2017-18 State of U.S. Ladies Skating

[andromache]

Would've been interesting to see how Hanna Harrell or Starr Andrews would have stacked up here.
Ting did extremely well, but Emmy was a bit of a disappointment and in her late teens still doesn't have a 3T or a 3-3...her performance and skating skills are wonderful but those don't win medals

Honestly, after Starr withdrew, I'm not sure USFS had any good options to send in her place....Hanna didn't podium at Junior Nationals, Pooja did not have the minimums, and the only junior-eligible girls all placed outside of the top ten at senior Nationals, other than Starr. Tessa (the highest-placed junior-eligible lady other than Starr) has apparently retired. Everyone else (Emmy, Vivien, Kaitlyn Nguyen) were all pretty bad...at least Emmy had a JGP medal?

I think once Pooja got the minimums at Bavarian Open, USFS should've pulled Emmy and sent Pooja. But USFS doesn't generally pull people who have already been given things, and USFS also doesn't seem to assign people to events unless they've ALREADY gotten the minimums needed. I can't recall, but I assume Starr withdrew from JW before Pooja got her minimums, otherwise Pooja would've probably been sent to JW?

In the long run, Hanna probably would've been a better choice over Emmy. I think Hanna might have just been a little difficult to justify because she didn't make the podium.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Yes you're right, Pooja got them after Starr withdrew. I would've sent her, too.
Agree with you about Hanna!
When did Tessa retire?

 

[andromache]

Yes you're right, Pooja got them after Starr withdrew. I would've sent her, too.
Agree with you about Hanna!
When did Tessa retire?

Don't know exactly....but TSL said she was moving on from skating (and TSL is usually right about these sorts of things).

 

[MarinHondas]

I agree Ting preformed well. She was only four points out of top 6/5 but also earned huge new PB's so that's really all you can ask for. If she preforms like this on the JGP next year, no doubt she will medal or at least be close. I think Emmy could definitely still get her 3t and a 3-3, whether they will ever be super reliable jumps is questionable. Apparently she landed a lot of her triples all at once about a year and a half ago. All except 3t and 3sal. She says she does have a 3sal now though. She's only 17 she can definitely learn new jumps but honestly she needs to fix her UR's. That's what really held her back from top 10-12 here. I don't think 17 is too late to fix these things... if she were 25 yeah but 17 really isn't that old that you can't learn new jumps. I mean heck, Mirai learned 3a at 24. I do want to see how Pooja is able to do on the JGP next year and seeing Ting again. Ting has a real chance of medaling at any assignment she gets.

 

[skylark]

Ashley Wagner at FSIH.

"It's 2018, and if you can speak intelligently about something and have facts to back it up, what's wrong with that?" she said. "Not enough girls are encouraged to unabashedly be themselves. You're raised to always apologize for being wild. It's time for young women to be taught that you can be yourself and not have to make any apologies for it."​

http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/ar...idence-future-expanding-access-figure-skating

 

[halulupu]

I wouldn't give up on Bradie Tennell just yet. She needs some polish, but she's got a lot going for her.

Well she can jump and spin, but she is very stiff and has not much charisma overall. And she real needs to ditch her princess programs asp (besides juniors no ladie should ever play a princess in a pink dress if they want to be taken serious) . Maybe something dark woud suit her better, if she is able to play such a role. She seems to be a hard worker so who knows maybe bronze or silver she can achive when the others have a bad day.. But she doesn't seem to be a natural. Did figure skating became unpopular in the us??

 

[klutzy]

Well she can jump and spin, but she is very stiff and has not much charisma overall. And she real needs to ditch her princess programs asp (besides juniors no ladie should ever play a princess in a pink dress if they want to be taken serious) . Maybe something dark woud suit her better, if she is able to play such a role. She seems to be a hard worker so who knows maybe bronze or silver she can achive when the others have a bad day.. But she doesn't seem to be a natural. Did figure skating became unpopular in the us??

Bradie a serious back injury--so it's less about not being a natural than having had to deal with that. Her dress was blue, not pink, by the way. Her SP dress was deep red and black.

