2023 U.S. Nationals in San Jose

[myhoneyhoney]

Not many outside of figure skating and hard core fans really knew about it. I talk to tons of people and they were surprised, and it’s just down a few towns away. Piss poor job of marketing.

 

[Carolla5501]

So ladies long one of the premiere events for US figure skating- this place is maybe a quarter full it might fill up a little more as the groups go on but…..


I moved out of my seat because why myshould I be crowded next to people when there’s this much space.


Sad.


But it’s also probably $500 for a family of 4 to come to this event and the concessions are outrageously priced and of course it’s starting at 4:55 PM.


I realize NBC and US figure skating don’t believe people have jobs but if you’re going to be able to spring for $500 on a sporting event, you probably need a job

 

[Karen-W]

So ladies long one of the premiere events for US figure skating- this place is maybe a quarter full it might fill up a little more as the groups go on but…..


I moved out of my seat because why myshould I be crowded next to people when there’s this much space.


Sad.


But it’s also probably $500 for a family of 4 to come to this event and the concessions are outrageously priced and of course it’s starting at 4:55 PM.


I realize NBC and US figure skating don’t believe people have jobs but if you’re going to be able to spring for $500 on a sporting event, you probably need a job

To be fair, these days, going to ANY pro sporting event (or Power 5 college football game) for a family of five is going to cost the same.

 

[myhoneyhoney]

I moved too It’s crowded where I was at so I moved up

 

[Carolla5501]

To be fair, these days, going to ANY pro sporting event (or Power 5 college football game) for a family of five is going to cost the same.

Yes, but they’re not scheduled where you also have to take half a day off work

 

[4rkidz]

For those who were at the event, what was with the constant screaming and squealing by young girls?

 

[4rkidz]

duplicate post

 

[Karen-W]

For those at the event... I saw on IG that Anastasiia Smirnova is in San Jose. Any catch whether she has any sort of visible wraps or braces on an arm or leg that might give us a hint of what caused them to WD? I think Daniil also made the trip but haven't seen him pop up in any pics yet (mind I've not been on IG a ton with all the skating to watch).

 

[Debbie S]

For those who were at the event, what was with the constant screaming and squealing by young girls?

The squealing you're hearing is probably the High Performance Camp participants (boys and girls), who are seated in the section above the K&C. Juv through Novice level, so tweens and young teens.

 

[MacMadame]

I have been surprised watching yesterday and today that there are so many empty seats at the SAP Center.

As someone who tried to resell tickets and ended up giving a lot away to local friends, I am not. This event seems wildly undersold for whatever reason.

For those at the event... I saw on IG that Anastasiia Smirnova is in San Jose. Any catch whether she has any sort of visible wraps or braces on an arm or leg that might give us a hint of what caused them to WD? I think Daniil also made the trip but haven't seen him pop up in any pics yet (mind I've not been on IG a ton with all the skating to watch).

They are both here. I haven't seen them yet but am working on meeting them tomorrow. I will report back if it happens.

The squealing you're hearing is probably the High Performance Camp participants (boys and girls), who are seated in the section above the K&C. Juv through Novice level, so tweens and young teens.

They are definitely squealing a lot. There were also some young people who are squealing for skaters they know during the Women's event. They were cute.

 

[YukiNieve]

Sometimes they scream too fast - after the 1st jump of the jump combination is landed but before the 2nd is done, and I am wondering it can be a bit distracting.

BTW does anyone know who is coming for the FOFS breakfast session?

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Sometimes they scream too fast - after the 1st jump of the jump combination is landed but before the 2nd is done, and I am wondering it can be a bit distracting.

BTW does anyone know who is coming for the FOFS breakfast session?

Can you ask at the USFS booth? I asked on Wednesday and they said there should be skaters but had to ask because they didn’t know for sure. I don’t want to go back there again.

 

[Anita18]

I'm at the tail end of a non-COVID cold (just minor sinus congestion now) and a week of solo parenting (husband was on work trip), buuuut...I might try to drive down to see the men tomorrow, YOLO! Catching up on all the bag intel.

