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

[Yuzurella]

7 hours ago, WinForPooh said:

 

Here's the part that refers to his family:

 

 

And another bit:

 

 

Here's the link to the translation:

 

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/vaytskekhovskayas-interview-with-arutyunyan.103449/

 

Somehow, I don't think that if Nathan had managed to land his jumps, Raf would've been giving interviews saying it was all because Nathan listened to his family. And it was apparently Raf's assumption anyway but he happily gave the interview saying so! 

 

Thank you for this!

 

That sounds to me like Raf was trying to shirk his responsibility, find excuses and let it look like he was the victim. We'll never know what really happened back then, but to say those kind of things in interviews is not exactly classy...

 

I believe that as a coach, one should always support - and if necessary even protect - one's student in public. There might be conflicts or disagreements, but that should be resolved in private, not in a public media inteview.

 

This makes me feel even more grateful that Yuzu went to train at TCC.

[WinForPooh]

5 hours ago, Yuzurella said:

 

Thank you for this!

 

That sounds to me like Raf was trying to shirk his responsibility, find excuses and let it look like he was the victim. We'll never know what really happened back then, but to say those kind of things in interviews is not exactly classy...

 

I believe that as a coach, one should always support - and if necessary even protect - one's student in public. There might be conflicts or disagreements, but that should be resolved in private, not in a public media inteview.

 

This makes me feel even more grateful that Yuzu went to train at TCC.

 

Brian had lessons to learn about how he talked about his students' families but he learned those lessons. 

[SparkleSalad]

 

 

 

[airi]

He already trained with Hamada, it's not that surprising for me. I hope she will help with polishing him a little (not that he doesn't already get PCS anyway but eh)

[ralucutzagy]

 

[ralucutzagy]

Chris and Alexa Knierim are currently working with Raf too? lol

 

[IceWings]

 

3 hours ago, ralucutzagy said:

Chris and Alexa Knierim are currently working with Raf too? lol

 

 

Not sure if Raf is coaching them, but the Knierim's are training in the same rink and are listed as coaches there:

https://www.greatparkice.com/figure-skating/private-lessons/

[Dreamer]

On 6/10/2019 at 10:54 AM, Sukigirl said:

Oh no Shoma. Is this wise?

 

IMO, shades of Patrick Chan

[SparkleSalad]

 

 

 

 

ETA

 

 

 

[sweetwater]

45 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

So it was his coaches who set him free? 

 

 

 

In the original, he says "真知子先生から も 離れたほうがいいんじゃないかと言われた" which means "Machiko sensei also said that it might be better for me to leave them."  He just said that the coach agreed with his decision.
By the way, isn't this more relevant to Team Japan thread?

[EisElle]

Well, not surprising after Shoma had already hinted at that chance.

Again, he is not alone, he has his own managment (I'd be surprised if he didn't have some kind of medical support too), he's experienced and he's gonna have Honda in his corner. I doubt that if Shoma will need advise on other things Honda will say "wait, I'm here just for jumps". And he'll be at his usual training base and, again, I bet that his old coaches would be ready to advise too, if needed.

I think Shoma felt he needed to take more ownership of his skating and he felt he couldn't do that with the tentation of always leaning on his old coaches, so he decided to "leave". So now he's forcing himself to be more independent while also keeping some kind of safety net by staying one more season in familiar environment, using the time to calmy prepare for the next big step  and from what he says, about his programs too, I'm really excited about what he'll bring because it sounds like he's growing so much and there are gonna be big changes

I'm curious about where he wants to go next season, there's not many rinks in the world with skaters doing multiple quads...

 

As for Switzerland, he's worked well with Lambiel in the past too, so, while the timing feels a bit late, with Lombardia trophy basically next door mid-September, it makes sense for Shoma to just train there and compete before coming back to Japan for JO (of course I'm assuming he'll go to LT)

 

 

I'm honestly more worried and puzzled about Marin, who's younger, less experienced and hasn't had, thus far, the senior results she hoped for.

If her issue was reverting back to old habits when in Japan, then imo the best solution would have been just not going back to Japan (or like, not for long, so old habits can't kick in and she won't train unsupervised for long). If that wasn't possible, and she is even going to increase her time in Jaoan, it makes me think that she has other commitments that still require quite a lot of her time. Or she misses home, she's very young and that's possible too (I'm assuming there are no frictions with the rink or the coach, in K&C Raf looked supportive).

Idk if having two coaches (working on their own) can truly help Marin... especially since Raf has always stressed that a couple years of full training are necessary for results to show...

 

(it looks Takeshi Honda is gonna be busy.. and does this mean Marin will train in Shoma's rink?)

[Sukigirl]

I admire Shoma for taking matters in his own hands and charting his own destiny. How many times have people lamented that he’s just skating (beautifully) to programmes choreographed for him without his own input? And I think he also stated in the past his willingness to do whatever his coaches instructed.

 

Whether it was last season’s Worlds results that triggered a mindset change, or something else altogether, it must not be easy to take this step. So I wish him well and hope he is able to progress and produce results with this new arrangement. 

 

He seems pretty clear though in his mind about what’s needed to take his skating to the next level. Wonder if he made feelers to RAF and Orser. At his level, there are only so many top-level male skaters to train with...

[Paskud]