Will Sarah be at Nationals?

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Sarah does NOT underrotate her jumps. Someone who thought she would be a threat to another skater thought she did and she got branded for life.

Even if she did underotate a jump in a competition (probably Jrs.) it doesn't mean she made a habit of it. Some skaters fall a lot. It doesn't mean they will fall all the time.

Skaters improve in their techniques when striving for perfection.

Joe

 

[Zhenya's Girl]

A question:

How can Jeffrey Buttle be a chemical engineering student and still be skating as well as he has been this year and Sarah can't do something similar? Just wondering.

Cynthia

 

[chuckm]

Sorry, but Sarah DID underrotate her jumps. During 2001 Worlds, Peggy Fleming was explaining why Sarah's technical marks weren't as high as they might be, and they showed a tape of her jumps showing that she was pre-rotating more than 1/4 turn on the ice before taking off.

She gradually improved her jumping so that by the Olympics, her jumps were fully rotated. But when she returned to competition in the 2002-2003 season, the jumps were underrotated again. Many people who taped her 2003 Nationals performance commented that nearly all of her triples were underrotated.

 

[chuckm]

A question:

How can Jeffrey Buttle be a chemical engineering student and still be skating as well as he has been this year and Sarah can't do something similar? Just wondering.

Cynthia

What are Jeff's goals? Does he want to go on to graduate school, or does he just want a degree as a fallback?

Sarah wants to become an M.D. Now, I don't know what the grade point requirements are for entering into a graduate program in engineering, but I do know that they are very stringent for getting into medical school.

A VERY high GPA is required for entrance into a US medical school. And Sarah is attending Yale, where the competition for grades is intense. The 20-30 hours of practice per week needed to maintain competitive skating skills would seriously cut into study time, and the travel and competition schedules would keep her out of class.

Last year, Sarah cut back heavily on practice time so that she could attend classes and participate in other activities during her final year in High School. The decreased practice time hurt her ability to compete at the level she was used to. I think that's why she decided against competing this year, while adjusting to college life, and that was an intelligent decision.

I would be very surprised if she returned to eligible skating at all, once she gets immersed in her studies.

 

[Dee4707]

Sarah Wins Again!!!

I had a very wise person tell me one time not to put all my eggs in one basket and Sarah followed those wise words. If she stopped being a doctor, she still would know how to skate. How many of the skaters only know how to skate. Some are making big bucks right now skating but what if they couldn't. I don't think many would want to go out and make just minimum wage. So Sarah was very wise in her young years to add another career.

Dee

 

[egskater0003]

Sarah & School

Well I think she super smart to choose school over pro skating world. That meaning that she chose to do something she's genuinly interested and happy with vs. just cashing in on her OGM. I'm glad she's doing something she wants to do and is happy.

Nats though, highly doubt it, but we can always be surprised. Really though, if Sarah was to come to nats this year, wouldn't we have heard rumors or articles about her comeback...I mean it only a few weeks until Nats so if she was to show up, she would have needed to prepare long ago if she was really serious about it.

Tara chose the pro skating world and is happy with her choice which is just fine. (even though she's not currently skating, I'm sure she loved the spotlight she got from the pro skating world) Sarah chose Yale and she is happy and her choice and that is just fine too.

 

[Mathman]

About Nationals, wouldn't it be cool if Sarah took a look around, saw Sasha falling all over the place in her last two outings, saw Michelle struggling to get her program together and missing her triple Lutz, saw Jenny and AP not quite ready for prime time, and said, "Hey, I can win this thing!"

Mathman

 

[CassidyL]

A question:

How can Jeffrey Buttle be a chemical engineering student and still be skating as well as he has been this year and Sarah can't do something similar? Just wondering.

Cynthia

Jeff has had to cut back on his schooling. Last I heard, he was taking one class this semester, and was frequently missing that. U of T is one of, if not the most prestigious schools in Canada and he has remarked how wonderful they have been supporting him, and giving him the time he needs at this point in his life for skating.

 

[show 42]

I would hope that those skaters making big bucks now are socking it away for the future and maybe investing........

........and Mathman as to the question you posed...........aw....no!

42

 

[AdultSkater]

Medicine, skating et al

Hi everyone

I have little time now to read and post on GS, as I am busy with new opportunities in my career over the past two skating seasons, as well as trying to maintain my training in skating.

