U.S. Ladies [#18]: These Boots Are Made for Skating

[alchemy void]

So far I think that peanut butter is the closest I've ever seen FSU as united, and headbands. Maybe Pasha's ass on a pillow

The holy trinity!

 

[Coco]

We need an emoji of those three things

 

[aftershocks]

So far I think that peanut butter is the closest I've ever seen FSU as united

LOL, speaking of uniting over peanut butter, check out this sweet and hilarious book by a local Cleveland photographer:
Peanut Butter Dogs http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/03/peanut_butter_dogs_cleveland_p.html

I can just see a similar photography book with pics of FSU Team Trainwreck members / ladies skating fans licking their lips in peanut butter ecstasy as a way to recover from a fave skater's trainwreck disaster!

Note that the peanut butter given to any dog should not contain xylitol, and should only be given in moderation!

 

[skatfan]

I really have nothing more to say on this.

I was simply replying to your comment on my post. No reply was required, and yet...

 

[aftershocks]

Mirai!!! With her pup Lincoln; and with Alexa/Chris and their huge dogs!

What a fun video from USFS in Colorado. I love dogs (and cats too).

Mirai is back to work getting new programs after a bit of time off. She visited Belize and Florida, and she says that she's now 'scuba-certified.' Cool.

https://www.facebook.com/usfiguresk...live_video_explicit&notif_id=1496848758220773

Go Mirai!!! She's got a 'dog-mafia' she says.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Mirai!!! With her pup Lincoln; and with Alexa/Chris and their huge dogs!

What a fun video from USFS in Colorado. I love dogs (and cats too).

Mirai is back to work getting new programs after a bit of time off. She visited Belize and Florida, and she says that she's now 'scuba-certified.' Cool.

https://www.facebook.com/usfiguresk...live_video_explicit&notif_id=1496848758220773

Go Mirai!!! She's got a 'dog-mafia' she says.

How NICE to see everyone looking HEALTHY and HAPPY!!! Alexa looks like a million Bucks...

Side note and off topic: Mirai pupper is adorbs too but Are emotional support dogs getting outta control? Today at coffee I saw like 6....

 

[mgobluegirl]

Vincent Restencourt posted a video on instagram (reposted by TSL) of Ting Cui practicing a slew of 3-3 combinations, lots with Rippon arms. She looks awesome.

https://instagram.com/p/BVUrWl7Faxq/

 

[Karpenko]

Here's the original link to Vincent's instagram post (as opposed to another account reposting other people's content):
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVTPVEnne8C/

I hate how the arms are the new thing! But she's very talented

 

[Sylvia]

^^^ Ting Cui, age 14, is the 2017 U.S. Novice Ladies silver medalist (she placed 1st in the FS) who won the Advanced Novice Girls II gold medal (2nd in both SP & FS) in her Team USA debut at the Bavarian Open this past February. She, along with 2017 Junior Men's bronze medalist Ryan Dunk, and coach Chris Conte were featured in this Baltimore ABC news piece after Nationals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Uqo61-CcBk

ETA: 2017 U.S. Novice Ladies champ Angelina Huang won the Adv. Novice II free skate in her Team USA debut at the Bavarian Open (coming back from her 10th place SP) and the bronze medal.

 

[Coco]

well at least her arms are pretty

No scraggly ragamuffin here...

 

[Karpenko]

At least the jump looks more elongated/elegant when they're out there reaching for Jesus.

It's so weird how one arm up is so much less appealing to watch, all Medvedeva had to do was raise the other one and I was sold. (Hallelujah)

 

[Stephanie]

I really liked Ting Cui at nationals and really hope she gets a JGP despite the limited number of spots.

 

[kwanatic]

I really liked Ting Cui at nationals and really hope she gets a JGP despite the limited number of spots.

I'd never heard of Ting before but with jumps like that she needs to get a JGP event. She needs that exposure to international judges and competition. I hope the USFSA don't pass her over. If she's ready she should be out there.

 

[clairecloutier]

Perhaps her coach is doing a little JGP lobbying with this video?

Ting looks great!

I hate the whole arms thing, le sigh. But, no need for Med to be the only one getting those points i guess.

 

[Vagabond]

Didn't the ISU just impose a limit on the number of jumps that could be made with raised arms in a single program?

What's sauce for Elaine is sauce for Janny.

