Any Advice for a new Figure Skating Fan? | Golden Skate

Any Advice for a new Figure Skating Fan?

TheQuiller

Spectator
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
I just stumbled into this entire Figure Skating thing when I saw a broadcast of the Men's FS at the World Championships this year. It was totally different from what I thought Figure Skating was and now I'm completely enchanted by this sport!

While I'm not scouring YouTube for programs to watch, I've been lurking around this forum and reading up everything I could on the web about the different competitions, rules, scoring, and techniques. I think I have a rudimentary grasp on identifying jumps, edges, transitions, et cetera, but I have no idea where each element falls on the spectrum of 'poor-average-great' or which programs are fantastic versus mediocre. It all just looks gorgeous (and honestly kind of superhuman) to me, haha.

Basically, could any of you veterans point me in the direction of any programs and/or skaters that can be considered a standard for comparison, or important to shaping the course of this sport? Ideally, both past and current, because I'd love to see how Figure Skating has gotten to where it is now. The more the better too, because I honestly can't get tired of watching Figure Skating right now.

Any pointers on how to discern what certain things commentators keep talking about (Deep edges? Flow? Difficult entries?) would be welcome too.
 
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andromache

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
IIRC TSL (The Skating Lesson) had a series of videos on IJS that explained the scoring system pretty well. I can't seem to find them, but maybe someone else can?

Welcome, btw!
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Welcome! Some members of this site have been fans for decades and can guide you to the best of the previous Olympic Cycles. -They are super knowledgeable and will tell you about the best programs to watch.
Men's Figure skating these days is so exciting!
Before everyone crowds in to tell you who was best of each era, can I ask, what did you think of the latest World Championships, and whose skating did you like?
:ghug:
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
I just stumbled into this entire Figure Skating thing when I saw a broadcast of the Men's FS at the World Championships this year. It was totally different from what I thought Figure Skating was and now I'm completely enchanted by this sport!

While I'm not scouring YouTube for programs to watch, I've been lurking around this forum and reading up everything I could on the web about the different competitions, rules, scoring, and techniques. I think I have a rudimentary grasp on identifying jumps, edges, transitions, et cetera, but I have no idea where each element falls on the spectrum of 'poor-average-great' or which programs are fantastic versus mediocre. It all just looks gorgeous (and honestly kind of superhuman) to me, haha.

Basically, could any of you veterans point me in the direction of any programs and/or skaters that can be considered a standard for comparison, or important to shaping the course of this sport? Ideally, both past and current, because I'd love to see how Figure Skating has gotten to where it is now. The more the better too, because I honestly can't get tired of watching Figure Skating right now.

Any pointers on how to discern what certain things commentators keep talking about (Deep edges? Flow? Difficult entries?) would be welcome too.

Just keep watching. And take a look at the protocols (judges' detailed scores) after an event to see how each element and component was scored. They are published by the ISU and can be found by searching for figure skating results. They can also be found here in the discussion threads about various competitions.
 

TheQuiller

Spectator
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Welcome! Some members of this site have been fans for decades and can guide you to the best of the previous Olympic Cycles. -They are super knowledgeable and will tell you about the best programs to watch.
Men's Figure skating these days is so exciting!
Before everyone crowds in to tell you who was best of each era, can I ask, what did you think of the latest World Championships, and whose skating did you like?
:ghug:

I really liked Shoma's - it was just so powerful, I felt really moved. Brown's was beautiful too, I loved how his movements went with the flow. And Hanyu's, it had an almost fairy-sort of grace that was magical to watch.

Welcome
A while ago, we started compiling a list of 1000 performances you should watch before you die. On page 9 of the thread, there is a complete list of everything people gathered so far.
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...rograms-you-ought-to-see-before-you-die/page9

This may be interesting, as you can see all the best programs =)
Its slightely outdated, but if you want to see how FS developed, its interesting =D

Oh, that's perfect! 1000 programs should give me enough to watch for a long while, assuming I can find all of them to watch somewhere. What I'd really like to do is to be able to watch them first without commentary and then watch a commentated version, just so I can get a feel for my honest feelings about the programs to compare to what the professionals see.

--edit--

Where can I find protocols for the programs? Does the ISU post them on the official site and/or is there an archive where I can look it up?
 
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sarama

Medalist
Joined
Apr 23, 2014
Welcome!
Beware that if you like figure skating now, as soon as you understand it better, you'll be completely hooked...it's just that great:rock:

All the suggestions above are excellent. Just keep watching programs and you'll be a knowledgeable fan before the season resumes. If you are interested you could watch some videos from the 2016 Junior Grand Prix, because that way you can see skaters of many different levels and the commentator is very informative. In general I think you can learn a lot form commentators at the beginning, even though we constantly criticize them around here!

To find protocols, you can google: "isuresults" and the name of the competition, or to find a direct link you can look in the competition section of this forum, find the event and segment you are interested and you'll find the link in the first post, thanks to the awesome work of the people here on Goldenskate (I hope that's clear).
 
