Various Replies
Shine,
It goes without saying that you're entitled to dislike Sasha's skating and describe parts or all of it any way you want, including her 8.50 for Skating Skills as "What a joke." I wouldn't try to change your mind, but for those on the fence, I'd like to give my perspective on this. Last season, had the COP been in place, I would have given Sasha about a 7.50 to 7.75 for SS on her best performances and about a 6.0 on her worst, especially her "Rach" LP. But this season, I think 8.50 for SS is definitely deserved. I saw Sasha skate live in September '02 at "Stars, Stripes, and Skates" and this year saw her live at Campbell's. The improvement in her SS was very evident to me. The ISU paper on the components describes SS as follows:
Skating Skills
Definition: Methods used by a skater/couple to create movement over the ice surface.
Purpose: To reward efficiency of movement in relation to speed, flow and quality of edge.
* Overall skating quality
* Multi-directional skating
* Speed and power
* Cleanness and sureness of edges
* Glide and flow
* Depth and quality of edges
As I saw Sasha's skating both live at Campbell's and on TV at SA, I felt her overall skating quality had improved in the depth and softness of her knees, her authority, sureness, and that difficult to define "seamless" quality between elements. These were much weaker last season.
Multi-directional skating--I saw tremendous improvement in this area, much of which is a function of the choreography, but what Sasha contributes is the ease and sureness in her changes of direction.
Speed and power--So far this season Sasha is skating with speed that is equal to the best, ie, Michelle, Irina, and Fumie. Her power shows up mainly in her spins, which is equaled only by Irina; the power on her stroking and skating in general is not as strong but it too has improved significantly from last season and I would rank her only behind Irina and Michelle.
Cleanness and sureness of edges--This has been one of Sasha's main weaknesses, but again this season I think the improvement is exceptional. She's deeper into the ice, the edgework on her new footwork in her SP and that in her LP is superb to my eye, and the wobbles we saw last season on some of her spiral sequences simply aren't there now--at least as far as I can see and at least thus far.
Glide and flow--I've always felt this was one of Sasha's strongest points and again IMO she's improved. In this component, I feel she was outstanding at both Campbell's and SA.
Depth and quality of edges--This too has been one of Sasha's biggest weaknesses in the past. Although she's definitely improved, I think this is the area she needs to work on most.
Comparing Sasha's SS to the other ladies competing at SA, I feel the skater who is closest when she skates her best is Volchkova. I won't go through how I would evaluate Jenny and Shizuka's SS, but suffice it to say that I feel the judges' scores were accurate. When you look at Sasha's Detailed Results for all five Components, the scores among the judges didn't have much variability, except for "Transitions," which both gives me a certain amount of confidence in their scores and also makes me feel that what I'm seeing is also what the judges are seeing. Of course what I or the judges see doesn't mean that's how you or anybody should see Sasha's SS since as I said, it goes without saying that you or anybody are free to say, "8.5! No way!"
To give people an idea of the range of scores some of the ladies received for SS, which, lest we forget, is only one of five components--the other four are Transitions, Performance/Execution, Choreography, and Interpretation--here are ranges from the Detailed Result for Skating Skills:
Cohen: 8.0 to 9.25 (Trimmed Mean = 8.50)
Kirk: 7.0 to 8.50 (TM = 7.55)
Arakawa: 7.50 to 8.50 (TM = 7.85)
Corwin: 6.25 to 8.25 (TM = 6.85)
Poykio: 5.50 to 7.50 (TM = 6.20)
Bellmare: 5.0 to 7.0 (TM = 5.95)
Nakano: 4.75 to 7.0 (TM = 5.85)
Volchkova: 5.75 to 7.75 (TM = 6.40)
BTW, the maximum Component score is 10. So my guess is that a trimmed mean score of 8.5 would be a mix from 5.7 to 5.9 for Presentation under the 6.0 system. Component scores around 9.5 would be pretty much 5.9 across the board. Anybody getting high 9s and 10s would seem to have quite a few 6.0s in there. Technically, now that spins, spirals, footwork, and jumps are scored, you'd have to look at the TES and make a guesstimate what would be the equivalent in the 6.0 system.