 

[kwanatic]

^^Did they? I was just reading through the communications (actually looking for some mention of limiting it) and I didn't see anything.

Anybody got a link?

 

[Sylvia]

Didn't the ISU just impose a limit on the number of jumps that could be made with raised arms in a single program?

I don't believe so?

Anybody got a link?

Check this thread: ISU Comm. 2089: Single/Pairs Scale of Values, Levels of Difficulty & GOE marking guidelines, 2017/18

It's possible that it's a training exercise for Ting Cui to jump with both arms overhead in practice and that she won't actually do all 'Rippon' jumps in competition.

@kwanatic mentioned Gabrielle Noullet (7th place in her JGP debut in Japan last fall and 7th in the competitive Junior Ladies field at Pacific Coast Sectionals in November 2016) in another thread:

Another US skater who briefly caught my eye last season was Gabrielle Noulett. She has lovely jumps (when she lands them), beautiful extension and strong spins.

Noullet, 15, was pictured on her Instagram in April with her lower right leg/foot in a walking boot - she's back on the ice and shared this practice clip of her spin combination 2 days ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVOAWAZgb-R/?taken-by=gabbynoullet

 

[Dobre]

I really liked Ting Cui at nationals and really hope she gets a JGP despite the limited number of spots.

I liked her too. Her Wizard of Oz medley was charming. She did very well at her international follow up competition. Won the Advanced Novice II competition at the Bavarian Open, above Angelina Huang who won novices at Nationals. I'm sure they're both on the radar. A lot of girls and not many openings on the JGP for the ladies this season.

 

[gkelly]

Didn't the ISU just impose a limit on the number of jumps that could be made with raised arms in a single program?

I know some fans have been wishing there would be a limit, but I'm not sure how it could be implemented.

Currently the only reward for arms overhead is as a possible example for the "varied position in the air" bullet point for positive GOE. Awarding that bullet point, and awarding an actual higher positive GOE as a result, is at the discretion of each individual judge. If a skater does an arm variation on multiple jumps in the same program it's likely that any individual judge with raise the GOE specifically because of that variation on some of the jumps and not on others (because the judge didn't think it was well enough done to merit the bullet point, because it resulted in an odd number of positive bullet points and the judge felt it appropriate to round down rather than round up, because there were enough other positive bullet points to merit +3 GOE without counting that one, because there were technical errors that merited -3 or -2 without mitigation from the positive points).

Judges don't have a mechanism to keep track of how many times the skater uses that variation, whether there are variations of the variation (right arm, left arm, both arms, straight or curved, etc.) or exactly the same each time. At the time the jump occurs, they can make a split-second decision to reward the arm variation or not, but it would take many seconds to keep track across the whole program.

If their overall impression is that the repeated variation enhances the overall choreography, they might also reward it in the CO component. If their overall impression is that it detracts, they might penalize there.

But there's certainly no way for all judges to agree on how many is too many in a given program -- they're not supposed to communicate during the event.

To enforce an actual limit, you'd have to give that responsibility to the technical panel or maybe referee: someone who would be responsible for counting the number of times the variation is used, distinguishing among different variations if the limit is only on identical variations or those that are similar in some ways but not in others, and then applying some kind of penalty for too many repeats, regardless of each judge's GOE for each of the jumps.

Or else judges would have to be instructed never to reward certain variations in GOE, no matter how well performed, and to move the air position variation reward over to the technical panel, with specified limits on what kinds of variations can earn that reward how many times.

 

[kwanatic]

I don't believe so?

Check this thread: ISU Comm. 2089: Single/Pairs Scale of Values, Levels of Difficulty & GOE marking guidelines, 2017/18

I read through it today and I didn't see anything that mentioned the one or two arm variation.

Noullet, 15, was pictured on her Instagram in April with her lower right leg/foot in a walking boot - she's back on the ice and shared this practice clip of her spin combination 2 days ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/BVOAWAZgb-R/?taken-by=gabbynoullet

I didn't know she was injured but I'm happy she's back on the ice. That is such a gorgeous spin! So much speed in the sit position and she achieves a Sasha-like extension in her I-spin. Again, really hoping to see her continue improve and grow.

 

[Karpenko]

Didn't the ISU just impose a limit on the number of jumps that could be made with raised arms in a single program?

What's sauce for Elaine is sauce for Janny.

All that this means is that Janny will start doing all of her jumps with her arms behind her back. (And deservedly win by over 10 points.)

