What will 2010-11 bring for Caroline Zhang?

[LeCygne]

But please, please, stop doing the Rachael Flatt catchfoot camel, please!!

It must some new rule change that favors this spin, because so many ladies are doing it now even on the junior level. :think: Too bad because it is not the most attractive position... Just about the only skater who can pull it off is Sasha Cohen (a la 2005 Nutcracker LP).

 

[burntBREAD]

It must some new rule change that favors this spin, because so many ladies are doing it now even on the junior level. :think: Too bad because it is not the most attractive position... Just about the only skater who can pull it off is Sasha Cohen (a la 2005 Nutcracker LP).

The thing is--Caroline's not half bad at it either...so I'm not sure what she's trying

 

[krenseby]

It must some new rule change that favors this spin, because so many ladies are doing it now even on the junior level. :think: Too bad because it is not the most attractive position... Just about the only skater who can pull it off is Sasha Cohen (a la 2005 Nutcracker LP).

Hehe, I was wondering how long it would take till someone would mention Cohen again, and here we are ;-) BTW, I deny rumors of watching her competitive programs on YouTube. After all, she's never won a world championship and I will always hold that against her.

 

[aftertherain]

Hehe, I was wondering how long it would take till someone would mention Cohen again, and here we are ;-) BTW, I deny rumors of watching her competitive programs on YouTube. After all, she's never won a world championship and I will always hold that against her.

That's a funny thing to hold against someone. Do you hold that against other skaters as well?

 

[skatingcoach]

Wow what could I say. She gained a lot of weight. First thing is to lose that weight. Her hand movements are no longer pretty. Her spins suck. She looks painfully slow. She has nothing unique anymore. She's done in the world of figure skating. Bad music choices that's for sure. BORING and SLOW! Dump that music fast. Can't she find something fast to skate to. Instead of fixing her jumps now, she needs more speed, that's the number one goal for her. More speed in program= more speed into jumps = better jumps with height and flow = better pcs marks. Just look at Knoster, skate as fast as her, you will get a medal if your jumps suck too. Find a better coach, how can her coach let her weight get out of control like that!

 

[LeCygne]

Hehe, I was wondering how long it would take till someone would mention Cohen again, and here we are ;-) BTW, I deny rumors of watching her competitive programs on YouTube. After all, she's never won a world championship and I will always hold that against her.

Haha well I've not been following every comment in this thread so I wasn't aware of any Cohen references.. But it's hard to say which is worse, knowing you have it all but falling short just a tad every time or being buried in a mountain of issues and not being able to dig yourself out..

 

[krenseby]

Wow what could I say. She gained a lot of weight. First thing is to lose that weight. Her hand movements are no longer pretty. Her spins suck. She looks painfully slow. She has nothing unique anymore. She's done in the world of figure skating. Bad music choices that's for sure. BORING and SLOW! Dump that music fast. Can't she find something fast to skate to. Instead of fixing her jumps now, she needs more speed, that's the number one goal for her. More speed in program= more speed into jumps = better jumps with height and flow = better pcs marks. Just look at Knoster, skate as fast as her, you will get a medal if your jumps suck too. Find a better coach, how can her coach let her weight get out of control like that!

I totally agree with you that it is about the whole package and not the jumps. The spins, the hand movements, speed, good music that's well interpreted. Without all that, the jumps don't mean a thing. And yeah, the weight might be killing her speed and fluidity of movement.

Haha well I've not been following every comment in this thread so I wasn't aware of any Cohen references.. But it's hard to say which is worse, knowing you have it all but falling short just a tad every time or being buried in a mountain of issues and not being able to dig yourself out..

Well, I never said she had it really bad. It's just that she was so close to a world title, I kinda expected her to win it at least once.

 

[bigsisjiejie]

On the weight issue: I'd like for somebody who has recently seen Caroline live and reasonably close up to comment, before I make a judgment on something like this. For two reasons:
1) The camera adds 10 pounds. Old saying, and it's absolutely true. I've seen many skaters on the screen who look a bit pudgy, then seeing them live and upclose and they are not big at all! Don't entirely trust the camera.

2) If her weight is muscle, she needs it. One of her problems over the last few years is she just didn't have enough muscular strength to sustain good technique. Hence the mule kick, amongst other issues. I suspect her fill-out is natural growth + muscle. Not fat from eating too many chocolate eclairs. I doubt if coach Tammy Gambill would put up with the latter.

 

[Olympia]

I just watched her program. She doesn't look heavy to me--remember that she's a lot taller now--and she still has that beautiful back and upper body carriage. I hope bigsisjiejie is correct and she's acquired muscle.

The music maven in me is compelled to mention that the Dvorak Cello Concerto is a rich, lyrical piece with a lot of possibilities.

 

[aftertherain]

Wow what could I say. She gained a lot of weight. First thing is to lose that weight. Her hand movements are no longer pretty. Her spins suck. She looks painfully slow. She has nothing unique anymore. She's done in the world of figure skating. Bad music choices that's for sure. BORING and SLOW! Dump that music fast. Can't she find something fast to skate to. Instead of fixing her jumps now, she needs more speed, that's the number one goal for her. More speed in program= more speed into jumps = better jumps with height and flow = better pcs marks. Just look at Knoster, skate as fast as her, you will get a medal if your jumps suck too. Find a better coach, how can her coach let her weight get out of control like that!

I feel like a lot of posters will pounce on you like a pride of lionesses pounce on an impala.

And I highly doubt her speed would change even if she skated to something quick. It's like, "Oh, I'm a sloth and I listen to bird sounds, maybe if I listen to dance club music, I'll climb a lot faster up the tree!"

