Fixing the Canadian Ladies Program

[crawall]

Well SC in their wisdom have assigned Shelepen (Russia) to the TBA for SCI. What a slap in the face to Canadian Ladies Skaters. That is 4 spots not used for Canadian Senior skaters - SCI, Finlandia, Ondrej Nepela, and SLC. What a joke SC is becoming.

I really am shocked and disappointed. So obviously i wanted Kate Charbonneau to get the spot, even though DeSanctis finished ahead at Canadians. Kate meets the citeria, based on Skate Detroit results. SO THEY GIVE IT AWAY? Our Jr's are doing well, but is this what they have to look forward too? And are we putting all of our eggs it Katelyn Osmond'ss young basket? No other opportunities to achieve the min. standards for Worlds? What the heck are they doing?

[chantilly]

Why send them to US and Japan when some of those skaters train or used to train in Canada.

Not many. And almost all train with Orser who IMO is the only effective coach for the ladies. I would have even encouraged Joannie to have left her coach years ago. Joannie needed a triple triple and wasn't getting it. You can blame Joannie sure but I just think that there is a huge coaching problem with women in Canada. I think a lot of it is psychological, but I think they also wait way to late to work on difficult jumps. They aren't pushed enough IMO. But that may have to do with money and sponsorship. Regardless the women have been in serious trouble for over twenty years when the other three disciplines have done quite well.

[danafan]

I'm very disappointed in the lack of ladies assignments.

I mean Desanctis skated reasonably well at Skate Canada last year and didn't finish last in either segment. I don't know what is the point of being a carded national team member getting Sport Canada funding and not being sent to actually compete anywhere.

I know it's fun to make fun of the Canadian ladies skaters, but I don't think this is the way to build your program.

[hohoho]

I think SC has definitely shown that they are looking past this Olympic cycle and are concentrating on the skaters of Osmond's age (16) and under. They had no choice giving Lacoste SCI and a Senior B. Perhaps they should have skated Chartrand senior this year and allowed for further development in Junior with Jurome, Dunley, or someone else. Just really hate the idea of throwing away precious spots when they are difficult to get.

[Jammers]

Not a smart move by SC. These girls can't get better without competition. Yes they may not finish near the top but they get experience which is much needed.

[Erin]

Not a smart move by SC.

Not to mention that they just made it harder for Lacoste & Osmond to get ISU World Standing points, which are only awarded to the top 8. If there was a third Canadian lady, even if the Canadian ladies went 8-9-10, someone would have gotten World standing points.

[danafan]

Lacoste is a very solid third at the Salt Lake City competition after the short, scoring over 59. Please I hope she builds on this!

Also Daleman was impressive at the JGP in Austria. But she repeated three triples in the free skate...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQe6A...e_gdata_player

Any predictions for nationals? I think Lacoste, Osmond and Daleman make a great top three, but who knows how Phaneuf will be.

[euterpe]

Lacoste landed only one combination in the SLC FS. She looked good to the eye, but left a lot of points on the table.

After all her years of competition, I doubt she will ever be a consistent skater.

[hohoho]

Lacoste had a good short program. Still needs the 3-3 combo though to compete with the big scores. In her long program she made mistakes and ultimately scored lower than 2012 nationals. Just seemed like alot of loops, triple and double. Interesting to see Lacoste and Osmond go head to head at Skate Canada.

My predictions now for nationals, Osmond, Lacoste, Adrianna.

SC has some good young ladies (Seguin, Daleman, Seguin, etc) that have realised the need for the triples and 3-3 combos. Seems like Osmond may have lit a fire under more girls by doing so well at her first Senior Nationals.

Will be interesting Nationals. Osmond, if she does her stuff, will beat Lacoste. Phaneuf is a big question mark and may be done according to a news atricle. Basically the remaining placings are wide open.

[Rafter]

One of Lacoste's biggest problems is doubling jumps. And obviously not understanding CoP enough to add in another combo for more points.

I'm not as outraged as some on here about SC not sending another girl to SLC or using the SC spot. To me, there is no one worthy of these spots. AKAIR, DeSanctis bombed last year at SC and finished last. Kate Charbonneau has never really proven herself and in the one video I saw of her this summer, she looked out of shape physically.

I was looking at the National team pics and DeSanctis is such a pretty girl. It's too bad she always looks so miserable and unexpressive on the ice.

[Habs]

I was looking at the National team pics and DeSanctis is such a pretty girl. It's too bad she always looks so miserable and unexpressive on the ice.

