Sasha News

[Doggygirl]

Figure skating is like any other sport. Ice hockey, tennis, snow boarding, you just don't go out there immediately and become the best. To become the best at your sport you have to work at it, learn from your mistakes, listen to people who you think that can help you and try to improve or better what you have done in the past. You just don't go out on the ice and say I can do that and do it, you have to train and practice. Probably a few years ago she was learning other things, over the summer doing ballet, strenght training and building up her stamina. You can't do everything at once, you have to gradually build in to it. The sign of a true champion is that you never think you are the best, that there is always room for improvement. If you don't try to improve, someones gonna get ya.

AMEN.

 

[kyla2]

Imo

I admire Sasha and Michelle for doing what they need to do to improve. You know what, at least they are trying to be the best they can be. As far as speed going into a jump goes, I think it is better for some skaters and not great for others. I think it worked well for Tara and doesn't work well for Sasha or Michelle. I do not for one moment consider Michelle or Sasha to be slow. Irina is fast but it doesn't always lend itself to a pleasing peformance.

 

[Piel]

Look at Carolina to see how speed can adversely affect jumps. It is really difficult to do the prejump preparation (ie 3 turn before toe lopp) at high speed and maintain control over the jump. That's why slower skaters like Irina and Michelle have better consistency over their jumps than Carolina who tends to lose a lot of control over her jumps. Irina and Michelle stop everything as they set up for their jumps. Carolina doesn't and as a result, she is very hit or miss

Plus Caro is smooth as silk.

IMO that smooth as silk effect is lost when she falls and has wonky landings.

 

[jesslily]

Speed is teachable, and also not teachable. Speed is based on the strength of musles and joints. Sasha was stronger between 2000 and 2002, and her speed was much better than now. So were her jumps. She really had good speed to get into each jump. Now she is more using musle memory to excute jumps. Her well choreogrphied program allows her to show off her dancing ability and flexibilty mean while also let her slow her speed.

 

[Misplaced Gymnast]

Roll on the floor all you want, point is Sasha has only come to know what she needs to do in the past weeks. Michelle knew she "needed: the 3/3 for a decade, but won championships without.

2nd point, is with a couple of weeks before Olympics, SC is changing her skating sytle,
Good luck, miss,

Oh, I wasn't laughing at you, Orchid, though I can see how my post might have made you think I was. I just find it....weird....that skaters are talking about making changes with two weeks to go. Isn't it a little late in the game? Seriously, wouldn't it mess with their mindset/muscle memories to be making big changes now?

Apologies for the rude tone of my previous post.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

No they are not. Look at Carolina to see how speed can adversely affect jumps. It is really difficult to do the prejump preparation (ie 3 turn before toe lopp) at high speed and maintain control over the jump. That's why slower skaters like Irina and Michelle have better consistency over their jumps than Carolina who tends to lose a lot of control over her jumps. Irina and Michelle stop everything as they set up for their jumps. Carolina doesn't and as a result, she is very hit or miss. I also notice that Klimkin's jumps have gotten more consistent as he is setting them up more carefully than he has done in the past.

soogar - what I am saying is that hi speed and correct technique makes the jump easier with flow in and flow out and unbelieveable height. I know I skated once.

Irina and Michelle have excellent jump technique. If they sped the entry up they would dazzle the audience. As fast as Carolina is in stroking, she does not always use her jump TECHNIQUE.

Setting up the jumps like the Russians do is the technique to use. If one looks at Evgeni, he carries on the ice to amuse the judges and audience but when he goes for a jump it is all seriousness and he stops the amusements.

Alissa Czisney has incredible speed and flow in her programs but she rushes into jumps without doing them a la ruse. When she learns this she will be the complete skater.

Joe

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Sasha and Nicks has taken on a new assistant coach that specializes in speed and the strenghts of her programs. They are trying to up the ante going into the Olympics with a no holds barred kind of attitude. She was supposed to make some kind of announcement over the weekend. There is some talk about it on FSU and Sasha Fans. Just taught that you would like to know.

How can Sasha make any great improvements in her speed and strength in just a few weeks? Frankly, this sounds like yet another "Sasha PR" episode. Maybe she and Nicks think that if they spread the word that Sasha plans to "attack" her Olympic programs, the judges will expect her to do just that, and they will reward her with higher marks. :sheesh:

 

[LBC]

How can Sasha make any great improvements in her speed and strength in just a few weeks? Frankly, this sounds like yet another "Sasha PR" episode. Maybe she and Nicks think that if they spread the word that Sasha plans to "attack" her Olympic programs, the judges will expect her to do just that, and they will reward her with higher marks. :sheesh:

Sasha and Nicks haven't said a word. It is the grandmother of a skater in California who saw Sasha with this other coach who decided to say something to everybody at FSU. She was implying that Sasha was going to go coach hopping again. A rinkmate at Sashafans was reassuring everybody that Sasha was not switching coaches and that she just works with this coach and speed and strenghth. Isn't any different than her working with Roger Bass on jumps. This grandmother actually said that she had been working with this coach for quite some time and was surprised nobody said anything. She was just a bit naive in how coaches use assistants.

 

[Lanie]

How can Sasha make any great improvements in her speed and strength in just a few weeks? Frankly, this sounds like yet another "Sasha PR" episode. Maybe she and Nicks think that if they spread the word that Sasha plans to "attack" her Olympic programs, the judges will expect her to do just that, and they will reward her with higher marks. :sheesh:

How is it Sasha PR episode when they've never mentioned it? We've only heard about this from someone whose granddaughter skates at the same rink and a girl who skates at the same rink (from SashaFans). IMO Sasha will never be a particularly fast, powerful skater. It's not her strong point. Working on trying to at least improve on it is good but it will never be her forte like it is, say, Irina's. As I'm sure someone else has said, elite skaters work with different people to improve different aspects of your skating. I took a power skating class (I sucked at it and dropped it) but I didn't dump my main coach at all.