And I think she's gained a lot of muscle definition, not fat.

 

[aftertherain]

I totally agree with you that it is about the whole package and not the jumps. The spins, the hand movements, speed, good music that's well interpreted. Without all that, the jumps don't mean a thing. And yeah, the weight might be killing her speed and fluidity of movement.

I agree, but it's not like you can work on the whole package all at once. If you've got a deep problem, you've gotta spend a little more time on that problem before you go ahead and fix your lesser problems.

"It gets worse before it gets better."

 

[feraina]

And I think she's gained a lot of muscle definition, not fat.

I am going to add to the chorus of people saying she should lose some weight. It is clearly not only muscle mass she's adding, though there's probably some of that, too. You can look at someone's face and tell if they're gaining fat or muscle.

She's not going to be able to have a whole lot of time to work on her spins and performance and other things while she's retooling all of her jumps, but she *can* find the time to get her weight under control. She's a junk food junkie, if she just cut down on that it would help.

I've always had a special spot in my heart for Caroline, but right now I'm much more pessimistic about her skating future than ever before. If she doesn't get her weight under control very soon, I think this might portend the beginning of a rather rapid finish to her skating career... just in time to attend college.

 

[R.D.]

You know what- nevermind. I quit

 

[silverlake22]

I am going to add to the chorus of people saying she should lose some weight. It is clearly not only muscle mass she's adding, though there's probably some of that, too. You can look at someone's face and tell if they're gaining fat or muscle.

She's not going to be able to have a whole lot of time to work on her spins and performance and other things while she's retooling all of her jumps, but she *can* find the time to get her weight under control. She's a junk food junkie, if she just cut down on that it would help.

I've always had a special spot in my heart for Caroline, but right now I'm much more pessimistic about her skating future than ever before. If she doesn't get her weight under control very soon, I think this might portend the beginning of a rather rapid finish to her skating career... just in time to attend college.

I have heard that Caroline is kept on a very strict diet, most figure skaters are, so I doubt she's eating a lot of junk food and further, considering how much she exercises, you'd think even if she was eating a bunch of junk food, it wouldn't affect her much. I mean, she's 17, a lot of girls that age who don't even exercise a lot/at all and eat tons of crap and are still thin. I think it's more just that her body type as a woman is not meant to be a rail thin one, but more a hippy, curvier one. To me she doesn't look heavy, more just oddly proportioned, it's like her torso is very long and thick, and then her arms and legs are normal/thin. Some of it is probably also her age, she's past that gangly tween phase but not fully a woman yet, so her metabolism has slowed down and caused her to gain weight, but then with all her excercise she is building muscle too, so the combination just makes her look a lot bigger.

You see this a lot with dancers and gymnasts their junior/senior year of highschool, they look really kind of chunky, and it's not because they are fat but because of all their muscle and then the slowed down metabolism on top of their body shape becoming more womanly. Then when these girls go to college and stop dancing or doing gymnastics all the time, and many of them slim down a lot and look more like a thin woman rather than a muscular teenager. It doesn't happen to everyone, but often times being involved in skating, dance, gymnastics, etc will cause girls to develop these big muscular thighs and butts which isn't natural to their build, so then when they stop, often times the legs and but will get much thinner.

And if the camera actually adds 10 pounds, I'm afraid to see what Mao looks like in person

 

[Tinymavy15]

First, Caroline does not look overweight! She does have the body of a woman now and I surprised how much her style and manner of movement looks like Bebe Liang now. With that observation i realized that Caroline will probably be another Bebe, a wonderkid at 14 and then just not living up to it. I can't imagine seeing a 3/3 from her again that's sucessful. WOrse than that her trademark flexiblity is reduced, her layback is nice, yes, but nothing like she used to be able to do and even the charlottes that she threw in the SP were not that pretty.

 

[krenseby]

First, Caroline does not look overweight! She does have the body of a woman now and I surprised how much her style and manner of movement looks like Bebe Liang now. With that observation i realized that Caroline will probably be another Bebe, a wonderkid at 14 and then just not living up to it. I can't imagine seeing a 3/3 from her again that's sucessful. WOrse than that her trademark flexiblity is reduced, her layback is nice, yes, but nothing like she used to be able to do and even the charlottes that she threw in the SP were not that pretty.

I didn't watch Bebe compete in her junior days, so what was she like then? A lot more flexible, faster perhaps?

 

[Andalusia]

I have heard that Caroline is kept on a very strict diet

Heard from where?

 

[goldenpleasures]

Heard from where?

Silverlake (aka pinky) knows everything.

 

[Lucky Star]

I was shocked when I saw Caroline, she looks a lot like Bebe now. That's what puberty can make with cute tiny kid. I'm not surprised actually. Even when she was 13 y.o. her issues were obvious. But now it's even worse than I expected. Her beautiful spins are gone, she looks heavy on ice and even slower than before. Her jumps are still tiny and painful to watch, it's good that she fixed her mule kick on flip, but it's not enough... I'm sorry to say this, I really like Caroline, but I think she is done.

 

[silverlake22]

Heard from where?

Something about Caroline dumping candy into her purse and then eating it in private because she's not allowed/supposed to eat it, that was a couple years ago though. Anyways, I would just assume she is where she's an elite figure skater competing at the international level she follows or is supposed to follow a strict diet, any junk food she eats is probably eaten in private, if at all. Having many friends and family members who have skated, and not even at as high of a level as Caroline, most coaches will openly talk to a skater about losing weight if it appears weight is becoming an issue.