U.S. Figure Skating Announces 2014-15 Team Envelopes

TripleToe · Jun 27, 2014

U.S. Figure Skating announced today the athletes that will compose the A, B, C and D (developmental) team envelopes for the 2014-15 season.

Team A
Ladies: Polina Edmunds; Gracie Gold; Ashley Wagner

Men: Max Aaron; Jeremy Abbott; Jason Brown

Ice dance: Madison Chock and Evan Bates; Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue; Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani

Team B
Ladies: Samantha Cesario; Courtney Hicks; Mirai Nagasu

Men: Richard Dornbush; Joshua Farris; Adam Rippon

Pairs: Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier; Tarah Kayne and Daniel O’Shea; Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim; Felicia Zhang and Nathan Bartholomay

Ice dance: Alexandra Aldridge and Daniel Eaton; Anastasia Cannuscio and Colin McManus; Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker

Team C
Ladies: Karen Chen; Kiri Baga; Mariah Bell; Ashley Cain; Christina Gao; Amber Glenn; Barbie Long; Tyler Pierce; Ashley Shin; Angela Wang

Men: Nathan Chen; Stephen Carriere; Jimmy Ma; Ross Miner; Jordan Moeller; Shotaro Omori; Douglas Razzano

Pairs: Madeline Aaron and Max Settlage; Jessica Noelle Calalang and Zack Sidhu; AnnaMarie Pearce and Jason Pacini

Ice dance: Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter; Holly Moore and Daniel Klaber; Anastasia Olson and Ian Lorello; Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons

Team D (Developmental)
Ladies: Amy Lin; Vivian Le; Rebecca Peng; Paige Rydberg; Elena Taylor; Bradie Tennell

Men: Chase Belmontes; Paolo Borromeo; Kevin Shum; Eric Sjoberg; Luke West

Pairs: Elise Middleton and Anthony Evans; Brianna de la Mora and Taylor Wilson; Cirinia Gillett and Maximiliano Fernandez; Jessica Lee and Robert Hennings; Olivia Oltmanns and Joshua Santillan; Ai Setoyama and David Botero

Ice dance: Gigi Becker and Luca Becker; Eliana Gropman and Ian Somerville; Chloe Rose Lewis and Logan Bye

Source: http://usfigureskating.org/Story.asp?id=50269&type=media

Sandpiper · Jun 27, 2014

No pairs in Team A? :eek:

No real surprises. Does inclusion mean they'll be back next season? I'm seeing Jeremy on the list but not D/W, for instance...

lbc2138 · Jun 27, 2014

Ah, I haven't kept with skating since the off-season but I'm guessing Jeremy isn't retiring yet?

I don't know how I feel about this...

makaihime · Jun 27, 2014

lbc2138 said:
Ah, I haven't kept with skating since the off-season but I'm guessing Jeremy isn't retiring yet?

I don't know how I feel about this...

He still hasn't decided. It seems like he still wants to continue though

flutzy13 · Jun 27, 2014

Sandpiper said:
No pairs in Team A?
...

The only pairs who qualified Team A were Castelli and Shnapir. Team A is for national champions and those who have top 10 worlds/Olympic results. I think the very top funding within Team A goes to top 5 at Worlds or Olympics. Good national results without the international results gets skaters B funding. Hubbell and Donohue are Team A outliers because of their 4CC championship. Had they gotten silver there, they'd be in the B envelope. Had Scimeva and Knierim won 4CC, they'd be in A

Mathman · Jun 27, 2014

Sandpiper said:
No pairs in Team A?

Here is the link to the official criteria. As Flutzy 13 posted, only Castelli and Snapir would have qualified for Team A.

http://www.usfigureskating.org/Athletes.asp?id=350

Zhang and Bartholomay came close: 2nd at Nationals (needed first), 12 at Olympics (needed 10th) and 14the at worlds (needed 10th).

These team envelopes are strictly for USFS funding. I don't think the amount of money is very great at any level.

Sandpiper · Jun 27, 2014

Thanks for the link, Mathman. I understand the selection criteria more now. I suspected C/S would've qualified for Team A had they still been together... It just seems a bit sad that pairs sticks out as the only discipline with no Team A.

LuisRollerArg · Jun 27, 2014

no Douglas Razzano in team B...

fleeting · Jun 27, 2014

It's ironic that the discipline that needs the most work is getting the littlest funding. And I feel as though we should have a backup system for partners who split and intend to return - Marissa/Mervin and DeeDee/Simon, according to this, have no national funding.

Kaitlin and Jean-Luc won Junior Worlds and yet they're still on B envelope. Unsurprising, but I would think World (Junior) champions have more draw than 4CC champions (Hubbell and Donohue), especially in a depleted Olympic year field.