 

[once_upon]

Sometimes they scream too fast - after the 1st jump of the jump combination is landed but before the 2nd is done, and I am wondering it can be a bit distracting.

I remember an interview with Mirai many years ago when someone asked her if screaming her name or yelling before jumps was annoying, distracting- she said when she's skating she's in her zone and doesn't hear it.

I would think skaters block a lot out because they are in rinks, practice with all sorts of noise.

 

[MacMadame]

I remember an interview with Mirai many years ago when someone asked her if screaming her name or yelling before jumps was annoying, distracting- she said when she's skating she's in her zone and doesn't hear it.

I would think skaters block a lot out because they are in rinks, practice with all sorts of noise.

I hope they can block it out because sometimes there is a lot of screaming.


I had a great time at Nationals. Our section was so much fun! (Shout out to "the man in the red scarf") The weather held for the most part until Sunday when it got very cold again. I was amused by people from outside the area saying how warm it was earlier in the week when it was in the low 60s. I don't consider that particularly warm, myself.

I will say this was the least attended and least well-organized Nationals in San Jose that I have been to. The schedule was bizarre with weird periods with long gaps and then a day with pretty much no gaps (not even a meal break). TV can't explain all of it since the weirdest was how they handled the Junior events which were only on Peacock with no ads.

Because attendance was so poor, hardly any concession stands ended up being open even the last few days when attendance picked up quite a bit (but was still not very good).

Also, the screening and ticket scanning was whack. They kept changing the procedures and the rules. And why hand-screen the bag if you are going to then x-ray it? That backed up the line quite a bit for the Gala.

The insistence on scanning all my tickets with the first one was also annoying especially for that one session where I was running late. Though sometimes they didn't do that. And sometimes they did. One time when they did, the ticket scanner didn't want to let me back in when I came back from lunch/dinner between sessions because my ticket was already scanned. One good thing was that all the all-event ticket holders got a special lanyard so they knew we had tickets to everything. Having that lanyard is the only reason I got in that time they challenged me, I think.

Everyone was very nice though and I got to explain how the sport works to one of the ushers who was very curious. And, for some reason, obsessed with backflips.

Some other notes: Being local and going home every night meant pretty much no lobby chicking. Also, I think I am older because when I attended '96 Nats and went home every night, I did sometimes go to the official hotel to gawk first and I didn't get as tired even though I was there later.

Also, I bought the parking package and then found out that the price to park Tues-Thur was only $15 so I spent more than if I had just paid for parking each day.

 

[skatfan]

I echo a lot of @MacMadame's thoughts on the event - it seemed like a bit of a shadow of the 2018 event to me - but that was an Olympic year. Not enough food choices, and they couldn't even get hotdogs hot enough. Fortunately I was able to bring in sandwiches a few times so I wasn't eating the arena food all the time. Saturday had that 3 hour gap in the schedule, so we went out to a pasta place nearby for "real" food.

Without the intermediate/novices, the schedule progressed more to a conclusion this time - with junior events ending before the start of seniors, but that also meant there were a couple of days where the 25 mile commute meant that my friend and I decided to skip a junior event - the Dance. Then on Thursday we had that super long day without times to go out for meals, and Friday and Saturday were reasonable. I wish Saturday had ended with Dance rather than our sad Pairs final, but I guess that was a TV decision.

The arena bag policy was reasonable in the end, even if they did both hand and X-ray searches, and the arena staff were professional and tried keeping things going.

Spectators were good as well - screaming pre-teens aside - especially when competitors needed a boost after fall. I seat-hopped the whole week because attendance was down, and never saw any attitude by folks wanting their seats or people giving them up. Thanks to the guy who passed out rainbow flags for Amber (and Jason), and to the gal who finally showed me how to find the live scoring on my phone.

My friend Suzanne came as a total newbie to watching live skating, and was hooked immediately, so the organizers did do enough things right to gain a new fan. Now I need to save my shekels for Worlds 2025 in Boston!

