2016 Skate America Ladies SP

[qwertyskates]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L_V0E0JP20

Found this one from 1984!

Ow, silly mistakes but I like the synth-pop and not bad at all for such a long time ago. I couldn't find any others...

Agreed though, without other countries it's just not as fun. However, I would like judges to reward "different" programs more, if all skaters are performing to the same warhorses (eg mediocre POTOs) then it rather defeats the purpose.

 

[el henry]

Start watching Russian and Japanese skating for a while and when you suddenly see a Murrica, you know instantly, that he/she doesnt belong to the circle of the world-class.

Oh dear heavens.



Darling, no one is taking these posts seriously, I hope. I know I'm not.

Carry on, no more feeding the troll from me....

 

[andromache]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEArk4oFZ8Y

Kudos to this kid and to the audience for supporting him.

Yeah, I cringed through it, but maybe it'll give figure skating a tiny bit of exposure in India.

 

[ancientpeas]

Actually, I find that post about the Indian boy to be mean. :scowl:

 

[Li'Kitsu]

It's funny how it's ONLY people online who are bitter about Ashley getting higher scores than their faves are the ones who dislike Ashley's programs when audiences all over the world give her standing ovations when she skates clean.

To be blunt, these kind of arguments make little sense... it's even kind of funny to read, when there are people like me, who belong to both groups you just described. I saw Ashleys LP at last years GPF. IMO, it was a weak program - not a lot of transitions, way too much posing ect. And I was sitting behind the tech panel, so I could see right away they didn't mark some of her jumps as UR that I thought were questionable... so I was pretty sure I'd think her score would be too high. All that aside, she delivered and performed for the audience, so I stood up and applauded because IMO, independently from her scores, her efforts and what she put out deserved the respect. There isn't that much correlation between these things, really.

 

[kiara_bleu]

Actually, I find that post about the Indian boy to be mean. :scowl:

It is and and I think it best to just ignore the ones posting this. It is actually just sad at this point. It's like I want to be outraged and wondering if that is the goal but I actually just feel sorry for the person trying to get attention.

 

[qwertyskates]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEArk4oFZ8Y

Oh, he's terrible, but such courage to get out there and just do it. With the exposure, surely India will start investing in their athletes and I look forward very much to watch a Bollywood style program one day. One can only hope!

 

[ancientpeas]

When I read the book about the whole Salt lake pairs controversy (forgetting the name) what struck me was how fantastic the story of the rise of chinese pair skating was. How they struggled and grew without a lot of support and in way harsher conditions than most. There was a time when there where no competitive chinese skaters and I think we can all say that the skating world is better for their contributions. That is why I always love to see the Australians or Turkish ice dancers or Brazilians.

I don't know if you remember the Jamaican bobsledders in 88 but they were everything. They made my heart sing with happiness and I don't care that they weren't competitive. Not all sport is about winning medals. Sometimes the beauty is in the struggle.

 

[Li'Kitsu]

Onlyifitmakessence.

Dont mix up a Country like China, who investes millions to represent their athlets on ice, and a young foolish boy from India, who just had a sudden idea to skatte.

This is a ridiculously disrespectful and unnecessary statement. FS is pretty much non existent in India, and who knows how he can actually find an ice rink, get ice time, have a coach... it must be really hard for him to pursue FS at all. He's a brave and strongwilled boy who should be respected for this, not ridiculed.

You are basically made for the ignore list.

 

[Plisskin]

Some people don't care about this sport's development and only care about who's winning and what country's skater's are hot right now. Stop feeding the troll everyone and just put them on ignore.

 

[mrrice]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nBGz6vLRnM

Lambada!!!!!!!! I was almost in the Lambada Movie. I auditioned to be announcer in the Dance Hall. "The Forbidden Dance, Lambadahhhh" I didn't get the job. :sad21:

Here's the trailer for the Movie :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0uLH8MnHzU

 

[Yatagarasu]

Oh, he's terrible, but such courage to get out there and just do it. With the exposure, surely India will start investing in their athletes and I look forward very much to watch a Bollywood style program one day. One can only hope!

You know, I actually think this is not enough. At all.

