Middle Atlantics club competition (Sept. 11-14 in NYC)

[Sylvia]

Mods, feel free to move this thread to the Nationals Events (Worldwide) forum.

Schedule and competitor list (alphabetical) are published on the club site: http://www.thescny.org/

Notable senior level competitors listed include Tommy Steenberg, Emily Hughes, Elene Gedevanishvili (GEO), Tamar Katz (ISR), Blake Rosenthal, and skaters representing Great Britain, Finland, Poland and the Philippines.

JGP competitors include Daisuke Murakami (JPN), Ksenia Makarova (RUS), Beka Shankulashvili (GEO) and Matej Silecky (UKR).

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Thanks Sylvia - I downloaded the schedule and I'll be there Fri,Sat and Sun.

Looking forward to seeing all the skaters you listed. Nice to see Tommy Steenberg and Daisuke Murakami as well as Emile listed.

I wonder if the Shibutani's will skate an exhibition?

 

[silverfox]

I'll be there too.

Does anybody know who is coaching Colin Pennington?

Having the Shib Sibs do an exhibition would be great. Last year Fallen Angels -was the exhibition special... wonderful.

 

[Sylvia]

Looking forward to seeing all the skaters you listed.

Caveat: Registered skaters don't always end up competing at club competitions and so I don't recommend attending just to see one or two "name" skaters.

I wonder if the Shibutani's will skate an exhibition?

They currently train in Michigan so I would think it's unlikely?

 

[nylynnr]

Went to Mid-Atlantics today; among the events I saw was senior ladies short. Since I posted a less-than-enthusiastic report about Elene Gedesvanishvili's short at Moran Memorial, I want to give the young lady her due here, by reporting that she looked 100% better today.

Skating to music from "Cabaret," she hit a triple Lutz-triple toe (the toe may have been a bit under rotated); a triple flip; and double Axel. Her spins and steps were secure, and her spirals were more elegant. If she continues like this, she could have a good fall season. Anyway, she won the short with 54.36 points. Tamar Katz, who skated to "Gone with the Wind," was also strong; she hit a triple Lutz-double toe and a triple flip, and earned 50.98 for second place. (Note: I don't have judges' details, so it's possible I have made a mistake in the jumps.) The rest of the top seven: Emily Hughes, 44.58; Elizabeth Stern, 37.50; Kaela Pflumm, 35.68; Henrikka Hietaniemi (Finland), 34.20; Blake Rosenthal, 34.02.

Didn't hang around for the scores for junior ladies free but it appeared to me Samantha Cesario's "Tosca" program was the strongest.

Lynn

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Emily Hughes and MidAtlantics

She skated her SP and she skated delightful. I was much impressed with her performance, but competitively, her jumps are in a sorry state. Her 3F was clumsy; her combo was a dbl sal x dbl toe and also clumsy; her landing on the 2A was iffy, But she looked good otherwise. I do not see her ahead of the young divas at Nats but let's have another look when she does the GP.

Gedenashvili never skated better from what I've seen, and the biggest surprise was Tamar Katz who has finally come into her own.

Standings After SP (just the top five)

1. Gedenashvili
2 Katz
3. Hughes
4. Stern
5. Pflum

I don't think the others will matter.

Tomorrow (Saturday) The Men'SP at noon and the Ladies Final at 7pm.

:

 

[Mathman]

Thanks for the reports, Nylynnr and Joesitz.

 

[silverfox]

Thanks for the reports. I saw Emily's skate and besides her jumps I'd like to see her work on her speed and sharpen up her footwork section. As the poster noted, the skating was good, but there's lots of room for improvement in the details. I also got the feeling that perhaps there are confidence issues with Emily, just below the surface.

Can she really improve by GP? She and Bonnie are going to be doing long distance training. Bonnie told me that she will be going to Boston to do some coaching and Emily will come to New York for training. In between, Emily will practice on her own, I suppose. To me, this does not bode well for a skater who is in need of a lot of attention at this point in her preparation. I'll see how the LP goes tonight.

