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Where Olympic dreams get their first tests
By Sandra Loosemore
This month, at rinks across the United States, there's an extra hustle and bustle as skaters of all abilities and ages prepare for what -- for most of them -- is the most important competition of their year. We're
While skaters in international competitions are selected by their national skating federations, and professional competitions are usually invitation-only events, the United States Figure Skating Association's qualifying competitions are open to all USFSA members who pass the appropriate skill tests and are not already classified as professionals. In each of the senior, junior, and novice divisions, the top four finishers from each region advance to one of the three sectional competitions held in early December. The top four from each sectional then advance to the national championships, which will be held in Salt Lake City in February. Skaters in the two lower divisions, intermediate and juvenile, will have their championships in March. IN THEORY, ANYONE OTHER THAN CURRENT U.S. national team members who wants to compete at the US Figure Skating Championships must qualify through the regionals. But in practice, skaters who have other international competition assignments in the fall usually receive byes, and in many regions high-level men, pairs, and dance competitors automatically advance to sectionals because there are four or fewer entrants in their regions. Among the ladies, though, the fields at regionals are huge -- especially at the intermediate and novice levels -- and the competition is fierce. There might be a hundred or more intermediate ladies entered in each region, and because it's impossible to judge fields that large in one sitting, the skaters first have to survive a qualifying-round competition. Skaters in the qualifying round are seeded into smaller groups which are judged separately, and only the top few skaters from each group advance to the finals. For many girls at this level, competition is driven by dreams of becoming the next skating superstar like Michelle Kwan or Tara Lipinski. But all skaters have to start their competitive careers at regional competitions, and here, the focus is on more modest goals than winning an Olympic medal. Many of these skaters would be thrilled just to land a big jump in competition, become the first skater from their club to advance to sectionals, or improve on their placement from the previous year. The transition from intermediate to novice is an especially critical point in a young skater's career. This is the point at which many skaters reach the limits either of their natural talent or of the time, money, and coaching resources available to them. There are perhaps only half as many novices as intermediates; fewer juniors than novices; and fewer still in the senior division. The most important skill for intermediates, aside from overall power, speed, and assurance in their skating, is the double axel jump. There are so many competitors at this level that judges often tend to use the double axel as a kind of litmus test -- the skaters who can't do one generally have little hope of advancing beyond the qualifying round. Nowadays at the novice level, skaters must have at least one or two triple jumps to be competitive. This is the point at which skaters can break away from the pack and start to make a name for themselves. Melissa Ralph, a 13-year-old who skates at the same rink in Simsbury, Conn., where Oksana Baiul once trained, is at this transition point in her career. A year ago, she moved up from intermediate to novice although she had neither a double axel nor a triple jump in her repertoire. Her coach,
"It seemed like she kept finishing sixth no matter what she did", said Melissa's mother, Cari. SKATING IN HER FIRST YEAR AS A NOVICE at last season's New England regionals, Ralph somewhat predictably failed to make it out of the qualifying round. This year, though, she has added a triple salchow and triple loop to her repertoire. This time around her goal for regionals is "to skate a clean program with two triples" and make it to sectionals, although she admits she would be pleased simply to qualify for the final round. "Good programs and good jumps", Ralph says, are the key to getting the judges' attention. Ralph's pre-competition training is even more intense than most other athletes' because this year she is also competing as a pair skater for the first time. Her partner, 15-year-old Themi Leftheris, is just over the upper age limit for the intermediate division, and in the four months they've been together the pair has had to start from scratch and work all the way up to mastering novice-level pair skills -- learning elements as quickly as possible. Nonetheless, their Ralph and Leftheris' goals for the season are ambitious. With only five novice pair teams entered in the New England region, they feel they have a very good chance of qualifying for sectionals. That would give them an additional month to learn the additional pair elements, such as the double twist lift and throw double loop they would need to be competitive enough to qualify for nationals. At the other end of the spectrum is 27-year-old veteran Michael Chack, one of the few senior national medal contenders to be participating in the qualifying process this season instead of competing on the international circuit. Chack has been on the national podium once before -- as a bronze medalist in 1993 -- but a series of injuries derailed his career just as he was breaking in to the top ranks. A disastrous short program at last season's nationals left Chack in ninth place overall, and off the international team. SO, WHILE MOST OF HIS peers are opening their season skating for prize money in televised competitions, Chack will be starting his season at Pacific Coast sectionals in December, an event he has won in each of the past two years. Chack, a resident of Los Angeles who trains with coach Frank Carroll, originally also planned to compete at the Southwest Pacific regional. "There are only four men in regionals and we can all go to sectionals if we want to", he explained. "I suggested that I would like to compete for a warmup for the rest of the year. My goals are to skate aggressively and break the new programs in." But, since none of the other skaters also wanted to compete in an unnecessary regional, they will all go directly to sectionals instead. Chack is known as a strongly stylish skater and his programs were choreographed by Lori Nichol, who has won acclaim for her work with Michelle Kwan, so those who attend the event are in for a treat. From a spectator's point of view, as well as a skater's, a regional or sectional championship has a much different flavor than a national championship or other major competition. Away from the star power that drives the elite levels of the sport, these qualifying events are held in local rinks rather than big arenas, with spectators numbering in the hundreds instead of the thousands. Admission is usually only a few dollars, and every seat is close to the ice. Instead of being sequestered away from the public, the skaters are everywhere and happy to make themselves accessible -- in the lobby snack bar, sitting in the stands, cheering on other skaters from their club. This is their competition -- skating up close and personal at the grass roots level where it all begins. Sandra Loosemore is CBS SportsLine's figure skating writer. |
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