It's not enough to give him, or others like him, a token place and then say maybe one day. That day is more than likely never going to come. He is terrible but he got to compete anyway, but is that the right way? Or should we put limits anyway, and then make sure to give these kids every chance possible to achieve those demands? The ISU would be doing everyone a far bigger favor if they established a sponsorship program of some kind where kids like this, and from other developing countries, got a deal to have a say, 3 to 5-year stay at one of the bigger federations, expenses shared by the ISU and the host, because yadda yadda yadda, it's easy to explain in PR speak, and then post those three years he'll pass those demands with flying colors (I don't think they need to be high at all, just enough to have at least a low level SP and yet it's a goal to strive for). That's the true way of helping skating spread and helping these countries that don't have any kind of program. This on the other hand is just tokenism. No disrespect meant towards this boy, yes, he's courageous but he needs more help than applause.

 

[Sunny Little]

Onlyifitmakessence.

Dont mix up a Country like China, who investes millions to represent their athlets on ice, and a young foolish boy from India, who just had a sudden idea to skatte.

India literally has zero history in figure skating, so they have to start somewhere to make their mark in their sport. I think it's extremely disrespectful to assume that the Indian boy was foolish and "had a sudden idea to skate". The Indian skating federation (which I'm not sure if there's even one) will not wake up one day and decide to invest millions into figure skating unless they have representatives in the sport which bring exposure to the locals. Even if it's just a boy like Krishna Sai Rahul Eluri, whose technical content is undeniably weak. But you can bet that the people from his home country are watching and excited for him.

There are less people watching figure skating today, and the last thing we need to do is being rude to these small, almost non-existing skating nations by saying that their participation "does not make sense". The last time I checked the grand prix series is an international sports event.

ETA: Even if the JGP opportunity won't lead Krishna to improve his skating, he certainly is making Indians aware of figure skating as a sport, and this is important for nurturing the future generation.

 

[ancientpeas]

I agree with you about getting more support for smaller feds but I don't think the ISU will do it. They haven't been very forthcoming in supporting the growth and development of figure skating out of the hotbeds for it if I understand the situation.

One of the reasons golf pushed to be in the Olympics was because it wanted more exposure in the expanding markets of India and China. They understand that Korea and other asian countries is where the growth opportunities for the sport are right now. It's a money driven sport and I think maybe figure skating needs to take on some of this attitude. Expand the brand, widen the appeal and reap the rewards.

 

[andromache]

To be blunt, these kind of arguments make little sense... it's even kind of funny to read, when there are people like me, who belong to both groups you just described. I saw Ashleys LP at last years GPF. IMO, it was a weak program - not a lot of transitions, way too much posing ect. And I was sitting behind the tech panel, so I could see right away they didn't mark some of her jumps as UR that I thought were questionable... so I was pretty sure I'd think her score would be too high. All that aside, she delivered and performed for the audience, so I stood up and applauded because IMO, independently from her scores, her efforts and what she put out deserved the respect. There isn't that much correlation between these things, really.

For a skater who lacks Yuna-level jumps or Yulia-level spins or Caro-level skating skills, it takes an incredible amount of performance ability to bring an audience to their feet. Do the judges over-reward it? Maybe. But judges over-reward most elite skaters for what they're good at and overlook their weaknesses. It's very unfair to say that Ashley uses her interpretation skills to distract from her weaker skating skills. Would we also say that Yuna used her big jumps to distract from her weak spins, or that Gracie uses her strong skating skills to distract from her lack of interpretation? I don't think so. Instead, skaters have strengths and weaknesses, and a single skater shouldn't be held accountable for the judges flawed use of the PCS system for nearly all elite skaters.

Perhaps Ashley comes off as tacky and OTT to people on tv, but her OTTness reaches the people in the cheap seats. The entire audience.

 

[Li'Kitsu]

For a skater who lacks Yuna-level jumps or Yulia-level spins or Caro-level skating skills, it takes an incredible amount of performance ability to bring an audience to their feet. Do the judges over-reward it? Maybe. But judges over-reward most elite skaters for what they're good at and overlook their weaknesses. It's very unfair to say that Ashley uses her interpretation skills to distract from her weaker skating skills. Would we also say that Yuna used her big jumps to distract from her weak spins, or that Gracie uses her strong skating skills to distract from her lack of interpretation? I don't think so. Instead, skaters have strengths and weaknesses, and a single skater shouldn't be held accountable for the judges flawed use of the PCS system for nearly all elite skaters.

