2017-18 State of U.S. Ladies Skating

[andromache]

Hard to say who is looking good for Junior Worlds...

Vivian Le made several mistakes, Kaitlyn Nguyen (who was really good last year in juniors) had four falls, and Tessa Hong was underrotating everything.

Starr was okay (I don't get the hype), and Alysa Liu seems like a lock for the junior title. That might be a nice JW team. Oh, also Emmy Ma, who wasn't terrible.

But I 100% want Alysa Liu on the JW team. Is she old enough to compete as a junior internationally?

 

[AshWagsFan]

Ladies SP order
Grp1
1 Edmunds
2 Wang
3 Hicks
4 Chan
5 Andrews
Grp2
6 Miller
7 Tennell
8 McIsaac
9 Lin
10 McBeath
Grp3
11 Glenn
12 Bell
13 Nagasu
14 Chiera
15 Ma
16 Hong
Grp4
17 Wagner
18 Zhang
19 Le
20 Nguyen
21 Wessenberg
22 Chen

 

[Miss Ice]

*Mirai's thoughts when doing the 2A in the 2A-3T combo*: This is so easy I can't even.

Also, Karen last?! Her SP is usually her strong point, seems like they are testing her mental game. O_O

 

[andromache]

Also, Karen last?! Her SP is usually her strong point, seems like they are testing her mental game. O_O

It's right where she needs to be to capitalize, especially if one or more of the other favorites bomb, judges will be inclined to be generous. (OTOH, if Mirai, Ashley, and Bradie skate well, judges will probably be less generous and more nitpicky on the jumps.)

She's skating after 3 skaters who aren't in any danger of coming near the top 6, which will help her by comparison.

 

[macy]

But I 100% want Alysa Liu on the JW team. Is she old enough to compete as a junior internationally?

Unfortunately she isn’t old enough. She’s 12.

 

[Makkachin]

Mirai's practice looked great. Her jumps look higher! Would love to see her skate this way when she does the program full out

 

[synteis]

Overall, Mirai's jumps look incredible in this practice as far as height, speed, distance and extension.

There is a beautiful illusion spin in her second StSq and I'd love to see her do a back spiral into one of her jumps, she has a lovely one in this practice in one of her ChSq.

 

[frida80]

Hard to say who is looking good for Junior Worlds...

Vivian Le made several mistakes, Kaitlyn Nguyen (who was really good last year in juniors) had four falls, and Tessa Hong was underrotating everything.

Starr was okay (I don't get the hype), and Alysa Liu seems like a lock for the junior title. That might be a nice JW team. Oh, also Emmy Ma, who wasn't terrible.

But I 100% want Alysa Liu on the JW team. Is she old enough to compete as a junior internationally?

Alyssa is 12. She can’t compete for another two seasons. L


I think thr JW team could be Starr and Emmy.

 

[andromache]

Alyssa is 12. She can’t compete for another two seasons. L


I think thr JW team could be Starr and Emmy.

That would make sense. (If an old enough girl winds up with a good LP in juniors, I would say to send that person for experience, along with whichever senior Nationals / junior international lady delivers.

I'm puzzled by Tessa. I was expecting Frank to really clean up those URs.

 

[chuckm]

Sorry, but I was at the Senior Ladies practice and I find it hard to be excited about either Mirai or Ashley.

Mirai did all her jumps well, but folks----it was PRACTICE: no judges, no scores. And even with no judges, no scores, she still had no connection with the music and no expression whatsoever.

If you want to see what real relation to the music and expression are, just wait til you see Emmy Ma's SP. It blew me away, and lots of other people who were watching the Senior Ladies practice today.

As for Ashley, she didn't really run through her La La Land program. She started to, then didn't do the 3t on the 3f and it was all ad lib from there on, and some of her 3lo attempts looked UR to me. Furthermore, I don't see how this music can work for her. It is all repetitive patter with little emotional impact, and that sort of stuff is not what she's good with. Maybe she went back to blonde to identify more closely with the Emma Stone character, but that won't impress judges or tech panels.

 

[college pat]

i don't go by practice. I am glad they skate well & clean in practice.

Like it been stated. I hope they don't leave the best performance in practice.

Practice to me is working out the kinks-making sure i am doing it right so when time comes i can do it correctly.

Anyway they all look good in practice. good luck to them all.

 

[geige]

Oh Mirai I love you but your crazy planned content is spiking my blood pressure... please hold it together

 

[chuckm]

+I'm puzzled by Tessa. I was expecting Frank to really clean up those URs.

Tessa has grown a lot. Puberty isn't always kind.

 

[Miss Ice]

If you want to see what real relation to the music and expression are, just wait til you see Emmy Ma's SP. It blew me away, and lots of other people who were watching the Senior Ladies practice today.
.

Wow, you are right... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLdbn7VFRwY

 

[frida80]

Tessa has grown a lot. Puberty isn't always kind.

She also has Osgood Schlatter disease. It’s hindering her progress as a skater.

 

[geige]

Even though the people telling us not to make conclusions based on practice are the usual Mirai gripers/bashers, they do have a point. Mirai usually has very strong practices, but this isn’t necessarily what goes out on competition ice. But I have my fingers crossed

 

[ice coverage]

Sorry, but I was at the Senior Ladies practice ...

Mirai did all her jumps well, but folks----it was PRACTICE: no judges, no scores. And even with no judges, no scores, she still had no connection with the music and no expression whatsoever. ...

LOL, my observation of Mirai was quite different (and I too was in the arena at practice today).
To my eyes, Mirai's expression in her runthrough was a marked increase.

And notably (IMO), Mirai had Drew Meekins as well as Tom Z at the boards today.
Leads me to speculate that Mirai has been putting a special focus on working with Drew on performance??

I know that it is nothing unusual for Drew to work with World Arena/Tom Z skaters (Vincent being a prime example), but I think it is the first time Drew has been at the boards for Mirai?

---

... If you want to see what real relation to the music and expression are, just wait til you see Emmy Ma's SP. It blew me away, and lots of other people who were watching the Senior Ladies practice today. ...

Agree that Emmy Ma was wonderful :luv17:.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Ladies SP order
Grp1
1 Edmunds
2 Wang
3 Hicks
4 Chan
5 Andrews
Grp2
6 Miller
7 Tennell
8 McIsaac
9 Lin
10 McBeath
Grp3
11 Glenn
12 Bell
13 Nagasu
14 Chiera
15 Ma
16 Hong
Grp4
17 Wagner
18 Zhang
19 Le
20 Nguyen
21 Wessenberg
22 Chen

Thanks!! Is this official? They already did the draw?

 

[skylark]

LOL, my observation of Mirai was quite different (and I too was in the arena at practice today).
To my eyes, Mirai's expression in her runthrough was a marked increase.
.

I was only watching the video from more than half a continent away, but I felt the same.

What Mirai seemed to improve on, from my point of view, is the expression in her movement. If she can convey emotion to the audience with movement, that will go a long way. I'm excited to see her improve her artistry with movement, as I've never connected with her facial expressions; they don't seem authentic to me. I'd like to see her just respond to what she's feeling, rather than try to go big with her face. Admittedly, that means she has to feel something besides how hard she's concentrating on her jumps.

To me, Mirai has been on a slow, steady burn to improve and commit to her content and her program ... and that's a very great thing IMO. This practice bodes well for her!

 

[R.D.]

Good to see Nagasu stepping it up, BUT remember folks...it's just practice. And Nagasu's track record with jump consistency in competition is shaky at best.

It's only practice. Calm down.

A high risk, high reward approach - taking a page out of the Mao Asada book.