"Whip My Hair" - the Starr Andrews fan thread

I just saw that Starr Andrews' YT channel uploaded the official videographer's FS from the local club competition she skated the week after CS Autumn Classic International in mid-Sept. (she won the 10th Annual SoCal Interclub Invitational Series Final with a total score of 181.14 total, 117.04 in the FS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIXiCChMlno

Starr did a clean SP run through (3T+3T, 2A, 3Lo) in her Skate America official practice yesterday and said in the mixed zone afterwards: “I found out I was coming on Sunday, I was super super excited. I’ve been training really hard with my Grand Prix in France coming, so I feel really prepared here.” https://twitter.com/AnythingGOE/status/1451335171341492224

Good luck to her tomorrow (SP) & Sunday in Las Vegas! :)
 
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Starr competes at CS Graz, Austria, this week, as prep to G-P France!

Her competitors:

Mana Kawabe still shown on this list, although she’ll be at NHK instead.

Can Starr “pull a Loena” and medal in Austria? She’s up against LIZA TUK and Wakaba ... but maybe in the running for bronze with 2 clean skates, with 3-3 combos? Park of Korea (2nd at the SrB/US Classic in Norwood) could be spoiler to Starr...but Starr definitely in the mix for bronze, IMO.
 
Starr is 7th in Graz...just four points off the podium!

Here’s wishing Starr a fabulous free program! You can do it!!! 👏
 
Starr is going to the ISU Four Continents Championships in Estonia, two weeks from now. Yeah, baby!!!!!
 
Starr's update today (May 6): https://www.instagram.com/p/CdOaTi1pTK8/

Since I was about 12 years old I started getting these episodes to where my heart rate would elevate out of nowhere and I would get light headed and it was quite uncomfortable. I went undiagnosed while seeing a pediatric cardiologist. He told me my episodes were not significant enough to cause harm. I was dealing with this until February this year when I was diagnosed with Superventricular tachycardia or SVT by a different cardiologist . As most of you know I had to withdraw from my Grand Prix in France and that was because before I even started the program I was having one of those episodes. Throughout that whole performance my heart rate was above 200bpm . I was heartbroken when I had to withdraw because of it. My journey throughout all of this has taught me so much and I am so grateful for everyone who’s been there for me. I received an ablation to fix this problem and I will be stronger than before. I want to thank everyone for their support and the doctors that performed the procedure. ❤️❤️
 
Latest updates :) - this link was posted on August 9 in the U.S. Women's news thread in GSD:
TanithandBenFan said:
Polina has a new podcast interview with Starr Andrews

bleav.com

The Iron Butterfly: Getting to Know Starr Andrews

bleav.com
Click to expand...
In this episode I sit down with Team USA skater Starr Andrews to chat about her life in skating: how she started, her coaching team, skating in LA, going viral at a young age (Whip My Hair), artistry and picking music, the jump from JGP’s to Senior Grand Prix’s, the mental game of skating and the challenges that come with it, her skating role models, her favorite skating moments and programs, her health regarding SVT and her recent heart surgery to heal it, her singing talents, and what she wants to do in the future after skating!

Re-posting here from the 2022 Champs Camp thread:
Frau Muller said:
Starr Andrews - NHK assignment.

Go, Starr! 🇺🇸

Speaking of -
Shared on her Instagram stories: Starr is in a new TV ad “We Are Simply Stronger” featuring women athletes of color:

www.instagram.com

katrina young on Instagram: "Still so pumped I was part of this project! #simplystronger 💪 @ilannaemily 🙏🙏🙏 #strongertogether #resilience #power #work #grit #femaleathlete #diver #olympics #journey #paris2024 #california #training #usc #athletics #t

288 likes, 16 comments - katrinanole on August 23, 2022: "Still so pumped I was part of this project! #simplystronger 💪 @ilannaemily 🙏🙏🙏 #strongertogether #resilience #power #work #grit #femaleathlete #diver #olympics #journey #paris2024 #california #training #usc #athletics #tuesdaymotivation".
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com

www.instagram.com

Parity on Instagram: "What do all these athletes have in common? They never forget their strength. We’re proud to have collaborated with @ilannaemily on her latest project, Simply Stronger, which encourages us all to fight doubt with confidence. We w

70 likes, 6 comments - paritynow on August 14, 2022: "What do all these athletes have in common? They never forget their strength. We’re proud to have collaborated with @ilannaemily on her latest project, Simply Stronger, which encourages us all to fight doubt with confidence. We want to know...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
Click to expand...
 
