aehodman
August 10th, 2000, 09:02 AM
Hey everyone!
I thought I would post my review of a local USFSA competition I watched last weekend for our MKF Pre-Bronze through Gold Adult USFSA skaters (I was itching to compete myself but alas, someone who can't jump or spin and is 4 months pregnant would probably not make a good show of it). Hope you're up for a big rambling session 'cause this one is LONG!
I competed at this same event last year and the first thing I noticed right away was how many more adults there were this year. Last year there were no adult Gold ladies and this year there were 5!!! There were 14 adults total, up from 7 last year.
There were only 2 Adult Pre-Bronze skaters and both of them skated well. Both of them did a one foot spin, a salchow, and toe loops, and one attempted a sit spin -- I think the lady that won might have tried a loop but I can't honestly remember. The older lady there who skated is just amazing! She is around 70 years old and is still doing jumps and spins, and has a very elegant carriage across the ice. She wore the most gorgeous blue dress, too, one of the nicest skating costumes I have ever seen.
The level of skating I am seeing at Adult Bronze continues to really impress me. Last year there were two bronze ladies, and this year there were 4 ladies in this group. All of them completed at least a flip in their programs, most in combination, and (as far as I can remember) all of them tried a camel. Two of them landed a lutz jump as well (although I did not see any lutz combinations, which has usually been the norm for at least one Bronze skater in a group to complete). All the ladies had pretty secure jump techniques, with good speed and flow out of the jumps -- although there were a few bobbles here and there, no one fell. I really liked the woman who won the silver -- she had the most amazing footwork and an amazingly quick and fast three turn sequence into her loop, and really had a strong comfort level and artistic presence out there on the ice. She also did one of the hardest spin combinations of the entire competition -- camel/layback into back scratch -- she was the only skater not in Silver or Gold to do a layback. All the ladies in this group had a good amount of speed and security in their other moves as well. As for overall performance quality, only one of the skaters looked a bit uncomfortable and tentative in her program. I think she might have been a bit nervous, maybe it was her first USFSA competition or her first time at that level (I've never seen her compete before)? I have seen the other three ladies skate at least once before and all of them pace their programs really well to the music they use.
Adult Silver had 3 entrants, all of which were very strong. All of them had either an axel or a lutz combination (or several lutzes). The woman who won was a very strong Silver level skater -- I remember seeing her at my first Bronze competition and was impressed with her even then, and she's only improved over these past few months. I think she will do very well if she chooses to go to Nationals this spring. I really liked the performance of the lady who won the bronze, too. She has wonderful expression, elegant upper body movements, and an innate ability to really interpret the moods of her music. I predict she'll go very far at this level!
Adult Gold was very exciting, this was the largest group of gold ladies I have ever seen. The woman who won was OUT OF THIS WORLD! Super fast, great technique with a shoot-the-duck sit spin, and a double lutz! She had fantastic music and really interpreted it well -- at one point I was getting chills from the momentum of the music, that's how extraordinary it was. I wish I would have asked her what she used! Anyway, she certainly deserved to win. The ladies who won silver and bronze were also very strong, I would have had a hard time deciding between them if I had been a judge. Both of them landed solid axels and had gorgeous layback spins. I also saw a lot of wonderful outside ina bauers in this group. The woman who won the pewter medal had one of the best spirals I have ever seen, a la Michelle. ;) All the Gold ladies attempted at least an axel, some in combination. I really admire the Gold ladies the most of any Adult group -- the amount of practice and training you must have to keep an axel, great combination spins, and even the occasional double jump as an adult skater is far more than I'll ever be capable of doing!
That's all folks, hope this helps any of our MKF Adult competitors! ;)
I thought I would post my review of a local USFSA competition I watched last weekend for our MKF Pre-Bronze through Gold Adult USFSA skaters (I was itching to compete myself but alas, someone who can't jump or spin and is 4 months pregnant would probably not make a good show of it). Hope you're up for a big rambling session 'cause this one is LONG!
I competed at this same event last year and the first thing I noticed right away was how many more adults there were this year. Last year there were no adult Gold ladies and this year there were 5!!! There were 14 adults total, up from 7 last year.
There were only 2 Adult Pre-Bronze skaters and both of them skated well. Both of them did a one foot spin, a salchow, and toe loops, and one attempted a sit spin -- I think the lady that won might have tried a loop but I can't honestly remember. The older lady there who skated is just amazing! She is around 70 years old and is still doing jumps and spins, and has a very elegant carriage across the ice. She wore the most gorgeous blue dress, too, one of the nicest skating costumes I have ever seen.
The level of skating I am seeing at Adult Bronze continues to really impress me. Last year there were two bronze ladies, and this year there were 4 ladies in this group. All of them completed at least a flip in their programs, most in combination, and (as far as I can remember) all of them tried a camel. Two of them landed a lutz jump as well (although I did not see any lutz combinations, which has usually been the norm for at least one Bronze skater in a group to complete). All the ladies had pretty secure jump techniques, with good speed and flow out of the jumps -- although there were a few bobbles here and there, no one fell. I really liked the woman who won the silver -- she had the most amazing footwork and an amazingly quick and fast three turn sequence into her loop, and really had a strong comfort level and artistic presence out there on the ice. She also did one of the hardest spin combinations of the entire competition -- camel/layback into back scratch -- she was the only skater not in Silver or Gold to do a layback. All the ladies in this group had a good amount of speed and security in their other moves as well. As for overall performance quality, only one of the skaters looked a bit uncomfortable and tentative in her program. I think she might have been a bit nervous, maybe it was her first USFSA competition or her first time at that level (I've never seen her compete before)? I have seen the other three ladies skate at least once before and all of them pace their programs really well to the music they use.
Adult Silver had 3 entrants, all of which were very strong. All of them had either an axel or a lutz combination (or several lutzes). The woman who won was a very strong Silver level skater -- I remember seeing her at my first Bronze competition and was impressed with her even then, and she's only improved over these past few months. I think she will do very well if she chooses to go to Nationals this spring. I really liked the performance of the lady who won the bronze, too. She has wonderful expression, elegant upper body movements, and an innate ability to really interpret the moods of her music. I predict she'll go very far at this level!
Adult Gold was very exciting, this was the largest group of gold ladies I have ever seen. The woman who won was OUT OF THIS WORLD! Super fast, great technique with a shoot-the-duck sit spin, and a double lutz! She had fantastic music and really interpreted it well -- at one point I was getting chills from the momentum of the music, that's how extraordinary it was. I wish I would have asked her what she used! Anyway, she certainly deserved to win. The ladies who won silver and bronze were also very strong, I would have had a hard time deciding between them if I had been a judge. Both of them landed solid axels and had gorgeous layback spins. I also saw a lot of wonderful outside ina bauers in this group. The woman who won the pewter medal had one of the best spirals I have ever seen, a la Michelle. ;) All the Gold ladies attempted at least an axel, some in combination. I really admire the Gold ladies the most of any Adult group -- the amount of practice and training you must have to keep an axel, great combination spins, and even the occasional double jump as an adult skater is far more than I'll ever be capable of doing!
That's all folks, hope this helps any of our MKF Adult competitors! ;)