FSGMT · Jun 27, 2014

Interesting to see completely new names in team D... :popcorn:

flutzy13 · Jun 27, 2014

fleeting said:
It's ironic that the discipline that needs the most work is getting the littlest funding. And I feel as though we should have a backup system for partners who split and intend to return - Marissa/Mervin and DeeDee/Simon, according to this, have no national funding.

Kaitlin and Jean-Luc won Junior Worlds and yet they're still on B envelope. Unsurprising, but I would think World (Junior) champions have more draw than 4CC champions (Hubbell and Donohue), especially in a depleted Olympic year field.

I remember in previous years (maybe when all the Rockne and john/Caydee drama was going down) that USFS can later award discretionary funding to a new team that's assigned an international assignment. So Marissa and Mervin are out for the time being but I would imagine Deedee and Simon will ultimately receive funding. There's obviously some extra funds back in the pool with C/S and D/W both out of team A.

As far as juniors, if you read the USFS criteria, junior criteria is just not that valuable for funding. I agree it's stupid when you have a dominant junior team like Hawyek and baker and even McNamara and Carpenter who have more upward potential than some of the teams in the B envelope

blancanieves · Jun 27, 2014

fleeting said:
Kaitlin and Jean-Luc won Junior Worlds and yet they're still on B envelope. Unsurprising, but I would think World (Junior) champions have more draw than 4CC champions (Hubbell and Donohue), especially in a depleted Olympic year field.

I suppose structuring the envelopes this way has to do with considering Senior programs somewhat more demanding than Junior programs.

ice coverage · Jun 27, 2014

(1) BTW, Salt Lake City is the only summer/autumn Senior B listed on the USFS International Assignments page for the new season.

The only skater names on the page are the ones announced today for GPs, but IIRC, usually it has empty placeholder slots not only for SLC, but also for Nebelhorn, Nepela, and Finlandia (maybe others).

http://usfigureskating.org/Athletes.asp?id=216

(2) In the American Ladies thread, flutzy had written out a great post on Jun 12 previewing the USFS envelopes for all disciplines. flutzy spelled out which skaters met which criteria.

flutzy, hope you don't mind that I am reposting your contribution here. :bow:

flutzy13 said:
... the published criteria makes it easy to see who falls where:

TEAM A - TIER 1
Placements 1st - 5th at the 2014 ISU World Figure Skating Championships- Gold, Abbott, Chock/Bates
Placements 1st - 5th at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games- Davis/White (out for 2014-2015)
2014 U.S. National Senior Champion combined with a top 10 placement at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games or 2014 ISU World Figure Skating Championships- Castelli/Shnapir (split)

TEAM A - TIER 2
2014 U.S. National Senior Champion
Placements 6th - 10th at the 2014 ISU World Figure Skating Championships- Wagner, Edmunds, Aaron, Shibs
Placements 6th - 10th at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games-Brown, (Shibs, Edmunds)
Placements 1st - 3rd at the ISU Senior Grand Prix Final in the 2013-14 season
2014 ISU Four Continents Champion- Hubbell/Donohue

TEAM B - TIER 1
Placements 11th and lower at the 2014 ISU World Figure Skating Championships- Zhang/bartholomay, Aldridge/Eaton
Placements 2nd - 4th in the senior events at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships- Nagasu, Farris, Denney/Coughlin (retiring?), Scimeca/Knierim
Placements 4th - 6th at the ISU Senior Grand Prix Final in the 2013-14 season
Placements 2nd - 3rd at the 2014 ISU Four Continents Championships- Kayne/O'Shea
Olympic Team and/or World Team 1st Alternate in the 2013-14 season
Champion at any of the six ISU Senior Grand Prix competitions in the 2013-14 season

TEAM B - TIER 2
Placements 2nd - 3rd at any of the six ISU Senior Grand Prix competitions in the 2013-14 season- Rippon
Placements 4th - 6th at the 2014 Four Continents Championships- Hicks, Dornbush, Denney/Frazier
Placement 5th in the senior events at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships- Cesario,
Champions in the Senior B International competitions in the 2013-14 season combined with a top 10 finish at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships- Donlan/Speroff (split); Cannuscio/McManus
Olympic Team and/or World Team 2nd and 3rd Alternates in the 2013-14 season
2014 ISU World Junior Champion- Hawayek/Baker

TEAM C - TIER 1
Placements 7th - 10th at the 2014 ISU Four Continents Championships-
Placements 6th -7th in the senior events at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships- Long, Razzano, Miner, Leng/LeDuc (split)
Champions in the Senior B International competitions in the 2013-14 season
Placements 2nd - 3rd at the 2014 ISU World Junior Championships
2014 U.S. Junior Champion- Glenn, N. Chen, Aaron/Settlage
Champion at any of the seven ISU Junior Grand Prix competitions in the 2013-14 season- McNamara/Carpenter, Karen Chen
Placements 1st - 3rd at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in the 2013-14 season

