Team USA

[xeyra]

14 hours ago, yuzuangel said:

I suppose I can see it...like "The media says you can do a 4Lz and a 4F! So do it!" Nathan: "okay..." I mean, I guess it's part of his identity now that that's what he was painted as (a quadster who can do the hardest quads in his sleep). And I wonder if his family thought downgrading his layout would lead them to lose face or something.

 

I have talked about before how the US media keeps pushing for more and more from Nathan. There was disappointment he didn't do 4Lz at US Nationals even though he landed 5 quads! Various media outlets kept making references to 6-7 quad layouts, never letting him rest on just perfecting 4-5. And because he and his team sort of lost the concept of choreography with jumps and instead assumed the idea of choreography/artistry vs jumps, they kind of wanted to push for more and more too in detriment of other developments. 

 

Can't blame them, though, considering how little time Nathan had to make a splash in the senior world before the Olympics and, once he did, to become a real contender against men who outscored him with lesser content. With a federation like the USA, you can't just take the time to slowly work your way up in other ways. And with so many different pulls on what he can or should do, while dealing with the pressure of all the hyping done by the USA media, it doesn't surprise me there was that initial unraveling and the subsequent 'fuck it, I'm going for broke now I'm not fighting for medals'. 

 

I just hope this has served as sort of a lesson to all of them and they resolve the conflicts within. 

[Katt]

.I always feel like there's something happened between Raf and Nathan after Nats because the way they communicate seem a bit weird, especially at the Olys practice when Nathan looked so stress. At the beginning of the season, I thought Nathan came up with great strategy. Landed the 4lo to prove his TES potential and good programs. At that time I thought Nathan would take out the 4lo and transitions as the season went so he could be more consistent with the jumps and the pcs would rise through the roof. But it didn't happened. No matter how many times media reminded he's undefeat before Olys, his score in GPs was far from other top contender's PB/SB.The moment I realize the pressure got into Nathan was Skate America and I knew thing like that would repeated at Olys.

 

There's alot of talks about Nathan move to TCC but I don't see it happen. Brian said working with US skater require too many paper works, not to mention Nathan's college plan. And if Nathan's mom (or family) did decided thing, there's no way Brian would take him. Brian fired Nam because his father involved into training. The same with Vincent. 

 

[Xen]

36 minutes ago, Katt said:

.I always feel like there's something happened between Raf and Nathan after Nats because the way they communicate seem a bit weird, especially at the Olys practice when Nathan looked so stress. At the beginning of the season, I thought Nathan came up with great strategy. Landed the 4lo to prove his TES potential and good programs. At that time I thought Nathan would take out the 4lo and transitions as the season went so he could be more consistent with the jumps and the pcs would rise through the roof. But it didn't happened. No matter how many times media reminded he's undefeat before Olys, his score in GPs was far from other top contender's PB/SB.The moment I realize the pressure got into Nathan was Skate America and I knew thing like that would repeated at Olys.

 

There's alot of talks about Nathan move to TCC but I don't see it happen. Brian said working with US skater require too many paper works, not to mention Nathan's college plan. And if Nathan's mom (or family) did decided thing, there's no way Brian would take him. Brian fired Nam because his father involved into training. The same with Vincent. 

 

I'm curious about another possibility-Nathan and Tarasova. Mainly based on how Tarasova transformed Yagudin. But would TAT take on Nathan is another question.  Other places also keep on mentioning Kurt Browning as a possibility (not aware he coached). 

Nathan's also young enough that he could get another growth spurt, and combined with his knee bend, he might need to rework quite a few of his jumps. Would USFed give him time to do that? 

[Katt]

24 minutes ago, Xen said:

I'm curious about another possibility-Nathan and Tarasova. Mainly based on how Tarasova transformed Yagudin. But would TAT take on Nathan is another question.  Other places also keep on mentioning Kurt Browning as a possibility (not aware he coached). 

Nathan's also young enough that he could get another growth spurt, and combined with his knee bend, he might need to rework quite a few of his jumps. Would USFed give him time to do that? 

Tarasova stop coaching a few years ago I think. And lol a big no for Kurt. He has his job as commentator for CBC and no way US fed would agree for Nathan to go with an inexperience coach. I remember when Nathan got interview for college, there're few people told about changing coach. Its hard situation for him if he leave Raf. Is there any US coach can fix his weakness ( SS/choreo/whole package/3A) ? May be he could go back to Marina Zueva.

[Fay]

WHAT?!

https://mobile.twitter.com/SkatingLesson/status/966771069414670337

[GreatLakesGal]

Wow. If that is accurate, then it will freak out a lot of those Jason fans who also engaged in nonstop praise for Kori and Rohene.

 

And Tessa Hong has "moved on" from skating?  That's interesting.

