Friday, July 25th, 2008...1:57 pm

Skating News: Day Five at US Roller Figure Skating Nationals – World Class Senior Placements

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Afternoon Sportfans and Skaters–

Yesterdays events began with the kids figures and Open Loops. I did not get to watch much of it live, but recorded it for posterity and reviewed the files.  On review it was interesting at the difference in quality of the boys figures vs how tough the girls competition is to come.

The WC Senior events were the an interesting experience. I spent my evening watching the events with other WC level skaters online and to say the crowd had their opinions is an understatement.  Now understand folks, these are my fellow elite skaters are people who have made the journey up the ladder of success. Everyone in the crowd was knowledgeable and collectively know more about skating in those divisions than you can cram into several volumes book on skating. Many are very critical of the current structure of competitive skating and the quality of skating in the USA.

From where we sat last night (and I can use the royal we here,)  we were underwhelmed with the level and quality of skating seen last night.  We all know skating can be high drama, but the upper level singles events were not at the level we expect of our American World Class skaters. In singles we were subjected to skaters attempting items which were inconsistent and technically incorrect. While were rare exceptions, the basic quality of skating, as well of the jumps and spins were not at World Class performance level.

The exceptions of the evening were the Solo Dance,  Dance and Pairs performances. All were solid performances. We hope the entire team can put more time the practice rink between now and World’s to refine them into the artistic performances we know they can do.

All First, Second and Third Place Skaters in World Class Senior Events will represent the USA at the 2008 World Roller Figure Skating Championships from Sat, Nov 08 to Sat, Nov 22, 2008 in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan):

Today and Tonight’s Award Winners for Wednesday, July 23rd Include:

Thursday, July 24th

JUVENILE A BOYS FIGURE P3
1. # 7 Dylan Dowdy- Chester, VA054
2. # 9 Sean Herrig- Burlington, WA064
3. # 8 Timothy Coneby- Delanco, NJ001
4. # 6 Blake Zawacki- Racine, W1021

ELEMENTARY A BOYS FIG P2
1. # 2 Collin Moore- Ashland, VA082
2. # 1 Jordan Schlackman- Fountain Valley, CAI29
3. # 5 Eric Mueller- Lombard, IL128
4. # 3 Lucas Davidson- Delanco, NJOOl

FRESHMAN A BOYS FIGURE P1
1. # 9 Jacob Taylor- Lombard, IL128
2. # 6 John Burchfield- Kissimmee, FL133
3. # 10 Christopher Boike- Greenacres, FL062
4. # 11 Michael Cooper- N. Tonawanda, NYOOl

OPEN A MEN LOOPS P4
1. # 6 Josiah Bishop- Ashland, VA082
2. # 10 Jacob Taylor- Lombard, IL128
3. # 1 Michael Reinhart- Orange, CAI02
4. # 9 Brandon Wall- San Diego, CAI26

FRESHMAN A TEAM DANCE
1. # 6 Michael Cooper / Danielee Johnson- N. Tonawanda, NYOO1
2. # 1 Brett Leonard / Morgan Jackson- Fountain Valley, CA129
3. # 5 Christopher Boike / Heather Boike- Greenacres, FL02
4. # 2 John Scott / Cassandra Seidel- Tyngsboro, MA051/Plainfield, CT043

ELEMENTARY A PAIRS
1. # 2 Jacob Nelson / Cassandra Seidel- Plainfield, CT043
2. # 1 Matthew Shafer / Brianna Seidel- Plainfield, CT043

WC WOMEN INLINE SINGLES COMBINED
1. # 4 Natalie Motley- Ashland, VA082
2. # 2 Shaun McCullough- Knoxville, TN017
3. # 1 Courtney Donovan- Orange, CAI02
4. # 3 Marie Koesnodihardjo- Redwood City, CA043

WC MEN INLINE SINGLES COMBINED
1. # 2 Philip Gibson – Redwood City, CA

WC MEN SINGLES COMBINED
1. # 5 Derek Leonard- Fountain Valley, CAI29
2. # 8 Joshua Rhoads- Marysville, WAOlO
3. # 9 Philip Gibson- Redwood City, CA043
4. # 6 Patrick Orgler- Seabrook, MD008

WC WOMEN SINGLES COMBINED
1. # 4 Lindsay Mann- Canton, MI1 14
2. # 2 Kylee Berger- Marysville, WA010
3. # 6 Courtney Donovan- Orange, CAI02
4. # 9 Laura Wright- Chester, VA054

WC PAIRS
1. # 3 Robert Hines /Aubrey orcutt- Redwood City, CA043
2. # 1 Eric Hadley / Siobhan Boismier- Melbourne, FLO18/Port Richey, FL075
3. # 4 Patrick Orgler / Kaitlyn Tau- Seabrook, MD008

WC TEAM DANCE
1. # 3 Kyle Turley / Heather Menard- Spring, TX231
2. # 2 Jonathan Cross / Erin Ovens- Spring, TX231
3. # 1 Nicolas Borgese / Lisa Borgese- Marlton, NJ079

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Comments

Filed under Friends, News, Skating, We Support

  • George
    Hello Mary Lu
    Every year it seems that I hear critical comments on how our skaters are not what they should be. As a sport, Roller Skating will not regain its momentum and have elite advanced world-competitive skaters-unless we as an organization-and this goes well beyond the USA Roller Sports Organization and includes Roller rink owners, managers, local and county governments, schools, and many many other players. We need to build a strong large large foundation of skaters from the ground up. We have lost our wide-base of young skaters that can be trained. The more skaters the more competition and the more competition the more ability we will have to develop elite skaters.
    Our coaches are few. But the rinks in this coutnry are dimishing. Why continue to be critical of the skaters that remain and drive hours to get to a rink to practice? Lets get together and build the foundation we need in this country to really develop athletes and stop making obvious critical coments at Nationals every year. I know this will not be a popular comment but I think we should only stream-line live events for a fee. We need all those people that are sitting in thier hotels in Lincoln to be in the stands and cheering our sport on. Here we are with empty stands like a practice rink when we compete at Nationals--no real fans--the only way to stop this spiral downward is to determine the best way to pull young and more skaters into the sport and then build the infrastructure needed to have rinks, coaches, judges, and fans that will continute the sport.
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