Interview with Kimmie Meissner-"My love for skating keeps me going"

[Vlad]

Interview with Kimmie Meissner-"My love for skating keeps me going"

I'd like to present you the inerview with Kimmie Meissner.I think we will see her on the ice soon.http://worldskating.blogspot.com/2010/01/kimmie-meissnermy-love-for-skating.html

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I'd like to present you the inerview with Kimmie Meissner.I think we will see her on the ice soon.http://worldskating.blogspot.com/2010/01/kimmie-meissnermy-love-for-skating.html

Thank you Vlad. Kimme never loses her cool. She is always a lady personified.

 

[janetfan]

Thanks for the link Vlad.

Good interview and it is very good news to hear that Kimmie's injury is behind her.

 

[yelyoh]

I like this young woman so much. She's such a giver. She's really handling things well with no pressure on herself. I hope to see her competing again.

 

[Tinymavy15]

She certainly had some bad luck and it is nice to hear she is not giving up, but I wonder how realistic a comeback would be. Look what happned to Sasha and Emily. Is she still in Florida with Callahgan?

 

[museksk8r]

I really look forward to seeing her on the ice again. She's so sweet and so beautiful, both inside and out. I'd love to see that friendly smile on my tv again! I hope the comeback proves successful for her!

 

[NorthernLite]

She certainly had some bad luck and it is nice to hear she is not giving up, but I wonder how realistic a comeback would be. Look what happned to Sasha and Emily. Is she still in Florida with Callahgan?

Sasha finished fourth at Nat, her first competition after four years away. I'd say that's pretty good.
Haven't read the article yet but I tweeted Kimmie the other day to tell her lots of folks missed her on the ice.

 

[Vlad]

Thanks to all for the good words!/About Kimmie I have to say she is really strong and I'm sure she still have a very big potential.

 

[R.D.]

It will be a challenge for her to return (I look at Em Hughes, Olympian in 2006 but not even a contender for 2010) but I look forward to seeing what she can do. If there are 3 spots for 2011 she MIGHT have a shot if she can get back to her pre-2008 shape. But I have to say her peak was sort of during a lull in skating- all the top contenders retired, the US was going through a transition period. Is her best good enough any more? May be a cruel thing to say but worth looking into. She has really grown into an engaging performer though, not the "stroke-jump" skater she was back in '06

 

[Layfan]

It will be a challenge for her to return (I look at Em Hughes, Olympian in 2006 but not even a contender for 2010) but I look forward to seeing what she can do. If there are 3 spots for 2011 she MIGHT have a shot if she can get back to her pre-2008 shape. But I have to say her peak was sort of during a lull in skating- all the top contenders retired, the US was going through a transition period. Is her best good enough any more? May be a cruel thing to say but worth looking into. She has really grown into an engaging performer though, not the "stroke-jump" skater she was back in '06

I guess it depends on when you consider her peak. She won the bronze medal at the 2005 championships in a pretty strong field, I think. Her silver medal the next year was impressive too, I think although of course you didn't have Michelle Kwan and others like Jenny Kirk.

Kimmie is younger than Sasha and a better skater than Emily. Still, she has struggled so much. It'd be great to have her back but it certainly would be an epic comeback.

 

[Vlad]

I guess it depends on when you consider her peak. She won the bronze medal at the 2005 championships in a pretty strong field, I think. Her silver medal the next year was impressive too, I think although of course you didn't have Michelle Kwan and others like Jenny Kirk.

Kimmie is younger than Sasha and a better skater than Emily. Still, she has struggled so much. It'd be great to have her back but it certainly would be an epic comeback.

Also Emily now is much more student than skater as I know.

 

[Vlad]

Also she has a great inspiration to skate.Sometimes this thing works much better than others.
http://worldskating.blogspot.com

 

[ae9177]

GO KIMMIE! Can't wait to see her skating again! I miss her!

 

[Nadine]

Interesting article. The one thing that stands out the most to me is the question *I* have: is it really possible to relearn one's jump technique?

Seriously, the reason I ask is because the implementation of COP has already ruined a lot of potential careers with this manic focus on that extra quarter turn (aka cheat), which sometimes is so close it's really up to the technical specialist to say aye or nay, and even those ones with clout (aka Kim Yuna) don't always get a favorable call (e.g. 2009 GPF). I know it's ruined Kimmie's career, and will possibly Mirai Nagasu's. Which is why I wonder "is it really possible to totally relearn one's jump technique?"

COP, in my humble opinion, has affected the American Ladies the most, whom are primarily known for being the entire package ~ that is nicely packaged, refined pretty skating combined with being able to do the jumps (though not as powerful or high or even fully rotated as their European counterparts) ~ but now that isn't enough. What used to get by doesn't anymore, in particular their *average* jumps.

And the truly sad thing is I don't see any American Ladies on the horizon with BIG/HIGH/POWERFUL FULLY ROTATED JUMPS (ala Tonya Harding style). Instead the USFSA keeps cranking out the pretty pretty skaters with pretty spins, pretty spirals, pretty skating, but average jumps. I'd personally trade ALL these type of pretty skaters for O N E powerful jumper any day. But I've looked & looked & looked in not only the seniors, but the juniors, and I can't find one.

