What will 2010-11 bring for Caroline Zhang?

PolymerBob said:

It looks like Caroline posted another blog late last month.

http://fanzone.att.net/teamusa/athlete/caroline-zhang

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How come I see the blog posts late? I checked the blog a few days ago and the June 27 entry certainly wasn't there.

Anyway, my heart is so happy for Caroline. At this age, she certainly knows how to address her weaknesses. I can't wait for Champs Camp and Golden West.

feraina said:

She did nothing but regressing last year,

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She regressed onto the Four Continents podium. Actually, I think last season was the result of injury and lost training time.

feraina said:

Thanks very much for the link! I am really happy to hear that she's finally doing some pilates and off-ice training classes. I mean, she should've started them from a young age, since she obviously lacks core strength! But better later than never, right? It should definitely help her skating.

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From her posts, it does seem she knows she need to get stronger. She mentions the gym several times. And now she writes about pilates, so this is a good sign. ( There is a 3 or 4 year old picture somewhere of Caroline lifting weights. )

frauregina said:

How come I see the blog posts late? I checked the blog a few days ago and the June 27 entry certainly wasn't there.

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Maybe it takes a few days for the posts to appear.

Thanks for the blog post. I wonder what she is skating to and who her choreographers are. Tom Dickson has been rumored and as he did her Spanish Gypsy (which IMO is her best program to date) I hope it's true.

PolymerBob said:

Maybe it takes a few days for the posts to appear.

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That makes sense. Maybe AT&T is screening her blog posts so that she can't post something whiny or something to that effect.

frauregina said:

Maybe AT&T is screening her blog posts so that she can't post something whiny or something to that effect.

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I don't think her posts are censored......... But I just thought of something. The Olympics are over; so why is Caroline still posting on the AT&T site? Her contract must have extended past the Olympics.

Coaching change to Tammy Gambill is now official:
http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=44810&type=media

Thanks for the article. I have been reading Tammy is something of a jump technician. Hopefully, this change will help Caroline achieve her potential. :yay:

Thanks for the article, Sylvia! How exciting

PolymerBob said:

She regressed onto the Four Continents podium. Actually, I think last season was the result of injury and lost training time.

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I have a special spot in my heart for Caroline, and I'd love to see her progress more than anything else. But let's put things in perspective here. 2010 4CC wasn't well attended, being so close to the Olympics. Her 4th place from 2009 was a lot more impressive: she beat out Cynthia, Fumie, Rachael, Akiko, and Alissa. And her scores (171 in 2009, 161 in 2010) reflect that.

I'm really glad that she's going to Tammy Gambill. Her coaching change was looooooooong over due (I was really sad that she went back to Li last year), and I'm especially happy that she went to Tammy, actually. The fact that she focuses on technique and has been working with up-and-comers bode well. It means that they are serious about reworking Caroline's technique. I'm also liking what Tammy said in her USFSA Q&A:
http://www.usfsa.org/Magazine.asp?id=57&issue=29009
especially the part where she said she doesn't let her students skate more than 3 hours a day, that she gets them to do double run-throughs before competitions, and that she gets them to take strengthening and pilates off ice. I hope Caroline is following all of those directions (this might be why she started pilates recently, and got more into strengthening exercises), as these will directly target some of her weaknesses. If she had more strength and power, therefore more speed, her jumps will have to rely less on her contortionist technique for take-offs.

I'm really looking forward to see what kind of improvements working with Gambill will bring in the coming seasons. I just hope that she sticks with it if all this new training regime is throwing off her consistency and her results a little. It will take time before everything solidifies!

feraina said:

I'm really glad that she's going to Tammy Gambill. Her coaching change was looooooooong over due (I was really sad that she went back to Li last year), and I'm especially happy that she went to Tammy, actually.

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Here is a theory on why she went back to Ms. Li last year.

http://loopaxles.blogspot.com/2010/07/carolines-numerous-flip-flops-explained.html

PolymerBob said:

Here is a theory on why she went back to Ms. Li last year.
http://loopaxles.blogspot.com/2010/07/carolines-numerous-flip-flops-explained.html

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Interesting, but I think it was more than that. Caroline was searching for a coach for a good while, and she went to Florida and Colorado and tried out with coaches there, too. She had a a disappointing 2008-2009 season, not making Worlds in her hometown was a big letdown. I think she seriously wanted to make a rather drastic change in her skating. Also, after she and Charlene parted, they were still on very good terms, as you could see from their mutual facebook wall posts. I don't think they'd be on such good terms if she went to Charlene only because Li was planning on moving to China, and then went back to Li as soon as those plans were postponed.