 

[Vagabond]

You put the left arm in, you put the left arm out....

 

[skateboy]

I know some fans have been wishing there would be a limit, but I'm not sure how it could be implemented

"No more than two jumps with hands over the head are allowed within a program. Additional jumps with hands over the head will be given zero credit. "

Like that.

 

[Vagabond]

"No more than two jumps with hands over the head are allowed within a program. Additional jumps with hands over the head will be given zero credit. "

Like that.

Since it appears that there isn't a rule, I think the rule should be either that there should be no credit for a "difficult variation" on the third jump or that negative GOE be mandatory negative GOE. Not giving the jump any credit at all strikes me as too harsh.

 

[skateboy]

Not giving the jump any credit at all strikes me as too harsh.

Not me.

It would end the current trend.

 

[gkelly]

"No more than two jumps with hands over the head are allowed within a program. Additional jumps with hands over the head will be given zero credit. "

Like that.

So if you do three jumps with arms overhead in a program, the tech panel will asterisk the third one and it will get zero points -- no base value, no GOE, no nothing?

That could be done, and is certainly harsh enough to force skaters to choose not to overuse that variation.

Is the problem severe enough that it's worth attacking it with a bazooka?

And the way you've worded it would disallow the left arm-right arm-both arms variations carried through three-jump combinations, which I quite enjoy.

I think the rule should be either that there should be no credit for a "difficult variation" on the third jump

This is less harsh, but impossible to enforce for the reasons I outlined in my previous post. There's no way of knowing or controlling which bullet points each and every judge awards for each and every jump element or preventing the judges from giving +2s and +3s to jumps with 5 or more positive bullets, only one of which is an arm variation.

And the actual bullet point is worded as "varied position in the air / delay in rotation." Suppose a jump has arm(s) overhead and a delayed rotation? Should judges not be allowed to reward the delay while ignoring/refusing to reward the arm position?

or that negative GOE be mandatory negative GOE.

Another unnecessary bazooka. One negative GOE point, for example, is "long preparation," with a reduction of -1 to -2. Especially with axels, but with other jumps as well, it's not uncommon for a skater to spend a long time building up speed and getting herself positioned just right and then executing a textbook beautiful jump element (that may or may not have an air position variation). Should the good height, good extension, good flow throughout, and effortlessness throughout receive no reward because it took a long time to set up?

How about a nice high jump with a difficult and creative approach and a new creative variation in the air that you're enthusiastic to see as an alternative to the overused arm overhead, but the skater touches one hand or lightly taps the free foot on the ice when landing?

Or a well-controlled, smooth-looking fluid 3A or 4S from a lady very well integrated with the musical phrasing, that's just enough short of rotation to get a < call. That will already be punished in the base value as well as the -1 to -2 GOE reduction after the judges see the tech panel call. But what if it looked clean in real time and the judge was already contemplating +2 for the element? Should they really be required to lower their GOE by -3 just to end up in the negatives, when the skater is already also being penalized in the base value?

 

[millyskate]

I really don't understand people wanting to restrict difficult variations of jumps. Ladies have been doing triple jumps for more than 40 years. It's beyond time they move on - people don't want to see triple-triple-triples, they don't to see quads, so at the very least let jumps with arms above the head become the new base standard. There has to be some allowance for evolution, personally I think resisting jumps with arms above the head is just too conservative... It's a sport. The ladies with the best jumping ability need to be given something to aim for. It's actually pretty cool that there are ways of increasing jump difficulty that don't involve extra rotation.

 

[Wyliefan]

Who doesn't want to see triple-triple-triples? If the rules were changed to allow them, I think lots of people would like to see them.

 

[AxelAnnie]

There is a rule prohibiting them? That seems odd to me. But, then, much of this does.

 

[gkelly]

Triple-triple-triple is absolutely allowed in freeskates.

Perhaps the rewards would need to be higher to justify the risk -- currently skaters can earn the same base value with higher GOE by spreading out the triples across more jump elements. But if 1) quads become regular parts of the jump repertoire for several top ladies, using up one or two of the jump slots, or 2) the ISU reduces the number of jump slots in the ladies' freeskate to 6 instead of 7, or 3) they introduce a bonus to the base value of combinations based on the difficulty of all jumps or just the second/third jump, then it would be more worthwhile to include a 3-3-3 for those who can do so with only minimal loss of GOE.