Mathman,
Thanks for the "Postzilla" compliment, although don't encourage me, lol. Now that I've found the Detailed Results section of the COP, I find it not only much easier to understand, but I also like the COP better and have been getting into questions such as the one Realtorgal asked, ie, "What did Skater A do to get her 3F/2T combo an 8.10 versus Skater B's 6.10?" as well as questions on all aspects of the COP as they pertain to the performances of each skater--not to mention trying to figure out what the initials mean, lol. But now I have Lulu's thread to get into all of that instead of annoying everybody here
Re your assertion that if my theory of "interruptions in the flow of kinetic information" has any merit, then you don't see any way for Sasha to work on this because "Your nervous system is your nervous system, for better or for worse," I have two names for you: Elena Berezhnaya. I think it's a common misconception that the neurological system is fixed while you can train and change only your strength and endurance (even though strength and endurance have significant neurologic components). The neurologic system is in fact very flexible and responds much the same to training as the rest of the body. I used the example of a kind of "kinesthetic dyslexia" to describe what I thought might be the root cause of Sasha's "blips" and while people with severe dyslexia are never going to be able to read as easily as someone who was not born with that problem, there are many ways in which people with dyslexia can improve their abilities. Just to give one example of a neurological/athletic component that is trained and improved every day: reaction time. For sprinters, good coaches spend a significant amount of time working on improving the runner's reaction time to the start gun. Shave 5/100ths or even 5/1000ths of a second off the sprinter's reaction time to the start gun and all other things being equal, you've got the difference between gold and silver.
If (big if) I'm right about the reason for Sasha's "blips" the problem is more difficult, but such problems are addressed all the time. Sometimes all it takes is continued high quality training, although there are specific techniques that can be tried. I think another possible reason Sasha has these problems is that she has not yet learned how to skate to her limits and relax at the same time. As a high-energy skater, this is especially important. I already think she was much better at this at '03 Campbell's and SA, but I can see much room for improvement. And finally there's just age. I think we've gotten so used to 15-16-year-old phenoms that we forget how much people can improve with maturity. Anyway, we shall see.
BTW, I never weighed in on Sasha's hair: Keep the bun, hon'.
Oceanguy,
Welcome to GS. About Sasha's arm movements on her layback in "Swan Lake" at Campbell's: EDIT: ORIGINALLY WROTE: I think she is using them on the layback in her SP. At Campbell's, since there was no SP, she used them in "Swan Lake." I agree, they're very effective, but I wouldn't want to see them on the layback in both the SP and LP. I don't know how she and Tarasova chose which program to use them in. Coin toss? EDITED TO CHANGE: I just watched the tapes of Sasha's "Swan Lake" at Campbell's and SA, back-to-back, without sound. IMO, watching sans sound is the best way to see what the skater really did; especially the commentary and the crowd distracts at least me from the smaller details. Anyway, you are right. Sasha did do omit the intricate arm movements she did at Campbell's during her layback at SA. She also held the free leg up longer at Campbell's. At SA she went into having the free leg at the ankle after only about three rotations with the leg at hip level. Don't know the reason for the change except that perhaps her back was bothering her at SA.
Also, on the final spin combo, at Cambell's, after the camel and sit spin with the arms pulled behind her back, she did a nice layback with the arms still clasped behind her back but held at the small of her back. From there she went into the sit spin and then the half-Biellmann. At SA, she did a sort-of layback, or you could call it a crummy layback--the free leg was not turned out and she only did about one and a half turns--with her arms reaching above her chest. From there she went into the sit position where she almost lost her balance and then the BC. I wonder if the change in the layback part of the spin caused her to have problems on the final sit position. It looked to me as if reaching the arms up before the sit spin threw her off.
Whether she does the half-Biellmann or the BC as the final position, I wish she'd go back to the layback with the arms clasped behind and held at the small of her back. Though again, at SA, perhaps the reason for this change was that her back was bothering her that night. I say this because there were other changes that were possible indications of this: On her arabesque spiral at SA, the free leg didn't strike up into a 180-degree position with as much extension as she had at Campbell's and she didn't do the straightline Biellmann position she did at Campbell's but instead did just a high attitude (arabesque but with bent knee) position.
