It's that time of the year - coaching changes 2019/2020

[fyere0]

7 minutes ago, hoodie axel said:

How do you say?

 

From this article: 

https://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/figure/news/CK2019060402000187.html

 

Though someone who speaks Japanese will have to do a better translation to see if that's what it really says. Google Translate gives: "According to officials, the coach will look for new from inside and outside Japan, but the affiliation does not change next season, and for the time being will practice at the Chukyo University rink."

 

'For the time being' (if that's what it says) could mean 'until he decides on a coach and moves away to join them' or it could mean 'there will be a coach change but he doesn't have plans to move'.

[eagle]

Yawningshoma already did a translation

[rockstaryuzu]

5 hours ago, fyere0 said:

I can't really wrap my mind around Shoma actually physically moving to Sambo.

Glad I'm not the only one. I keep thinking he'd starve to death (sorry, I just can't shake those Eteri rumours about how strictly she governs her skater's diets). And maybe he wouldn't know how to handle all those fiery Russian girls. I honestly can't picture anything more opposite to typical Japanese-ness. 

 

But more importantly, Shoma is at a stage where he REALLY needs to be opposite another guy who can give him a run for his money in training every day. Someone he can compete with. 

[ralucutzagy]

 

[Sukigirl]

1 hour ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Glad I'm not the only one. I keep thinking he'd starve to death (sorry, I just can't shake those Eteri rumours about how strictly she governs her skater's diets). And maybe he wouldn't know how to handle all those fiery Russian girls. I honestly can't picture anything more opposite to typical Japanese-ness. 

 

But more importantly, Shoma is at a stage where he REALLY needs to be opposite another guy who can give him a run for his money in training every day. Someone he can compete with. 

 

That’s what I’m thinking too. He’s not a rising junior looking to learn how to jump. Yes, it would be nice to master 4lz and stabilise 4 loop, but he’s already a quadster. What he needs now is the push that comes from training with competitive peers. This was what Yuzu needed to take his skating to the next level, and he found it in Javi. I’d imagine it’s the same scenario in Sambo too with the Russian girls, and in Montréal too with all the ice dancers training together. You benchmark your progress against your rivals on a daily basis.

 

So why Eteri when there’s no top male skater there? 

 

As for technique, I honestly dunno if it’s fixable at this stage in his career. He’s not young and it’s gonna take him ages to retool. There may not be enough time between now and Beijing. He needs to keep his body healthy too.

 

just makes me glad that Yuzu got his 2 OGMs safely tucked away

[Shimmering]

While Shoma may benefit from training alongside a strong rival, I don't see how that is possible. Raf is not exactly good at creating healthy competitive atmosphere *cough* Eunsoo and Maria *cough* and Brian may not want a repeat (he said the rivalry had worked out for Javi and Yuzu, but he wouldn't recommend it to anybody else), and I'm not sure there is much Shoma can learn from Vincent. Samarin? 

[Moria Polonius]

2 hours ago, Shimmering said:

While Shoma may benefit from training alongside a strong rival, I don't see how that is possible. Raf is not exactly good at creating healthy competitive atmosphere *cough* Eunsoo and Maria *cough* and Brian may not want a repeat (he said the rivalry had worked out for Javi and Yuzu, but he wouldn't recommend it to anybody else), and I'm not sure there is much Shoma can learn from Vincent. Samarin? 

 

Get Kolyada and Shoma somwhere together. 

[Paskud]

9 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

But more importantly, Shoma is at a stage where he REALLY needs to be opposite another guy who can give him a run for his money in training every day. Someone he can compete with. 

Why? He survived 4 succesful senior seasons without rival, why he would need any now?

We have (had)... two? examples of skaters, who were able to compete at the same level and survive next to each other (Kobe girls and Yuzuru with Javier; and with the latter it wasn't always rainbows with puppies). Meanwhile: whole Alina and Evgenia situation post olympics (and even recently there was some drama on instagram), Mariah stabbed Eunsoo, Satoko is desperate to attempt jumps she herself admits she can't land (and at her rink there are two girls jumping 3a), P/C had... not so nice interview about V/M.