BittyBug said:
I think that's the best long program she's have, but I'm not gonna lie, for a few seconds at the opening, I was wondering if it would be her voice singing. :lol:

Love her dress, too.
Click to expand...
To be fair to you, we’ve been conditioned to expect that.
 
In past years NBC would have posted her silver medal winning free program. Now they are only showing the kiss and cry afterward. They did the same thing to Ilia and his winning free program at SA only showing part of it with fake music dubbed over his music for the quad axel, then mostly kiss and cry. NBC has really gone to the extreme about not replaying any skating programs anywhere :angryfire

Starr’s Instagram pics are adorable! Also love her Sphinx cat Loki!
 
Didn't see this SCI GP recap article link posted here :) - STARR ANDREWS SKATES TO A HISTORIC SILVER MEDAL AT SKATE CANADA by Lynn Rutherford (Oct. 30, 2022): https://www.teamusa.org/News/2022/O...es-To-A-Historic-Silver-Medal-At-Skate-Canada
Excerpt:
“I’ve gone into this year with a different mindset, trying to not be so caught up in my head,” she said. “It helps a lot when I don’t think so much. It’s definitely paid off, even though my season didn’t start off so strong (at Nebelhorn Trophy last month). I was still getting used to my programs.”
“She has been running strong programs at home,” said Derrick Delmore, who trains Andrews in Lakewood, California. “What I am most impressed with is even when things are not perfect (in practice), she’s kept going. She knows she can skate well even if there are errors. That weight has kind of been lifted off of her.”
Improved health also contributed to Andrews’ medal. Last November, at a Grand Prix event in France, she left the ice in the middle of her free skate, gasping for air. After a few scary minutes, she withdrew from the competition.
“It was an electrical issue with my heart — I had an extra nerve and they burned it away (in surgery),” she said. “Once I had surgery to fix the problem, that helped a lot with the anxiety it gave me. I was always thinking, ‘Is it going to start now?’ It was very unpredictable. Now, it’s one thing less on my mind.”
Click to expand...
ETA that this TeamUSA.org article also spawned online coverage in The Root, Essence's GirlsUnited, newsone.com & theblackwallsttimes.com as well as PopSugar (often features figure skating):
www.popsugar.com

Figure Skater Starr Andrews Talks Grand Prix Win and Going Viral With Jennifer Hudson

Starr Andrews makes history as the first Black US figure skater to win an ISU Grand Prix medal. Watch her stunning performance here.
www.popsugar.com www.popsugar.com

Frau Muller said:
NBC Sports produced this lovely piece on Starr’s SkCan medal:
Click to expand...
The 3-minute video also is embedded in this article (good to hear Mark Hanretty's commentary!):
olympics.nbcsports.com

Starr Andrews rallies for Skate Canada runner-up with career-best performance

Starr Andrews put up the free skate of her career, moving from fifth place to take runner-up at Skate Canada on figure skating's Grand Prix Series.
olympics.nbcsports.com olympics.nbcsports.com
 
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LA Times' columnist Helene Elliott wrote an article on Starr before she travels to NHK Trophy this week:
www.latimes.com

Elliott: Starr Andrews juggles Olympic figure skating dreams and being a Black role model