 

 

 

 

[kaeryth]

1 hour ago, Fay said:

WHAT?!

https://mobile.twitter.com/SkatingLesson/status/966771069414670337

 

I did not expect that....

[Yatagarasu]

I have been rooting for Jason to go somewhere else for quite a while so all I can say to that is 

The proposed changes are to his benefit but to use that fully, he is going to have to stabilize the jumps. Even yes, the quad. Jason is a great skater, his scores are high, there is no reason that he should stagnate as he has been, or we could argue this past season, he's even deteriorated a bit. So all this is good. Plus he's old enough to have an identity as a skater he's aware of and I'm sure he'll have no issues keeping that which is uniquely Jason. 

 

@Xen Unfortunately as @Katt said, TAT doesn't coach any more. It's her health; she's unable to spend long periods of time at rinks. She has alas also withdrawn from choreography, which always bummed me out; I wanted her to do an EX for Zu. I think Jason's shopping around California, so it'll probably be someone there.

[GreatLakesGal]

One thing I've wondered about Jason is if it's primarily his body type that is causing him to have problems with quads. When he finally returned to the ice after being sidelined by injury, I immediately noticed (as did others) how much his body had matured since he had last skated. 

 

I've also wondered whether his extreme closeness to Kori has negatively affected his performances. The hugging they do before he skates--does that have a calming or an arousing effect on him? And then all the intense hand-holding they do before the scores come up--you would think someone's life is on the line instead of just a skating competition.

[beki]

I hope it's Anthony Liu, because of the good work he did with Tatsuki Machida 

[Yatagarasu]

3 minutes ago, beki said:

I hope it's Anthony Liu, because of the good work he did with Tatsuki Machida 

 

Mhm, IMO it's the best option there, considering Jason's issues but we'll see. Fingers crossed!

[liv]

If true, I hope he can find someone to help him technically because he has everything else. 

[Katt]

Seem like there's a lot of coaching change for US skaters next season. Anthony Liu is a great option for Jason ( he should change coach after Sochi IMO). Now I want Nathan go to Anthony too. I'm not fond of the idea that everyone should go to TCC. I read somewhere that Brian rejected alot skaters because he felt they maxed out in term of potential and he will be very picky to choose who's he gonna work next season. I always have a feeling US skaters might not fit to Brian's approach. 

[Xen]

1 hour ago, Katt said:

Seem like there's a lot of coaching change for US skaters next season. Anthony Liu is a great option for Jason ( he should change coach after Sochi IMO). Now I want Nathan go to Anthony too. I'm not fond of the idea that everyone should go to TCC. I read somewhere that Brian rejected alot skaters because he felt they maxed out in term of potential and he will be very picky to choose who's he gonna work next season. I always have a feeling US skaters might not fit to Brian's approach. 

Not so much just US skaters, but US fed too. There's a bit of a rush to get results, which is opposite what Brian's approach is (1.5 years to see an improvement). I felt there was a reason why he tried but didn't make it with 2 US skaters. My feeling is that Brian tends to do well with Asian skaters or skaters from smaller Feds, he gets more time to work his magic on them.

8 hours ago, GreatLakesGal said:

One thing I've wondered about Jason is if it's primarily his body type that is causing him to have problems with quads. When he finally returned to the ice after being sidelined by injury, I immediately noticed (as did others) how much his body had matured since he had last skated.

I don't fully buy it. Yagudin wasn't exactly a beanpole, and neither were Joubert or Timothy Goebel, or Michael Weiss for that matter.  It almost sounds more like he didn't get proper coaching to deal with his growth spurt, which should have been accounted for when he was training-majority of male skaters start quads in their teens before a growth spurt and still have to adjust  afterwards. Jason gets enough height on his jumps, and his quad attempts were almost there (he fully rotates), it's really an issue of his rotation speed, snapping into air position faster. I recall there was a russian website that listed the rotation speed of the guys, and Jason had one of the slowest rotation speeds (if not the slowest period), he was like 4. XX while the other guys were all over 5 I think?

[Katt]

8 hours ago, Xen said:

Not so much just US skaters, but US fed too. There's a bit of a rush to get results, which is opposite what Brian's approach is (1.5 years to see an improvement). I felt there was a reason why he tried but didn't make it with 2 US skaters. My feeling is that Brian tends to do well with Asian skaters or skaters from smaller Feds, he gets more time to work his magic on them.

Yeah Brian is not fond of quad quad quad, as he said many times he aim for the whole package. What he did for Javi in the past 5 years always amaze me. Seem like Brian is quite invest in SS/foundation, thing that wont give you results right away. About Asian or small fed skaters, i don't know yet but I feel that most of TCC's skaters are very chill ??? Yuna, Javi, and Jun hwan are all chill. Yuzuru actually the most stubborn kid . I'm very curious to see who's gonna join TCC next season.