2017-18 State of U.S. Ladies Skating

[Mrs. P]

This is Angela’s first 4CC, right? Congratulations!!

But why is Starr out of junior worlds but still going to 4CC?? Something shady is up...

Nothing shady at all. I think Starr and her team decided to focus on senior and practicing those programs rather than go back.

I was hoping that Ashley would go to 4CC...but maybe she wants to see if she'll end up at Worlds.

 

[R.D.]

NOOOO! Phil Hersh just reported, via USFS, that Ashley WD from 4 CC.

Well that’s her season then....perhaps her career too?

I actually thought briefly that she was actually going to make it there, given her Today show comments, but of course should have seen this coming a mile away.

 

[KwanIsALegend]

Well that’s her season then....perhaps her career too?

I actually thought briefly that she was actually going to make it there, given her Today show comments, but of course should have seen this coming a mile away.

She is probably having a hard time. As tough as she may try to sound it has to sting. I understand why she would WD.
uugg ... still cannot believe she is not going to the Olys.

 

[frida80]

This is Angela’s first 4CC, right? Congratulations!!

But why is Starr out of junior worlds but still going to 4CC?? Something shady is up...

The required jump is a Lutz. Starr took out her Lutz after she was injured in the fall. 4CC will be her fourth competition since November. She’ll gain more WR points at 4CC than at JW. The field is pretty stacked there too. So she won’t rank very high. Maybe 5th and that’s really pushing it.

Just before I was thinking how Starr could use 4CC to train her Lutz and perhaps put back in her 3F+3T combo. That’s essentially what she did at Golden Spin. But she’s also have to switch back to her junior layout, which caused her a lot of problems in the JGP. Strategically her team thinks 4CC is a better event to focus on. So she’ll probably do her National’s layout and try to maximize her placement. For instance, a sixth place finish at 4CC gets almost the same amount of points as the winner of JW.

Sadly she was the only one that had the ability to really beat Eunsoo or Young You. Only if they had a bad day of course. But it’s good that Emmy and Ting will get some experience. I pray both of them really work on their SP! This time there’s a cut off! Maybe that will push them to focus.

 

[icellist]

Is there no junior international that Pooja Kalyan could have earned her junior TES minimums?

Emmy is a lovely skater and can earn high PCS but her jumps were MIA at nationals.

Her injury sake, probably smart idea from Starr's team. On the other hand, she's losing good experience competing with her peers at JW.

Congrats to Angela and Grant who I thought deserved 4CC to begin with.

 

[frida80]

Is there no junior international that Pooja Kalyan could have earned her junior TES minimums?

Emmy is a lovely skater and can earn high PCS but her jumps were MIA at nationals.

Her injury sake, probably smart idea from Starr's team. On the other hand, she's losing good experience competing with her peers at JW.

Congrats to Angela and Grant who I thought deserved 4CC to begin with.

She competed at JW last year and at the JGP. She has the experience, but she needs to beef up her tech to become more cometitive. Ending her season early will allow her to do that more easily.

As for Pooja, I think USFS has finally ended the policy of getting skaters technical minimum at the last minute. All the alternates names for the JW team all competed on the JGP this season. Last season they chose Amber and Bradie, both of who hadn’t competed on the JGP in over a year. Now they seem to be putting their focus on skaters that actually competed as juniors and internationally that season.

It’s unfortunate for Pooja, though.

 

[mrrice]

Nothing shady at all. I think Starr and her team decided to focus on senior and practicing those programs rather than go back.

I was hoping that Ashley would go to 4CC...but maybe she wants to see if she'll end up at Worlds.

I agree. Tonia Kwiatkoski was able to go to Worlds in 1998 when Tara decided to attend and who knows, if any of ladies make the final flight, they made decide to take a break and end their seasons after Korea.

 

[StitchMonkey]

I'm a little surprised that we have not heard about a Bavarian Open (or similar) assignment for Pooja.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

I'm a little surprised that we have not heard about a Bavarian Open (or similar) assignment for Pooja.

Because usfsa is not smart.

From what people are saying on this forum, Pooja is talented but lacks difficulty. Unfortunately I’ve never seen a video of her skating. She’ll probably just start up her season in the summer and not have enough experience to make a splash on next season’s jgp.

I’m worried that we’ll only have 1 jr worlds spot next year.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

The required jump is a Lutz. Starr took out her Lutz after she was injured in the fall. 4CC will be her fourth competition since November. She’ll gain more WR points at 4CC than at JW. The field is pretty stacked there too. So she won’t rank very high. Maybe 5th and that’s really pushing it.

Just before I was thinking how Starr could use 4CC to train her Lutz and perhaps put back in her 3F+3T combo. That’s essentially what she did at Golden Spin. But she’s also have to switch back to her junior layout, which caused her a lot of problems in the JGP. Strategically her team thinks 4CC is a better event to focus on. So she’ll probably do her National’s layout and try to maximize her placement. For instance, a sixth place finish at 4CC gets almost the same amount of points as the winner of JW.

Sadly she was the only one that had the ability to really beat Eunsoo or Young You. Only if they had a bad day of course. But it’s good that Emmy and Ting will get some experience. I pray both of them really work on their SP! This time there’s a cut off! Maybe that will push them to focus.

I love both Emmy and Ting!
That being said, I wish there was a competition for Pooja to earn the minimums because she is the silver medalist...
Also, I really wish the USFS would stop sending senior-eligible skaters to JWC. There are junior skaters who need the competitive experience (see: Hanna Harrell)
I would have replaced Starr with Hanna.
My alternate order would have been:
Hanna, Pooja (if she got the minimums), Emmy, Angelina Huang, and Kaitlyn Nguyen

 

[frida80]

I'm a little surprised that we have not heard about a Bavarian Open (or similar) assignment for Pooja.

