From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Newsgroups: rec.skate
Subject: Re: US National Championship results!
Date: 26 Jan 1993 16:23:27 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity von Uniland, College Park
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: feedback.eng.umd.edu
Originator: clin@feedback.eng.umd.edu


In article <1993Jan25.221535.22617@dvorak.amd.com>, erussell@dvorak.amd.com (Ed Russell) writes:
>Charles,
>
>Skating has not peaked yet!  That was probably IMHO part of the reason
>that figures were eliminated from senior competition.  It allows the
>skater to focus on the jumps more.  It also allows the younger skaters to
>move up faster since there is less for them to master before becoming
>competetive in freestyle alone.  We are also certain to see a lot more
>skaters with serious injuries in coming years.  Triples are not SAFE jumps,
>and the Pros tend to drop them from their shows very quickly!
 
    Unless they're Boitano, eh?   I saw some ABC sports report that claimed
that one of the reasons figures were dropped was because ice time in Europe
was quite expensive, and since the short and long programs count more, they
should be emphasized.   Supporters of figures saw it as necessary to being a
good skater, while opponents thought that piano players may practice
scales, but you don't judge a piano player by listening to scales, but
by the performance.

>I for one do not wish to see figure skating degenerate into the same kind
>of thing that IMO women's gymnastics has degenerated into.  I want to see
>some art along with the jumps and spins.   BRING BACK FIGURES!

    Do figures actually do this?  It seems to me that what they do is decide
whether or not people can do figures.   If they wanted some art, then they
should put more emphasis on the artistic merit.   I was watcing the Olympics,
I believe, when Hamilton claimed that skater, David Lou, was artisitically,
very nice, but because he couldn't do the technical aspects very well (i.e.,
triples), he left them out, and hence was penalized both on artistic and
technical merit.   There are two ways out, as I see it.   Either create
something that is like the equivalent of ice dancing for singles where
only nothing more than a double jumps (if at all) can be done, or have the
artisitic merit really count for something.

>As for comparing skaters at that level, IMO you might try to see whether or 
>not the program looked effortless to them.  If they do it well - it will
>look effortless.  For instance, watch Boitano doing a triple - he looks
>like he might as well be taking a Sunday stroll!  That is one of the 
>marks of a Champion.

   I do look for such things as landings.  If the landing is not well-controlled,
or if it looks wobbly, then that's not such a good jump.   I look for speed
of rotation and the ability to stay in one location on spins.  Boitano has
great height on his flying sit-spins (?) and a great spread eagle.   It would
be nice to see some skaters do some more innovative moves as well.   Sometimes
you see the same combination spins from a skater, year after year.

    Well, maybe after a few more years of watching, I'll be better able to
appreciate what I'm watching.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu