Piggy-backing a few other ideas

Still on Indoor Nationals there are a few things I can't believe I almost left out!
First I hate to say it because I know how difficult it is to be an official but something needs to be said. I know most of the officials but regardless of that as a spectator it seemed very inconsistent for lack of a better word. At some points it seemed as if we were having the sissy nationals in which people were being disqualified for being too close or for having one finger on some one's back.. for those all I can say is give me a break. Other times it seemed as if a little more was being let go. If you consider both it is completely unacceptable in my opinion. Every race needs to be officiated on the same exact level and that's the bottom line.
One route to this evil may be caused by the number of rules that lie in our rule book that come down the discretion of the referee. When you have too many calls fall under the discretion category you will find more times then not that there are many unhappy people with the calls.
Another topic I would love to see be addressed is the elimination or at least the minimizing of the number of reactionary calls (for lack of a better term). I have two examples so that I can explain my definition of the term reactionary. Example #1: Two skaters enter a turn, and a foul is committed. Only the referee (at his own discretion) decides to call both skaters.. one for riding in and one for riding out. (Seems like an easy solution for someone that doesn't truly know what happened in my opinion.) Now if someone can explain to me how a ride in or a ride out can occur in the same turn simultaneously and not be a cause and effect then feel free to do so. In my opinion, a ride in could be a cause to a ride out. But a ride out cannot have anything to do with a ride in. If a skater rides another in then the skaters are still close enough that by continuing around a turn the skater that rode in could be rode out only because they impeded on the other skaters space! But if a skater is rode out then they are no longer near another skater to ride in, correct? Example #2: You have a pack of skaters and a skater makes a late pass into (lets say) third place but because the pack is not at a sprint he is forced to place his hand on the back of the skater in front of them and basically push them up a little to give himself room which in return causes the second place skater to push on the leader a little so he doesn't run into him. Well then the official calls pushing on the second and third place skaters 'simultaneously'. Didn't the third place skater cause the second place skater to push? Would they rather of had them run the leader over? I do not understand how that is not a reactionary.

One more thing to point out: after the 2007 nationals a lot of people questioned the amount of injuries we had.. well 2009 rolled around and on the same floor we witnessed quite a few serious injuries. The number of people that needed to go to the hospital hit double digits i believe. This is a topic that should almost certainly be revisited.

Indoor Nationals is Done

Well, it's finally over. The main event for the majority of us here in the states. For some reason it didn't have that feeling to me. It might be because I'm getting older.. and faster and with that your goals tend to change some. This year there was some pretty good racing like usual the sophomore through pro men I thought was pretty exciting which is good. I ended up on the wrong side of some of the excitement and was apart of a four person fall in the 1000m that ended in three disqualifications which must have been a decent thing to watch but it's not much fun being involved in it. By the way, that was the first time I was ever DQ'ed at Nationals! Anyway, I ended up getting 2nd overall in junior men which is pretty good, Jake beat me and if I had to pick someone to beat me it probably would have been him anyway. Still I don't feel that Indoor Nationals had that flare it usually does but hopefully it'll be back next year and stronger then ever.
One thing that I don't necessarily like about indoor nationals is that some people train all year and their goal is to do good in a relay. Or the first day that are looking forward to doing this or that in a relay. I've never been there with that and I don't grasp that idea very well. I have always been a division first kind of person and I think that is the only way it should be. For me it was always that you train so you skate good.. you train to win in division and relays are just for fun. That's honestly how I approach indoor racing and I just think too many people are getting away from that and more focused on the relay aspect.
I saw a lot of the world team members skate good at indoor nationals and I just hope they realize their goals should be much higher then anything they can accomplish on a 100m indoor track. Four weeks is a long time and residency is only like 11 days so I don't want to deal with people being out of shape to be honest.
For most people have fun relaxing and travel safe.. but for 24 of us train harder and realize what your goals should be if you haven't already.

Outdoor Nationals Is Over

Outdoor Nationals is over. Well it came and went. Congratulations to everyone that made the US World Team. Like last year I must stress that making the world team should not be the end of it, it's simply a formality the goal should have been and be the entire time the World Championships. What that means is after Indoor Nationals, almost everyone in the skating community will be taking it easier maybe going on vacation or returning to technical work with their skating but there should still be 24 skaters working harder then they did prior to Outdoor and Indoor Nationals! If you normally practice with one or more of these skaters after Indoor Nationals skate some extra practice to give them motivation and make sure they are training harder then before! This year more then others we have six people for every team but after watching ODN every division was dominated by 2-4 skaters which means there are a few world team members that need to work even harder.
Here's a quick run-down of some good thing/ bad thing for each division at ODN:
Junior Ladies:
Good Thing: Erin Jackson may be one of the best competitors in a long time. She'll skate any distance or race with the intent set on winning which should rub off on some of the other girls and definitely the team as a whole. The team members from last year look to be in great shape this year and if they keep training then that could spell great things for them. Just about all six of the girls are capable of skating every distance and there are no true specialist which allows six women to push each other during every aspect of racing.
Bad Thing: Watching ODN the junior ladies division (and senior ladies division for that matter) did not seem like the competitors really needed to be aggressive but at worlds everyone needs to be capable of being aggressive so it will be interesting to see which girls can be when the appropriate time comes.
Junior Men:
Good Thing: four men showed up in phenomenal shape capable of winning every single race.. if they keep the training up it will only make everyone stronger and allow them to have the absolute strongest two competitors in every race. If they keep the training intensity up then they will make life way easier for each other. The other two competitors have a little extra work to do because they are more of specialist but if they keep training harder then they are capable of it.
Bad Thing: It seems like everyone likes about one person on the team and is content with not getting along with the others. There is not one person on the team that will not need the help of the other five. If they learn to work together they can be very dangerous when paired but getting to that point could give the coaches some work.
Senior Ladies:
Good Thing: They have strong competitors on their team and two medalist in Sara and Bri they not only went to Outdoor Nationals with the idea of making the world team but did not settle for anything less then breaking records which shows they want to be the very best.
Bad Thing: Ten competitors as a field for a world team is so poor. 80% of the participants get to say they are part of the World Team.. the senior ladies division needs more competitors plain and simple. Even if we have the top six (eight with alternates) senior ladies they still need to be used to racing against a pack or a field instead of a group of 2-3 skaters.
Senior Men:
Good Thing: Any time you have the best athlete on your world team, it's a good thing. You have five out of six skaters have won a world medal and 3 of them have been individually which allows you to be confident everyone knows exactly what it takes to be the best.
Bad Thing: Three of the six athletes will be competing in their first senior world championship which makes the team as a whole a bit younger. Again, not quite the numbers you would wish for, in the cream of the crop division (world class).