 

[chuckm]

Greater speed can contribute to bigger splats as well. Emily Hughes has speed and power, but when she misses a jump she REALLY lands hard on the ice. A skater needs not only speed and power, but also control.

 

[Panther2000]

Greater speed can contribute to bigger splats as well. Emily Hughes has speed and power, but when she misses a jump she REALLY lands hard on the ice. A skater needs not only speed and power, but also control.

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. Speed won't help anyone not to go SPLAT


&from what i am reading it is not Sahsa Pr Team( But, you never know, anyone can say just about anything on the board. But, it is probably a little fan wanting to feel important saying that they saw this or that. Funny, how this wasn't mentioned months ago when cough cough cough she started working with this specialist. This sounds so Kiddie Teenybopper crap.

Just wish everyone luck.

 

[Ogre Mage]

Like Carolina at Euros. Irina and Elena looked like clunky woodchoppers compared to the flow Caro has in and out of her elements and over the ice. Caro was covering every inch of that rink. Plus Caro is smooth as silk.

Part of what makes Carolina impressive is that she maintains speed without sacrificing carriage, posture and flow. This is also a strength of Fumie Suguri. Irina skates fast, but her posture while doing so is lousy. Two skaters who I remember being notoriously ssssllllloooowwww were Volchkova and Jennifer Robinson.

 

[R.D.]

Carolina also has taken a couple of REALLY hard falls. I think there's something in that the faster you go, the harder you fall.

 

[diver chick]

Carolina still has some way to go to harness her speed and control her programs, however in her defence the rink at europeans was narrower than a standard rink and a lot of the faster skaters like Carolina were having problems adjusting to it, particularly some of the dancers like Delobel/Schoenfelder and Drobiazko/Vanagas and some of the pairs skaters.

I've seen Sasha skate live and to be honest speed is not her main problem, sure I have seen faster skaters, but I have seen far slower skaters.

 

[ladysarahchatto]

Sasha and Nicks has taken on a new assistant coach that specializes in speed and the strenghts of her programs. They are trying to up the ante going into the Olympics with a no holds barred kind of attitude. She was supposed to make some kind of announcement over the weekend. There is some talk about it on FSU and Sasha Fans. Just taught that you would like to know.

Fantastic news! Thanks for passing it along.:agree: However..I wish they had started this sooner. :/ I just hope Sasha maintains her overall strengths and stays healthy!

 

[R.D.]

I've seen Sasha skate live and to be honest speed is not her main problem, sure I have seen faster skaters, but I have seen far slower skaters.

Since you've seen her, how is her speed relative to other TOP skaters? (as opposed to all of them)

 

[diver chick]

Red dog, it is a while since I have seen her skate live. I last saw her in competition in 2001/2002 season at Lalique and have seen her in an exhibition in 2004 IIRC.

In 2001/2002 at Lalique she compared very favourably IMO to skaters like Arakawa, Hughes and Butryskaya. Having seen her skate live and seen Irina skate live, though not in the same competitions, I have to say that although Irina is faster, Sasha is smoother across the ice when she just lets it flow, and I say this as an Irina fan!
Her major speed problem IMO is in the spirals as she doesn't seem to maintain the speed throughout and sometimes the step sequences. Her spins and jumps are generally good and keep the speed comparable to other top skaters, although she has her moments on these too.

Sasha will never have the speed of someone like Viktoria Volchkova as she doesn't have the athletic build, or Carolina Kostner as she doesn't have the endless legs, but there is no doubt in my mind that she is fast across the ice and despite not being as fast as the likes of Irina or Elena S. her total package is far more effective if she can put it all together.

 

[millie]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. Speed won't help anyone not to go SPLAT


&from what i am reading it is not Sahsa Pr Team( But, you never know, anyone can say just about anything on the board. But, it is probably a little fan wanting to feel important saying that they saw this or that. Funny, how this wasn't mentioned months ago when cough cough cough she started working with this specialist. This sounds so Kiddie Teenybopper crap.

Just wish everyone luck.

:chorus: :chorus: :chorus: Reading your comments it like the "bottom of a kettle calling the bottom of a teapot, black". Talk about people sounding like Kiddie Teenbopper crap.

 

[R.D.]

Red dog, it is a while since I have seen her skate live. I last saw her in competition in 2001/2002 season at Lalique and have seen her in an exhibition in 2004 IIRC.

In 2001/2002 at Lalique she compared very favourably IMO to skaters like Arakawa, Hughes and Butryskaya. Having seen her skate live and seen Irina skate live, though not in the same competitions, I have to say that although Irina is faster, Sasha is smoother across the ice when she just lets it flow, and I say this as an Irina fan!
Her major speed problem IMO is in the spirals as she doesn't seem to maintain the speed throughout and sometimes the step sequences. Her spins and jumps are generally good and keep the speed comparable to other top skaters, although she has her moments on these too.

Sasha will never have the speed of someone like Viktoria Volchkova as she doesn't have the athletic build, or Carolina Kostner as she doesn't have the endless legs, but there is no doubt in my mind that she is fast across the ice and despite not being as fast as the likes of Irina or Elena S. her total package is far more effective if she can put it all together.

I see. Thanks for your response.

 

[IndieBoi]

Roll on the floor all you want, point is Sasha has only come to know what she needs to do in the past weeks. Michelle knew she "needed: the 3/3 for a decade, but won championships without.

Also, Michelle has had 3/3s in the past... Not exactly an old dog learning new tricks situation.