Aging Figure Skaters

[megsk8z]

What I think about being an older skater versus being a kid jumper is strictly my opinion. True, there are some lovely adult programs out there that don't have much jumping in them. And I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing because then you have to do some fancy footwork to keep them entertained, plus it's a whole lot easier on the now aging (much faster than I ever thought) body to skate "nice" as opposed to flinging myself into the air and praying I will come down somewhere near right. But at the same time I still love the jumps. Still want to do that double flip one day.

Maybe this doesn't have anything to do with anything, but practicing those jumps at a young age does seem to make the youngsters more vulnerable to injury, too

I think the best thing to come out of this woeful judging system is that all of the programs look alike and the sooner one can escape the rigors of training every day the sooner one can move on to show skating. Where there may be some originality.

 

[ID Nurse]

"So, you're probably right in thinking you won't see eligible skaters add a lot of newer, bigger jumps to their repertoires after age 20 or 21, but not necessarily because age (at least through the mid- to late-20s), by itself, makes it impossible, but because age makes it inadvisable, considering what they need to do to win medals, and the amount of pounding their bodies have taken up to that time may make it impossible to train a new, more difficult, move sufficiently to make in consistent."

I agree, mememe. The only thing I would like to add is that the skaters you talked about; Boitano, Browning, Hamilton, Orser and Sabvocik all had one thing in common--they did figures. So, the 5-6 hours of daily training would not all be freestyle like it is now. Skaters had to spend at least half (probably more) of their training time doing figures, which did not put any pressure at all on knees, hips or backs. It did teach edge quality, body position and control, which helped with technique on jumps without stressing the body. So, it is no wonder to me that these guys were all skating into their 40's, and most still doing some of their hardest triples. I doubt that any of today's skaters will be able to do the same. Today's skaters spend all their time on freestyle (ok, they do moves in the field, but those are much easier to master than figures, so skaters get through those tests so much faster, and don't need to spend as much time on them as they did on figures). The constant pounding due to the repetitions is one of the main causes of all of the injuries. The human body is just not meant to be abused that way, and sooner or later it catches up to you. With Kurt, Brian, Brian, Scott and Jozef, it happened later, so they were/are able to still have a career so many years after their eligible success.

 

[gkelly]

With Kurt, Brian, Brian, Scott and Jozef, it happened later, so they were/are able to still have a career so many years after their eligible success.

Actually Sabovcik had knee injuries that forced him to end his competitive career in 1986; otherwise he probably would have stayed in until the '88 Olympics. He was able to do most of his jumps again years later as a pro.

 

[enlight78]

I wish there woer skates that absorbed more of the pounding instead of it going to the knees and the hips. Maybe then skaters would have longer careers or add new jumps later in their careers.

 

[John King]

(sung to "Secret Agent Man")

There's a man who skates programs of boredom
But he's kept on Stars On Ice 'cause they can afford him
With every spin or Lutz
Ya gotta admire his guts
'Cause odds are he won't do the gig tomorrow

Secret Aging Man
Secret Aging Man
They've given you a number
Of health and retirement plans

 

[antmanb]

I don't think you can compare men vs women in this topic.

Girls go through puberty earlier. Hips and breasts can throw off rotational capabilities. I think that's one of the reasons why it is harder for the ladies to add rotations when they are older.

On the other hand, the boys go through puberty later. At this time, their muscles as athletes become more honed and they generally have more power. This helps them in gaining the height in the air to get in additional rotations, assuming they can adjust their timing due to the additional growth in height. Shoulders become broader, which assist in the ability to rotate (think of the shape of a spinning top - broad closer to the top and narrow at the bottom - typical althletic guy figure.) So, it is possible for men to add rotations into their early 20's and some longer.

I think i agree with this. When i look at the young skaters at my rink, the young girls nearly always progress their jumps faster than boys - for some reason they can always rotate faster than boys. The girls seem to keep an eye on each other and want to bit the others to landing the next jump. The boys seem to take it all much less seriously and seem to try to jump higher and longer not rotate quickly. While the girls will challenge each other to jump the next hardest jumps the boys seem to challenge each other to to the jump bigger or longer.

The results that i've seen are that nearly all the young girls get all their doubles up to Lutz (which is often flutz) have very small jumps that rotate very quickly. Often they are pre-rotated (but mostly landed clean). The boys who have skated for a similar amount of time have big airy open single jumps. The girls start hitting puberty and go back to their single jumps to re-learn, while the boys start hittign puberty,m get stronger (learn some discipline from their coaches) and rotate easy doubles in the big airy jumps and struggle to learn their triples.

Ant

 

[BGskater]

What about pair girls? and boys? they compete until the age of 30 at least. And all the girls do huge throw triples (Shen/Zhao) And they do side by side triples.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

What about pair girls? and boys? they compete until the age of 30 at least. And all the girls do huge throw triples (Shen/Zhao) And they do side by side triples.

If they had these tricks before then it is a question of maintaining them. Passion to skate competitively will keep the tricks in tact. But will there be other more difficult tricks in the future?

Joe

 

[kyla2]

Totally Agree ID Nurse

I totally agree with ID Nurse. It's the abuse of the joints and body in general that impacts skaters young and old. Just the triple-doubles is enough to put you in the hospital for a joint replacement or repair. Let's talk to Shiz and Irina in 10 years. We already know what has happened to Yagudin,Tara and Michelle. The sport is a mess and the triple-triples are partly to blame. I would strongly suggest to anyone who is in competitive skating that they stay in it for a short period of time (until 18-21) and then move on to school, coaching or whatever. It just isn't worth it. Although Sarah was not my favorite skater, the smartest thing she ever did was get out of skating. Michelle was one Olympics too late. She should have stopped 4 years ago. Perhaps she could have avoided the surgery.

 

[Zuranthium]

I find that to be a horrible frame of mind, kyla...

~Z

 

[kyla2]

Zuranthium

You cannot ignore the reality of what is happening to these kids. They are getting injured at phenomenal rates. Just compare it with 20 years ago. A "horrible state of mind" would be to just ignore it and let these athletes destroy their bodies in the pursuit of what? a triple-triple that may or may not get them a gold medal. Skating was once a thing of true beauty and also athleticism. It is no longer that at all. It is an exercise in taking the human body to the outer limits. It has become a sport like football and ice hockey where if you play it long enough, you pay a price down the road. Both those sports are littered with ruined bodies. So the short answer is that I am not for skating heading down the same road. Are you? Should these kids pay a pretty significant price at the end of their careers so we can be wowed with triple-triple-doubles. I don't think so. I wish Michelle had stopped sooner for her sake, not mine. They are sustaining significant injuries in their 20's not their 50's in a NON-CONTACT sport. That is the whole story in a nutshell.