Senior Ladies Need To Up The Age Requirement

[Mishaminion]

Actually if you think about it, that actually might be a better way to determine who are the best skaters. The emphasis would have to shift to skating quality and away from an over emphasis on jumping. Good idea!

Sounds awful to me, incredibly bad idea. Would be boring watching everybody do exactly the same thing.
Because in order for it to be truly fair it can't just be the jumps that have to be the same. Spins, steps, the kind of music, the interpretation, everything would have to be the same. So the winners are those who do a bunch of highly controlled prescribed things better than the rest.

It sounds silly but why should it just be for jumps?

 

[skatergurl7]

It's cool that these girls can do quads and triple axels but what happens when they hit a growth spurt? They walk off with gold medals and haven't put any time into the sport, then disappear, and the girls in their 20s take a backseat. And every couple of years it's a new prodigy but they're not lasting several Olympic cycles like a Michelle Kwan or a Mao Asada. I think the age should be 17.

I have no doubt that Sasha at 17 will still dominate [emoji1319]

 

[skatergurl7]

Why just the senior Ladies? Why not seniors in general?

Is it because Sasha is winning? Well she deserves to be winning with the content she's giving.

YEP. Either get harder tech or have fun losing to people that are actually pushing the SPORT. Skating is first and foremost a sport

 

[Mishaminion]

I have no doubt that Sasha at 17 will still dominate [emoji1319]

Well we don't know that but she has as much chance as anyone else at this point.

People were writing Alina off already after her Olympic winning season and she's had the last laugh on that one!

 

[le01]

Actually if you think about it, that actually might be a better way to determine who are the best skaters. The emphasis would have to shift to skating quality and away from an over emphasis on jumping. Good idea!

But we already have ice dance...

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

But we already have ice dance...

Wow, that's pretty rude.

Skaters in all disciplines should have good edge quality but don't and that's sad.

 

[Happy Skates]

Wow, that's pretty rude.

Skaters in all disciplines should have good edge quality but don't and that's sad.

How is that rude? They weren't saying that singles skaters shouldn't have edge quality, they were responding to a comment suggesting that all skaters do the same jump content so that skating quality will be more important. All they are saying is that they don't want skating quality to be the only factor, like the person they were replying to was suggesting. Because we have ice dance where that is true. In singles skating it is meant to be equal parts of both. So how is that rude.

 

[ec00834]

Wow, that's pretty rude.

Skaters in all disciplines should have good edge quality but don't and that's sad.

So is not having good edge quality the new reason 15 year olds shouldn't be able to compete in senior?

 

[karne]

They walk off with gold medals and haven't put any time into the sport, then disappear,

I'm not even sorry but this is a disgraceful comment. Trusova started skating at 4 years old. She's now 15 - that's eleven years of her life devoted to the sport. Eleven years in a harsh and unforgiving environment. To say she hasn't put any time into the sport is not only disrespectful, it's factually incorrect.

 

[le01]

Wow, that's pretty rude.

Skaters in all disciplines should have good edge quality but don't and that's sad.

Why is it rude? Just voicing my opinion that jumps are as important as skating skills in single skating. What does it have to do with reaching 18 anyway? Some juniors I’ve seen this season (like 2 Japanese guys in junior GP final) already better SS than a lot of senior men I’ve seen here at Skate Canada

 

[Imagine]

And I think new spam accounts should have at least 100 posts before they are allowed to create pointless inflammatory threads but eh, each to their own I guess.

 

[Elucidus]

Actually if you think about it, that actually might be a better way to determine who are the best skaters. The emphasis would have to shift to skating quality and away from an over emphasis on jumping. Good idea!

There is already discipline for it. It's called ice dance. You can enjoy it as much as you like. Why complain here?

 

[nussnacker]

And I think new spam accounts should have at least 100 posts before they are allowed to create pointless inflammatory threads but eh, each to their own I guess.

Agree.

 

[Allikat]

My personal preference would be for both senior-competing girls and boys to have reached their 17th birthdays by the commonly used marker of July 1st. What that would mean is, a skater could still become a junior competitor at age 13, but would have four years at junior level competitions in which to (hopefully) mature physically enough to at least 'look like' a senior competitor and get through basic puberty. I see nothing wrong with allowing skaters to remain juniors for two more additional years, if that is desirable. The cutoff between junior and senior would be the same as it is now.

