Max Aaron profiled by "Times of Israel" (Feb 24):
Jewish US skating champ eyes Olympics, Israel
A favorite to qualify for next year’s Sochi Games, 20-year-old Max Aaron used to schedule practice around Hebrew school
I haven't read a lot about Aaron, and I found this article very interesting. If it already was posted elsewhere on GS, my apologies.
Best of luck to him at Worlds.
Thanks for posting the article. It is nice to see an athlete that embraces and is proud of their religious affliations.
Good Luck to Max and all US athletes at Worlds and Jr. Worlds.
Very nice article, thanks for sharing.
What fun! Thanks for the link.
Gotta love a young man with good manners [that earned him a compliment from Hersh, no less]:
Philip Hersh @olyphil
Re-listening to interview with @MaxTAaron. He gets PCS scores of all 10.0 for politeness. Must have said "yes, sir" or "yes, ma'am" 20 times
1:08 PM - Feb 27, 2013
[Hersh seems to be referring to Aaron's pre-Worlds media call on Feb 26. Highlights tweeted by @USFigureSkating:
. @MaxTAaron says he has worked with Pasquale Camerlengo since the U.S. Champs on choreo.
. @MaxTAaron excited about the challenge of back-loading his programs with jumps. It has paid off.
. @MaxTAaron called Four Continents an 'Eye-opener' and says he 'knows he can handle the pressure'
. @MaxTAaron said he's working towards three quads in free, but noted, he could "shoot for the stars" and try for four eventually.]
Last edited by golden411; 02-28-2013 at 01:24 AM.
Woohoo! Yay for Max!
I think this will become the standard for men's figure skating. Stand around for two and a half minutes, then do four quads.Originally Posted by golden411
Aw. c'mon Mathman, that's not really fair. Give the guy a break. Max did 2 quads at the beginning of his program then did the other required elements before launching into his other jump sequences. That requires alot of stamina. His training for this type of energy is huge. Got to give him credit for such a difficult routine, especially since he broke his back some years ago and was in a body cast for 4 months.
I give Max all the credit in the world.Still -- Max aside -- I am afraid that quads will take over the sport and that the result will be a further decline in audience interest.
Mathman, the ability of quads to trump skating skills and musicality is already well in effect this season, reaching a cringe-inducing apex with an utterly uninspired Kevin Reynolds winning Four Continents. Even Reynolds' jumps, which won him the thing, are tiny and flat. All that matters is that he can get four times around without a UR call some of time, and it is enough to secure him a win against a loaded international field. I just want to vomit all over.
Max Aaron's skating even more boring and detached from musicality/artistry than Kevin Reynolds. His win of the US nationals would be disturbing, except the US men are a sorry bunch and winning against that lot doesn't mean much. And at least Max Aaron's jumps look a whole lot better than Reynold's.
This article may be an insipid puff piece that reveals absolutely nothing interesting about Max Aaron, but it seems perfectly appropriate given Aaron's skating.
I give Max all the credit in the world.
I think it's possible that there will be a period when several guys are capable of doing two different quads, three of four quads total, in their free programs, and that these guys will trade wins on the strength of these jumps while doing not much else besides crossovers, triple jumps, and enough to fulfill the requirements for step sequences and spins. This will probably not be of much interest to audiences who are interested in artistic skating or in technical skating skills other than jumps.
It probably will attract the attention of audiences who are primarily interested in jumps, including some who would not pay attention to men's skating otherwise, when records are broken and become sporting news for that reason. There have been a handful of guys in the past 10-12 years who have executed three quads successfully in the last 10-12 years. When someone does four successful quads, that will be news. Same when someone lands the first ratified quadruple loop or flip. Or three different quads in the same program. When we get three or four quads including some harder ones done successfully, the technical scores will probably set records and those skaters will probably win.
Let's hope that the judges don't start rewarding the skaters who succeed with those jumps for transitions or choreography or interpretation that they don't actually execute.
In the short term, I expect that there will still be excellent skaters who cannot do multiple different quads but who will do one or two quad toe loops OR one or two quad salchows, along with triple axels and other triples and high-level high-quality non-jump elements and who will continue to be medal contenders on the strength of well-rounded skill sets. Especially because the guys who excel at nothing except jumps will have little to hold them up if they happen to have a bad day with the jumps, likely because of injuries.
In the long term, if advances in technology and techniques allow more guys to master quads, then maybe in 20 or 40 years we will see programs that include four quads AND complex choreography.
Are you serious? Or just another Abbott fan pissed off that your man headcased AGAIN?
Max is hardly bland and uninteresting. On the contrary, I thought his Tron SP was one of the best SPs of Nationals. I barely knew who he was before Nationals, but I enjoyed his skating very much. I would rather see him skate the way he did at Nationals - explosive, clean, and with an overall sense of enjoyment - than watch some of the "artists" there who looked like they were in torturous pain every step!
One of the things that endeared me most to both him and Ross was that they looked like they were enjoying themselves, having fun, just playing around on the ice. Whether you like it or not, Max Aaron is the US National Champion and he came fourth at 4CCs. That's hardly a skater who is insipid.
I'm not an "obsessed with the quad" fan, but am so happy for Max & Ross to have such success, and hope it continues for both of them.
Last edited by iluvtodd; 03-01-2013 at 06:39 AM.
(1) Audio link for Aaron's media pre-Worlds teleconference held several days ago:
26:34 in length. I found the whole thing quite interesting.
He comes across as a thoroughly likeable and gracious young man. Ambitious and self-confident, but not in a cocky or obnoxious way.
(2) Five favorite things with Max Aaron
Newly crowned U.S. champion reveals secret meal, gets fashion advice from ChanI posted #5 in a Chan thread as well.
Level of adorable: through the roof.
I am glad that that horrible check shirt/striped tie combo was not a permanent fixture.
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