- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
I know RA has a reputation as a technical coach. But what is this really based on? As I remember it, Michelle's jumps didn't really improve under RA. For example, she never did get the elusive 3/3 combo into her programs consistently. It became more about maintaining the triples she already had. I know her lack of improvement under RA was probably due mostly to her ongoing injuries. But what real successes has he had? Rippon was no better last year under RA than he'd been under Yuka/Jason. In fact I think Adam's 3A was actually more consistent the previous season with Jason than it was last year.
I think the coach can only take so much blame. You can't make every skater be a good competitor or be able to do difficult jumps. I'm sure for ever Michelle or Evan he coached, Frank Carroll had 10 skaters who didn't achieve as much as they could have.
Mao's lutz and salchow were bad from her days with Yamada. No one has yet to fix these problem jumps for her, yet she has worked with some of the best coaches in the world.
I think RA might help Ashley though. Her jump entrances are good, aside from the lutz, so all she needs to work on is putting a 3T on her 3F and her SP and LP scores will improve significantly.