My thoughts on this issue are these: Sarah Hughes grew up with a passion for skating that was obviously a part of her personality and soul. She trained and pursued her dream and she made it! No talk about flutzes, under-rotated jumps or luck and circumstance can change this part of skating history ("her"story? lol).

If Sarah is now leaving the skating world of an Olympic Champion to pursue a career in medicine, then I can only assume by her actions that this is also a passion that is part of her personality and soul. She seems driven to pursue this, and I wish her fullfillment by being on a long, challenging and hopefully rewarding path to her medical career.

It is what I experienced in pursuing my dream of a medical career which began at age 7, and if she obtains it, it will bring her all she dreams about (with a little luck, good support and counseling along the way to make good decisions about her career).

I applaud her for pursuing her passions and dreams, and I deeply respect her committment.... the committment she showed to figure skating, and the committment she is showing now to her academic challenges.

Who knows? Maybe she will return to the world of Adult Skating one day as Dr. Sarah Hughes, and be a part of the sport she obviously loves. It can be done.

Signed,

Dr. Adult Skater, active athletic member of the USFSA (and I learned my double salcow!)

p.s. To those out there who put down all doctors for no reason other than bigotry and prejudice.....you deserve to be ignored for your ignorance, and I send you a gift of a "flipped bird".

Peace and love to all this Holiday Season!!!!

edited to correct small typos

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Nicely put, Adult Skater, and welcome back. Hope you drop in from time to time.

Joe

 

[Nadine]

Re: Medicine, skating et al

Lol ( ), love your post AdultSkater, especially this part...

p.s. To those out there who put down all doctors for no reason other than bigotry and prejudice.....you deserve to be ignored for your ignorance, and I send you a gift of a "flipped bird".
edited to correct small typos

Peace, Love & Happy Holidays Back Atcha! Nadine ^D

P.S. Could this be Dr. Tenley Albright in disguise...heavens...just kidding (or am I).

 

[Zhenya's Girl]

Jeff has had to cut back on his schooling. Last I heard, he was taking one class this semester, and was frequently missing that. U of T is one of, if not the most prestigious schools in Canada and he has remarked how wonderful they have been supporting him, and giving him the time he needs at this point in his life for skating.

Thanks Cassidy, for the info on Jeffrey.

Cynthia

 

[chuckm]

I suspect that Paul Wylie took a long time to get his Harvard degree while a competitive skater, too. He was 27 when he finally graduated in 1991. And in those days, there weren't nearly the number of competitions there are today for eligible North American skaters.

It wasn't until after his graduation that Paul finally achieved real success, winning the Olympic silver medal at 28, in 1992.

Combining competitive skating and college is a tough go. Tonya Kwiatkowski, Derrick Delmore and Matt Savoie did it, but none of those skaters have made it to the World podium.

 

[JOHIO2]

Hi AS,

Glad to hear you are so busy. That means you're having fun, right?

Are you keeping up reports about your skating? Haven't visited the Lutz corner lately, so I don't know. How is pairs going? Or are you still working on that too? Hope those new career opps are rewarding and still give you time to skate!

Congrats on the sal! And don't be a stranger, OK?

 

[Doggygirl]

Kudos to Sarah...

...her decision is hers to make.

I'm sure that many on this board are or were figure skaters - and at varying levels of competition. I have only worn ice skates maybe twice in my life (so far LOL) but was a child athlete in a serious sense, different sport.

I'd be interested in a discussion with others (figure skating or other sports) who were serious child athletes. I suppose I would define that by saying you ended up in your sport long before you were old enough to make a real decision about it (I was 4 years old when I started in mine) and competed at a national or international level by the time you were in your mid teens.

This experience is life defining, and in my situation very positive over the long haul. I'm not in Sarah's head so I have no idea if any of her thoughts are similar to mine, and I certainly don't have any Olympic medals (not an Olympic sport). I gave up a lot of what most "kids" considered important from age 4 to age 17. I can look back now and see how the positive nature of that whole competitive experience shaped me, and impacted my adult professional life which YEE GADS now spans 30 years. BUT....I can really understand if Sarah is just plain ready to move on to other life dreams and goals.

What she learned from her young experience will contribute to greatness in whatever she pursues. She already knows what pain AND glory come from hard work. She knows how to be a gracious winner, as well as a gracious loser. She already knows that tomorrow is another day - bad days happen and through hard work, the future days can be better.

