Xen

well, interesting for rusfed to consider. At this rate, does this mean Zagi is next next season?

good as confirmed now, alright defense gear is ready for the stuff from some sectors of fandom.

she comes back and her first new long term student is boyang. Top that for drama.

At this point, I am halfway expecting TAT to come out of retirement to clean up this drama.

Someone show him Brian wildin doing backflips around 2010. Ii data....

guys, the Medv talk is elsewhere:

I hate Weibo's UI layout scheme, it's too messy to me. Hence, I generally don't follow them. But knowing some fans IRL, I know which camp I belong to, and personally find it more amusing than anything. But due to how that fangroup views him, kind of as a sacred, shared type of holiness, that's kind of why things are still under control. And even the super possessive ones won't have the guts to really do anything other than be keyboard warriors at most (and usually that gets controlled).

Well considering he's using Yuzu as a textbook, I think Plush is also techniques oriented. And I think Serafima also left him? So whatever he was aiming for there with her, is also gone now. He's such a new school, it's unlikely any of the older skaters will look to him for final polish and packaging. Frankly, Russian schools have the possibility to do it-it's just no one has done it. Some form of collaboration between Yagudin and Tarasova, or heck Plush and Tarasova (hah, they'd probably kill each other first) would probably do it. There's also Moskvina, but no idea where she is now, but she could have also done final polish and packaging. The problem is, most of these sets of coaches are not likely to collaborate with each other.

Thanks! Actually I've read both, which was how I heard of Panova's team. And the idea of Sendai yolo-ing its way to OGMs tickles me (especially since its men have yolo tendencies with 3As). No, what I'm curious about is more of this. At least in women's, Russian schools tend to be dominated by much younger female skaters, and has dozens of juniors. Compared to other places, there are less older skaters to a degree. So I'm curious where could a senior female skater go? In a way, I view TCC as a bit more of a "finishing school" type that focuses on correcting and polishing what already exists. But Russian schools in general to me, seem to focus on building from the ground up. Is there any team or coach that focuses on "polishing" and "refining" a senior skater? I think previously there was Tarasova, but now that's no longer an option, is there a new school that would focus on that? Unless you mean CSKA is the equivalent. Then again, if they have that many good junior ladies, I guess maybe RusFed isn't that concerned about longevity of the female skaters, so there's less of a push or incentive to have a club that is super strong in this?

Would be amusing if any of her former students go to Eteri, gains experience and then goes back to her.

I've only recently heard of Panova due to many of the technically sound jumper juniors in Eteri's camp coming from her (Tarakanova for example). But a lot of her skaters also end up in Sambo70, so it's unlikely her school will rise up?

@Fay @Yatagarasu: With your knowledge of russian skating schools, is there a chance we could get a brief guide of the various schools, coaches etc that exist in Russia? I know it's a long list potentially, but maybe just the key players/schools etc for women's discipline. For example, Panova, Urmanov, CSKA etc and how things work? It would probably help any one new to FS when evaluating Russian skating, and why people are dismissing the idea of Zhenya staying in Russia.

I'm actually really curious about Polina Tsurskaya's next step. This is another hit, because now Eteri just has Zagi left and the crop of juniors.

I'm not sure I buy into the idea that they're totally unaware of it. Anyways, I hope shipping doesn't start here in any way shape or form. And yeah, it does look formidable in that sense. TCC powerhouse central

*sigh* I don't get annoyed often, but the social media bruhhaha over Medvedeva's actions are it. 1) It's high time that people get over it, and realize that we're at a time and age where it's perfectly okay for a guy and gal to be normal, good friends without having the intention of dating each other. This means of course, certain official twitter channels need to STFU *I'm looking at you 5 rings channel*. 2) Medvedeva is doing something for herself, not for Yuzu. She's an independent young woman capable of earning her own income with her own fame-she doesn't really need Yuzu. There's a separate thread for these coaching changes, and I've already mentioned this there. But already, there will be sectors of both hers and Yuzu's fandom that will go into hyper-nuts action. Shippers will start going into overdrive mode, which then drives the possessive "no one can have my future hubby Zuzu" sections into overdrive mode. I hope us, as a good, kind polite Yuzu fandom quarter refrains from joining in. And if anything, provide a form of relief for both Yuzu and whomever his potential new training mates are, from the more crazy sectors of the FS fandom (not just the Yuzu sector, but all sectors). Anyways, sorry if this is Off Topic, and it came off a bit more sharp and offended anyone.

I wish some people learn that it is perfectly normal for a guy and gal to be normal, good friends, without thinking about dating each other.

So Yagudin has commented, but TAT has not. Waiting for TAT to comment.

oh....hmm I'll teach you how to do a salchow into a butt glide.

I have an extra pair of skates I can lend, we can go together and I'll hold your hand when we butt-glide together. =)

This off-season can be best summarized as "everyone and their X will go to BOrser." Where's the popcorn?

Well she's not the oldest lady to try to learn a new jump, if anything, Mirai showed people that it is possible for an older female skater to learn new jumps. And Zhenya does not have great axels, she does however have decent salchows and loops. I wouldn't say anything is impossible-it's highly possible she wants to try, but not in the environment in Sambo where her intent might be rebuffed or given less focus than the junior girls (or the technique may not work for her). The stress injuries probably highlighted that whatever methods before and is in play now on her current rink, do not work for her anymore. Second, and this is something that gets mentioned a lot, is the idea of a "maxed out" skater. Granted, under the current system, you could argue that Zhenya is "maxed out." But that's not the point. FS watchers say a lot about how Eteri girls are overscored- well let's just assume Zhenya and her team even in Sambo agrees with that, and know that. So the real issue, after the rules change, isn't about increasing more points. That's one way to be dominant. The real issue is to ensure the points don't suddenly drop drastically for her-which they could do if she continues with Eteri's system. So it's in Zhenya's interest to move out and find a team that would work with helping her keep her scores as high as now-insure against post Olys scores deflation. Hence why BOrser is mentioned as a first choice- not just because TCC is great and all that, but TCC is the school that focuses on rounding out the skater so the scores are stable and high at the same time. Yuzu, Javi holding out against the quadsters highlight this more than anything else. And this is precisely what Zhenya needs to stay in contention until 2022.

Well you know, we focus a lot on Yuzu, but people are forgetting there are 2 senior women skaters who might have viable quads. One is Tursynbaeva, another is Gabby. If Zhenya is truly aiming for a quad, then maybe being on the same ice as those 2 is not a bad idea. Well that would be very anti-climatic. The serious repercussion though, is it opens the possibility of Eteri girls all leaving her after they do well on the seniors level. First Yulia, then Zhenya, who's next? Polina or Alina? If Sasha does well her first senior season, would she go? What about Alena? Then Sambo becomes something like a college prep school for junior ladies heading into seniors.

No one ever said we can't have all 3 wishes at TCC granted. Just that this one imploded at the earliest.

Technically the status is: Zhenya: insider info says she's going to BOrser Boyang: CSA wants him at BOrser Wakaba: rumors that they are talking but nothing broke yet How many shields do I need to prepare? @Yatagarasu: I'm glad you're amused. I'm not, as the unofficial rink diplomat and mediator, I can already foresee the fight that will break out this weekend between some of the more extreme fans, and the more casual ones (with casual ones using shipping to egg the extreme ones onwards). I had a list of exercises to do, it's going to go down the drain.