Emily Hughes update

[Joesitz (RIP)]

There's more about Emily Hughes at MidAtlantics. Check out the folder in the Events Section.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?p=331800#post331800

 

[bethissoawesome]

I got to see Emily at the MIDS. She wasn't in very good shape... her jumps were the worst that I've seen them :-/ Hands down on an attempted, under rotated triple flip. It was a very sad sight.

 

[flying camel]

It is still the training season. Maybe she just needs more time.

 

[chuckm]

It is still the training season. Maybe she just needs more time.

North Atlantic Regionals (which Emily must attend if she wants to make it back to Nationals) start in 26 days, and her GP event in 9 weeks. At Midlantics, Emily scored 44.58 in the SP and 66.26 in the FS, for a total of 110.84. She might squeak through Regionals with 110, but that score would have placed her 11th at TEB 2007.

Emily returns to school next week, so she won't be able to devote her full time and attention to training. She is no longer working with Mitchell and Johansson in Boston, which means her coach Bonnie Retzin (or her assistant) will have to commute back and forth between NY and Boston.

It seems very, very late in the game for an elite skater to be at this stage of competition readiness, never mind an elite skater who is also a full-time college student. Right now, Emily is not skating like the elite skater she used to be, and it doesn't seem as if there is nearly enough time in her schedule to pull herself back up to par. The USFS has every right to be concerned.

 

[flying camel]

North Atlantic Regionals (which Emily must attend if she wants to make it back to Nationals) start in 26 days, and her GP event in 9 weeks. At Midlantics, Emily scored 44.58 in the SP and 66.26 in the FS, for a total of 110.84. She might squeak through Regionals with 110, but that score would have placed her 11th at TEB 2007.

Emily returns to school next week, so she won't be able to devote her full time and attention to training. She is no longer working with Mitchell and Johansson in Boston, which means her coach Bonnie Retzin (or her assistant) will have to commute back and forth between NY and Boston.

It seems very, very late in the game for an elite skater to be at this stage of competition readiness, never mind an elite skater who is also a full-time college student. Right now, Emily is not skating like the elite skater she used to be, and it doesn't seem as if there is nearly enough time in her schedule to pull herself back up to par. The USFS has every right to be concerned.

Do you know why she isn't skating with Mark anymore?

 

[chuckm]

I have no idea why Emily left Mitchell/Johansson.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Maybe he wants to coach someone that is more serious about their skating?

 

[Winnipeg]

I just can't see Emily returning this year.............I hope she does not attend and then have a bad showing............

 

[chuckm]

I just can't see Emily returning this year.............I hope she does not attend and then have a bad showing............

I agree. I don't see why she keeps on with the idea that she can attend Harvard and skate competitively at the same time. Last season, her skating in the GP was mediocre, and she withdrew from Nationals just before the event started. so we never got a chance to see if she had regained her competitive edge. This season, she withdrew from Collegiates and then waited until mid-September to do a required summer event, where her skating appeared to have deteriorated drastically since the fall of 2007.

What is the point of competing if the standard of performance has dropped so precipitously? Yes, Paul Wylie went to Harvard and skated competitively, but he skated at a time when the only events were Nationals and Worlds, and he never achieved great success until AFTER he graduated from Harvard at the age of 26. Paul was 27 when he won Olympic silver in 1992, and he had a full year to devote to nothing but skating in preparation for those Olympics.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

From what I saw at MidAtlantics, Emilie has to work hard to catch up to what she once had......and then,.. work still harder to catch up to the current standards of the Technical demands in ladies' figure skating. Don't forget the current top ladies in fs haven't stopped training.

Asada, Kim, Nakana, Kostna, Meier,Rochette, Zhang, Nagasu, Flatt, Meissner.

Now where would you put Hughes in the above group?

For the Nationals: one adds on Bebe, Angela, Ashley, Alyssa, Chrissie, Becky, Melissa, Katrina, and maybe Blake Rosenthal.

We all love Emilie but let's be realistic.

Internationally - It's hard to pick a bronze medalist, imo.
Nationally, I would say Zhang last year but now I am not so certain. The podium is not even obvious.

