go ahead and nominate Mariah as the US Ladies #1 (in our hearts)

Maybe she needs a fan fest thread.

 

[StitchMonkey]

I found a pair of Lucky jeans at the thrift store ( ) and if you opened the fly the inseam read "lucky you"

They all say that, it is their thing.


I'm with Mrs. P. I think Mariah is on track to needing a fan thread.

 

[MoonlightSkater]

I found a copy of Mariah Bell's SP on youtube. It is just a fan cam, but still, it is a great program.

I watched the section starting at 1:50 and going through about 2:05 at least five times in a row- footwork to double axel to falling leaf to twizzle to spread eagle, all performed on the music. Wow!

 

[AsadaFanBoy]

Lipnitskaia was aided by the poor performance of the majority of the ladies at CoC, whether in the SP or FS, she skated a really good SP that gave her some cushion to the bad FS she had.

even with her sp she still deserved to be off podium. She only did three triples. Polina did more than her in her first two jumping passes. And the ones Julia did weren't that good. There's no way she should have even broken 100.

I also like Julia...a lot. But...I don't think scores should be bent in anyone's favor. That doesn't challenge a skater to improve him or herself.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

even with her sp she still deserved to be off podium. She only did three triples. Polina did more than her in her first two jumping passes. And the ones Julia did weren't that good. There's no way she should have even broken 100.

I also like Julia...a lot. But...I don't think scores should be bent in anyone's favor. That doesn't challenge a skater to improve him or herself.

I don't like discussing judging scores a lot because it just seems so meh and opinionated to me...after all it isn't just one judge scoring but an average of seven opinions. That said... Yulia could have got a 92 and still beat Polina. Polina had 2 edge calls and a UR lutz in her FS. Sure its not the end of the world but when you go down nearly 20pts in the SP then it is massively compounded. She didn't exactly put up a great case herself. I can easily see a case for Kanako but again the same... Two UR jumps and a 1lz-1t combo. Two of her three combo jumps were in total only worth 4.7 pts. No one really would have earned a place that wasn't prone to a fair argument against. I do agree that Yulia's rep helped but her SP was really good. At least she had one good skate. That event is so forgettable for me. Except Lovely Liza

Am I the only one thinking Polina is going to come out and avenge CoC? I for one hope so. She is really starting to grow on me and I'd love to see her podium there

I really want to see who gets UR and edge calls at NHK

 

[humbaba]

I found a copy of Mariah Bell's SP on youtube. It is just a fan cam, but still, it is a great program.

Mariah was great at sectionals. Kori seems to be doing a good job with her.

 

[concorde]

I have loved watching FS since the 80s but I really did not start paying attention to how skaters were "really" scored until my daughter became a skater.

Under the current US 6.0 system for pre-juv and lower, the entire "package" is graded. Individual jumps are not graded. So if the skater has a wonderful "package" and it is very pleasing to watch, then they do well. I have to assume the current 6.0 system for pre-juv and lower is based on the old elite skater 6.0 system.

Under the IJS system, each individual component is graded and assigned a score and then those scores (along with some others) are added to give an entire score. My understanding is each skater is videotaped so that judges can go back and double-check what they saw and verify each jump was scored correctly.

As a type this, I realize that probably the majority of the coaches were raised under the old 6.0 system. They may not know how to correct a jump since having the perfect technique was not a huge issue when they skated.

I never understood why figures played such important role under the 6.0 system. If I remember correctly, figures and the short program had equal weight (about 25% each); the long program made up the difference.

Another way to look at it, under the old 6.0 system, judges were looking for perfection in the figures. The judges would stand over the skater's "patch" to verify that all the marks lined up. Under IJS, the judges are now looking for perfection in the jumps. With the current technology (instant replay) they can look at jumps using the same scrunity they used to look at the figures.

As an fyi - the US MIF were designed to replace figures. These tests focues on skating skills; no jumps or spins are included in those tests.

 

[concorde]

Going back to #880, Team USA pays for airfare and hotel. However, how Team USA and I define "covering the costs" differs greatly. The mother of a USFS Olympic Team member told me that Team USA typically only paid about $15 a day (total) for all meals, misc. when her child traveled as part of the team. She said that the majority of the costs fell to their family. To cut costs, her son worn a black t-shirt in his Olympic SP.

