Jane and I are lazing today during the compulsory novice bits: the mandatory repetition of the same dance for every couple. A very good exposure of strengths and weaknesses of the couples, but not for the faint-hearted…or people getting sore knees from sitting for hour with knees unable to flex. Jane’s having knee trouble; I’m starting to; and we have to lay out today and let the joints recover. Nationals-watching should be named an Olympic event. Can you tolerate sitting in a cramped seat for 10 hours a go? Even in airline seats you get to stretch your legs a bit. Not in an arena.
The young men upcoming are going to be a joy to watch. A very small 10 year old with the moves of an experienced pro won over older competitors, and a 12 year old within a few points of him was second: the 10 year old did Peter and the Wolf, playing all parts except the cat…as he put it; and still won, even with 2 falls. (When you’re young, lightweight so your skates don’t bite as deep, and over-adrenalined, you make mistakes in competition you didn’t make in warmup.) Charming kid, very well-spoken and cute as the proverbial button. Jane will have details on her blog. The silver kid was very, very good. And if those two go ‘up’ together, it’s going to be an interesting number of years.
OSG says the young man’s name was Nathan Chen. He won, even after falling twice, and OSG says his takeoffs are really powerful. Not knowing much about figure skating myself, (what’s the difference between and axel and a camel), I will defer to her description when she sees you next.
Ha ha, Joe! An axel is a jump. A camel is a spin. Hang with us & we’ll teach you!
*******
Cross-posted from my Facebook:
OSG: “10 year-old Nathan Chen won Novice Men tonight with “Peter & the Wolf” – an utterly charming program that won everyone’s hearts. His 20″ & 6″ warm-ups were great — does he ever fire off those jumps! — but unfortunately Nathan fell twice during the event. Still, he had a very complete, well-executed program.”
OSG: “Overall, Novice Men’s Long resembled a splat-fest. Few programs were skated cleanly.
Final placements: #1- Nathan Chen (Salt Lake). #2- Emmanuel Savary (U of Delaware). #3- Timothy Dolensky (Atlanta). #4- Phillip Warren (Inland Empire FSC/Calif).
Stephanie Grosscup’s choreo was seen several times tonight (including Nathan’s program) & really stands out for originality as well as interpretation.”
My skating friend, Erin Westphal then replied: “I remember Nathan competing Juv at our local comp. He looked so young that I couldn’t believe he could remember all those moves patterns to pass the tests! What a talent.”
OSG: “Nathan STILL looks young. Like a baby! Maybe because he IS young, lol! I believe he was the youngest competitor by at least 2 years — and all the other guys towered over him by as much as 2 feet. BTW, I didn’t see Nathan’s Short but friends (that’s you, CJ & Jane!) who saw his “Kung Fu Panda” program described him as a ‘firecracker’.”
Oh no, Sharon. I’m quite happy with my present scope of knowledge about figure skating. I don’t find it all that fascinating, especially since Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan aren’t skating any longer. I see Tanya on Thursday night TV (TRU’s “The World’s Dumbest….”) where she’s a commentator. Where is Nancy these days?
Okay, though, what’s the difference between an axel and a lutz? Not to be confused with a klutz, which would oftentimes describe me.
Joe, I can’t speak to the quality of these videos because my computer hasn’t had sound for months — but this set on Don Korte’s very reputable site seems to demonstrate the answers concisely. At its most simplified, the axel is a forward take-off and the loop takes off backwards.
Click on the jump title you are interested in, then click on the pics to see the videos.
http://www.sk8stuff.com/m_recognize.htm
But there’s no forechecking, no fights, and only one person on the ice at one time….! j/k. I’ll check the site, thank you. You’ll probably have a field day with me at ShejiCon3.
There’s 8 people on the ice during pairs warmup, and this time, according to OSG, there were 4 bodies down, including one from an over-the-head lift, with no helmet and no padding…but we are very glad not to have been there for that one. You can get sincerely killed during such incidents. And we say figure skating is a low-impact sport. The pairs are always pushing the edge of safety, and while they’re good at saves, it’s still scary as all get-out. The guys in pairs don’t get enough credit: being able to hold steady underneath a lift is no small deal.
OSG or CJ or someone who “knows”,
I had a colleague move from Virginia to Michigan several years ago to telecommute from the rink where his daughter wanted to train. Has anyone seen Juliana Bilowus at Nationals? I know she won either sectionals or regionals as a novice a couple years ago, but hadn’t followed her since.
– S
No news yet. Jane’s got the program book. I’ll check. Women singles are only starting to skate now.
For any of you who want to follow the whole schedule instead of just the ones NBC thinks you should see (there is no one manning their camera during most of the competition, even during championship rounds—they just show up for the last ‘flight’. (highest-scored 4 or 5 from the short program) on the long program.) Ice Network, on computer, does have the lesser-ranked skaters. It costs an annual fee, but you can follow all competitions down to the regionals, including, too, the adult nationals.
Of course you know I was talking about a hockey game. But I’ve been so busy with end-of-year stuff for the club for which I’m secretary, I hardly have time to watch much TV. At least, I don’t have to worry about the treasury accounts and the audits, etc.
I’ve always marveled at the cheerleader guys who can hold up one of the girls on his hands while she’s standing up. I can’t imagine doing the same thing on ice with a pair of 1/4″ wide blades under me.
@Sandor —
A quick search pulled up quite a bit about Juliana’s skating, including multiple competitions & USFSA test records. She skated for the Detroit Skating Club — a powerhouse, so it is easy to see why she relocated there.
Here’s the best info — Juliana’s qualifying competition records & a nice photo:
http://tracings.net/bilo-juli.html
Note she placed 10th in Sectionals as a Senior Lady in 2008*, so would not have advanced to Nationals. It looks as if she now has retired from standard-track competition. But still — VERY impressive! Maybe we’ll see her at Adult Nationals someday?
* Sectionals are always held in late November or early December (in her Juliana’s case, November 2007) — but the competitive season is termed by whatever year Nationals is being held in (in her case, “2008”).
@OSG – Thanks!
I’m surprised that NBC’s camera is still there. I
certainly haven’t seen anything about skating from them since Sunday.
Chondrite have you seen “The Meteorite Men” on the Discovery channels? I thought is was pretty
good,I’ll be watching the series.
“Save the earth. It’s the only planet that has chocolate.”