Tracy Wilson on coaching and training

Tracy Wilson talks about coaching Yuzu...but the really interesting bit is from around the 4 minute mark where she talks about how basic stroking training is important and how it affects the rest of the program.
She's so interesting! I love the way she talks and how animated she is, and how easy it is to understand skating, the way she explains it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR1d6ea78kw&feature=youtu.be
About 13 minutes.

She is such a great coach, fans should give more credit to her. :luv17:

When she commentates she is very fair and tries not to be biased towards her own students. When it is understandable that other coaches who commentate like Tarasova show more interest in their own skaters, it's pretty amazing that Tracy manages to keep her commentating and coaching separate.

^Tat is more dramatic. You have to listen to her shouting when her students land their jumps in competition.

Tat even shouted on live tivi something like "any man who does not try to push the limit (aka doing many quads) can feel free to leave the sport" etc.

Tracy is more professional. Both seem to me like very much loving mama-style coaches. But Tat will hit you when you don't do it right (and squeeze you when you do it right lol) and Tracy will just secretly smile behind the scene.

By the way I don't know if someone has the video or photo, I remember there have been many times Yuzuru rushed towards Tracy and hugged her during backstage in many competitions. He also hugged Tracy at NHK 2015 after the SP when he finally got a clean one. :luv17:

Thanks for posting. It says in the comments below that this 13min piece is just a portion of the interview with Tracy. The whole interview will be posted later this week.

Tracy gives great interviews.

Here's a link to another one with her, published last December, which may be of special interest to those old enough to remember when a diagnosis of AIDS was a death sentence:

http://www.ifsmagazine.com/articles/32826-backstage-with-tracy-wilson

And for those of you interested in stroking, here's a video of Brian teaching his adult stroking class (when does he have time?!). Notice how beautiful the ice rink is at the Cricket Club:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grvoTN0OZFk

The full interview! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf1xAW1Yaxk

one best part of the interview for me is when Elizabet came to Tracy and said "i cant breathe and smile at the same time", ohhh dear precious child, you are adorable!!! :luv17:
whole interview is just great, Tracy is such a wise and geniune person, and listening to how her relation was with Rob, how she kept him under control without being bossy etc, i thought "well, she is meant to be a coach" there are so many great moments and life lessons in the interview, one of the best TSL interview :luv17:

I love Tracy Wilson when it comes to explaining things about skating, she's really gets the idea across without talking over the entire program, she can get really biased towards Canadians sometimes but overall she's good for beginners if they don't have a knowledgeable friend. Just watching this video you can tell how good she is at getting her ideas and thoughts across. Had the pleasure of meeting her last year and she's super sweet and very attentive to all her fans, love her.

I loved the TSL full interview with Tracy Wilson. I already commented on the YouTube page, but here are my long-winded thoughts on the interview.

I really love Wilson's broadcast speaking skills and her insight, especially in these days where we have Johnny and Tara who seem to have little-to-no training and no sense of professionalism.

Throughout the interview, I found it interesting that they named all of her and Rob's Soviet competitors but no mention of Klimova/Ponomarenko who a lot of ice dance fans now think that they were held down by the judges and should have beaten Bestemianova/Bukin a few times in 1985-1988. I'm glad they asked her about Grishuk/Platov considering some people criticize Tracy for being very critical and biased against Grishuk/Platov. Interesting she said her support of Torvill/Dean in 1994 Olympics was to validate it as a sport while G/P actually did more technical difficulty, speed, and were a lot more athletic than T/D despite them skating further apart. G/P introduced more athleticism to the sport even if they sacrificed what is also traditionally considered difficult in ice dance (close and complex holds). Tracy obviously loves classical ice dance (British style) with close dance holds/positions and footwork, and was not a fan of the free-flowing lawlessness that was ice dance in the early 90s. However, I wish Jenny/Dave followed that up with asking what she thought of the Duschenays who were directed by Christopher Dean, who she thought was the torch bearer of making ice dance a sport, with the Duschenays not having those qualities compared to Klimova/Ponomarenko, who were masters of it but were not fully appreciated for that and had to abandon those things somewhat in order to be more theatrical and loose to win over the Duschenays.

I absolutely loved her insight in Nagano and Tarasova quotes, BUT I wish she'd admit Bourne/Kraatz was scored VERY generously in the OD considering the content. I also appreciate that Wilson is a loyal fan of Anissina/Peizerat as she said Bourne/Kraatz didn't deserve the bronze in the most diplomatic way possible.

Also, as a Shibs fan, I'm happy she first mentioned them as one of the top teams in the World without being provoked to mention them. It shows how much she respects them and what they bring to the sport. She also hit the nail on the head with losing Nationals probably being the best thing for Chock/Bates when she said there's nothing worse than feeling like the community is backing another team but you are getting awarded and being accused of getting preferential treatment. I do think that inspired some undeserved negative feelings being directed at Chock/Bates.

Her stories about her and Rob McCall were so heartwarming. Her mom sounds absolutely awesome.

^^ I've never followed ice dance so I didn't know about these controversies...I only hear echoes of some crazy relationships that Ice Dancers had in the bad (or good?) old days. So thanks for adding some info on that.

I think it's one of the best and most insightful interviews I've heard or read recently. She is an amazing coach for Yuzuru because she demands a meaning even on stroking exercises- that is what Yuzu is all about: knowing what he does and what is the purpose of every single exercise. I think I understand now even more why Yuzu relates to Brian as a mother figure coach- Brian has a way of mentally training his students in terms of reaching the goals in the terms of huge pressure from the country hopes point of view, how to overcome situations when you lose, how to fuel yourself to continue training, not giving up during a skate that might start badly (with a fall). There is so much passion about figure skating in Tracy's words and so much wisdom. What a wonderful personality she is!
I think these three: Brian, Yuzu and Tracy- are just so lucky to work with each other.
Interviews like this are such a treat for figure skating fans! Thank you TSL for this wonderful conversation!:luv17:

Fantastic interview, one I've hoped and waited for since they created their site. I feel she is the most complete, fair and accurate commentator around. I wish NBC would let her run the show instead of hamstringing her. Her professionalism, tact, and thoughtfulness are qualities not seen often enough among other commentators.

Tracy's reminiscences of Rob were so moving. You could see how affected both Dave and Jenny were as she spoke about him as he faced his diagnosis and death. Brian skated a tribute number to Rob at the 1991 World Pro's in he artistic program a few weeks after he passed away. My family and I were in the audience. It was very moving. When NBC broadcast the competition later, they pointed out that Tracy was a judge on the panel and cut to a shot of her wiping a tear away as she entered Brian's marks. She's had to discuss his passing so many times over the years. I really admire how open and honest she has always been in discussing what was obviously a devastating point in her life. In a way, aside from not having a romantic connection, she had a similar experience to Katia in losing a skating partner so suddenly and having to reinvent her life almost instantly.

Here is the Russian feed of that skate. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the NBC version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ZTdAVVHjg

As for her coaching, you can really see why skaters like Yuzu and Javi have flourished. Brian is obviously a big part of their success, but Tracy's mix of nurturing and discipline seems to be just the mix to push them to grow at their own pace.

Now if they could only interview Terry Gannon for his insights as a non-skater who covers other sports but obviously loves skating. He was in the booth for so many amazing moments. With all his other work, he could have left skating commentary and never come back after ABC lost TV rights in 2008. But he stayed in touch and even brought his kids to 2009 Worlds. I'd love to hear his thoughts about working with Dick and Peggy vs Tara and Johnny. That's next on my wishlist.