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xeyra

Constant state
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 10, 2017
--edit--

Where can I find protocols for the programs? Does the ISU post them on the official site and/or is there an archive where I can look it up?

The best way is to google it through 'isu competition name year results' and it will lead you to the respective place. Most protocols should be available on the ISU site.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I just stumbled into this entire Figure Skating thing when I saw a broadcast of the Men's FS at the World Championships this year. It was totally different from what I thought Figure Skating was and now I'm completely enchanted by this sport!

Welcome, TheQuiller! Enjoy the journey of learning about this sport. :)

Out of curiosity, what were you expecting figure skating to be, that this broadcast changed your mind?

Also, where do you live? No need to tell us specifically. I'm just curious whether you would have access to watching live figure skating, whether elite competitions and shows or local mostly low-level practice sessions or anything in between.
 

apgold

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Country
United-States
Welcome to the wonderful world of FS fandom, TheQuiller.

To echo gkelly, if you have the means, attending a live figure skating event is something you won't forget. I've gone to two in the past year or so and plan on another 2 before the Olympics. It's so exciting to see the skaters live and you can really see things from a perspective that you can't get from TV or Youtube. The speed of the skater and the depth of their edges is more evident, for example, when you see them live.

For example, I was never a huge Patrick Chan fan although I appreciated what he brings to men's skating but after seeing him live at Worlds '16 and Skate Canada, I have such an appreciation for his skating skills and mastery of his blades on the ice. When you can actually see the deep crevices his skates make on the ice compared to other skaters, it's quite something.

I'm also lucky to live in NYC where many top skaters do free shows at various outdoor rinks around the city during the winter months. Those are so much fun to see as well.
 
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TheQuiller

Spectator
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Thanks everyone! Wow, am I glad I found this forum. Just found the worlds 2017 protocols and it's a lot of fun rewatching those programs and matching up how each part was scored!

I'll be sure to look into some Junior level programs too, haha. You're right, it would be cool to see how the a skater's abilitirs progress over the course of their career, since these top level skaters do things I didn't even realize was humanly possible! They can be gliding gracefully to the music one moment then suddenly in the air and rotating faster than eye can follow the next still boggles my mind. Then they manage to land exactly on a musical beat, and then pull off another combination jump onthe next beat after that!!! Like, how...?! O_O They don't even look tired until I see them in interview area afterwards covered in sweat.

Sorry, gushed a little there. I am very excited about this sport, haha, and am fully looking forward to sinking straight into obsession once I get to know it better.

Welcome, TheQuiller! Enjoy the journey of learning about this sport. :)

Out of curiosity, what were you expecting figure skating to be, that this broadcast changed your mind?

Also, where do you live? No need to tell us specifically. I'm just curious whether you would have access to watching live figure skating, whether elite competitions and shows or local mostly low-level practice sessions or anything in between.

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I thought it was going to be slow and tedious, all about making pretty lines in the ice or something. I was really surprised by how fast they soared across the ice, and even more surprised by the huge jumps, but what really grabbed me was how every program seemed to effortlessly embody the music, when I knew just from the sound of skates hitting ice that it must take incredible strength and athletic ability to make even the most difficult moves look easy.

I live in Southern California, and I don't even know if we have an ice rink without having to drive to another city. I'm dying to see even an ice show live though, and would be completely willing to travel out of state for the chance.
 

berry8

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 24, 2015
If you have a twitter accout you should consider following Rockerskating ;)
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I live in Southern California, and I don't even know if we have an ice rink without having to drive to another city. I'm dying to see even an ice show live though, and would be completely willing to travel out of state for the chance.

I'm from the east coast myself, so I'm not very familiar with the skating scene in California. However, I do know that the Southwest Pacific region, which includes southern California and Arizona, is one of the stronger regions in the country, that there are a number of strong clubs and training centers in the area.

You might want to check out some of the big club competitions that take place in the spring and summer.
Here's a list: http://www.socalinterclub.org/events.htm

I know Glacier Falls and Golden West tend to attract some national-level US skaters.
I'll let Californian posters provide more details.

You might also be interested in Southwest Pacific regionals in October.
(There aren't always enough men/boys especially at higher levels to hold a competition at regionals -- if there are few enough, they can all advance to the next stage, which is sectionals.)

Even if you skip lower levels and just watch the junior and/or senior ladies, you'll probably see some who are Nationals bound and others who are more recreational skaters, with a range in between. Watching up close would give you a sense the difference between average vs. strong skaters, aside from what jumps they perform.
 

TheQuiller

Spectator
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
You might want to check out some of the big club competitions that take place in the spring and summer.
Here's a list: http://www.socalinterclub.org/events.htm

...

You might also be interested in Southwest Pacific regionals in October.
(There aren't always enough men/boys especially at higher levels to hold a competition at regionals -- if there are few enough, they can all advance to the next stage, which is sectionals.)

