Confused....

[sasafrass452]

Last night during Beatrisa Liang's performance, one of the announcers said it was her 5th time in the ladies nationals. But she's only 16, & I thought you had to be 14 to enter the ladies division? Or did they make an exception like they did with Tara Lipinski?

[Kelli]

There are no age limits to skate at the national novice, junior, or senior level. To skate internationally as a senior, you have to be 15 by July 1st. For junior international competitions, you need to be between 12 and 19 for singles, and males in pairs or ice dance can be up to 21. (And someone jump in to correct those numbers if they are wrong.) Juvenile and intermediate competitions generally have an age limit as well (um, 12 and 15, maybe?).

Basically, the big discrepancy is that (big) Nationals is based entirely on USFSA test level. Internationally, the junior/senior distinction is an age one, not a test one. There are senior skaters who are young enough for the junior international events, and junior skaters who are already too old. (And there's a senior pairs skater who's even too young for junior events!)

Hope that made some sense...

[Lenny2]

To further clarify, "senior nationals" refers to the national skating competition that includes levels novice, junior, and senior. "Junior nationals" is for levels juvenile and intermediate. So, Liang apparently first appeared at nationals probably as a novice skater at 11 years old (this year, Caroline Zhang competed as a novice skater at 11 years old). I seem to recall Liang competing for the first time at the senior level at age 13. Does this help?

[Louis]

To further clarify, "senior nationals" refers to the national skating competition that includes levels novice, junior, and senior. "Junior nationals" is for levels juvenile and intermediate. So, Liang apparently first appeared at nationals probably as a novice skater at 11 years old (this year, Caroline Zhang competed as a novice skater at 11 years old). I seem to recall Liang competing for the first time at the senior level at age 13. Does this help?

That's not correct. Liang's first Nationals as a senior-level was 2001 in Boston when she was 12. So this is, in fact, her fifth trip to Nationals as a senior -- 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. I know she went to Nationals as a junior in 2000. I'm not sure if she went to Nationals in 1999.

[roza]

Bebe fininshed 3rd as a 10 year old Novicce in 1999, so this was her 7th trip to Senior Nationals.

[fadedstardust]

The thing about "senior nationals" being novice, junior, and senior is true, however you're making it more complicated than it really is- the commentators were, as others have pointed out, only talking about bebe's attendance at nationals on the senior LEVEL, and yes it's her fifth, and no there is no age restriction on nationals, only international competitions which are governmed by the isu, whereas nationals are governed by the usfs. Different governing bodies, different rules.

[roza]

The thing about "senior nationals" being novice, junior, and senior is true, however you're making it more complicated than it really is.

Nope, just giving full picture to hopefully solve any future confusion. Better to clear the whole thing up in one fell swoop than to later have a reference to Senior Nationals cause more confusion.

[Lenny2]

Sorry, I didn't mean to cause confusion. I did not recall that Liang had appeared at Nationals as a "senior lady" at such a young age, so I assumed the announcers were referring to her appearing at "senior nationals" (which is how they phrased it, as I recall, and what caused me confusion). In any event, it's pretty amazing that she has been to senior nationals so many times. She must be a pretty seasoned competitor by now.

[SkateFan123]

There are no age limits to skate at the national novice, junior, or senior level. To skate internationally as a senior, you have to be 15 by July 1st. For junior international competitions, you need to be between 12 and 19 for singles, and males in pairs or ice dance can be up to 21. (And someone jump in to correct those numbers if they are wrong.) Juvenile and intermediate competitions generally have an age limit as well (um, 12 and 15, maybe?).

Basically, the big discrepancy is that (big) Nationals is based entirely on USFSA test level. Internationally, the junior/senior distinction is an age one, not a test one. There are senior skaters who are young enough for the junior international events, and junior skaters who are already too old. (And there's a senior pairs skater who's even too young for junior events!)

Hope that made some sense...

Internationally, they have to pass tests too. For ISU events, there are age tests in addition to the level tests offered by federations.

Kim M can't attend ISU Sr events due to age. Nor can Shantel Jordan is not old enough for Jr ISU Events. I suspect that eventually this rule will change again.