Plus, 2009-10 was the Olympic season, Li had a reasonable chance of taking Caroline to the Olympics. She said in an interview once that the greatest honor of being a coach is taking a student to the Olympics. I don't think she would've been stupid enough to dump Caroline just before the Olympic season even if she was already negotiating with the Chinese skating federation about a move. I think she would have waited until after the Olympic season anyway. I think Caroline only went back to Li because she realized she couldn't revamp all her technique in one season, and between her becoming less consistent with the jumps and getting injured with the new training regime under Charlene, she decided to not rock the boat and go back to what she was comfortable with for one more season.

I rather think that Caroline's dissatisfaction with her coaching situation is part of the reason why Li is leaving. Besides Caroline, Li doesn't have any top-tier skaters. She has no strong ties other than Caroline to keep her here, whereas she has family and friends back in China to look forward to, as well as the prestige and responsibility of being in charge of revamping Chinese women's skating program. She's being given the full responsibility of picking the next crop of youngsters to be in the National team, whereas in the U.S. she doesn't have her pick of students (even the best coaches don't because the system is so different -- here the skaters hire the coaches, in China the national team pays for training, room/board, and a stipend, and the coaches get to decide who are let in to the national teams).

A new tidbit of information today in the August 23rd edition of "The Inside Edge with Sarah and Drew" blog on Icenetwork -- choreographer David Wilson mentions that he worked with Caroline earlier this summer but doesn't specify short or long program.

Sylvia said:

A new tidbit of information today in the August 23rd edition of "The Inside Edge with Sarah and Drew" blog on Icenetwork -- choreographer David Wilson mentions that he worked with Caroline earlier this summer but doesn't specify short or long program.

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i was just going to post that myself! very exciting. I hope this is the beginning of something big for miss Zhang!

Oh! That's interesting! I actually wrote a while ago that Caroline is having David Wilson do choreography, though I couldn't remember where I had heard that. And others cast doubt on it, until I thought I had dreamed it. Well, it might still have been a dream, but in any case I'm so glad it's true! We definitely heard about her being in Colorado for choreography as well. Does this mean that she will have a Lori-less season?! *gasp* I think that would actually be really good for her. It's high time for her to try something new, to get a new range of styles of music and expressions, to work with new choreographers (I know that Dickson did her Gypsy SP, and that was one of her best programs). If this is Tammy Gambil's influence, then I say well done already!

Tinymavy15 said:

i was just going to post that myself! very exciting. I hope this is the beginning of something big for miss Zhang!

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Yes, this could be a new beginning for Caroline. I got tired of reading how her career was finished.

feraina said:

It's high time for her to try something new, to get a new range of styles of music and expressions, to work with new choreographers (I know that Dickson did her Gypsy SP, and that was one of her best programs). If this is Tammy Gambil's influence, then I say well done already!

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Spanish Gypsy was a dynamic, powerful program with a lot of attitude. The 2008 Junior Worlds is still her personal best. I hope she can get that kind of power back.

I have no inside information, but I have read the same unflattering rumors everyone else has. Fortunately, I have also read that Tammi is skilled at keeping unruly parents under control. If so, Tammi could be exactly what Caroline needs to get her training back on track.

Caroline's bio has been updated.

2011 Season Notes

SP Music: "Libertango" by Astor Piazzolla
FS Music: "Cello Concerto in B minor" by Antonin Dvorak performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra


I am loving Dvorak for Caroline I just hope the music cuts are good.

Yes it has. Here are her music choices from IceNetwork.

2011 Season Notes
SP Music: "Libertango" by Astor Piazzolla
FS Music: "Cello Concerto in B minor" by Antonin Dvorak performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Costumes by Del Arbour ...

cornell08 said:

2011 Season Notes

SP Music: "Libertango" by Astor Piazzolla
FS Music: "Cello Concerto in B minor" by Antonin Dvorak performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra


I am loving Dvorak for Caroline I just hope the music cuts are good.

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Loving these choices. I wonder which one Wilson did? I hope she can skate them with speed and passion (and the tango with a lot of attitude!)

Tinymavy15 said:

Loving these choices. I wonder which one Wilson did? I hope she can skate them with speed and passion (and the tango with a lot of attitude!)

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I'm guessing Wilson did the long and Dickson the short.