55 replies to this topic

[vagansmom]

Did anyone see this competition today? Cohen skated beautifully- no concentration lapses, and won. (Michele Kwan did not compete). Last week, in another competition that included Kwan, Cohen had another beautiful skate, as perfect as one could get, and beat Kwan for the first time. It was the first competition of the season - I don't remember what it was called.

BTW, Jennie Kirk also skated the performance of her life. Very lovely, no mistakes! She placed second.

Cohen is skating to Swan Lake. Her program is nicely balanced, skated with feeling. I can't wait to see her as the year progresses. I am "hoping against hope" the demons of her past insecurities remain firmly in the past.

[Victoria Leigh]

I saw both events, and I thought she was quite delightful!  No one came close except Kwan, and she was clearly second last week. I liked Jenny Kirk too. She was lovely.

[Funny Face]

I'd actually read the results that were posted on the web prior to seeing the skate today.  I was busy doing legal stuff, so I only got to see Cohen doing her free skate.  She seems to have found a comfort level previously unseen.  I'm glad she dropped the attempts at the quad, which seemed to be a great distraction in the past (with her former coach).  With those incredible spiral sequences, she doesn't need extra 'tricks.'  She looks a little taller to me this year.  Sometimes they get those late growth spurts.  I read she was quoted as saying she is "thinking less" about her skating, and just doing it.

[Paul Parish]

Sorry I missed it  -- are there more events in this series? Is it on ESPN or network TV?

[Funny Face]

It was on network, but they're often replayed on cable.

[Funny Face]

Yikes, I spoke too soon.  Just checked out the latest news from the magazine "Blades on Ice" and Cohen's coach, Tatiana Tarasova, is quoted as saying that Cohen is very near the quad now.  In fact, she's been working on her jumps with Victor Petrenko's brother, Vladimir, and is reportedly jumping higher this year.  She's working on a triple-triple-double combination.  Her jumps did, in fact, look quite secure this early in the season.  

Among other news is that Brian Boitano is planning to compete in his 10th Ice Wars on November 13th.

[vagansmom]

Gosh, I remember Brian Boitano when he was a skinny little guy with lots of hair.   I saw him win a junior men's competition. His parents sat behind us and were nervous wrecks.

[Funny Face]

His parents were quite astute, though.  As I recall, Boitano was his coach's only star, and his parents stuck with her.  His training seems extremely sound; hence, the longevity.

[Susanne]

Tarasova seems to have great success in coaching single skaters! I didn't see Cohen at Skate America, but from what you are describing, she seems to have made great progress. Do you remember the change of Yagudin when he switched to Tarasova? Suddenly he had the artistic ability as well as the technical   ...

[Funny Face]

Unfortunately, his career has been seriously threatened by hip problems, which seems to be a growing trend ((Tara Lipinski, etc.).  There was talk that he would have to give up the sport completely, but he is reportedly continuing to train.  He is currently unable to do an axel and, I believe, a loop.  I am wondering what the longterm effects will be on young skaters from their intensified schedules and multiple revolutions.

[vagansmom]

Any thoughts on why there's been an increased incidence of hip injuries among figure skaters? Is it somehow the jumps? Are they being asked to turn their hips out?

Not enough ballet?  

[vagansmom]

Paul. as I understand it, there's one more competition in this series. Maybe it'll be this upcoming weekend since the previous two occurred a week apart? It was shown on ABC. I think that there's a winner per competition but then the 3 are also averaged together to get a (grand prix?) winner.

[Redstorm]

The hip and other bone/ligament injuries in skaters has been a problem for a very long time. The pressure on kids at a VERY young age to accomplish jumps is overwhelming. The USFSA (United States Figure Skating Assoc.) has placed age restrictions on the lower levels of skating. This means to qualify for Junior Nationals at the Juvenile level, you must be 12 or under. The jumps allowed for this level consist of all double jumps including the double axel. Now, figure out how early the kids in this level are practicing multi revolutional jumps. Most of the children attempting this are at a critical growth time where their bones have not come close to full maturity. The damage done by the constant falling, over time, can damage growth plates, joints, and bones and may not show up for years. I know this from first hand experience. My daughter was working on a double axel at 10. She was doing all other double jumps and some double/double combinations. Many of the jumps are practiced with a harness, but not for long. Many coaches do not want the child to get too comfortable and then be afraid to fall. The only levels in skating without age restrictions are the higher levels....Novice, Junior and Senior. Although, I may be wrong about the first 2. Obviously, we left the ice long before reaching those levels.
I know several kids at our old club that have had injuries more severe and continue to skate. Most are tendinitos in the ankles or feet, a lot of knee problems, some stress fractures in the feet and other bone development problems. Not to mention the emotional toll that level of competition takes on a young child. My daughter is much happier and has never regretted her decision to quit skating. I admit, I do miss it a bit, but watching her dance and the light that sparkles in her eyes when she dances was worth giving up my visions of gold.

[Susanne]

hmm about those injuries. Correct me if I'm wrong  but my impression here is that (since I'm in a country where figure skating is a very small sport) the coaches in figure skating don't empasize safe training as much as the dance teachers do. To me it seems as there are more profound sience in dance training than in figure skating. But then again, it might be because we have a dance college for dance teachers whilst the coaches usually are people who are working for free. (That's the tradition here: In sports, the coaches work for free, while art teachers have a salary)

Wasn't it back-problems that Tara suffers from??

Enough said about that.
Whatever the problem is with his hip (or other body parts for that matter )  he developed to a wonderful skater. I remember the first time I saw him at Europeans along with Urmanov and Plushenko, I thought that Yagudin was another of those "jumping machines".

The step is very far to the short program to "Winter" wich I think certainly was one of the best single skates program I've ever seen (between 1989 and 2003), and I'm not even a fan of him!

So I'm really looking forward to see Sasha Cohen this season! I'm a little surprised that Kwan hasn't turned pro yet?

[jbtlse]

Tonight on ESPN2 8-10 will be a recap of ladies and dance and the first broadcast of men and pairs.
I am adding a link that is my skating on TV bible:
skating tv