Given the lack of international medals by U.S. Ladies, a silver or a bronze would be a step in the right direction.

Her charisma will improve as she gets more used to being on the international stage. She's clearly been focusing on getting all her technical ducks in a row. Will she have that natural star quality some skaters have? No, but a number of skaters learn to relax enough to enjoy their performance--and when a skater enjoys a performance, so does the audience.

She needs the right musical choices and some better packaging--both things are completely doable for someone who shot from ninth to first at Nationals in a single year.

 

[klutzy]

Honestly, after Starr withdrew, I'm not sure USFS had any good options to send in her place....Hanna didn't podium at Junior Nationals, Pooja did not have the minimums, and the only junior-eligible girls all placed outside of the top ten at senior Nationals, other than Starr. Tessa (the highest-placed junior-eligible lady other than Starr) has apparently retired. Everyone else (Emmy, Vivien, Kaitlyn Nguyen) were all pretty bad...at least Emmy had a JGP medal?

I think once Pooja got the minimums at Bavarian Open, USFS should've pulled Emmy and sent Pooja. But USFS doesn't generally pull people who have already been given things, and USFS also doesn't seem to assign people to events unless they've ALREADY gotten the minimums needed. I can't recall, but I assume Starr withdrew from JW before Pooja got her minimums, otherwise Pooja would've probably been sent to JW?

In the long run, Hanna probably would've been a better choice over Emmy. I think Hanna might have just been a little difficult to justify because she didn't make the podium.

Not sure there could have been a worse choice--Emmy's performance was pretty disastrous for an American Lady. Pooja's lovely--look forward to seeing more of her.

And, hopefully, Alysa Liu makes it through adolescence.

 

[halulupu]

ok ur right it was babyblue;-)
i really hope u are right and she will show us her musicality and performance skills and everything she is missing at the moment. the us team really needs to be cometitve again for the sake of figure skating and tension

 

[skylark]

In the Ashley/Karen case, I think a World medal within 2 years of the Olympics should have trumped all else. I'm still convinced that Karen was chosen to make a point to Ashley. I DON'T penalize Karen for that

I completely agree.

Here's Ashley with Adam at the Human Rights Commission dinner.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...et=pcb.10155850947070546&type=3&theater&ifg=1. Click back one click to see a shot showing her tatoo.

I love that Ashley's dress shows off her Olympic Rings Tatoo, on her rib cage. Especially after the judges/USFS treated her so shittily at Nationals, I love to see her celebrating her figure skating accomplishments ... all the things she's accomplished for herself and for USFS.

 

[frida80]

I don’t think Bradie is to young to increase her performance skills. She just needs to head to Lori or Jeff and let them work their magic.

 

[skylark]

Why? She has solid skating basics, high-level spins and fully rotated jumps. She's musical. The main thing she seems to be lacking is interpretation and more graceful arms. Nathan Chen has visibly improved in similar areas from year to year. Carolina Kostner in her teens isn't nearly the artist that Kostner in her 20s became.

Good comparisons. I feel a little like I did with Nathan, that perhaps there is artistry lurking and latent with Bradie. Just the fact that she stuck with her choice to skate to Cinderella suggests to me that there's passion. She connects. For me, she needs to connect much more strongly with the emotion in her programs, and make it visible and let others feel it.

It's odd, though. I was thinking about this. Bradie and Kaetlyn Osmond are the same age .... 20. And yet Kaetlyn skates completely as a woman. Bradie has quite a ways to go.

 

[chuckm]

It is true that URs doomed Emmy Ma at JW. She needs a jump coach to work with her on that habit, or it would be useless for her to work on 3/3s. She did get very high PCS scores despite starting early in the lineup, but that won't help her if she can't fully rotate her jumps.

There are a few things that could help Bradie. One is ballet training, and another is a hairdo that doesn't make her look like a retired schoolteacher.

 

[MarinHondas]

Good comparisons. I feel a little like I did with Nathan, that perhaps there is artistry lurking and latent with Bradie. Just the fact that she stuck with her choice to skate to Cinderella suggests to me that there's passion. She connects. For me, she needs to connect much more strongly with the emotion in her programs, and make it visible and let others feel it.