Good luck to Kimmie for trying to comeback with bigger & better jumps. I truly mean that, as I thought she was the ONE way back when, until she started getting dinged for her jumps. This is why I thought her 3A should have never been ratified in the 1st place, as it allowed her to think it was rotated, same goes for Miki Ando (her quad salchow has never been fully rotated, ever, I've watched all the videos, not even close, especially the one that was *ratified*). And while I'm on the subject, Yukari Nakano's 3A was also UR (though it was ratified). The only ones that were truly fully rotated were Tonya Harding, Midori Ito, Mao Asada (50/50), and that one time by that Russian girl Ludmila Nelidina at 2002 Skate America (hers was fully rotated, not so Yukari's).

Last note, skating & college don't mix, not in the long run, and not if one is truly serious/committed about skating & coming back. Perfect examples are the Hughes Sisters, dabbling in skating while going to school full time does NOT work. Nor does taking one season off college to concentrate on skating fulltime before the Olympics (aka Emily Hughes & Sasha Cohen). Either you're in all the way, or you're out, none of this half-way stuff. *thumbs down*

 

[Vlad]

Nadine,thanks for your reply.Very interesting concept.You described those things so completely.About Kimmie-well-will see.
http://worldskating.blogspot.com

 

[MKFSfan]

Interesting article. The one thing that stands out the most to me is the question *I* have: is it really possible to relearn one's jump technique?

I think it depends upon the skater. Kimmie has such a strong base to begin with, but her jumps were affected by injuries and growth spurts. Kimmie's main trouble was a lip and toe-axel, so they could probably be addressed with time. The fact she's been away from competition helps to address these issues (granted she's also been injured so who knows how long it will take. A perfect example is Joannie-she completely relearend the lutz. It took her a season or two, but she stuck with it and now has solid technique.

Someone like Alissa or Caroline might have a tougher time relearning their technique.

 

[dorispulaski]

Joannie Rochette used to have edge takeoff problems. It took two 2 years to fix them, but fixed they were.
Rachael has always rotated her jumps most of the time, but used to flutz occasionally. She has definitely improved in that regardd.

So yes, it is possible, though difficult.

Vlad, thanks for interviewing one of my favorite people in skating, Kimmie! I hope she will sk8 gr8 once again!

 

[ankka]

I read this interview about Laura Lepistö, and she apparently pretty much had to relearn her jumps twice. First, after being a brilliant Novice girl, she all of a sudden lost pretty much all her skills after a sudden growth spurt. Then, a couple of years back, she suffered from a hip injury which made her unable to even step on ice for half a year and was thus forced to relearn most things again. She's not quite solid with her jumps yet and she lost her Biellman spin but she definitely is on the right track. So I'd say for someone with such solid basics as Meissner it should not be impossible either.

 

[Tinymavy15]

Interesting article. The one thing that stands out the most to me is the question *I* have: is it really possible to relearn one's jump technique?

Seriously, the reason I ask is because the implementation of COP has already ruined a lot of potential careers with this manic focus on that extra quarter turn (aka cheat), which sometimes is so close it's really up to the technical specialist to say aye or nay, and even those ones with clout (aka Kim Yuna) don't always get a favorable call (e.g. 2009 GPF). I know it's ruined Kimmie's career, and will possibly Mirai Nagasu's. Which is why I wonder "is it really possible to totally relearn one's jump technique?"

Joannie proved that a skater can re-learn technique on a singel jump but I have yet to see a skater who has sucessfully re-learned all of his/her jumps with good technique. Even if they do them properly in practice (like Mao's lutz) with competition the body goes on "autopilot" and the skater goes back to thier comfortable technique that thier body trusts.

Kimmie switched her takeoff edges on her lutz and flip so they were both wrong, but other than that, and her bad toe-axel on the 3/3 she was okay. Her solo 3 toe looked fine as did her 3/2.

Caroline has a lot more to work on than Kimmie IMHO. At least Kimmie skated fast and got some air time on her jumps last time I saw her.

 

[Nadine]

Hmm, I don't know, I seem to recall Kimmie getting lots of dings for UR problems. That's really my focus for ALL the American Lady Skaters. I personally think that flutzes & flips can be corrected, but something like underrotation problems will be a lot more difficult, if not impossible!

Anyhow, that's my take on it, which is why I wish the Americans would produce a powerhouse skater ~ in the vein of Tonya Harding, Irina Slutskaya, Julia Sebestian, Midori Ito ~ skaters that never had an issue with underrotation problems (oops, except if it's the second jump in a 3/3 combo. ala Irina Slutskaya). I'm still looking for the skater that is a deceptive powerhouse ~ one that may look delicate & fragile & balletic on the outside ~ but skates like a firebird inside!:thumbsup

On that note, Mao Asada is the only one that comes close, but even she still has issues with UR problems. *sad*