Carolina Kostner changing coaches? | Golden Skate

Carolina Kostner changing coaches?

berrycute

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Hi all,

A fellow Carolina fan told me today that he read Carolina might be changing coaches for next season, maybe to Brian Orser. Has anyone else heard this, or anything along those lines?
 

redshirt

Match Penalty
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
I hope so. Kostner's 'great' performance of executing multiple single jumps still scored 90+ at world championships. I'm wondering what marks she'll get if she is able to land two triples?
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
I won't be too terribly surprised if Carolina does change coaches, but I highly doubt it would be to Brian Orser, who already coaches Yu-Na...
 

Eurofan

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
I hope it's true. Whatever Huth is doing, it's not helping Kostner, Dytrt, Verner, or Kovalevsky.
 

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
i can't wait for this to be confirmed. Carolina has had the same coach as long as I can remember, so this would be a big change for her. I am not so ready to believe the rumor about Brian Orser, yeah I am, sure every skater from preliminary to senior wants to train with him, but I don't think he will be ready to take on another full-time student. He already has one top lady who take up 90% of his time and don't forget that Adam Rippon has moved under his wing as well.

I think it is about time that Carolina made this choice, it she has indeed made it. She has gotten huge scores the past few years but rarely skated well. She has the goods, and if she was ever clean for 2 programs she could beat Mao easyily and perhaps even yu-na. I guess that is what she is hoping for in Vancover, but I feel like it is just a little late. 9 months is not that long.

I wonder if this has anything to do with popping all her jumps at worlds. Maybe she blames her coach for something?
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I'm still at a loss as to the blame of a faulty program.

I believe it is in the performance of the skater under fire. Something is bothering the skater. Injury? Pressure? Travel? Minor Illness? etc.

I can not see any blame on the Coach who isn't skating the program.

There can be many run-thrus of a new program. Surely the skater, the coach, or the choreographer can change anything necessary long before a competition.

However, if the skater is thinking that a coach is not enhancing her tech she should see this early on and change coaches. I think in Caroline's case, this is the earliest for change. So I am ok with it. Frank Carroll, maybe?
 

eleonora.d

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Ok ,this is the situation:

After WC 2009, once again Huth's training method was critisized. There was a huge talk after that on the media but she didn't say nothing until a week ago when she was interviewed by the major newspaper of the nation, Corriere della Sera.

That's what she said, briefly:

She didn't know what happened and doesn't know how to explain that performance. She felt like she had a black-out and lost all the confidence after the first 3 flip hand down.

-she doesn't know yet if she will change coach. She always worked with Huth.
She only said she likes Orser very much but thinks it's very unlikely that he accepts more than one female top skater.

-the main problem turned out to be that she does not have any mental coach or sports psicologyst at least on a regular basis. So her main concern now is to find a professional help.

-She didn't decide yet about changes in her team (physioterapist, training method, coach etc) She will meet Huth later in April or so and then take a decision. Also, she will have to meet the federation (probably already happened or will happen this week).

Many suggested to work with Mishin. She already went to Jaca for his famous summer camp the past years and turned out to be a very helpful experience. I wish she could work with him on a regular basis especially during competitions, he seems to give a real boost of confidence to his students.

Also, many people of the media and figure skating world of Italy noticed that it's not very likely that she takes such a decision. She always stayed with Huth and right before Worlds stated that she credits him for everything good there is in her skating.

She often said that Oberstdorf was the ideal place for her with that peaceful environment where she can train without being distracted, with very good facilities and the best team.
After the Olympics, when she seemed to have had a similar mental meltdown , any suggested a coaching change but she always denied it.

Even if I know her skating career very well, I don't know what to think, but again I can't see her moving from Oberstdorf even if I wish a change. Some medias already stated there will be no changes.
 
Last edited:

bibi

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 7, 2007
Many suggested to work with Mishin. She already went to Jaca for his famous summer camp the past years and turned out to be a very helpful experience. I wish she could work with him on a regular basis especially during competitions, he seems to give a real boost of confidence to his students.
Sorry for my ignorance, but who's Mishin? Who has he/she worked with before?
Thanks :D
 

bekalc

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
I'm still at a loss as to the blame of a faulty program.

I believe it is in the performance of the skater under fire. Something is bothering the skater. Injury? Pressure? Travel? Minor Illness? etc.

I can not see any blame on the Coach who isn't skating the program.

There can be many run-thrus of a new program. Surely the skater, the coach, or the choreographer can change anything necessary long before a competition.

However, if the skater is thinking that a coach is not enhancing her tech she should see this early on and change coaches. I think in Caroline's case, this is the earliest for change. So I am ok with it. Frank Carroll, maybe?

I think that in someways Hoth seems to be a very, very good coach. Kostner has fabulous technique, as does Verner....I know Lori Nichol talked about the edging drills Hoth has.

BUT, both Tomas and Carolina have a history of being head cases. Last year it was Tomas who had the ridiculous meltdown. Both of their results are all over the place. Are both of these skaters major headcases? I'm not sure about that.

Now Carolina may be just a head case period. But it's clear to me that something is being done wrong because it's not like this is Kostner's only disasterous skate...At the very least she needs to change the way she approaches competition or something. It's clear Hoth hasn't helped Kostner fix the problem. And it's not the program, this is a two year program she won World silver last year with that program.