Perhaps Ashley comes off as tacky and OTT to people on tv, but her OTTness reaches the people in the cheap seats. The entire audience.

I really don't think Ashley is being singled out as much as you seem to think. There are quite a few ladies more who get scrutinized and called overscored.

And again, that over-generalization... no. I was one of the audience members. I saw Ashley twice, from really good and pretty bad seats. She didn't reach me either time. Not at all.

 

[Yatagarasu]

I agree with you about getting more support for smaller feds but I don't think the ISU will do it. They haven't been very forthcoming in supporting the growth and development of figure skating out of the hotbeds for it if I understand the situation.

One of the reasons golf pushed to be in the Olympics was because it wanted more exposure in the expanding markets of India and China. They understand that Korea and other asian countries is where the growth opportunities for the sport are right now. It's a money driven sport and I think maybe figure skating needs to take on some of this attitude. Expand the brand, widen the appeal and reap the rewards.

Oh I have no particular hope it's going to happen but I am also not a fan of applauding the fact that he simply got to skate, it's just not enough for me. I think figure skating does need some of that attitude. The easiest way to widen the appeal is to make a country competitive or close to. People like to win. They like being able to cheer for winners, it is just how that is. Just cheering on your countrymen who aren't even close to the rest won't cut it. But money can't be made without money invested, and sometimes a lot of money long term and unfortunately I am not sure the ISU quite gets that.

In this example, Indian OC would have for example the opportunity to point to this kid, post his sponsorship time, and say see? We can do it too. And then can much more easily eek out the money from their government because they can actually point to someone and they can genuinely hype people up into demanding support. It has to start from the ISU though or more than likely it won't start at all.

 

[qwertyskates]

You know, I actually think this is not enough. At all.

It's not enough to give him, or others like him, a token place and then say maybe one day. That day is more than likely never going to come. He is terrible but he got to compete anyway, but is that the right way? Or should we put limits anyway, and then make sure to give these kids every chance possible to achieve those demands? The ISU would be doing everyone a far bigger favor if they established a sponsorship program of some kind where kids like this, and from other developing countries, got a deal to have a say, 3 to 5-year stay at one of the bigger federations, expenses shared by the ISU and the host, because yadda yadda yadda, it's easy to explain in PR speak, and then post those three years he'll pass those demands with flying colors (I don't think they need to be high at all, just enough to have at least a low level SP and yet it's a goal to strive for). That's the true way of helping skating spread and helping these countries that don't have any kind of program. This on the other hand is just tokenism. No disrespect meant towards this boy, yes, he's courageous but he needs more help than applause.

Your idea sounds good too, but when I weigh the pros and cons of letting this skater have a place at JGP, I don't see much downside but I can easily imagine a future Boyang Jin lurking among the Indian kids getting psyched up by figure skating. Not much harm done in opening the door and rolling out the welcome mat, really. If he wins a medal ith this yeah, I'll have big big problems with that.

 

[Sunny Little]

I agree with you about getting more support for smaller feds but I don't think the ISU will do it. They haven't been very forthcoming in supporting the growth and development of figure skating out of the hotbeds for it if I understand the situation.

One of the reasons golf pushed to be in the Olympics was because it wanted more exposure in the expanding markets of India and China. They understand that Korea and other asian countries is where the growth opportunities for the sport are right now. It's a money driven sport and I think maybe figure skating needs to take on some of this attitude. Expand the brand, widen the appeal and reap the rewards.

At this point, ISU is already helping in a small-scale way by allowing small feds like India and Malaysia (Represent! ) to participate in the junior grand prix series. ISU certainly didn't support my home country directly in any way (where badminton is the only sport that matters), but we were able to compete on the JGP and today we have Julian Zhi Jie Yee, who is not too shabby a skater.

I just don't understand why some people are so opposed to these weaker skaters from small feds participating in the sport. It's not like they're hogging all the JGP spots; in fact, we have very limited entries.

 

[ancientpeas]

I think the ISU has trouble looking ahead and thinking of it as not only a sport but a business.

I watched the video and what struck me was how wonderful that Japanese crowd were. I've seen crowds cheer on skaters that are having a hard time and I've seen crowds just sit there and wait for it to be over. I know which crowd I'd prefer to be part of.