Also remember that most of the female skates are minors. Would you let you minor child go to a foreign country as part of Team USA with her coach as her chaperone? That is a lot of responsibility to place on the coach. If you are not willing to do that, add the costs of the parent. I know that that mothers of Davis/White almost always went with them.

 

[Icey]

No doubt, a different way of financing skating is needed.

 

[silverlake22]

even with her sp she still deserved to be off podium. She only did three triples. Polina did more than her in her first two jumping passes. And the ones Julia did weren't that good. There's no way she should have even broken 100.

I also like Julia...a lot. But...I don't think scores should be bent in anyone's favor. That doesn't challenge a skater to improve him or herself.

Julia beat Polina by 14 points. I agree she was overscored in the FS at CoC, but looking at the numbers, a 91 in the FS would have been enough to edge Polina out, and even with that bad skate, she earned at least 90 points. The first combo was good and the spins help a lot. I feel like Polina was underscored at CoC, but that's a separate issue.

 

[AsadaFanBoy]

one being massively overscored and another being sorely underscored isn't a separate issue. it's a problem for ALL the skaters when one gets on the podium when she has no business standing there.

 

[noidont]

One thing people don't talk about is that the Russian system allows kids from a relatively poor family background to afford skating and letting their talent take where they end up. Lipnitskaya, Tuktamysheva, Kovtun, and Sotnikova all come to mind. All of them won't be able to afford kids' skating class in the US.

I'm all about protecting talent in the society as a whole and not denying talent chances out of (especially) economic reasons. This is not to to say the state-funded system doesn't have its own problems. I do find the American attitude of talking about everything in a cost-and-effect way very spiritually corrupt. It's like most of the students in the US are not really studying but trying to figure out ways to pay their student loan and the athletes not really doing their sports but working at department stores just to pay their coach. The priority seems wrong. Why can't there be a US team coach envelop too? The coaches would get paid a stipend by USFSA to coach national team skaters and have to dedicate time to it and use that money to fund their travel instead of making skaters responsible for everything. I feel that most elite coaches do it for the glory not the money anyway.

 

[R.D.]

NHK UPDATE

Gold currently has the highest SP score of the season for a US lady at 68.16. Don't see any other American (Wagner included) approaching that number any time soon.

Edmunds, OTOH, continues to struggle mightily in the SP. She didn't even crack 50.

 

[AsadaFanBoy]

Gold looked great. A lot more snap in all of her jumps. The 3T may have been borderline underrotated. Overall everything was a lot more crisp. I like seeing her do well.

I want her to hold it together and skate lights out in the free skate, regardless of what everybody else does.

 

[Jammers]

Gold looked great. A lot more snap in all of her jumps. The 3T may have been borderline underrotated. Overall everything was a lot more crisp. I like seeing her do well.

I want her to hold it together and skate lights out in the free skate, regardless of what everybody else does.

I agree. There is no reason for her not to go out and attack her program or hold anything back.

 

[AsadaFanBoy]

Gold wins NHK. Kudos Gracie!

 

[Jammers]

Well i made a comment about Gracie attacking her program but she did what she's done too many times before and skated cautiously. When a skater is doubling jumps its all about nerves. She got away with it today but against the Russians that just won't cut it. She should have won going away with this field but she looked like she skated not to lose. I'd rather she fell attempting her triple jumps then doubling them like Jeremy does all the time. The Russian girls do there jumps come hell or high water and they don't worry about falling.

 

[SimplyAFan]

Happy to see both Wagner and Gold make the final. I hope Polina takes the time between now and nationals to work out whatever it is that's preventing good SP's from her so far this season.

Also, I noticed yesterday on twitter that USFSA is sending Hannah Miller, Olivia Serafini (won jr US Easterns), and Vivian Le (2014 us novice champ and jr mids champ) to a comp to get technical minimum needed for jr worlds. Happy to see that we will have plenty of jr ldies available for jr worlds.

 

[minze]

Well, well Ashley is our best competitor. Her weakness is technical. Gracie and Polina have the technical goods, but are letting nerves rule their destiny.