 

[AdamFan]

What was Emily able to complete in the long program? I haven't been able to find a rundown of her jumps. I'm sure she didn't want to skate so soon after spraining her ankle. Was she intending to do a Double Salchow+Double Toe combination? Perhaps she can have the Triple Toe, Triple Salchow and Triple Flip back for Regionals. Emily had a grim start to the 2005-2005 season, but skated well at Nationals. At her best, I can only see her qualifying for Four Continents if other skaters pull out.

 

[london_calling]

The thing is, Emily was never really consistent to begin with. I would be hard pressed to find a clean free skate of hers from the last three seasons. Even her 2007 Four Continents free skate was missing combos at the end of a few jumps.

I would love for Emily to come back strong and do well. She is a real performer and fun to watch. However, I think it would be a very hard thing for her to do.

 

[silverfox]

Great analysis Joesitz.

Groshkova- When did she have the ankle sprain? Just curious.

I know Emily reportedly had an injury sometime around January and pulled out of Nationals. At that time it was said that it would be four to six weeks before she could do any serious training.

She wasn't in school this summer, so that was optimum training time. At this point in the season she and Bonnie should be spending time just tweaking her programs, But at this point it looks like she has more than fine tuning to do .

 

[Sylvia]

I don't see why she keeps on with the idea that she can attend Harvard and skate competitively at the same time.

Maybe because she relishes the challenge and we fans' opinions don't really matter?

From what I've heard, she withdrew from Collegiate Nationals in early August due to an ankle sprain that kept her from serious on-ice training for a couple of weeks (I believe her only public skating performance before the Mid-Atlantics comp. was the "Skate for Hope" benefit show at the end of August).

 

[dorispulaski]

Her SP from Mid Atlantics is on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtLYc-UqWIc

 

[R.D.]

I think it should be Emily's choice as to whether she wishes to press on or not. Sometimes it's not just about winning, it's about being out there competing on the ice.

 

[flying camel]

Yes I agree. Also you basically only need one clean triple to compete internationally. :agree:

 

[chuckm]

Maybe because she relishes the challenge and we fans' opinions don't really matter?

But does she truly relish performing so poorly, after nearly winning Nationals in 2007?

From what I've heard, she withdrew from Collegiate Nationals in early August due to an ankle sprain that kept her from serious on-ice training for a couple of weeks (I believe her only public skating performance before the Mid-Atlantics comp. was the "Skate for Hope" benefit show at the end of August).

That ankle sprain seems to be a chronic injury for Emily (her coach revealed that Emily had a 'slight sprain' at 2007 Nationals). What I don't understand is if Emily had to be off the ice for 4-6 weeks after Nationals, she would have been able to train again in March. In early April, she participated in the "Ice Chips" show, so her injury must have been pretty well healed. In a July journal entry, she said she had gotten her programs choreographed by David Wilson back in June. You'd think that by early August, she would have been in decent shape before suffering that new ankle injury. After a two week break due to the injury, she should have been able to get back in the groove by the second week of September. Two weeks away from heavy training shouldn't have set her back as far as she appeared at Midlantics.

I think that Emily is trying to do much too much all at once, and what's happening is the quality of what she does is going downhill.

 

[silverfox]

Maybe because she relishes the challenge and we fans' opinions don't really matter?

From what I've heard, she withdrew from Collegiate Nationals in early August due to an ankle sprain that kept her from serious on-ice training for a couple of weeks (I believe her only public skating performance before the Mid-Atlantics comp. was the "Skate for Hope" benefit show at the end of August).

Thanks Sylvia. I knew she pulled out of Colegiate, but I didn't know why.

I hope she gets pleasure out of competing this season no matter the outcome. She hasn't had winning seasons before, but she's continued to face the challenge.

 

[chuckm]

I think it should be Emily's choice as to whether she wishes to press on or not. Sometimes it's not just about winning, it's about being out there competing on the ice.

But she is representing the US, not 'performing' as Emily Hughes. The French Fed invited the lively, energetic skater they remember from previous years' GP events, not a slow, lumbering skater who can't complete a single clean triple.