I Forget Who Mentioned the Change from the Half-Biellmann to the BC Spin:
Sorry, I looked for your post and coudn't find it. I think you're right about the reason for the change from the half-Biellmann spin at the end to the BC, that is, the loss of speed in going from the sit spin to the half-Biellmann. Though whichever she chooses to do I hope she sticks with one because I think changes tend to throw a skater and as we saw at SA, Sasha had a slight loss of balance on the sit spin before going into the BC rather than the half-Biellmann. Also possible reason, nobody else can do the BC spin to the extent Sasha can. Perhaps she's hoping for added points for an innovative element, although since such points can only be given once per program, doing two BCs wouldn't get her extra points. Too bad; I really liked the half-Biellmann spin ending and thought it went much better with the program.
Rgal,
You noted that I wrote: "All three ladies did a 3F/2T, which has a base value of 6.90. Here's how SC, JK, and SA compared on this jump combo (trimmed mean score):
SC 8.10
JK 6.10
SA 7.30"
And you asked, "What did SA and SC do in that combo that earned them extra points; in other words, points ABOVE the base value?"
Sasha 8.10: Change of direction and footwork going into combo. BTW, Sasha received points above the base value for several of her jumps by adding footwork going into them. Nothing fancy, but enough to get her an added point or two with a clean jump or combo. I think we'll start seeing more of this kind of thing as coaches get used to the COP.
Jenny 6.10: No footwork going into combo, plus free leg swung wide on 3F and combo was rather forced.
Shizuka 7.30: Footwork into combo, but no change of direction.
BronzeisGolden,
They are only using the COP for the Grand Prix series. For Nationals and Worlds they will use the 6.0 system. That should be interesting. As for the TCS, according to the ISU COP paper, "The judges will award points on a scale from 0 to 10 with increments of .25 for the five components to express the overall presentation." So max TCS is 10.00.
Nadine,
Yes, you answered my question just fine (no lie
). Actually, I've had the opposite reaction to the recent changes in figure skating and the COP. I was getting tired of a lot of the results seeming to be based mainly on jump content and for me, I was seeing too many ladies focusing so much on difficult 3/3s and quads and men on 5/4/3/2/1/0/blastoffs that I felt innovative and interesting choreography as well as interpretation were being sacrificed because of the need to train jumps so much. Also, I just could not abide the increase in serious and career-ending injuries that came with the increase in jump rotations and jump combo rotations. IMO, we lost too many great skaters because of high-rotation jumps and jump combos, especially on boots made to do doubles at best. If the figure skating hinged skate boot were used and did indeed help reduce the risk of injury from high-rotation jumps, then by all means change the scoring system to reward big jumps and combos--to a point. If skaters want to jump, I'd rather they bring back the World Jumping Competition and give it more respect. I've seen signs already of the COP prompting more interesting and innovative choreography, ie, more footwork into jumps, more interesting footwork, more interesting spins. But I think this is a transitional year, literally and figuratively. It's literally a transitional year because the GP events will be judged using the COP and Nats and Worlds will be judged using the 6.0 system, so nobody knows what to expect. Figuratively, people have been used to choreographing programs with the emphasis on jumps and not much on the transitions, spins, or footwork because they weren't rewarded much. We saw a surge of interest in footwork because people saw how exciting Yagudin made it in "Winter," but who knows if it made any difference to the judges? I know you're a great fan of jumps and perhaps for you the changes in skating will not be to your liking. Any time there's change, you gain some fans and you lose some. Personally I think skaters will continue to take risks in jumps, I just hope that the COP will not encourage young skaters to push themselves too hard too young in this area and wind up with a one-brilliant-performance career. I'd like to see the risk spread more evenly among jumps, spins, moves in the field, spirals, footwork, music, and innovative choreography But that's just me.
Some general comments on the COP on ESPN2's SA coverage:
"Up until this time spins were almost ignored," Dick Button. "The thing that's still wrong with it is the secrecy and certainly there are things that need to be tweaked."
"No matter how the SP goes you still have a shot at winning if you skate a great LP," Michael Weiss.
"Skating first no longer hurts you," Terry Gannon.
Rgirl
:\ My love for figure skating starting to die a long while back, but I continued to plug away because there were a few and still are who capture my heart and are true figure skaters.. Yes, I watch with my heart as well.. 
), whether or not they have the best posture, toepoint, footwork, edges, speed, et al. No, they are my favorites b/c their souls call out to me, and it is not something that can be quantified or dissected or anything of that nature. It's that sixth sense type of thing, which is hard to explain. And no amount of theses, papers, documents, et al will ever change my mind. Nor should it. Fans, hold on to your favorites and don't ever let go.
...Michelle...
