Sorry, I couldn't sleep for two nights. I had to register here and share.
My contry doesn't have figure skating celebrities but we have judges. They manly work with children and juniors but still, they have been trained according the new scoring system. One of them is our TV commentator and actually she does very well. For example, she says the score for each element as soon as it's done. For ten years she's been explaining what the component score is about. She normally had Yuna and Caroline Costner as examples: every move has to be done exactly accenting or expressing the music, there must be no preparation pauses between elements. Then Sotnikova skates and she makes a remark that there are big preparation pauses between jumps, that the skater cares little about music and only focuses on doing her elements, and in general characterises it as talented yet "junior" skating style that is not as "mature" and "artistic" as Caro's and Yuna's. Then judges made their score and she added "but it's only my oppinion".
Then, what should we think when we teach kids to skate in a country where this sport is only developing? Are there values or just oppinions? What should Sotnikova think about her own development if she's judged like that?
Or, simply tell me that I'm getting it all wrong and Sotnikova is the new benchmark for the next generation in sport.
My contry doesn't have figure skating celebrities but we have judges. They manly work with children and juniors but still, they have been trained according the new scoring system. One of them is our TV commentator and actually she does very well. For example, she says the score for each element as soon as it's done. For ten years she's been explaining what the component score is about. She normally had Yuna and Caroline Costner as examples: every move has to be done exactly accenting or expressing the music, there must be no preparation pauses between elements. Then Sotnikova skates and she makes a remark that there are big preparation pauses between jumps, that the skater cares little about music and only focuses on doing her elements, and in general characterises it as talented yet "junior" skating style that is not as "mature" and "artistic" as Caro's and Yuna's. Then judges made their score and she added "but it's only my oppinion".
Then, what should we think when we teach kids to skate in a country where this sport is only developing? Are there values or just oppinions? What should Sotnikova think about her own development if she's judged like that?
Or, simply tell me that I'm getting it all wrong and Sotnikova is the new benchmark for the next generation in sport.