Chicago Weekend Fun!

Everyone was a buzz last night as Evan Lysacek won the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver Canada. Chicago is buzzing because Evan Lysacek is from this area originally although he trains in California.

I’m excited because Evan Lysacek is one of the local skaters I saw skating back when I was involved with Figure Skating. To be completely truthful, I had quit my skating due to being a bit old (at 18) and deciding to go to college since that whole Olympic dream thing wasn’t going to happen for me without some big jumps, and I wasn’t really a jumper.

I was teaching Saturday afternoon skating lessons at the Darien Sportsplex after I graduated and this kid was in the yearly ice show tearing up the ice. Everyone said that he was another Timothy Goebel, who was a kid I skated around on practices daily for a few years at Center Ice of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. Timothy Goebel went on to win a Bronze medal in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Olympics. I say kid because he was at least 5 years younger than anyone else and he was working on triples when we were still trying to get the double flip right. (I never did) Timothy went on to move to a full time training facility with Carol Heiss Jenkins in Ohio and I went on to Illinois State University.

So, this kid Evan was really something amazing on a local level then, and we’re talking maybe 1998-1999 here. Next thing I know he is Novice Champion in the USFSA magazine, which is a stepping stone to getting noticed by big coaches and he was on his way. I can’t say I knew him nor skated with him, but I am still proud that two guys from this area with the same basics available were able to make it up through the ranks of the best. It does make Naperville proud. (and Darien too)

I am puzzled about how the news is reporting some of the people debating Evan Lysacek’s win and debating the “new” scoring system. I don’t know if the scoring system is the best thing for the sport but I do know that it chose the best skater for the gold. It has been obvious that the change in scoring to a prescribed point value for each element performed has made a blurry system much more clear. What I am not sure about is don’t they disclose the points in a detailed list to the public so we can see what has been given credit and how much, so there is no room for debate? I really think the complaints about the new scoring system would be moot with the detailed list of elements and points for each skater released publicly.

I really think Evan’s program won because of strategy. He and Frank Carrol calculated what Plushenko’s program would score and choreographed something that could out score it without a quad. Its simple math and studying your competition well from the outset. This is legal and what most skaters aim to do. Plushenko did the same thing but he bet that nobody else would skate a clean program because he is often the only one that does. Well, many people did and there were a bunch at the top that all deserved a medal (Johnny Wier and Stephane Lambiel especially) but alas there are only 3 regardless of how clean everyone skates and how much everyone over-trains. Expect the over engineering of many more programs in the future.

On that note, I am not sure about how the system has changed how skaters value their programs because they have gone from jumpfest-gymnastics-tumbling-runs back and forth across the ice to cram everything (serpentine footwork, multiple combo spins, “transitions”) in fests now. I am exhausted looking at the multiple combination spins including the outside edge and many contorting positions while most of this expression in the name of “points” isn’t really fitting with the story or the music for certain skaters. Basically it feels forced.

BUT, on the other hand I do get excited at the use of the full body to complete a movement and in expressing the feelings of the music. After skating, I spent some time dancing and the dance world made the figure skaters look like a bunch of sticks on ice and I am glad that the skaters took notice of that. (even if it took Kristi Yamaguchi on Dancing with the Stars to bring up the topic) Yet it seems like most of the movements are so rehearsed with blank expressions like skaters are sleep walking through it from doing them repetitively every day for months. I guess I do long for the real performers to come back in some middle ground where artistry is in balance with technical difficulty and people really enjoy performing rather than dread it, regardless of the pressure. I also would love to see skaters pushing boundaries and loading programs because they want to innovate and not because they have to.

One thing still plagues almost every skater I see on TV and that is a lack of confidence and the fear of falling. I understand, I was a horrible competitive skater. I would get so sick with nerves I would almost throw up before performing. My lips and hands would turn blue. I would stumble through performances not knowing whether I was coming down straight or completely sideways and sometimes I would forget to breathe. Yea I was that bad. But I was a completely different swing dancer. Something was different after it wasn’t about competitions anymore. I wanted to be in the center of the swing circle for sing-sing-sing every night and I was better when I knew people were watching. I wanted to show off and I wasn’t nervous at all. That was when I found that I did like the spotlight and only then did I loose the nerves. You have to love the crowd whether you fall or not. You have to want to perform for them if it’s 10 people or 5 million. Its not about you, it’s about performing.

My advice (to be taken with a grain of salt as always) for young up and coming figure skaters today is to go out and see other types of performances regularly. This means Ballet, Broadway Theater, Modern Dance, Improv Comedy,  Music Concerts, Opera, and all kinds of sports too. (taking some lessons is a good idea too) Examine how these performers go out on stage and nail it every day without falling. Examine how they bring so much energy to a performance. Look at the way they tell a story and how they use their body to express it. Find what draws you into their performance and how you can do that on the ice. Rewrite the rules of figure skating. It doesn’t exist in a world (with points) by itself anymore. Everything overlaps and inter-relates these days. Find some other arts and sports to pursue in your interest and you will be a more well rounded skater and person. Hopefully you will be more relaxed too.