As a fan I'm glad I had the opportunity to watch her achieve excellence in her sport. If I get the chance to watch her achieve that again, great!! But if she decides to just carry this childhood experience forward into a completely different career that is invisible to me, I know she will be a better doctor, or anything else, for what she achieved in figure skating during her formative years.

My 2 cents..

Doggygirl

 

[kemy]

How....stupid of her. All she would have had to do would be to fix some problems with her skating and she could have had soooo much in this sport. Or, she could have turned pro and made $ touring. Instead, she wants to be a doctor? Sorry, but that seems crazy to me. Id do anything for what she had. Its hard for me to believe that shed throw it away.

Almost all doctors are mere functionaries. Highly-trained ones, to be sure, but what they do is interchangeable. Most of them are not superior to skaters by virtue of what they do. Elite level skaters, especially ones like Sarah Hughes who can draw huge crowds, generate revenue that support the livelihoods of many people involved in skating, and bring pleasure to millions. Lionizing doctors over skaters is silly.

People here were not "lionizing doctors over skaters." They are defending the medical profession against someone who thought that giving up skating for being a doctor was "stupid." Now, I'm someone who does not think that doctors walk on water, and, while I respect doctors, I don't view them as being better than people in my profession (chemical engineering.) That being said, doctors are NOT interchangeable. They CAN work in fields different from their training, but do YOU want a plastic surgeon to perform open heart surgery on you?

Sarah has always wanted to be a doctor and now she's doing what she wants. Maybe the load she went through last year made her see that, for HER, she would have to give up one thing or another until she was more adjusted to the hullabaloo of college. SOME people might give anything to be a skater, but maybe Sarah wants her medical degree more. Her choice which is great. She must really love her dream of becoming a doctor to give up something that would probably make her some hefty dough. But then again, I would think that the medical profession is a much more steady job for the future. Plus, she can use all of her moolah from skating to go through med school (if she makes it that far,) and get out of there debt-free.

 

[Mathman]

Hi, Doggygirl. Welcome to Golden Skate and thanks for your insights. What sport were you involved in? Were you homeschooled or privately tutored in order to concentrate on your training?

Mathman

 

[Doggygirl]

Hi all...

Kemy, I love your reply. I really believe that Sarah's experience in the rink has opened doors for her that she doesn't even know about yet. If she sticks with her current plan to become a Yale educated doctor, I bet she will emerge at the top of her class. If she changes her mind, my money is still on her to come out at the top of some other class. She knows how to work hard, and how to win. That is something she's already achieved at a young age that will be with her forever.

Mathman, thank you so much for the warm welcome! The internet can often be a very cold place, and your welcome means a lot to me. LOL, I competed in a little known sport (never televised to my knowledge) called Baton Twirling. Most people think of that as majorettes in front of a marching band, which is far from the top of that sport. There is no "after life" in terms of performing as a professional for fun and money. The only after life I'm aware of would be as a prestigious coach/judge which at age 17 I was not interested in LOL. To me, that's when the "rest of my life" began.

Off season training was about 3 hours per day - 2 in the gym and at least 1 at home. My parents were very serious about my sport and LOL, cut a floor out of a bedroom in our house so I had a two-story "zone" (although small) to train in. In-season training was a minimum of 3 hours per day at the gym and 2 hours per day at home in that little 2-story space. I went to public school and sometimes had to miss days due to competition travel, but always had to complete my work ahead of time especially at Dad's direction. I come from a small town so this was all supported and I ended up a good/successful student.

I didn't spend hours on my rear end learning to perform triple jumps, but LOL spent a fair amount of time getting clonked on the head trying to learn 3/4/5 spins. At the end of the day, my technical achievements in the sport are irrelevant. I value and benefit every day of my life from the "other" lessons I learned. Be a gracious winner. Be a gracious loser. Work very hard. Hard work does pay off, even if that's not apparent every time. Yada yada. I'm so glad my Mom and I can talk about this stuff now - and I hope Sarah and her Mom will be able to talk about these things and laugh as well.

Am I sorry I was "pushed?" No. Would I change a thing? No. I hope 30 years from now Sarah looks back on this even greater experience and feels the same way. One step in the path of life.

Doggygirl

 

[Nadine]

Here's the answer to the original title of this thread (at long last)...

http://www.usfsa.org/news/2003-04/nats-competitors04.htm

Peace Out, Nadine (wishing I had a hippie smilie w/the peace sign here) ^D