Even if you skip lower levels and just watch the junior and/or senior ladies, you'll probably see some who are Nationals bound and others who are more recreational skaters, with a range in between. Watching up close would give you a sense the difference between average vs. strong skaters, aside from what jumps they perform.

Oh!! That's very very helpful! I'm thrilled to hear that there's an entire skating community in SoCal that I didn't even realize existed.

I'll definitely be looking into which events I can make it to, since there's only so much you can glean from watching a video (and it probably doesn't help that all the skaters in those videos are the best of the best, which means they do ridiculously hard turns and jumps so quickly and with so many variations while I'm still having trouble telling the difference between a rocker vs a counter or a lutz vs a flip). I'd love to watch the women's events too; they might not be jumping as high but the flexibility and balance is equally amazing!
 
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ssffww

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
I really liked Shoma's - it was just so powerful, I felt really moved. Brown's was beautiful too, I loved how his movements went with the flow. And Hanyu's, it had an almost fairy-sort of grace that was magical to watch.



Oh, that's perfect! 1000 programs should give me enough to watch for a long while, assuming I can find all of them to watch somewhere. What I'd really like to do is to be able to watch them first without commentary and then watch a commentated version, just so I can get a feel for my honest feelings about the programs to compare to what the professionals see.

--edit--

Where can I find protocols for the programs? Does the ISU post them on the official site and/or is there an archive where I can look it up?

Here's a link to the most recent Worlds results: http://www.isu.org/en/single-and-pa...201617/isu-world-figure-skating-championships

The list mentioned earlier has links with it, so you won't have to look for the programs, unless some of the links are broken.

Welcome and enjoy!
 

ssffww

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Oh!! That's very very helpful! I'm thrilled to hear that there's an entire skating community in SoCal that I didn't even realize existed.

I'll definitely be looking into which events I can make it to, since there's only so much you can glean from watching a video (and it probably doesn't help that all the skaters in those videos are the best of the best, which means they do ridiculously hard turns and jumps so quickly and with so many variations while I'm still having trouble telling the difference between a rocker vs a counter or a lutz vs a flip). I'd love to watch the women's events too; they might not be jumping as high but the flexibility and balance is equally amazing!

The 2018 US Figure Skating Championships will be in San Jose. These will largely determine the 2018 US Olympic team.
 
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Skating Gator

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
HI and welcome :) You should go to the 2018 Nationals in San Jose. My mother and I will be traveling from the East Coast USA and many people from around the world will go. It is going to be a huge event since this event will help determine the Olympic team. Nationals is always VERY exciting in an Olympic year. If you are wondering about where to sit since you have never been to a comp., in our opinion, sitting in the lower bowl is a must. We like the corners, they are a little cheaper than the middle but still a great view. Also, you will have a whole new level of love for skating after watching it live. You think you are hooked now, just wait until after your first competition! I am a former skater and still get goosebumps walking into the arena.
 

Weathergal

Medalist
Joined
May 25, 2014
Welcome to the forum, TheQuiller--and welcome to figure skating! My best advice to you would be to enjoy it! You'll most likely find some area/types of skating that interest you more than others. And, as you follow skating, your tastes might change--and you might broaden your horizons. But the biggest thing is to truly enjoy it! Yes, the "masters" are amazing. And I love your taste in skaters! Shoma Uno, Jason Brown, and Yuzuru Hanyu are all something very special and have many things they do well.

But as you get more into skating, you might find you enjoy, for example, ice dancing much more than you originally thought, you might get interested in juniors, etc. For me, I have a "soft spot" for some of the "lower middle/middle tier" skaters (in terms of the rankings), skaters from smaller federations (like Belgium, Latvia, etc.). You could say I root for the underdogs! :) But I certainly like many of the top competitors as well. I find joy in watching performances at different levels and find many competitors have something special and memorable about them, even if they don't have a realistic chance at an Olympic Gold medal. There is more to skating--and life--than an OGM, and even winning--or doing well at--a smaller competition can mean a great deal to these skaters. And is fun to go on a bit of the journey with them.

A few masters who aren't current skaters that I've thought of (in addition to the recommendations already posted to check out the 1000 great programs and Legends threads):
Dick Button (1940s-50s) - a pioneer of skating, and winner of two OGMs
John Curry (1970s-80s) - unbelievable artistry, he can make even "simple stroking" look like a thing of beauty (and he does much more than that in his programs!)
Kurt Browning (1980s-1990s) - musicality, footwork, quads "ahead of his time," amazing connection with the audience, stellar competitive and pro career (and still skating in shows!)
Alexei Yagudin (1990s-2000s) - technical prowess, presentation, intensity
Evgeni Plushenko (1990s-2014) - technical prowess, showmanship, connection to the audience
Daisuke Takahashi (1990s-2010ish)- musicality, footwork, pretty solid jumps, engaging and original programs

I'm mentioning male skaters since that's what you said interests you most at the moment.

Happy skating watching!
 
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