There is a bit of an elephant in this room (thread) and I'm wondering if others may have thought of it also. Why is it that a 'junior skater' can be 13 to 19 years old (so long as that 19th birthday is July 1st or 2nd--I forget which--or later in the year , and still skating in the junior division? (Six years allows for too much diversity in growth and size.) Yet a senior skater can be as young as 15. That leaves a large amount of years for a skater to be a junior, senior, or both! Why is that? Both girls and boys mature at varying rates, but I'll bet we can all agree that even more 'mature-looking' 15 year olds still look like young teens, not even close to 'adults'.

There are Jr Grand Prixs and Jr Worlds, Jr Nationals and Sr Nationals. There is no Jr Olympics but there is a Youth Olympics. Thus there are already great competitions for juniors, and if juniors are capable of earning higher scores than most of the senior skaters, well what is wrong with that? Are the Jr competitions not considered prestigious enough for them to earn those scores there? Would it help to build in some Jr Challengers, maybe?

I doubt the age factor will be changed. If it were ever to happen, they might consider age 16 rather than 17--but any change would need to affect both girls and boys the same. (Yes, I still consider 16 and 17 year olds to be boys and girls rather than 'adults'.)

Not to get off the subject but as long as I'm putting my thoughts here, how about 1) letting both junior boys and girls skate a trixel and/or a quad (solo jump only) in the short program if they want to and are able to? Likewise, 2) how about letting senior girls skate not only a trixel but also a solo quad in the short? Finally, 3) can we please stop factoring 'ladies' PCS at only 80% of the 'mens''? Both sexes skate for the same amount of time now, do the same number of elements, and frankly, they are the same elements, period!

 

[Joekaz]

I didn't know they did jumps in ice dance. Thanks for telling me.

 

[lzxnl]

One idea

 

[lzxnl]

One idea is to judge PCS on a relative scale, not an absolute scale. Devise it so that different levels are judged with different PCS criteria, so that the senior level can make fuller use of the scale from 0 to 80 and avoid bunching everyone in the 60s. This way, we can give the Rikas and the Alenas 70/80 (reserve 80 for like a 100% clean and perfect Beautiful Storm or something), the Annas 60-65/80 and the Sashas 55-60; we can then give more weight to more interesting programs and allow components to really compete with technical skills without sacrificing the athleticism and the jumps.

 

[medoroa]

If many of the young girls landing 3A and quads currently are still landing them at Beijing, ISU will not raise the age limit. This will prove that their jump technique is viable in the long term, and slowly but surely more women will analyze this technique and start landing 3A and quads.

If they stop being able to land them next season, the ISU might raise the age limit. It doesn't have anything to do with being fair, however; they will profit more from senior skaters with longevity who will lure in more new fans and retain these fans for a longer time.

In short, it's too early to argue either way.

 

[Parksideprince]

If many of the young girls landing 3A and quads currently are still landing them at Beijing, ISU will not raise the age limit. This will prove that their jump technique is viable in the long term, and slowly but surely more women will analyze this technique and start landing 3A and quads.

If they stop being able to land them next season, the ISU might raise the age limit. It doesn't have anything to do with being fair, however; they will profit more from senior skaters with longevity who will lure in more new fans and retain these fans for a longer time.

In short, it's too early to argue either way.

Here's what everyone here is missing --- Tara Lipinski got the gold and took off --- Alina Zagitova is gonna roll once she hits that growth spurt --- all these girls --- whether they started at 4 or not --- are going to hit a growth spurt and be lost --- yulia lupsnitskaya and Caroline zhang ring a bell?

 

[Gabby30]

I don't get the obsession with quads anyway. They are not more exciting than a 3LT or 2A. Most people don't even see the difference between a triple and quad. It's the media hyping up those jumps and people only jump on that hype wagon. It's funny how until now skaters with only triples were called the "greatest", and now all of a sudden skaters without quads are being bashed.
And no, 15 yo very thin girls doing quads is NOT "pushing the sport." What kind of influence is this going to have on other skaters who don't have the same build?