Skate America practice session.
Skate America practice sessions:
Wow.
Not too coherent right now, partially because I was up at 4:45am. But some incoherent thoughts:
Wow. Those two Canadian men's skaters arrowing across the ice. What speed. This isn't figure skating. It's Nascar.
Wow. Evan Lysacek bulldogging Johnny Weir. (Okay, I get it, I get it. He considers Weir "the enemy." More about this later.)
Wow. The difference between the fiercely competitive men's skaters and the far more polite ice dancers.
Wow. The sheer adorableness of Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates spunky 1940s program. Really, grab this one on YouTube the moment it's available.
Wow. Belbin and Agosto. What class. It's like watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers show up for an intermediate tap class. There's no comparison. (What makes them great is that Agosto is as fine a skater as she is, and just as riveting. And hell he looks good in tails.) They skated another couple's music, actually skating one to either side of them. More about this psych out in a minute.
Wow. Skaters try to psych each other out by skating one another's music. And it works. There was an incredible moment where Lysacek was skating Weir's music, circling Weir as Weir tried to do his program, making "I'm taking you to the cleaners" eye contact. They were skating together against Johnny's will, it was beautiful, and intense -- visual trash talking. Lysacek skated away, turning his back on Weir, hand on his hip as he stood at the boards, obviously pissed. Another trick is to throw big jumps during a skater's turn, distracting the crowd.
Wow. Todd Eldredge was there with Kimmie Meissner (who has ugly dresses). She seems to be skating well. All smiles and her coach and Todd were beaming. Todd chews gum like a baseball player.
Wow. Miki Ando is a beautiful skater.
Wow. The men fall a lot. They're aggressive, they try all their hardest jumps in practice, and... I started keeping a list of the various ways to fall. There's the skate sliding out and slamming into the boards. There's the overbalance plus shoulder skid. There's the skate wobble followed by dropping like an anvil. There's Johnny Weir's favorite, the overshoot plus bottom bounce (legs in the air, very silly looking). There's the Evan Lysacek forward stumble with shoulder roll, like he's been tackled. There's the falling out of the jump with an ice touch. There's the sideways slide on one's side. The toepick snag and trip (with or without faceplant). The spin wobble with backward flop. The desperate "oh no!" skate skitter followed by a butt bounce. The mushy landing with a sloppy backward thump. The variety is endless. And most of the falls were in men's. In women's, only Kimmie spent the practice working on her jumps.
Also, I think coaches' eyes turn into laser beams as soon as "their" skater hits the ice.
I got a lot out of this, and not what I expected to see at all.
Wow.
Not too coherent right now, partially because I was up at 4:45am. But some incoherent thoughts:
Wow. Those two Canadian men's skaters arrowing across the ice. What speed. This isn't figure skating. It's Nascar.
Wow. Evan Lysacek bulldogging Johnny Weir. (Okay, I get it, I get it. He considers Weir "the enemy." More about this later.)
Wow. The difference between the fiercely competitive men's skaters and the far more polite ice dancers.
Wow. The sheer adorableness of Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates spunky 1940s program. Really, grab this one on YouTube the moment it's available.
Wow. Belbin and Agosto. What class. It's like watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers show up for an intermediate tap class. There's no comparison. (What makes them great is that Agosto is as fine a skater as she is, and just as riveting. And hell he looks good in tails.) They skated another couple's music, actually skating one to either side of them. More about this psych out in a minute.
Wow. Skaters try to psych each other out by skating one another's music. And it works. There was an incredible moment where Lysacek was skating Weir's music, circling Weir as Weir tried to do his program, making "I'm taking you to the cleaners" eye contact. They were skating together against Johnny's will, it was beautiful, and intense -- visual trash talking. Lysacek skated away, turning his back on Weir, hand on his hip as he stood at the boards, obviously pissed. Another trick is to throw big jumps during a skater's turn, distracting the crowd.
Wow. Todd Eldredge was there with Kimmie Meissner (who has ugly dresses). She seems to be skating well. All smiles and her coach and Todd were beaming. Todd chews gum like a baseball player.
Wow. Miki Ando is a beautiful skater.
Wow. The men fall a lot. They're aggressive, they try all their hardest jumps in practice, and... I started keeping a list of the various ways to fall. There's the skate sliding out and slamming into the boards. There's the overbalance plus shoulder skid. There's the skate wobble followed by dropping like an anvil. There's Johnny Weir's favorite, the overshoot plus bottom bounce (legs in the air, very silly looking). There's the Evan Lysacek forward stumble with shoulder roll, like he's been tackled. There's the falling out of the jump with an ice touch. There's the sideways slide on one's side. The toepick snag and trip (with or without faceplant). The spin wobble with backward flop. The desperate "oh no!" skate skitter followed by a butt bounce. The mushy landing with a sloppy backward thump. The variety is endless. And most of the falls were in men's. In women's, only Kimmie spent the practice working on her jumps.
Also, I think coaches' eyes turn into laser beams as soon as "their" skater hits the ice.
I got a lot out of this, and not what I expected to see at all.