Adam Rippon Makes a Coaching Change | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Adam Rippon Makes a Coaching Change

Snoopy

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
I'm happy for Adam, he seems like a gentle soul. I can't imagine he would respond well to abusive behavior. I'm sure it works for some athletes, but not all. Adam is still very young and could be around another 10 years+ on the senior level so I'm happy he made this decision quickly before his entire career and self-esteem deteriorated. I think Brian Orser is too cocky - at one competition before the Olympics he boasted to the press that Yu-Na could not be beaten, nobobdy could touch her. She then proceeded to fall apart and .. yep, lost to an inferior field of skaters. I don't think coaches should make statements like that about their athletes in public. :disapp:
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
^^^You expect Adam to be competing in his 30s?

Which Kim's competition are you refering to? Any video - both of Orser's bragging and of Kim's skate?
 

Snoopy

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
why not -- how old is Plushenko? Maria Butryskaya won worlds at 29 and men peak later in career.

It was a competition in the Olympic season, probably a Grand Prix but whatever, she was the favorite but I remember him making the comments and cringing -- then watched her fall all over the place. I'll try to find online but I don't remember the name of the comp.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
It must have been 2009 Skate America. I don't remember any specific boasting by Orser, but he could be forgiven if he had. Everybody believed that Kim could not be beat at that event. Especially after she went out and set the all time world record for a short program and was ahead by 17 points (and behind only Lysacek for the men :) )

Oops. She fell apart in the LP, landing only three triples finishing second in the long to Rachael Flatt. (Still won overall, though.)

The only direct quote I found from Orser (from Phil Hersh's coverage) was the usual pablum. ;)

"She knows she is the favorite, but you want to go out and skate well and show everybody you are what you are," said her coach, two-time Olympic silver medalist Brian Orser of Canada.

By the way, about the Kim-Orser split, I found an interesting interview with Orser (on the Japan Skates site) from 2007 with the following exchange.

JS: The time limit for you coaching her...is that open right now? Indefinite?

BR: I believe the goal is through Olympics...that's been the plan so far!

I think the "contract" between the two was pretty much "fee for services, pay as you go." After the Olympics Yu-na was not really sure what she wanted to do next, and when there was no word from the Yu-na camp for a number of months Brian felt like he had to resolve the matter one way or the other so they could both get on with their lives and careers.

Lack of communications between the principals led to grousing to third parties -- always unfortunate.
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
I don't think it's a matter of Brian being too intense, in that he might be too confident in his students' abilities. It is good to hype your students and be confident in what they can do, but by boasting that they can't be beaten (Yu Na), you might be setting their expectations way too high.

The other extreme (Frank Carroll) is someone who will actually tell people your weaknesses (someone once posted about how he believed if Linda couldn't feel the music before 1980, then she never will).

Oddly, I'd rather see Adam with a Japanese coach, like Nagakubo, or either Sato. They don't seem overconfident in their students, but they don't berate them, either.
 

sigrid

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Universal Sports have in their site a little vid from Figure Skating in Harlem of Adam talking about the coaching change and his future. (I've not posted the link because I don't know if it's allowed).

He says that he didn't have too much time with Briand last season, he'll have new programs and they'll start coreographing them in May/June, he mentions David Wilson and some other new people (couldn't catch it all, the background noise was terrible)
 

Snoopy

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
It must have been 2009 Skate America. I don't remember any specific boasting by Orser, but he could be forgiven if he had.

that's probably what I'm remembering -- he was asked a question by a reporter (not a formal press conference, just a TV station reporter). It was also the way he said it - it came across as very rude
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
^^^
So what? Being rude is very masculin, and since Adam is masculin, he can be rude right back. If you grew up in the slum dog of a depression, you would understand that.
 

Snoopy

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
^^^
So what? Being rude is very masculin, and since Adam is masculin, he can be rude right back. If you grew up in the slum dog of a depression, you would understand that.
HUH? not sure I'm following-- I was talking about Brian saying that nobody can beat Yu-Na at a competition a couple of years ago - the way he said it came across as very rude and arrogant.

As for Adam's age -- I still think he could skate another 10 years (and do we have to be so literal? I was just trying to say he's young and has a long career ahead of him -jeez). Many skaters could skate longer but prefer to go professional for many reasons - money, wanting more free time, wanting to pursue other things. I could see Plushenko winning the next gold at Olympics and he'd be pushing 30. If he was healthy - if he had continued skating all along w/o retiring!
 
