What's in a name ??

[Canskater]

I was doing research on clubs in my area with strong adult programs, and found myself on the York Region Skating Academy web site (former home of Emanual Sandu - founded by Joanne McLeod). Browsing through their section on their competitive skaters, I found that they have a very young up-and-comer called

MICHELLE KWAN

I hope the name doesn't jinx the poor soul ---

2002 SKATE CANADA-CENTRAL ONTARIO CHALLENGE
Senior Bronze Ladies Flight 3
Result FPl. Name Club Nat. Points FS
1 Chelsey GRAINGE BARRI 1.0 1
2 Cassandra PETRUZZI T.C.S 2.0 2
3 Krista SILVESTRI DUFFE 3.0 3
4 Frances MITCHELL SPORT 4.0 4
5 Julie GIANTSOPOULOS UNION 5.0 5
***** 6 Michelle KWAN Y.R.S 6.0 6 ******
7 Nicole LESPERANCE SCARB 7.0 7
8 Anna KWADRANS AJAX 8.0 8
9 Jessica ROWSELL MARKH 9.0 9
10 Angela MCLEOD ORILL 10.0 10
R Augusta MELLON GRANI

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Created by IceCalc

Last Update: 16.2.2002 12:27
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[jcspkbfan]

I first heard about Canada's own "Michelle Kwan" a couple of years ago when I saw her name in a competition, and, if I remember correctly, she was still just a pre-juvenile skater at the time. It looks like she's moving up the ranks pretty quickly!

I can only imagine what this poor kid has to go through every time her name is announced at a skating competition, though! :wink:

[Dragonlady]

We also notice Michelle Kwan when she was competing at the Pre-Preliminary level a couple of years ago. BTW, she won that competition and I've seen her name at the top of a number of results sheets over the past couple of years.

Senior Bronze is the test equivalent of Juvenile, so she is not moving up the ladder "pretty quickly". I would call it a "reasonable progression". Skaters who lack the speed or more difficult doubles to compete at the Juvenile level, or who are not age eligible for Juvenile, will often compete at Senior Bronze.

Last year, in order to be eligible for Skate Ontario, you could not compete at Sectionals so it looks like young Michelle wasn't ready for the Juvenile level at Sectionals, but had a pretty good skate at the COS Skate Ontario qualifying competition.