TEAM C - TIER 2
Placements 11th and lower at the 2014 ISU Four Continents Championships
Placements 2nd - 3rd in the Senior B International competitions in the 2013-14 season- Cain
Placements 8th in the senior events at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships- Gao, Olson/Lorello
Placements 4th and lower at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in the 2013-14 season- Wang, Parsons/parsons
Placements 4th and lower at the 2014 ISU World Junior Championships- Tyler Pearce, Jordan Moeller, Omori
Placements 2nd - 3rd in the junior events at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships- Ashley Shin
Placements 2nd - 3rd at any of the seven ISU Junior Grand Prix competitions in the 2013-14 season- Mariah Bell

Missed meeting criteria- Zawadski, Hannah Miller. Consideration to place the athletes in Team C - Tier 2 will be given for senior level skaters placing lower at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships where the event was very strong or the results were very close.

http://www.usfigureskating.org/Athletes.asp?id=350

gold12345 · Jun 27, 2014

Was listing Kiri Baga in Team C an error? I believe it was said she may only compete in college now.

fleeting said:
Kaitlin and Jean-Luc won Junior Worlds and yet they're still on B envelope. Unsurprising, but I would think World (Junior) champions have more draw than 4CC champions (Hubbell and Donohue), especially in a depleted Olympic year field.

I don't really agree. Hubbell/Donohue at least beat Gilles/Poirier (who went on to place 8th at Worlds) to win 4CC. The 4CC fields are of course stronger in non-Olympic years, but regardless, you're still facing Sr level competition there. A lot of Jr level competition hasn't had much time to develop yet, or may end up not transitioning well to Srs. There are always Russian dance teams at the top of the Jr rankings, yet some of those teams never end up making a dent on the Sr level. So while a World Jr title is nice to have, the Sr circuit is a different world. Don't get me wrong, Hawayek/Baker appear to have strong potential and may place very high at their first Sr Nationals, but these envelope assignments are based on what you already did rather than what you may do in the future. There's no perfect envelope system, especially when you use criteria that goes strictly by results (rather than accounting for potential). But I think it makes sense to not heavily award skaters based on Jr results, considering how different Jr competition is, and because the programs in Jrs are different/shorter.

It's unknown how much different the A funding is from the B funding anyway. Both Team A & B also receive additional funds from the USOC, so the real drop-off in funding probably comes when you go from Team B to Team C. But it's too bad that there isn't enough money to give everyone, including Team A athletes, greater funds.

flutzy13 said:
I remember in previous years (maybe when all the Rockne and john/Caydee drama was going down) that USFS can later award discretionary funding to a new team that's assigned an international assignment. So Marissa and Mervin are out for the time being but I would imagine Deedee and Simon will ultimately receive funding. There's obviously some extra funds back in the pool with C/S and D/W both out of team A.

It looks like a new team doesn't receive funding unless they medal at an International (which makes sense, because these envelopes are results-based). And even if you do medal, it sounds like at the most, you'd get Team C-Tier 2 funding for the rest of the season...

"Athletes/teams assigned to an international competition, who are not in the current season's envelope structure, will be placed in the reserve envelope. If the athlete/team medal at a Senior B International, a Junior Grand Prix or a Senior Grand Prix competition, they will be placed, immediately, in Team Envelope C - Tier 2 and receive the remaining funding for that season."
___

I do wonder what they do with the extra funds when teams split or skaters retire. I wonder if that means that all the other envelope skaters get a slightly bigger amount of money that year or if they do something else to do with the money all together.

breathesgelatin · Jun 28, 2014

flutzy13 said:
As far as juniors, if you read the USFS criteria, junior criteria is just not that valuable for funding. I agree it's stupid when you have a dominant junior team like Hawyek and baker and even McNamara and Carpenter who have more upward potential than some of the teams in the B envelope

I tend to agree somewhat - sometimes it feels like USFS does not help skaters make the transition to seniors successfully. I don't know what could be done to fix this. I do see the point someone else brought up that many skaters are just not destined to make that transition, but sometimes I fear USFS impedes skaters in making the transition rather than smoothing their way....

gold12345 said:
Was listing Kiri Baga in Team C an error? I believe it was said she may only compete in college now.

Yes, Kiri stated recently she plans to stop training:

http://figureskatersonline.com/news...-to-focus-on-new-goals-beyond-figure-skating/

U.S. Figure Skating Announces 2014-15 Team Envelopes

TripleToe

Sandpiper

lbc2138

makaihime

flutzy13

Mathman

Sandpiper

LuisRollerArg

fleeting

Queen Anissina

FSGMT

flutzy13

blancanieves

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605

gold12345

breathesgelatin

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