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Snoopy

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
and yes, I know Plushenko is likely not able to compete in the next Olympics! I think if an athlete continues training and stays in shape and takes proper care of themselves (not competing 'through the pain', etc.) they can extend their careers.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Butyrskaya won Worlds at 26 in 1999. She competed until she was 29, through the Olympics (actually Worlds qual round) in 2002.

And at age 29 won two Grand Prix events and Europeans. :yes:

Universal Sports have in their site a little vid from Figure Skating in Harlem of Adam talking about the coaching change and his future. (I've not posted the link because I don't know if it's allowed)

Yes, links to Universal Sports are welcome.

Snoopy said:
(Orser) was asked a question by a reporter (not a formal press conference, just a TV station reporter). It was also the way he said it - it came across as very rude.

I think I remember that now. It was on the NBC network coverage, right? To me, it did not come across as arrogant. It seemed more like Brian was a little embarrassed by the question and couldn't find the right words, so he just blurted out the truth. "Can Yu-na be beaten? Actually, no, she can't." :laugh:
 

Snoopy

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
I think I remember that now. It was on the NBC network coverage, right? To me, it did not come across as arrogant. It seemed more like Brian was a little embarrassed by the question and couldn't find the right words, so he just blurted out the truth. "Can Yu-na be beaten? Actually, no, she can't." :laugh:

Yes, it would have been NBC or ABC (one of the networks). Thanks. Glad I'm not cracking up and somebody else remembers this. :laugh:
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I think I remember that now. It was on the NBC network coverage, right? To me, it did not come across as arrogant. It seemed more like Brian was a little embarrassed by the question and couldn't find the right words, so he just blurted out the truth. "Can Yu-na be beaten? Actually, no, she can't." :laugh:

I've always thought Orser was a little more confident and proud in interviews than other skaters. Skaters like Kurt Browning who are "aw shucks, yeah I am pretty good" come off a little better than thsoe that just come out and say "yeah, I am the best, and the judges should know that too". Orser wore his emotions on his sleeve when things didn't go his way, either. *shrugs* I don't think it overly rude, he's just a pretty proud dude.
 

mot

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
I am afraid I am going to hijack this thread - as it is a little bit about coaching; I have an access to a rather interesting (well, I thought anyway) article about Nobuo Sato published in Japanese broadsheet a few weeks ago, talking about his experiences in his competitive days, what it was like when he started coaching in the 60's (Japan was very much a figure skating back water then), what he learnt from European and North American coaching styles, and what he believes in as a coach, etc.

If some of you are interested in reading it, I will have a go at translating. It is very long, so it may take me a day or two to do so though. I also have an access to the article of the similar nature about Utako Nagamitsu, Daisuke Takahashi's coach. Her take on figure skating is very different from Sato's - she's more into dancing and movements - and their differences in interests and emphases are clearly reflected, I think, in their prized students, who they have been looking after since their junior skater days, Daisuke and Takahiko Kozuka.

So if anybody is interested in reading, please let me know. (And I promise to create a new thread for it, to discuss about different coaches and their coaching styles, maybe?)

---

Back to Adam and Brian...

I remember Adam stating his reason for leaving Morozov as there were too many students and he was not getting enough attention - am I right? Brian turned down Tomas Verner's request for being his coach last summer, stating he's got too many skaters under his wing. Perhaps that can be the reason? What Adam needs is someone who can just concentrate on him? Tomas went for Bob Emerson instead, who agreed to take him on as his 'number one skater'. That was important for Tomas more than anything, it seems.
 
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Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Apparently, Adam was working on quad lutz at the University of De recently. Wouldnt that be incredible!!
The proof of the Quad is in the execution at a major competition. Maybe he will put it in his GP assignment. Let's see those high level tricks in competitions.

I remember Kwan, when she could hardly walk, was said to have a 3Tx3R at practice. I call these reports as Fan Dreams. ;)
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
So if anybody is interested in reading, please let me know. (And I promise to create a new thread for it, to discuss about different coaches and their coaching styles, maybe?)

Please, please! I wait eagerly for the new thread.
 

cosmos

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
I think the "contract" between the two was pretty much "fee for services, pay as you go." After the Olympics Yu-na was not really sure what she wanted to do next, and when there was no word from the Yu-na camp for a number of months Brian felt like he had to resolve the matter one way or the other so they could both get on with their lives and careers.

Lack of communications between the principals led to grousing to third parties -- always unfortunate.

I don't want to bring up the YuNa-Brian split again, but i want to point out that the Orser-Mao agent thing was broken out then. YuNa wasn't really sure about Brian's intention either.
 
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