It's odd, though. I was thinking about this. Bradie and Kaetlyn Osmond are the same age .... 20. And yet Kaetlyn skates completely as a woman. Bradie has quite a ways to go.

Kaetlyn is 22 actually. Bradie just turned 20.

 

[lappo]

Good comparisons. I feel a little like I did with Nathan, that perhaps there is artistry lurking and latent with Bradie. Just the fact that she stuck with her choice to skate to Cinderella suggests to me that there's passion. She connects. For me, she needs to connect much more strongly with the emotion in her programs, and make it visible and let others feel it.

It's odd, though. I was thinking about this. Bradie and Kaetlyn Osmond are the same age .... 20. And yet Kaetlyn skates completely as a woman. Bradie has quite a ways to go.

Osmond is 23 actually. But I think the main difference between the two is the time they got to spend as senior skaters and the different exposure: Kaetlyn turned senior in 2011/12, was national champion and went to world the following year for the first time, went to the Olympics and so on. Bradie turned senior in 2016/7 and went to his first (and only) GP event this year; there is quite a difference in experience that plays a part in the capacity to deliver a performance (of course, Osmond has also a natural talent, so to speak, for performing but still all the years spent in senior competition - except the injury ones - were certainly beneficial to her as well). Different skaters, different paths; Bradie could certainly improve on this side as well.

 

[klutzy]

ok ur right it was babyblue;-)
i really hope u are right and she will show us her musicality and performance skills and everything she is missing at the moment. the us team really needs to be cometitve again for the sake of figure skating and tension

She is musical--her movements are on the beat and I think she understood the message of her program. What's lacking is performing/connecting to the audience. Some people, like Starr Andrews, just have that naturally, but some of it can be taught. Bradie needs to relax enough so that she emphasizes some things, smooths out others.

The thing to keep in mind is just how far she came in a year--ninth at Nationals to First and a bronze at Skate America. She wasn't even on the radar a year ago. And she did that by learning and performing a hard program. That had to be like climbing a mountain--and that meant she was focused on doing every step right. Now that she's hit a peak, she can take a breath and start to work on shaping things.

We're not used to a skater going from zero to 60 like that. Kaetlyn Osmond's lovely and she did come back from an injury, but she's been on the radar a couple of years. She's worked the same charming short for a couple of years under the international spotlight. Bradie is going to her first big international events this year.


*If* Gracie Gold hadn't imploded, we'd think Bradie was fine for a newbie, it's because we don't have a dominant Lady that we're niggling at all the other ones.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Bradie has a lot going for her. Senior International experience medal at Skate America and respectable placement at the Olympics. She will improve as she adjusts her mindset to the bigger stage.

Not just a respectable placement, Bradie did excellent in the Ladie's SP Team event and is an Olympic bronze medallist! :luv17:

I believe that Bradie is a late bloomer. Age doesn't matter with her imo. I can see lots of opportunity for her to keep improving! Like Kostner! Bradie was injured for a couple of years which delayed her progress. Crossing fingers, knock on wood, as long as she can stay injury free she can only go up in the coming years! She already has a very sound base in her jump technique!

 

[mrrice]

How many seasons has Bradie been a fulltime Senior? I don't really remember her before this year.

 

[Mrs. P]

How many seasons has Bradie been a fulltime Senior? I don't really remember her before this year.

Her first international competition was last season (2016-2017) at Tallinn Trophy, where she earned bronze, but she also competed in Jr. Worlds, placing 7th.
This season (2017-2018) was her first full-fledged senior season.

 

[mrrice]

Her first international competition was last season (2016-2017) at Tallinn Trophy, where she earned bronze, but she also competed in Jr. Worlds, placing 7th.
This season (2017-2018) was her first full-fledged senior season.

That's what I thought. I think Bradie will be fine. She may need some help in the pcs department but, she has the tech side down and that's what she'll need if she hopes to get anywhere near the Russian, Canadian, or Japanese skaters.