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IIRC, Mirai's problems started when she was still skating under Frank, or shortly thereafter.
Does Mirai need a change of coach ?
- Thread starter coolboogie22
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Mirai did not do well in World's after Vancouver. I heard Frank tell her she was best in world. And she was, but did not believe it. Then body changed, she got profiled as an underrotator by judges, and downhill. Under 6.0 she'd have slews of medals. She was so fabulous in every way at 16. I feel happy she is doing full triples and she was far better than Julia-terrible judging at CoR. Mirai deserved better. She has such quality. I wish her luck at Nationals-her nerves will be tough. She should have moved near Frank, gotten a sports psychologist, but that killer motivation is not in her like Ashley has.
I was so happy for her skating-great, even without the killer smile. go mirai!
I was so happy for her skating-great, even without the killer smile. go mirai!
Ashley used to have troubles with her jumps and she managed to overcome that. Carolina Kostner had a few years when she was seriously underachieving. Even Alissa Czisny was not having the results for a long time until she pulled it up for a few years. If Mirai enjoys what she is doing, I can't see a reason why she should give up. It is her life and she needs to live it as she wants to, so that she doesn't have regrets for the rest of her life. The fact that Mirai doesn't smile during her program doesn't mean that she is not enjoying it; I don't smile either when I skate. If I concentrate on smiling, I don't skate so well because then I don't pay enough attention to me feet. Sometimes one has to concentrate on what they are doing and don't have any energy left to deal with a smile on your face. Just try it at work - do whatever you are doing and keep a huge smile on your face (tiny smile is not visible on the ice). In a short while you may realize that you either lost the smile without even realizing it, or that you still has the smile on but that you are not concentrating as well on whatever you have been doing and that you are suddenly not a very effective worker.
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Absolutely agree. I actually wonder if the lack of expression is simply the result of a concerted effort on the part of her coaches to have her concentrate and focus more on her programs. Mirai does seem to wear her heart on her sleeve and if she were to get be too emotional or overly expressive, it may be distracting, to the detriment of her executing the technical elements. Her spark when she was younger was quite infectious, but she herself said that it was easy to compete as a 14 year old when you don't have any thoughts, and perhaps the emotions back then didn't really affect her technically.
At any rate, I was really pleased to see her do so well at Rostelecom Cup. Hope she has the under rotations under control from now on.
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i, too, was pleased to see mirai look so secure with all of her elements in russia. when she puts it together, she's just a classically great skater, and it's stunning to think that she hasn't been to worlds since 2010. that being said, i don't think the bond number does her any favors though. the exhibition to "on golden pond," OTOH, really plays to all of her strengths--very serious and also expressive.
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Of course I would like to see Mirai out there smiling and having fun. But I was thinking she's a grown up lady now. Life is serious. She may not have much to smile about now. Skating has become her job, and she has not been doing her job well. Maybe if she can get the jumps consistent she can smile again. Right now it's as if she's playing catch up from being off work.
My poor Mirai.
She could have been one of the best. Thinking about her skate at this past competition which was good but it made me want to watch her short prg from the Olympics again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa2R_HqZnz4
What could she do when she was just so unlucky to have 2 puberty growth spurts. I thought she was done from changing much at the Olympics.
She could have been one of the best. Thinking about her skate at this past competition which was good but it made me want to watch her short prg from the Olympics again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa2R_HqZnz4
What could she do when she was just so unlucky to have 2 puberty growth spurts. I thought she was done from changing much at the Olympics.
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Wow, I didn't think there was anything unusual about them in the kiss and cry. They looked pretty much to me like Orser and Javie did after Javie's SP. It's a horrid time to have a camera in your face anyway regardless of how you skated unless you just laid down the skate of your life. I think Mirai has had injuries, she had a growth spurt, and somewhere along the way she lost her confidence. I don't know her coach at all so can't speak to whether she's good for her or not.
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THIS!
ITA with this! I wish Mirai and her coaches/choreographer could see how much better "On Golden Pond" is than what she is skating to at the moment! I actually think her SP music "The Man That I Love" is totally out of character for Mirai. Bond could work but Mirai isn't putting enough expression into it except in the last few minutes.
I love watching Mirai's Olympic and Worlds SPs and also her LP from 2011 4CCs. She looked like a champion each of those times. I'm going to keep hoping she puts two back to back programs of such quality again. I'll be in her corner until she retires.
It is unfortunate that Mirai had two separate growth spurts. I thought that by the time she got to the Olympics she was about done growing but it was not to be. She didn't so much grow UP as out after Vancouver - as is normal for many young women. She filled out and it just seems to have affected her jumps again. I just hope that she is used to her new frame by now and will continue to work towards combatting the URs and getting that old Mirai magic back. She said that at NHK 'some people' questioned her committment and she worked hard in Japan before COR. She wanted to prove how committed she is and I think she's taken a step in the right direction by fighting all the way back from 8th in NHK to the podium in COR. I hope she keeps that fire going all the way to Nationals - and beyond.
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I suspect Mirai has too many things on her mind these days to truly feel relaxed and happy about her skating. It shows up on all her performance unfortunately. What she seem to need is a good mentor and a muse that can instill her confidence, keep her relaxed and deal with pressures properly. She was probably the least pressured and expected at the recent GP, and therefore of course she did her best work there. Utterly mad and perhaps predictable.
