International Skating Union

[northtexasdude]

http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=44810&type=media .... hopefully it helps. was hoping this would have come earlier in the year.

[nowthen]

She was rising rapidly and then totally crashed so I hope this works because she with her spins is good to watch but you need proper jumps and not get < ! e -2 -3 GOE but I know they are getting rid of !.

[Dragonlady]

[Winnipeg]

hmmmmm Resigning to a fate of losing, you might as well quit?


I didn't read that her rationale wasbecause her coach was leaving but I trust this came from other knowledge.

I wish her the best.

Is this the right coach for her?

[loveskating]

[Winnipeg]

She still may achieve potential under a new coach?

[Dragonlady]

[loveskating]

[Dragonlady]

[lambielfan26]

Even though she finished 3rd (a controversial 3rd) at the 2009 Nationals and missed the World team I actually believed after the 2009 season and her performances and how she was scored at Four Continents and the WTT events that Zhang would be the top American in the Olympic season. I definitely had her making the 2 women U.S Olympic team possibly as U.S Champion at that point. And there we were a year later and she was posting LP scores that were beatable by Yu Na Kim in a short program in some events, getting PCS comparable to McCorkell, and finishing TENTH at her own Nationals, missing the U.S Olympic team by only 8 placings, a team that by the time Nationals rolled around the consensus of everyone seemed to be she wasnt even a contender to make anymore. Wow things have gotten bad in a hurry for Mrs. Zhang.

[chuckiem]

[Dragonlady]

[loveskating]

[Dragonlady]

Except that Sarah rotated her jumps at the Olympics and she certainly didn't mule kick like Zhang. Sarah also had the best basic skating of all of the US ladies, save Kwan. Please note that in the run-up to SLC, Sarah Hughes beat Sasha Cohen in every international competition they were both entered in and Hughes was the only skater to beat both Kwan and Slutskaya before SLC.

Sarah benefitted from being the only top skater in the world who was consistently landing 3/3's and attempting 7-triple programs at the time, from staying on her feet, and from her strong stroking, clean edges and very nice spins.

[loveskating]

[Dragonlady]

[Winnipeg]

If there is a system of coaching and developing a skater that 'works,' why doesn't everyone follow that approach?

[loveskating]

Also, someone who is a good spinner ought to be a good jumper if there are no issues of height (like for example, Lucinda Rue was too tall to be a good jumper). Caroline Zhang has great spins and she is short, so jumping should be no problem for her.

[Dragonlady]

The ability to jump has more to do with timing and twitch muscles than height. Height becomes a factor due to necessity of maintaining an upright air position as recovery from a lean is much more difficult for a tall person than a short one.

Caroline lacks height on her jumps and height can most definitely be taught. The Mariposa Skating School has a great jumping program and it starts with skaters learning how to get good spring on their jumps. How to get down into the knees on take-off and use their arms to propel them up into the air.

Winnipeg: every skater is different in terms of learning. The Russian skating school is based on strong basic skating and until that's mastered, they don't move on to the tricks so they start jumping later. "Russian stroking" is strong, powerful and generally on clean edges. You seldom hear is said that a Russian skater has "weak stroking" or shallow edges. This is why so many Russian skaters get high marks even when they don't land their tricks. Speed, power and ease of movement are hallmarks of the Russian school of figure skating.

But the emphasis on the basic often comes at the expense of the tricks. Russian skaters are particularly weak in spins. Even Irina Slutskaya, arguably the best Russian spinner ever, had problems with travelling and some sloppiness in her entries and exits. Her layback did not have the classic refined position either. Other than a nice, streched camel spin, Plushenko had the worst spins of any skater to win Worlds that I can remember. His spins improved markedly under CoP but they were never great.

Canadian Men are known as generally known as jumpers. Canadians executed the first 3Z (Don Jackson) in competition, the first 3A (Vern Taylor), the first 3A combo (Orser) and first quad (Browning) and the first quad combo (Stojko). Would that we could teach the women to jump as well as the men. They also have strong basics, although the Russians are way out in front on this one.

US women are known as strong jumpers and spinners due to the early age at which they start jumping. This (as previously discussed) has lead to an epidemic of flutzing in an effort to get all of the triples as young as possible, and a tendency to weaker basic skating as all the emphasis seems to be on the tricks: sort of the polar opposite to the Russian School. The US women have won more OGM's in women's skating than any other nation, although the Russians are leading in all other categories.

The Japanese have tried to borrow the best from both worlds: beautiful basic skating and great jumping. They've even suggested that the coaches train their students in figures to improve their blade control for CoP footwork and transitions. While Japan is on top of the singles world in figure skating at the moment, it will be interesting to see how long they can sustain this and whether the next generation of skaters can hold on to this dominance.

Looking at the US dominance in singles at the Junior level over the past quadrennial, I would say that this junior dominance will spill over into seniors over the next four years, and possibly pairs, as the overabundance of male talent leads to more guys who can't break through as singles skaters, taking up pairs.

[northtexasdude]