She's pretty and is lovely in person. I think she concentrates so hard that she ends up looking miserable when she probably doesn't realize it.
At the last two Canadian championships, MamaHabs and I ended up sitting with her parents and they're a HOOT. Her dad especially is terrific.

[googooeyes]

I think that Lacoste/Phaneuf have had good personal experiences in skating for themselves. They were good enough to reach the top of ladies skating in Canada. But they have reached their potential and that's all there is. How long is Skate Canada going to stick with them on the thinking that well, they only need one more triple, or one combo, or better artistry..... They are not going to suddenly become top world skaters. The have proved this over and over and over and over and over again.
They have been occupyiing the top qualifying Canadian spots for international competition for some time now and blocking out younger girls with higher potential from getting international experience. Those younger girls need to get out there and be seen, get used to pressure, get their nerves under control etc. Canada won't get any higher with what they have now, they have to build for the future.
Maybe Phaneuf woulf have had a better career if she had been allowed to go to worlds when she won Canadians the first time as a young teenager. Maybe she would be able to handle it now.
It's nice to see that Canada finally has some good young girls coming up : Osmond, Daleman, Seguin Chartrand.

[danafan]

I'm not as outraged as some on here about SC not sending another girl to SLC or using the SC spot. To me, there is no one worthy of these spots. AKAIR, DeSanctis bombed last year at SC and finished last.

I guess whether she bombed is a matter of interpretation, but she did not finish last in either segment. She finished 9th in the short (ahead of Hecken) where she skated respectably,and 9th overall (ahead of Flatt). Her score of 129.48 was 66th on the season's best list.

Whether or not someone is worthy to compete internationally is something to be debated. I just find it amusing that an athlete like DeSanctis is receiving $10, 800 in funding from Sport Canada this year (see http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/sc/pgm/APAA-eng.pdf and search for figure skating). So she's worthy of getting that much money to support her training yet she is not deemed worthy enough to compete internationally for her country?

Interestingly Najarro is not appearing on the carded athlete list on the link I posted above. Is that an oversight or if she not on the national team?

[love_skate2011]

the Phanuef vs Lacoste is so old and wont do anything
they need the younger ones to fight it out and push themselves

[Sylvia]

Interestingly Najarro is not appearing on the carded athlete list on the link I posted above. Is that an oversight or if she not on the national team?

Najarro currently is listed on the 2012-13 National Team on the Skate Canada website, but the following hearsay info was posted in August:

I'm betting Najarro's knee isn't 100% yet after her surgery in the spring

Article on Novice champion Madelyn Dunley from early September 2012: http://www.goldenskate.com/2012/09/d...iven-programs/

Link to a post in GSD today that may be of interest: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...69#post3687769

ETA JGP Ladies standings after first 3 events:
15 Gabrielle DALEMAN CAN 5 points 6th in Linz AUT (139.77 total, 91.22 FS, 48.55 SP); assigned to #7 GER
19 Alaine CHARTRAND CAN 4 points 7th in Lake Placid (133.43 total, 90.01 FS, 43.42 SP); assigned to #6 CRO
20 Julianne SEGUIN CAN 4 points 7th in Courchevel FRA (122.17 total, 75.12 FS, 47.05 SP); assigned to #5 SLO

[mag]

Interesting list, but I'm wondering why the second place Jr dance team is getting funding but not the first place one - or am I just not seeing them?

[hohoho]

Hopefully Osmond can continue with her successes last year next week at Nebelhorn. She will get to go against Shelepen who got the TBA for Skate Canada.

In eraly competitions this year she has shown not holding back scoring around 150 at Wildrose with mistakes. Rumour has it that she was much imporved at the High Performance Camp.

[sk8ingcoach]

I was recently in Quebec and watched a few training sessions with Lacoste. I really dont know why she is always so bad in competition because she does some really good stuff in practice. She is working on 3Lz+3Lo which she is capable of landing clean ( most are downgraded or under-rotated) and her short program is looking really good. At the moment i still believe she is canadas best hope to get atleast 2 ladies spots for olympics.

[hohoho]

Everything changes for alot of skaters when the bright lights are on and the music is played. It is quite ok to be able to do certain elements while on practice ice, but when you try to do it to choroegraphy and music things change. Some skaters don't even practice the jumps with the connecting footwork that is in their programs. To be good you have to do it this way. Great on Amelie to be able to do it in practice. Why didn't she try it in SLC?

[mag]

I saw Amelie land a number of 3 loop/3 loop during practices when Nationals were in Victoria a couple of years ago. I suspect she lands LOTS of stuff in practice, and she is also very fast. Unfortunately she has been unable to it when it counts. It must be extremely frustrating for her!