Starr Andrews has overcome a serious heart issue to reach the cusp of fulfilling an Olympic figure skating dream. She also serves as a role model for Black skaters.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com
Excerpts:
Starr, 21, landed six triple jumps in her free skate program at Skate Canada last month, earning a second-place finish that was exhilarating and historic. She was more than a little surprised, because she had started the season slowly after undergoing surgery last spring to burn off an extra nerve to her heart. Supraventricular tachycardia had caused her heart to beat alarmingly fast and left her feeling faint.
“The first time it happened I called my mom and said, ‘Mom, I don’t want to die,’ because I didn’t know what was happening. I was terrified,” said Starr, who began having episodes when she was about 13. “I’d push off the wall and it would happen and I’d be like, ‘Oh, I have to sit down until it goes away.’ I don’t have to worry about that anymore, so that’s really nice.”
Click to expand...
Andrews said she has read racist comments about herself on social media but hasn’t heard slurs uttered to her face. She and her mom often were the only Black people in her rink, though she didn’t think much about it until she got older. “It did make me a little more uncomfortable. But at the same time I was like, ‘I’m an athlete. I’m here because I put the work in and I’ve been training so hard and at the end of the day we’re all here to do the same thing,’ ” she said. “We’re all here to skate our best and because we love it.”
Click to expand...
“To still be in the sport is already a huge accomplishment because this sport is hard,” she said. “It’s very difficult mentally and physically. To go from whipping my hair to winning a Grand Prix medal is amazing. It’s been such a journey.”
The “Whip My Hair” video caught the attention of Babilonia, a staunch guardian of Fairbanks’ legacy. Babilonia met Andrews at the Century City mall, where they had frozen yogurt and Babilonia used the window of a department store as a mirror to teach Andrews to gracefully bow at the end of her routines.
“Everything counts until you get into your car in the parking lot, that’s what Mabel taught us,” Babilonia said. “We’re all so proud of Starr. She’s a beautiful young lady inside and out. I hope she takes it to the top.”
Click to expand...
Delmore, Andrews’ coach, admitted they butted heads during her teenage years. They’ve since developed a strong trust that’s lightened by frequent smiles.
“She has oodles and oodles of talent and that was apparent at an early age, when her mom first asked me to work with her,” said Delmore, a former pairs skater. “She’s so good. I think she has a really bright future ahead of her.
“It’s nice to see her realizing these dreams that she has, achieving these goals that we really believed she could achieve when she was young. To see this all coming to fruition all these years later, it’s amazing to see.”
Click to expand...
I'm surprised Elliott didn't mention Delmore was the 1998 World Junior champion rather than "a former pairs skater" ;) - Lois Elfman wrote this June 2021 feature on him:
www.usfigureskating.org

Creative purpose | U.S. Figure Skating

www.usfigureskating.org www.usfigureskating.org
He [Delmore] believes skaters should be training and competing for themselves, which he realized toward the end of his competitive days. Although his highest finish in the senior division at the U.S. Championships was fifth in 1998, he felt at his best when he tapped into his true desire.
“I think I was at my best at the very end of my skating career, because I finally was doing it for myself,” Delmore said. “I didn’t feel like I was out there every day trying to skate for the approval of judges or my coach or my mom. I truly was out there because I wanted to do it for myself, and that’s when I felt I was at my best. That’s something I try to instill in my students.
Click to expand...
 
It so great to see Starr start to get the results that will motivate her to continue to develop. She is such a role model for all especially for little boys and girls of color who often do not see people who look like them competing at the highest level in figure skating. Representation matters.
 
New York Amsterdam News article by Lois Elfman (Jan. 5):
amsterdamnews.com

Andrews focuses on consistency ahead of U.S. Championships

It was an outstanding fall season for figure skater Starr Andrews, who not only won her first Grand Prix medal (at Skate Canada), but also made history as the first U.S. Black skater to medal at a Grand Prix competition.
amsterdamnews.com amsterdamnews.com
“Every year leading up to Nationals, I train so hard and put in so much work,” Andrews said. “For me, my mindset has changed this year, but I feel like my body is so used to the feeling of competing that it’s going to be like every other competition. I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself because if I do what I trained for, it will be no problem for me to put out really good programs.
“My mindset over the last year has definitely gotten a lot stronger. I do still feel like a kid when I’m on the ice and practicing because for me, it’s still fun. But I think my maturity level and how to handle situations has definitely changed.”
Click to expand...
Starr was at the SAP Center in San Jose today (she took over USFS Instagram stories): https://www.instagram.com/stories/starrandrews2001/3012782465238339188/

ETA - sanjosesports shared a group photo of today's flag raising ceremony in the Rotunda at San Jose City Hall at 12 noon ("hosted by @nbcbayarea personality @rajmathai. The ceremony will also include @mattmahansj, Mayor of San Jose, Councilmember @devdavisca, John Poch, Executive Director of the San Jose Sports Authority, Jon Gustafson, Senior Vice President, SAP Center & Sharks Ice, Olympian and San Jose native @polinaedmunds"): https://www.instagram.com/p/CnQJsfyPyZW/

Starr also skated and did a meet and greet at Sharks Ice (per sanjosesports' Instagram stories).
 
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