So who else was booted off Women's tech back in 2011-12 to make room for Mikaela? Julia Ford?
As Average Joe notes, nobody gets "booted off" the USST mid season for a lack of results, performance or for ANY reason other than some really stupid and embarrassing behavior. And that's happened about twice in 40 years. And not with women. You might want to tone done the way you respond to posts. Sounds like you're lobbing a grenade at times.
Julia was a speed skier
Skied a bunch of tech after she joined redneck racing after she didn't make criteria after 2014, but ... her world cup starts are virtually all SG and DH.
Thanks, and yep, 100% correct. Ford kids are the same age as mine. All were very good. Willie easily could have been a discretionary USST pick. Unlike most his age, he did not pursue any PG years, went right to UNH, and has a great college career. Julia had jets...all along.
No one gets "booted off" . Every year is a clean slate, you are named, or not.
And Mikaela was 16 in 2011, so it's more likely she would have been named to a development /junior team. It was probably her first year.
THIS. You get "renominated" to the team every year. In some cases, you move up. In some cases you fail to meet the objective criteria and get dropped. Some times, you fail to make criteria and you become a discretionary pick. A few years ago, to eliminate the yo-yo of being on the team for a year, then dropped, then perhaps renominated in a couple of years, the team decided that once on the squad, you had at least two years.
MS. She was on the USST B team for the 2011-2012 season. I believe that the year before she had won the bronze medal in the SL at Junior Worlds, and had scored points on the WC in both SL and GS. I know that she was the US National champ in the spring of 2011, and she piled up a bunch of NorAm wins. Can't recall what the exact criteria was but her ascent was clear. Boom!
The "making room" for her, is this is what Peefeeniz is getting at is what some us have posted a few times at the least. Gets old. In the spring of 2015, I think {whatever year she had the knee injury and missed 2-3 months}, her mother in particular made a very strong case {some would say a demand} that the USST create a separate and distinct "training group" for JUST MS. Prior to that she had been part of the W's WC tech team and I believe that at the end of the season her training group consisted of her, Lila Lapanja and Paula Moltzan. I may be missing one more.
The team agreed, and things were realigned. Brandon Dyksterhouse left the team when this decision was made. He felt that Mikaela had make huge gains {she had} as part of their training group of 3-4. He had no interest in coaching just MS, and he was probably not pleased by having the mother of an athlete have more push with Tiger Shaw than he had as the Head W's coach. Mike Day was hired as Mikaela's head coach, after what seemed like a long time period. I believe a number of potentials had said "no interest."
I can't recall the why's and what happened. LL had some injury problems, I think. Not sure if Paula had any injury, but both left the team, failing I believe to make criteria. Paula as we know ended up at UVM and then back on the WC, and back on the team. LL has never rejoined the USST.
Interesting to see that as her career continues to put her at the top, and as she matures, MS seems to be gravitating to being a "team leader" and mentor type.....though she pretty much exclusively trains on her own. Sometimes they work a couple of others in....probably for "pace."
But no, nobody was "booted off the team to make room for MS."
I was working at the Eastern J3 Junior Olympics when Mikaela had her legendary SL win. I think it was an 11 second margin as I recall. And it was real clear to me, watching her warm up, that she had another gear or two. I was standing with her two coaches, who I knew well. This was her last pre-FIS year. She was 14. It was very clear what "we" had in her. She always just smoked her age group peers, and she became a huge focus of the USST. Which has worked out "pretty well", I'd say.
Much like LV, and Julia Mancuso. Identified VERY early.