U.S. Ladies [#5]: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

[brightphoton]

A little more tight lipped about "I enjoy school and do well"? Seems like much ado about nothing.

Her classes and so I've heard, her grades. Anyone can look up the course schedule at Stanford, find her class listing and times if they so wanted to meet her. No, it won't happen because she's not as famous or rich as say, Shawn Johnson. Like I said, people are increasingly open about sharing information and tend not to think of the potential consequences.

[Hedwig]

You seem to think about it too much.

[Vagabond]

I think stalking is a very real possibility. So is having people consider you boastful if you tell the whole world that you got straight "A's" in high school. So too (in the case of some skaters, not necessarily Flatt) is a long-lasting surrender of privacy and self-esteem.

Katy Taylor's USFSA bio still says she "wants a hot pink Hummer H3." Chances are it isn't going away. Anyone -- prospective employers, neighbors, landlords, co-workers, fellow congregants, etc. -- will be able to find what she blabbed to someone back when she was fifteen. Do you think she's going to feel good about having said that when she's 35?

[Sylvia]

Do you think she's going to feel good about having said that when she's 35?

Here's my standard reply to this question that always seems to pop up whenever Katy Taylor's name is brought up :
According to this archived January 2008 Houston Chronicle article on Katy Taylor:

She's given up her dream of buying a hot pink Hummer - "I look back now and ask, `Why did I want that?'" she said, laughing - and is comfortable driving her grandmother's white Buick.

Taylor will turn 23 in October - hard to believe!

BTW, @SarahandDrew tweeted last week:
"Congratulations to Katy Taylor on the birth of her daughter, Autumn Lynn, two days ago."

[Cheylana]

Katy Taylor had a baby?!

[Coco]

Wow! I feel old! Congratulations!

[valyrian]

In the case of Rachael, I'm pretty sure she doesn't sit down and write press releases about her grades, or design graphics for NBC showing her classes. Katy made one remark when she was sixteen that people leapt on because it was funny. Mirai has said a bunch of interesting-but-normal-for-a-girl-her-age things, and sometimes it feels that Icenetwork/Frank/whoever her agent is took the opportunity to shop her around as a sensitive artiste on the basis of her talking like a typical creative teenager. I don't think it's fair to assume that Rachael or Katy or Mirai or any young skater (especially a young female skater) has personal control of their media narrative, and to get annoyed at them because their agents/the media have decided to use one aspect of their lives as a theme strikes me as fairly ridiculous. And really, there are much, much worse things to have on the internet.

More on-topic: I'm a bit annoyed at USFSA that they set Courtney Hicks and Angela Wang face-to-face at Lake Placid, but what's done is done. I'm quite hopeful that Angela will get another JGP assignment, and I think she has the talent to medal at the JGPF or even at Junior Worlds. I'm also much more impressed by Leah Keiser at Golden West than I thought I would be. THe program needs more mileage, obviously, but in my opinion she was hitting the musical accents well and I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

[Marco]

Hicks' jump layout in the free skate at the Lake Placid JGP bothers me. She didn't do a 3 jump combination and she did a 3loop sequence. [And the same happened at Glacier Falls.] If she did a 3loop2toe2loop and then a 2axel - 2axel sequence, she could maximise her points. Why didn't she?!

[olympic]

Hicks' jump layout in the free skate at the Lake Placid JGP bothers me. She didn't do a 3 jump combination and she did a 3loop sequence. [And the same happened at Glacier Falls.] If she did a 3loop2toe2loop and then a 2axel - 2axel sequence, she could maximise her points. Why didn't she?!

More importantly, why isn't her free leg straight on the Camel Spin, and why doesn't she simply chack the Biellmann

[Sylvia]

I'm also much more impressed by Leah Keiser at Golden West than I thought I would be. THe program needs more mileage, obviously, but in my opinion she was hitting the musical accents well and I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

I've been told that Keiser plans to skate the Junior version of her FS tonight at Golden West in preparation for her upcoming JGP. So that means she will take the automatic time deduction since the Senior FS is 30 seconds longer than Junior.

[Nomad]

More importantly, why isn't her free leg straight on the Camel Spin, and why doesn't she simply chack the Biellmann

Because she knows it annoys you.

[Marco]

Because she knows it annoys you.

Those things annoy me too

[Triple Butz]

More importantly, why isn't her free leg straight on the Camel Spin, and why doesn't she simply chack the Biellmann

I couldn't decide which biellmann, if you can even call them as such, was more cringe worthy- Wang's or Hicks'!

[pinky166]

I couldn't decide which biellmann, if you can even call them as such, was more cringe worthy- Wang's or Hicks'!

Angela's biellmann is not that bad, she just has short legs and her back is not incredibly bendy, so that doesn't help. Courtney's is by far worse, but has actually improved a little bit since before her injury. Ashley Cain's biellmann is yucky too.

[flipforsynchro]

I haven't watched Angela much, but does she usually go out of control on her biellmann?

[skfan]

^yes it's happened before. not every time. i can't say i'm the most seasoned observer or her skating, but it seems to me that... maybe 3 times out of 5 there is no centering problem. and even when she does lose centering it is usually less noticeable than at last year's nationals or this year's lake placid JGP LP.

it's happened often enough, though, that it's high time to fix it and quit giving away points. i'd prefer they make it work without resorting to the hair cutter--i am not a fan of the hair cutter spin. wish i could see the beauty in it, and the I-spin too, but sadly i lack this level of enlightenment

i would prefer that angela polish up her spins in general, and trade in the multiple catch-foot spin she's done for years for one that looks more aesthetic and better fits her level of flexibility... if it's not possible to address the flexibility without giving up jump stability.

i feel terribly nitpicky writing this. skaters are expected to do so many things well. but if any tweaking will ruin her beautiful layback spin, then please don't change a thing! i love that layback spin. and i like the nice, classic sit spin position too--quite rare nowadays.


ETA angela's bielmann is not especially great but it's not ugly to me--some of the positions that other skaters choose to highlight their flexibility are far more.. hard on the eyes. IMO.

[Sylvia]

Finlandia Trophy entries were published by the competition organizer today and Mirai Nagasu is on the list as the 1 U.S. lady.

ETA: Rachael Flatt is scheduled to compete at the Skate St. Moritz club competition in Oakland, Calif. on Sunday, Sept. 16 (both short and long programs on the same day).

[jlai]

Typo on USFSA website. Baga was 5th not 4th at lake Placid

http://www.usfsa.org/Athletes.asp?id=216

[olympic]

Because she knows it annoys you.

But seriously, I've never gone through a range of totally liking or disliking a relatively unknown skater's program (unknown meaning she is not top-ranked as of now). I'm thrilled by the lift she gets in her jumps which look effortless and she's got 'the look', down to the hair and make-up, to be an ice queen. But then I'm totally over her leg positions on her spins and some of her choreographic moves (I'll assume the latter has more to do with the fact that we are early in the season).

[icellist]

Finlandia Trophy entries were published by the competition organizer today and Mirai Nagasu is on the list as the 1 U.S. lady.
.

Here's hoping to Mirai getting 2 Sr B's if she doesn't get 2 GP assignments.
And another one hoping that Mirai skates like why know she can and beats Julia Lipnitskaia