I loved, loved, loved, loved Tamar Katz. What a beautiful performance.

Elene's 3/3 was amazing.

Emily's SP is on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtLYc-UqWIc

 

[personwhoishere]

I'm so happy to hear that Elene skated well!
She's been struggling a bit in competition the past year or so, hope she can keep up this form throughout the season!

 

[london_calling]

So has Emily stopped working with Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson?

 

[samba]

Thanks for the reports. I saw Emily's skate and besides her jumps I'd like to see her work on her speed and sharpen up her footwork section. As the poster noted, the skating was good, but there's lots of room for improvement in the details. I also got the feeling that perhaps there are confidence issues with Emily, just below the surface.

Can she really improve by GP? She and Bonnie are going to be doing long distance training. Bonnie told me that she will be going to Boston to do some coaching and Emily will come to New York for training. In between, Emily will practice on her own, I suppose. To me, this does not bode well for a skater who is in need of a lot of attention at this point in her preparation. I'll see how the LP goes tonight.

I loved, loved, loved, loved Tamar Katz. What a beautiful performance.

Elene's 3/3 was amazing.

Emily's SP is on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtLYc-UqWIc

OMG! thanks for the youtube. I hope Emily would make the right decision for herself, going to GP??

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I just watched the Ladies LP at MidAtlantics. To be honest it was bleh. No one was outstanding, imo,

Emily would have done better with the movie version of Gone With the Wind rather than the one she used. Total background music, and she skated without any reference to the music unlike her SP. Her jumps are still weak and need some work on them soon. She lost some weight and her body looks a lot better. Of course, she has that wonderful smile still.

Elene, was not as good as she was in her SP either but I think she fared better in scoring to hold onto first place. When a friend said to her in the elevator that she had a nice ending for the competition. She replied. It's just the beginning.

Tamar, more like trying to emulate Sasha then bringing out her own personality. She was ok, but all these ladies had faults.

We have to realize that this is nothing more than a rehearsal, imo.

 

[nylynnr]

Have to disagree with Joesitz a bit -- as I've said before, we all see (and hear) things differently; that's what makes the world go 'round.

I really liked the GWTW music David Wilson chose; I found that instead of repeating the same four notes -- DA DAH DA DAH -- it was diverse and interpreted other sections of the movie's soundtrack. Thought the choreography suited her, although obviously she needs to work on her jumps. (She sprained her ankle earlier this summer and was off ice for a few weeks.) Also, it was thought above she was going to train on her own in Boston, when Bonni is not there; actually, Elin Gardiner (Tenley Albright's daughter) will be supervising her training on the days Bonni is unavailable.

Otherwise, as noted, there was nothing remarkable in the senior ladies' free, although Elene opened with a huge triple flip and Blake Rosenthal was third with a strong skate. The performance of the day was definitely Daisuke Murakami, who had probably the highest-ever score recorded for a junior man's short. (Although club competitions don't really count when determining personal bests.) Great program, much improved even from Moran a few weeks ago, especially the spins.

Lynn

 

[bethissoawesome]

It's funny to think that we were all in the same place at the same time lol. I was very underwhelmed with Emily. Her body doesn't look like it's in good shape... it looks like she lost a bit of weight, but the weight she lost was muscle. Her skating had very little enthusiasm, both the SP and the LP. The only enjoyable skate (for the Ladies), in my opinion, was Elene's short.

 

[samba]

Joe, Lynn, did any of you guys see Morgan/Lief FD (exhibition)?

 

[chuckm]

It sounds as if Emily went on a crash diet to lose the "freshman 15" and it took a toll on her strength and stamina. She does look more trim and in shape than she did in a recent midsummer benefit performance, but crash dieting is not the way to get back in competitive shape.

Emily was in her best form at the 2006 Olympics, but her technical edge has gradually tailed off since then. In the 2006-2007 season, she was underrotating her jumps; by 2007-2008, she seemed to have lost her lutz altogether, and now it appears that the flip is beyond her capabilities.