 

[MacMadame]

Thanks to the guy who passed out rainbow flags for Amber (and Jason),

That was the guy in the red scarf! (And me. )

 

[skatfan]

That was the guy in the red scarf! (And me. )

I was sorry we didn't need the Ukrainian ones after all.

 

[Frau Muller]

I was sorry we didn't need the Ukrainian ones after all.

I was wondering if the Ukrainian flag would come out for Paniot but thank goodness no…having read the story of how he switched to the USA years ago…thrilled to have left Ukraine, by choice.

 

[skatfan]

I was wondering if the Ukrainian flag would come out for Paniot but thank goodness no…having read the story of how he switched to the USA years ago…thrilled to have left Ukraine, by choice.

We waved ours briefly but no one else did so we stopped. And Kolesnik (sp?) the ice dancer also has Ukrainian heritage but we didn’t know that.

 

[Frau Muller]

We waved ours briefly but no one else did so we stopped. And Kolesnik (sp?) the ice dancer also has Ukrainian heritage but we didn’t know that.

Vadym Kolesnik…with new partner Zingas? Very interesting. Kolesnik is so outgoing and demonstrative. He’s one of my two Gigolos on Ice (along with Lewis Gibson, LOL)!!!

 

[BittyBug]

We waved ours briefly but no one else did so we stopped. And Kolesnik (sp?) the ice dancer also has Ukrainian heritage but we didn’t know that.

Kolesnik does just have Ukrainian heritage, he is Ukrainian.

 

[azcalder]

Kolesnik does just have Ukrainian heritage, he is Ukrainian.

Vadym's brother is currently serving in the Ukrainian army. Vadym doesn't always know his location. His mom is now in Michigan. It's a very difficult time for this young man.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Why have attending sporting events become prohibitive? I thought of Euros from Berlin. With all event passes at 600 euros the total from Berlin was close to 2,000. A half empty arena makes TV viewing boring as well.

 

[MacMadame]

Vadym's brother is currently serving in the Ukrainian army. Vadym doesn't always know his location. His mom is now in Michigan. It's a very difficult time for this young man.

It is a difficult time for him and he was very appreciative of the Ukrainian flags in the audience. I am thinking maybe the skating community could do something for him and Anastasia & Danil to show our support. Like maybe donate to a relief org in their name.

 

[Frau Muller]

Since we’re discussing Ukrainian-heritage skaters…

Did Yaro Paniot receive his full US citizenship? His Wikipedia bio only indicates that he was hoping to receive it in late 2021…but not updated yet to indicate his present citizenship. He can represent the US but that doesn’t really indicate full citizenship (to allow Olympic Rep). Maybe I just missed the announcement of his citizenship ceremony. Does anybody know?

 

[Sarah]

Since we’re discussing Ukrainian-heritage skaters…

Did Yaro Paniot receive his full US citizenship? His Wikipedia bio only indicates that he was hoping to receive it in late 2021…but not updated yet to indicate his present citizenship. He can represent the US but that doesn’t really indicate full citizenship (to allow Olympic Rep). Maybe I just missed the announcement of his citizenship ceremony. Does anybody know?

Yes he did

 

[DreamSkates]

I have been surprised watching yesterday and today that there are so many empty seats at the SAP Center.

I noticed while watching via live stream. Even ladies lp wasn’t full. Post-Olympics downer?

 

[ice coverage]

It is a difficult time for him and he was very appreciative of the Ukrainian flags in the audience. I am thinking maybe the skating community could do something for him and Anastasia & Danil to show our support. Like maybe donate to a relief org in their name.

In the case of Vadym , one of the ways to show support would be donating to the GoFundMe that Emilea started in March 2022 for Vadym and his family , who lost their business because of the war.

Donate to Help Support Ukrainian Figure Skater and Family, organized by Emilea Zingas

Hello everyone, Vadym Kolesnik is a Ukrainian-born athlete who is no… Emilea Zingas needs your support for Help Support Ukrainian Figure Skater and Family

www.gofundme.com

(Off the top of my head, I don't know whether Smirnova/Siianytsia have a similar GoFundMe/crowdsourcing page.)

 

[Frau Muller]

Yes he did

Bless him…and what a lovely photo!