Amber’s greatest issue is when things go wrong they really go wrong and it’s often. Once she makes a mistake or two, no matter how minor, she starts imploding in the jumps and stops performing. Everything just collapses. She doesn’t know how to save a program and salvage it.
If she knew who to “save a program” I’d say take the chance but she doesn’t
In the past (stress on 'past'), if either Amber or Karen ran into problems (hint hint: boot issues
) there were meltdowns. If it sticks in your head that Amber is more prone to losing confidence and having meltdowns, then so be it. Both ladies have had notable problems. And both ladies have appeared to steadily work through those problems and have come out on the other side in commendable fashion. Therefore, to me it's a toss-up and a crapshoot either way. The difference is apparently the BOW, and the fact of how well-liked Karen is, which is fine and understandable. She's certainly worthy, but it's a bit of politics at work too 'cause that's the way this sport rolls.
Sure, maybe they want Amber to prove herself more prior to being rewarded with a Worlds assignment. The problem is that there really aren't too many opportunities due to the sport's crazy, inadequate and limiting competitive structure. The window of opportunity is so small. It takes an awful lot to reach the Nationals podium, so to not be rewarded (in this instance not even with the secondary 4CCs chance) that just simply sucks.
This overemphasis on Amber having problems exclusively should cease. When I bring up that they've both had problems, that's because it's true, but also there's no need to dwell ad nauseam upon the issues they've both experienced. We should be stressing their considerable attributes and believing in both of them more. Because e.g., I totally could identify with Mariah and I felt for her, and that's why I was upset at Skate America for what U.S. fed was doing with the overhyping and over-favoriting. They appeared to be wanting to make up for not rewarding Mariah when they should have rewarded her over an unproven 'so-called' jumping phenom who had time to wait and further develop (someone who has now lost their jump weapons and has to revamp everything as she adjusts to her growth spurt).
BTW, I'm not looking down on Alysa either. I'm simply being honest. Alysa is a strong competitor and she's very young, so with determination, she can still achieve a measure of success, but there's no guarantee she will get those huge jumps back. That's why it was nice to see her overcome the overhyping and desperate building up that U.S. fed did with her because they saw her as a possible asset against the Russian teenybopper quadsters.
Now, U.S. fed probably see Alysa as someone on the backburner to promote if they can get something out of her eventually, in view of the considerable investment they put into her. They would like to be able to justify their investment, but Alysa simply being a strong competitor without the jump weapons isn't enough at this stage. If Alysa continues to grow aesthetically, that will be nice to witness. If she gets the jumps back, that will be a bonus, but the jumps need to be backed up with other substantial skills.