Kostner needs someone who can help her with the mental aspect of this sport. I think Orser would be a good coach for Carolina because Orser is a former skater who knows about those kind of pressure situations. However, it would be extremely unfair to Yu-na for Orser to take on one of her top competitors and Carolina would be right up there if she could fix her issues, right before the Olympics....

But yes, I think Kostner needs a coaching change, or she needs to do something, get a sports psychologist or something needs to change about the way she approaches competitions. Period. She's way too good for what happened to happen.

\
 
Last edited:

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
In my opinion Kostner and Verner do not need to change their coach in this point = so close to the Olympics, but they do need to find a person (psychologist) who is able to "give" them mental strength to continue even after a mistake.
 

berrycute

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 14, 2008
Thanks Eleonora for the info! I wish I could read Italian because so much of what is written about Carolina is only in Italian, so thanks for relaying the info to us all!

About the Mishin possibility, I thought he preferred to work only with male skaters? If Carolina does want to change away from Huth, I feel kind of doubtful he will take Carolina on as a full-time charge, and if Orser does indeed decide not to take her, as most people think, she would be kind of stuck.
 

NatachaHatawa

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
In my opinion Kostner and Verner do not need to change their coach in this point = so close to the Olympics, but they do need to find a person (psychologist) who is able to "give" them mental strength to continue even after a mistake.

I couldn't agree more. What really fails Huth's pupils aren't their technique but their mental strength. Maybe Huth himself should create a team of people around his skaters, each with different jobs, like some other coaches do.
 

mrd2301

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
-the main problem turned out to be that she does not have any mental coach or sports psicologyst at least on a regular basis. So her main concern now is to find a professional help.
That's incredible. I thought she has already worked with a psychologist or something periodically. I wonder if she is aware of her mental problem.
 

viv

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
That's incredible. I thought she has already worked with a psychologist or something periodically. I wonder if she is aware of her mental problem.

I agree. She had kind of a meltdown at last Olympics, and didn't get professional help on her mental problems after that? Well, Huth might or might not be a good coach on the technical side, but it would be his job to advice his athletes to look for psychological help if they blow their competitions at least. With Verner, Kostner, Dytrt he has three headcases in his charge, why doesn't he do something about it?
 

Meli_Huber

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
I agree. She had kind of a meltdown at last Olympics, and didn't get professional help on her mental problems after that? Well, Huth might or might not be a good coach on the technical side, but it would be his job to advice his athletes to look for psychological help if they blow their competitions at least. With Verner, Kostner, Dytrt he has three headcases in his charge, why doesn't he do something about it?

He also trains now:
- Philipp Tischendorf
- Franz Streubel (a German junior skater - skated jgps last season)
- Jennifer Urban (a German junior skater - did 3T, 3S and 3Loop in competition last season)
- Kavita Lorenz (German National Novice Champion 2009 - Under 14 years old)

And don´t forget Anton Kovalevski.
 

viv

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
He also trains now:
- Philipp Tischendorf
- Franz Streubel (a German junior skater - skated jgps last season)
- Jennifer Urban (a German junior skater - did 3T, 3S and 3Loop in competition last season)
- Kavita Lorenz (German National Novice Champion 2009 - Under 14 years old)

And don´t forget Anton Kovalevski.

Well, yes, but that's not a contradiction to what I said. Dytrt for example is such a great jumper - as long as she has not to proof it in a competition. It just doesn't make sense to me that he seems to ignore the psychological side of it.
 

eleonora.d

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
That's incredible. I thought she has already worked with a psychologist or something periodically. I wonder if she is aware of her mental problem.

I have red a lot of interviews/articles about that and this is not at all clear. She didnt' clarify if she was working with someone and who was that.

It seems like she did consult a professional according to Dytrt's interview.
Here is a quote from Annette Dytrt's interview she had with Figure Skating - Online.

Q: Last season you said that you would like to consult a sports psychologist. Are you doing that now?

A: Yes, I got a sports psychologist and we’ve been working for two months. It’s Carolina Kostner’s sports psychologist. I talked to the Federation and to the Bavarian Federation, and we decided together that this is something we want. The Federation wanted it and I wanted it myself, and now it worked out.[/

I think that whoever is he/she, the main problem is that they need some day by day professional help.

For example, Samuel Contesti works with a militar psychologist (the italian's paratrooper's one) and you can see this man standing by the coaches (Zulini and Peter Grutter) right before and after he skates.

So, someone that can follow Huth's pupils during competitions standing at the boards may be a solution.
 

Meli_Huber

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
Well, yes, but that's not a contradiction to what I said. Dytrt for example is such a great jumper - as long as she has not to proof it in a competition. It just doesn't make sense to me that he seems to ignore the psychological side of it.

It is the same with Jenny Urban, who trains with Huth since young years. She is not able to land her jumps in competition constant and clean.
Tischendorf, Streubel,.... trains with Huth only since a few weeks or month. And I really hope, that they don´t become the same probleme!

All Huth pupils have the same probleme .... in competition they cannot show what she really can
 
Top