Skating hypotheticals?

A: If you have never done the double axel in your program before, you're setting the stage for a failure. Look at Christopher Bowman, Johnny Weir and more recently, Nobunari Oda. Oda has repeatedly thrown in jumps to try and gain extra points but he always miscounts and ends up going over the limit, throwing away points instead.

Under IJS, programs really have to be planned well in advance and deviations should also be planned in advance. For example, say a skater has a quad flip/triple toe planned but he falls on the flip and never completes the toe loop. It's acceptable for him to add that triple toe to a planned triple lutz later in the program. Coaches and skaters can plan in advance for these in-progress changes. It's when a skater goes renegade that it costs them points and medals. It also ticks off their coaches.

B: Assuming the skater really did want to go to Yale for medicine in the first place, I would discuss whether my daughter wanted one last chance at glory or if she had changed her mind about school or her major. In this situation, the college would be asked to defer her admission and we'd shake up her training/coaching to give her one season to pull up in the rankings. After that, we'd evaluate and look at the options. Either way, we'd be throwing thousands of dollars into her skating or her education.

With every jump, there's a risk you might not land it. That's just how skating is. If I'm landing a jump 8/10 times in practice, I put it in my program. When I'm landing it 8/10 times in my program, then it's ready for competition. Also, I would consult my coach. And then it depends if it were a required elements. If that were the case, I would go for the double axel, because not even attempting it would be stupid. I don't skate to show off to anyone though, so this question is completely ridiculous for me.

It's her decision. When I have my own kids, they will all do skating and gymnastics and ballet, and if they like it, they can keep doing it, and if they don't, they can quit and maybe try something else. Depending on my financial state, I would probably tell her that if she wants to turn down medical school, then after the age of 18, she would need to support her own skating. I wouldn't be paying for it. It really depends on her level though. If she is skating at a senior level, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. But if she was only at a novice or juvenile (or even lower) level, I would explain to her the unlikeliness of that dream and have her coach talk to her about it. I'm a huge realist; I don't support dreams that will never happen.

A: 1A or 2Lz. While there's a risk of not landing ANY jump, if a jump's not consistent in practice it won't magically appear in the program. There's a time and a place for showing off - in a competition where the medal is on the line is NOT it. You want to show them your double axel - show it to them in practice.

Even Alexei Yagudin, one of the fiercest competitors ever, took the "safe" option at Salt Lake City. He knew Plushenko had stepped out of the 3Lo on the end of hte 4T-3T-3Lo, he knew Plushenko had popped the 3S into a 2S, he knew Plushenko hadn't quite done enough that if Yagudin skated clean, Yagudin would win. So he left out the second 3A. Was it the most incredible performance of "Man in the Iron Mask" ever? No, it wasn't. His performance at Worlds a few weeks later was even better. But he played it safe and it paid off. No sense risking it.

B: If she's seventeen and wants an international career she'd already be doing international competitions by now. So the rest of your hypothetical becomes irrelevant.

What's a hypothetical?

How about mine? :)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmMGZ...

About skating :)