You do have to wonder what has happened to her skating.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Joe, Lynn, did any of you guys see Morgan/Lief FD (exhibition)?

No, I did not stay for the EXs. I believe Adam Rippon skated. Were his arms shooting up to heaven after every jump?

nylynnr You could be right about the music. I found that the acoustics in that rink are like an echo. However, Emily is not in good shape, and even Blake skated better.

In Juniors, Murakami picked up some Morosov's touches like caressing his face during his LP. I enjoyed Daisuke more when he had dual citizenship (he's listed as Japan now) but I presume Japan Fed pays Morozov's high cost of coaching.

None of the Junior Men were anywhere near WoW!

In Seniors - Tommy Steenberg is soooo musical that it gets in the way of his technical, imo. Although he won the skate, I do not think he will be a real contender in Senior Nats.

{Gossip, gossip, gossip) Am I the last to know that Jonathan Hunt and Ann Patrice McDonough are a twosome. Her hair is yellow blonde, and it is quite becoming. Tim Gable was there. I presume he was going to award the medals.
Also gobs and gobs of skaters from Jersey and Delaware.

Anyone who stayed for the EXs have anything to say?

 

[Okami]

I actually think that Dice improved a LOT recently. On FSU there are reports that he was great in SP and nailed 3A, 3F-3L(!) and 3Lz. His score - 77.99 for SP - would be competitive with senior men.

I presume Japan Fed pays Morozov's high cost of coaching.

Pre-switch he said in an interview that he admired Mao Asada and Nobunari Oda, so wanting to be on the same team might have played a part in his decision. As well as the fact that at the moment of the switch he wasn't very competitive with USA juniors.

Anyway, I bet Morozov isn't very happy with JSF at the moment. According to a poster at FSU, the Japanese federation screwed up the paperwork so Dice could not participate in the Mexico JGP, losing precious points.

 

[asparaguss]

It sounds as if Emily went on a crash diet to lose the "freshman 15" and it took a toll on her strength and stamina

Amazing to see someone in the skating world admitting this. I've always deplored figure skating for (in my opinion) practically mandating anorexia among young female skaters, and I became a fan of Emily specifically because she was the one skater who bucked this trend and actually had a figure. (To me, "in shape" means curvy, not skeletal.) But of course, over the summer, all I read at various forums (many worse than here) were mean-spirited attacks on Emily's then-shapely figure, and all I could think of was, "God, I hope she isn't reading this nonsense."

Well, I guess she must have been reading it, because sure enough, she has now starved herself to a supposedly more "acceptable" size, and has it helped matters? No, not at all. Harmed her, in fact.

It's a problem that's not exclusive to the skating world, but how sad to see it so prevalent in skating -- weight loss is presented as some kind of magic cure-all for anything. But of course it's NOT, and it can do more harm than good.

"Thinner" does NOT automatically equal "better" -- not for performance and not (unless a person likes fashion-model emaciation, which it seems a lot of skating fans do) for looks either.

 

[nylynnr]

Emily is healthy, attractive and athletic. Obviously, as I noted earlier, she needs to work on her jumps. Not sure how the conversation about her starving herself got started but I personally saw no sign of it.

Joesitz -- Steenburg didn't win the free skate, as he managed just three triples I believe. The free skate and the overall event was won by British skater Matthew Parr, who landed a triple Axel in the short and a triple Lutz-triple toe, among other jumps, in his free to "Band of Brothers." Evidently Parr was injured prior to the Merano JGP (where he placed 25th) and has since recovered. I think he is the first Brit since Steven Cousins to do a triple Axel in competition.

As for the exhibition, Adam performed a re-vamped version of his free, opening with an attempted quad toe and two triple Axel attempts. He missed those jumps but did some good triples in the second half of the program. I would say his arms have been toned down a bit since Moran. Morgan and Leif performed their free dance (to "The Muse," I believe) and looked polished if a bit slow. Toward the end, Morgan took a rather bad fall on a transition step. Tim Goebel didn't give out any awards, he simply sat in the stands.

Lynn