They'll name those soon. They have Baravarian, Spring Cup and Challenge Cup all listed for international competitions. She'll most likely be named to one of them like Emmy and Kaitlyn were last year.

 

[klutzy]

I just wonder what that would look like. Would the USFSA give international assignments to a veteran skater who doesn't do the flip or lutz, or would she have to regain those before skating in Senior B's?

I don't think we should assume that she won't do the flip or lutz. She's capable of doing them even now. Christie Ness said that she had to land them perfectly to avoid the pain, so I expect that that will be an issue that will continue to be addressed in training. She's come a long way since last summer when she had almost no jumps. It may be a question of bringing back the two jumps a little more slowly than she was trying to do last Fall so that the foot's not stressed.

I don't think, as some of the other posters here seem to, that she'll be irrelevant in four years--even injured she has a triple-triple, good spins and musicality. The nerves of steel don't hurt either.

 

[temadd]

Because usfsa is not smart.

From what people are saying on this forum, Pooja is talented but lacks difficulty. Unfortunately I’ve never seen a video of her skating. She’ll probably just start up her season in the summer and not have enough experience to make a splash on next season’s jgp.

I’m worried that we’ll only have 1 jr worlds spot next year.

Here's her free skate from last week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RadTGfgM2OM I was there and she stood out the most to me as a mature and promising skater with Ting being the most amazing jumper. Lets hope she doesn't grow much taller

 

[frida80]

I love both Emmy and Ting!
That being said, I wish there was a competition for Pooja to earn the minimums because she is the silver medalist...
Also, I really wish the USFS would stop sending senior-eligible skaters to JWC. There are junior skaters who need the competitive experience (see: Hanna Harrell)
I would have replaced Starr with Hanna.
My alternate order would have been:
Hanna, Pooja (if she got the minimums), Emmy, Angelina Huang, and Kaitlyn Nguyen

I don’t have a problem with it. Japan, Korea, and Russia allow junior level ladies to compete at senior nationals. The problem I have is they keep offering these slots to people that don’t really want them. Just like Japan and Russia there needs to be a test skate with juniors that want a spot at JW, and they do that after nationals. That way they get just the people that motivated to compete, rather than resigned to go.

I also noticed that Starr wasn’t given an alternate spot for OG or Worlds. I know she really wanted to make the team, but technically Angela has a slight better BOW than her given her higher placement at the CS series and a bronze medal at Philly International. That had to have hurt too.

But I am worried that they can both bomb. All the juniors that were on the JGP aside from Starr and Ting underperformed at nationals. Both Emmy and Ting need toughen up. We need them to go out and do their best. They’ve both had good programs this year. They now need to develop the competitive mindset to deliver. Nothing like some pressure to make that happen.

 

[klutzy]

This is exactly how I feel. With Bradie, Karen and Starr being so young and some VERY promising young skaters coming up. One has to wonder if Polina's skating will be relevant in 2022. Good for her if she can do it.

Polina's younger than Bradie and 14 months older than Karen. I'd say the three of them are really the same generation of skaters. Polina needs her jumps back, but she is competitve with them if she does. She's better than Starr--who's got charisma, but not all the skills to go with it.

 

[Ice Dance]

But I am worried that they can both bomb. All the juniors that were on the JGP aside from Starr and Ting underperformed at nationals. Both Emmy and Ting need toughen up. We need them to go out and do their best. They’ve both had good programs this year. They now need to develop the competitive mindset to deliver. Nothing like some pressure to make that happen.

OK. But Ting is in her first year skating junior and did quite well to A. put her name in the mix this season and B. make the junior world team. She essentially climbed from being second in novices to grabbing a surprise opening on the JGP to finishing with the highest score of all the eligible competitors except Starr. I mean, Ting has been far more consistent than Hannah over the past two seasons, IMO. Medaled in juniors just as she did in novices last year. Not perfect but getting the job done. She kept fighting at Nationals even after a rough SP performance. To me that's a big part of what makes an athlete a competitor. They work through the mistakes & disappointments and keep going. Let's give her time and the chance at the same experience as Starr had last season. I don't think laying on extra pressure & expectations helps. Plenty of other ladies on the JGP with more experience could have stepped up and didn't. Let's let Ting have the experience.

 

[brightphoton]

Karen Chen posts GoFundMe so her family can afford to see her skate in Pyeongchang

https://www.gofundme.com/our-olympic-dream

 

[FSLover17]

I'm sooooo happy for Angela to get to go to 4CC but I really wish Ashley had decided to go. I wanted her to hold her head up high after nationals and go out and skate to win a medal. Still, I respect her decision and hope that Angela, Starr and Mariah make the most of this opportunity and get on the podium! They have stiff competition though. Satoko, Kaori and Mai all have the goods to sweep the podium and if Kaetlyn and Gabby decide to go we should expect to see at least 1 of them on the podium. Not to forget Elizabet Tursynbaeva and Dabin Choi (who I haven't seen this season?). Its so rare to see 4CC have such a strong field in an Olympic year! If the Americans don't medal, will it be the first time they haven't since 2015?

 

[evasorange]

Karen Chen needs ten thousand dollars?! I will be attending the Olympics with my sister and have been planning since last February so I know it ain't cheap but...ten thousand dollars?!

 

[frida80]

Karen Chen needs ten thousand dollars?! I will be attending the Olympics with my sister and have been planning since last February so I know it ain't cheap but...ten thousand dollars?!

It's for her family. Bradie and Mirai's gofundme are about the same amount.