Her exhibition has always been so lovely and I really like Grusin's On the Golden Pond this year. If she can bring half of the magic from her exhibitions to her competitive program and manage to rotate all her jumps, keep the 3/3, I still think a top 8 finish at the Olympics is not out of the question provided she have a strong showing at the US nationals. Beating Gold or Ashley in TES might be enough to suffice.
Her exhibition has always been so lovely and I really like Grusin's On the Golden Pond this year. If she can bring half of the magic from her exhibitions to her competitive program and manage to rotate all her jumps, keep the 3/3, I still think a top 8 finish at the Olympics is not out of the question provided she have a strong showing at the US nationals. Beating Gold or Ashley in TES might be enough to suffice.
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- Nov 16, 2005
I remember four years ago heading into the Olympics all the top skaters in the US had mentors. I think Ashley was with Tara, flatt was with Dorothy. I can't remember who Mirai was with . I thought that was a nice program. I wonder why they did not continue that. That was one of their few good ideas .
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I don't remember anyone mentoring Mirai but surely she was if Ashley and Rachael were? Kristi Yamaguchi perhaps?
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I think Mirai is past her peak. Even when she skates to her potential I just look and say that was good skating, not great skating like I once did when she skated her best. She is slow, somewhat methodical, jumps arent very good quality, and her spins lack the wow factor of before. That said I admire her for sticking with it and making a comeback to good form and consistency the last 15 months. It would be great for her to make it to a 2nd Olympics. That would be the equivalent of a gold medal for someone else for her.
According to this article, Mirai's mentor was Charlene Wong heading up to the Vancouver Olympics (even though she was not her coach, of course). Curious that Mirai didn't seem to have a mentor like Ashley and Rachael. Wonder what the story behind that is.
http://www.management-mentors.com/a...ers-blog/bid/30562/Olympians-Have-Mentors-Too
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Yeah that's kind of odd that Rachael and Ashley each got an Olympic Champion to mentor them but not Mirai.
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I'm curious/confused about this mentoring discussion.
The article at the link below said that Wagner's coach was the one who approached Lipinski about serving as a mentor.
Who arranged for Hamill to mentor Flatt? Was it an official US Figure Skating initiative, or a private agreement (as Wagner/Lipinski's apparently was)?
(In any case, wild speculation: Is it possible that Frank Carroll did not encourage his skaters to have previous Olympians as mentors? The article above says that Abbott's was Wylie. No mention of one for Lysacek.)
Icey's article said that Apolo Anton Ohno's mentor was his father. So I'm guessing that the USOC or the speedskating federation was not involved in setting up Ohno's mentorship.
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I'm curious/confused about this mentoring discussion.
The article at the link below said that Wagner's coach was the one who approached Lipinski about serving as a mentor.
Who arranged for Hamill to mentor Flatt? Was it an official US Figure Skating initiative, or a private agreement (as Wagner/Lipinski's apparently was)?
(In any case, wild speculation: Is it possible that Frank Carroll did not encourage his skaters to have previous Olympians as mentors? The article above says that Abbott's was Wylie. No mention of one for Lysacek.)
Icey's article said that Apolo Anton Ohno's mentor was his father. So I'm guessing that the USOC or the speedskating federation was not involved in setting up Ohno's mentorship.
I could have sworn that the USFS had some kind of mentoring program at that time (don't know if they still do) - so I googled it and found this brief mention of an article on the subject in US Figure Skating Magazine - an article titled "Guiding Light":
http://www.usfigureskating.org/Magazine.asp?Issue=43145
Guiding Light
by Amy Rosewater: The U.S. Figure Skating mentoring program includes several Olympians and U.S. champions, including Dorothy Hamill, Paul Wylie and Tai Babilonia, and likely will expand to include several others soon.
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I remember this as a mentoring program where past Olympians were paired with US skaters. I think the mentors themselves got to pick whom they were working with.
Mirai skated her best at Olympics, so I won't criticize Wong's mentoring though However, Wong had a completely disastrous Olympics in 1988, AFAIR. Of course, she was not reliable with any jumps beyond the 2A in any case again AFAIR.
Mirai skated her best at Olympics, so I won't criticize Wong's mentoring though
However, Wong had a completely disastrous Olympics in 1988, AFAIR. Of course, she was not reliable with any jumps beyond the 2A in any case again AFAIR.
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I remember this as a mentoring program where past Olympians were paired with US skaters. I think the mentors themselves got to pick whom they were working with.
Mirai skated her best at Olympics, so I won't criticize Wong's mentoring though
Thanks to SS and Doris for your replies. Agreed that Wong's mentoring did not put Nagasu at any disadvantage.
(Pls pardon my ignorance -- did not know that Wong also was an Olympic competitor, although not champion.)FWIW, as to whether the US Figure Skating program is still in effect:
Before Skate America, Sarah Hughes tweeted a cheer for Max Aaron, including a reference to mentoring him this year. Based on a couple of past indications, he seemed to have a friendly personal relationship with both Sarah and Emily Hughes, so at the time of Sarah's tweet, it did not cross my mind that maybe her mentoring was part of an official USFS program. Maybe it is, maybe it is not.