[eagle]

37 minutes ago, Paskud said:

Why? He survived 4 succesful senior seasons without rival, why he would need any now?

 

Because :

1) Shoma himself said so. He wants to train alongside other top skaters.

2) He has stagnated, his jumps has been giving him problems. Yuzu wanted to train with Javi cos of the 4S. Nothing beats watching someone else do it everyday.

Jason Brown has said that too - watching the other guys at TCC do quads gives him extra motivation that he can do it .

Nathan says he misses training with the rest of his rink mates. Training alone at Yale is ...lonely.

[KitSileya]

Leaving aside the fact that he's at TCC, I would love to see Shoma train alongside Jason. Jason is learning quads, Shoma needs to tweak his quad technique, and they seem to get along well and have known each other since junior days. Jason speaks Japanese, even. Too bad TCC is full to the bursting with top-level skaters, otherwise I think Shoma could really benefit from Tracy's stroking lessons and Ghislain's jump lessons, not to mention the general training atmosphere there.

 

I adore Shoma, and had talked about him needing a proper jump coach and more challenging and diverse choreography, but I hadn't actually thought he would have the guts to actually leave Coach Fluffy and Coach Yamada. We certainly live in interesting times, that's for sure!

[rockstaryuzu]

5 hours ago, Paskud said:

Why? He survived 4 succesful senior seasons without rival, why he would need any now?

We have (had)... two? examples of skaters, who were able to compete at the same level and survive next to each other (Kobe girls and Yuzuru with Javier; and with the latter it wasn't always rainbows with puppies). Meanwhile: whole Alina and Evgenia situation post olympics (and even recently there was some drama on instagram), Mariah stabbed Eunsoo, Satoko is desperate to attempt jumps she herself admits she can't land (and at her rink there are two girls jumping 3a), P/C had... not so nice interview about V/M.

Why? Because Shoma has stagnated the last year or two and he's not going to be pushed or challenged by skating with girls. 

[Paskud]

4 hours ago, eagle said:

Because :

1) Shoma himself said so. He wants to train alongside other top skaters.

2) He has stagnated, his jumps has been giving him problems. Yuzu wanted to train with Javi cos of the 4S. Nothing beats watching someone else do it everyday.

Jason Brown has said that too - watching the other guys at TCC do quads gives him extra motivation that he can do it .

Nathan says he misses training with the rest of his rink mates. Training alone at Yale is ...lonely.

Well, if Shoma says so, I respect it.

 

Rival at your rink works imo when you don't have the same goal. Nate doesn't have anybody with actual quads in Raf team. Jason doesn't have anybody at TCC with who he will need to fight for spot before 2022 olympics. The same way... I'm not Shoma fan, so I'm not sure, but I think he also had rink mates. Mako for example has the same coach. Rink mates. Not rivals. Because when goal, for example gold medal, is the same, you have P/C saying that their happy family at Gadbois was destroyed the moment V/M came.
 

 

 

 

Btw, Shoma thinks he needs rink rival and I respect this. But anybody else implying that he can't do single step forward without someone pushing him... it reminds me about "Yuzuru needs someone because Javier's retiring" talk from last year and I don't like it. At the end of the day it may be helpful, but imo it's not our place to speculate.

[Xen]

I think we're all still in the denial stage that Shoma to Eteri is a very real, big possibility. 

 

1) "Eteri hasn't trained any successful senior men."- Okay, how well known was Brian for training senior men before Yuzu and Javi?  Putting aside the fact that Eteri has 2 senior men now (Morisi and Erkhov aren't chopped liver), why do we so easily presume she cannot coach a top man? She's stated before she'd like to try coaching a top man, and has stated a preference to try with an asian skater before (aka Yuzu for one). 

2) "Training with the girls won't help": But we're forgetting that these girls, most of them, have quads. All of Eteri's snr men have quads. And Shoma does not have textbook technique- far from it, for flip and lutz, he's closer to Eteri's camp when it comes to PR and borderline UR too. 

3) Consistency: that's the bigger issue, the issue of consistency which is something Eteri skaters are known for.

4) Starvation debate: the diet issue is mainly on her female skaters, we don't know if it's applied as much to men's side. Also, all athletes will watch their diet since weight does affect jumps, diet is something you'd watch anyways. 

5) What's in it for Shoma: Honestly, in my opinion, none, it's too late. The goal of the move was to stop points from dropping more, which may happen should he stay in Japan. It's not really about dramatic improvement, but maybe gradual improvement, some re-imagining of him as a package. Otherwise, Saitama was pretty clear that they're willing to place V*ncent over him. 

 

I don't like the choice, not because of just the above reasons, but because the move just doesn't seem well thought-out. If I were Shoma and the rumors of where Barkell is going is true, I'd actually consider Lee as first option. But I don't think the reasons why, is something his camp would consider.  

 

[Paskud]

8 minutes ago, Xen said:

I think we're all still in the denial stage that Shoma to Eteri is a very real, big possibility. 

 

1) "Eteri hasn't trained any successful senior men."- Okay, how well known was Brian for training senior men before Yuzu and Javi?  Putting aside the fact that Eteri has 2 senior men now (Morisi and Erkhov aren't chopped liver), why do we so easily presume she cannot coach a top man? She's stated before she'd like to try coaching a top man, and has stated a preference to try with an asian skater before (aka Yuzu for one). 

2) "Training with the girls won't help": But we're forgetting that these girls, most of them, have quads. All of Eteri's snr men have quads. And Shoma does not have textbook technique- far from it, for flip and lutz, he's closer to Eteri's camp when it comes to PR and borderline UR too. 

3) Consistency: that's the bigger issue, the issue of consistency which is something Eteri skaters are known for.

4) Starvation debate: the diet issue is mainly on her female skaters, we don't know if it's applied as much to men's side. Also, all athletes will watch their diet since weight does affect jumps, diet is something you'd watch anyways. 

5) What's in it for Shoma: Honestly, in my opinion, none, it's too late. The goal of the move was to stop points from dropping more, which may happen should he stay in Japan. It's not really about dramatic improvement, but maybe gradual improvement, some re-imagining of him as a package. Otherwise, Saitama was pretty clear that they're willing to place V*ncent over him. 

 

I don't like the choice, not because of just the above reasons, but because the move just doesn't seem well thought-out. If I were Shoma and the rumors of where Barkell is going is true, I'd actually consider Lee as first option. But I don't think the reasons why, is something his camp would consider.  

 

And in what way this is good thing and will help?

I don't think Shoma will go to Eteri, because:

1) Sambo is as overcrowded as TCC, if not more. There are simply more skaters on ladies side.

2) Will be rus fed happy with this?

3) The Eteri rumour came from uncle Jack and I don't think he is good source of information. Additionaly, he worded it very vaguely. For now we only know that it rather isn't NA (because TSL is quiet) and not Mishin.

4) Does it mean we won't call him Shoma anymore, but Shomochka?

[Xen]

2 minutes ago, Paskud said:

And in what way this is good thing and will help?

I don't think Shoma will go to Eteri, because:

1) Sambo is as overcrowded as TCC, if not more. There are simply more skaters on ladies side.

2) Will be rus fed happy with this?

3) The Eteri rumour came from uncle Jack and I don't think he is good source of information. Additionaly, he worded it very vaguely. For now we only know that it rather isn't NA (because TSL is quiet) and not Mishin.

4) Does it mean we won't call him Shoma anymore, but Shomochka?

Um I don't think it's good nor it will help? I actually don't like this move at all because the move seems very haphazard and not though out at all. And I think so far all the options we listed, maybe except for TCC, are just PR based ideas to prevent points dropping more rather than actual real fixes since it's too late to fix.