Brian Orser Interview

[Sorrento]

Well...there was the whole Adam Rippon fiasco

I think Brian is great coach when he has superstars under his belt but he's been somewhat fortunate in attracting said superstars. It would be interesting to see his coaching ability with a student that isn't blessed with the jumping gene.

BTW- I have always wondered why Adam left Brian. It all happenned after Yuna Kim left BOrser. I wonder if those two exists were somehow related. I actually thought that staying with Brian could have actually produced more results for Adam with time.

 

[LadyB]

Love Brian. I hope to see more former elite skaters move into coaching. They can understand the pressure their students face better than anyone else, having felt it firsthand. Notice how well Brian's students deal with pressure--they almost never have two bad skates in a row. It might've been at Skate Canada where I noticed that many of his students had HORRIBLE SPs, and then all of them came back huge in the LP.

Absolutely! It is amazing what he can get out of a skater who just screwed up his/her SP! Yuzu and Nam at Skate Canada, Elizabet at the Junior Worlds. That alone shows how his psychological approach is spot on. When he was skating, he often had a problem with nerves himself and was all over the shop, even though he should have been the best. He also once pointed out that he was struggling a bit as an adolescent. All this makes him understand how his students feel. Yeah, I think he's amazing.
However, I don't think that having been a fantastic skater means that somebody will be a great coach as well. It's a different thing to deal with stressful situations and stay motivated to train hard as an individual and to get the best out of somebody else, especially when that person has a complete different mentally to the coach. Brian's got that down to a t. I'm glad he's around at least for Beijing!

 

[Sorrento]

I'm glad he's around at least for Beijing!

You know what? If he says that then perhaps it's because his main stars have planned to retire after Beijing. Yuzu said that once and everybody went NOOOOO! So he had to say- well, I might reconsider. But... umm... you know?
I think with all the stress he has (BOrser) and all the psychological support he gives to his students- it must be really tiresome for him even though he is still considered to be a young coach. It just gives me an idea of how much of emotional engagement is still there from him. I remember he once said that after Yuna left him he had decided not to be that emotionally attached to his students as they could leave. I never thought it was possible because if that is your nature- you can't say to yourself to stop being emotionally involved. This interview just proves I was wright. His job is very tough. Especially when he has to equally push and support two major stars in the Men's field.

 

[liv]

Well, he has said he feels parental towards them, and they say he is very involved, plus all that travelling, so I am sure it does take its toll. Guess it might depend also on the talent he'll have then....

And yeah, I think his strength is taking a diamond and polishing it, not necessarily mining the diamond... everyone has their role.

 

[solani]

Well, he has said he feels parental towards them, and they say he is very involved, plus all that travelling, so I am sure it does take its toll. Guess it might depend also on the talent he'll have then....

And yeah, I think his strength is taking a diamond and polishing it, not necessarily mining the diamond... everyone has their role.

I like the fact that he really tries to be with his students at competitions. He's even going to Junior Worlds with his students so shortly before Worlds and that's admirable.
He probably could teach and form skaters from a very young age onwards. I got the feeling he'd be great with kids. But he never really had the chance to do that, when he started his coaching career he immediatly worked with already highly developed and talented figure skaters. Now so many students want to work with him, so he wouldn't have time to work with young beginners.

 

[begin]

BTW- I have always wondered why Adam left Brian. It all happenned after Yuna Kim left BOrser. I wonder if those two exists were somehow related. I actually thought that staying with Brian could have actually produced more results for Adam with time.

I vaguely remember him talking about it in an old TSL interview. Basically when Yuna left he felt there was too much being expectated of him to somehow replace her as the star student. From an outside observer, the relationship seemed tense between Brian and him as Adam wasn't doing well that season (like, you could tell when they were in the K&C after one of the bad performances).

This is just off my head so I might be wrong. That interview is still out there for anyone interested.

 

[Skater Boy]

Would highly doubt Brian meant any slight by not mentioning Boyang.

I definitely don't think boyang's omission means anything. Though you think he would give a plug to his other senior pupil in \nguyen even if at the time he was not going to worlds.

 

[Skater Boy]

Nam and Cha have both brought over a bad axel technique from their previous coaching situation. -Time will tell if Orser is able to fix it.
I don't think that Orser's strong point is even teaching jumps. Yuna, Yuzu and Javi all came to Orser with the right technique for their jumps.
Yuzu learns his new jumps at shows (according to him). Orser knows how to work with what is there and give a calming environment to train in, and other specialists to help with skating, choreo and planning the whole season. -Can he fix faulty jumping technique? We will find out in the next few seasons.

i wish he would work with patrick chan for a bit. maybe he could fix h is skating.

 

[xibsuarz]

i wish he would work with patrick chan for a bit. maybe he could fix h is skating.

The only jump Patrick struggled with was the 3A, and he has certainly improved on it this season. I think he's going in the right direction.

 

[gsyzf]

i wish he would work with patrick chan for a bit. maybe he could fix h is skating.

Not sure if this makes you feel better.

None of Orser's students other than Javier and Yuzuru, has good international results. Only Yuzuru gave exceptional performances this season. (He is really the outlier.) Javi has not given any clean performances this season. Patrick actually has a clean performance in every competition this season (except Japan Open and TEB). He has more clean performances than Javi (and same number of clean performances as Yuzuru) this season. Perhaps you are thinking about Patrick should add more difficult jumps. But Patrick is not young any more. He is also not a very natural jumper. So to learn a new jump at his age now is not easy and very risky for his health. I think he is doing the best he can given his ability. In fact, he has improved this season. His 3A success rate is better than before he took a break. (Perhaps the "mistake" Patrick made is not push himself to learn new quads when he was younger. He underestimated his rivals and didn't expect the tech demand to increase so quickly. But if he did push himself a few years ago, he wouldn't remain injury free for so many years. )

----------------
ETA:

Actually both Patrick and Javi made the same “mistake”. (It’s not really a mistake, but more like a choice.) They both let their tech stagnate for 3-4 seasons when they were 20-23 years old, the prime age of male skaters. The benefit is that they stayed relatively healthy and had very few injuries. But the downside is they missed the best time to upgrade their tech. Both only had some technical improvement this season because Yuzuru raised the bar so high this season. But it’s already kinda late. They are both in their mid-20s now. It will be very difficulty to raise the difficulty of their programs and be consistent.

Given how packed the field is today (look at the jumps the junior boys are attempting), one cannot stay technically stagnant and hope none of his rivals will improve and catch up. Yuzuru is upping his tech because he wants to win in 2018 and he is paying it with his health. He doesn't get his medals and scores for free.

 

[topaz emerald]

Didn't read the interview, but I think he is the best singles coach so far. Look what he did for Yuna, Yuzuru, and now Alain Chartrand, who, in my opinion, has the best ladies sp and lp programs this year. I never knew who this girl was but her programs this year blew me away....especially her Gone with the Wind program. I also think David Wilson is the best choreographer along with Shailene Bourne. It seems Canada has the best coaches and choreographers.

Having said this, do you think Brian can coach ice dance couples? And what if they are American? Is that a problem?

 

[SarahSynchro]

Didn't read the interview, but I think he is the best singles coach so far. Look what he did for Yuna, Yuzuru, and now Alain Chartrand, who, in my opinion, has the best ladies sp and lp programs this year. I never knew who this girl was but her programs this year blew me away....especially her Gone with the Wind program. I also think David Wilson is the best choreographer along with Shailene Bourne. It seems Canada has the best coaches and choreographers.

Having said this, do you think Brian can coach ice dance couples? And what if they are American? Is that a problem?

I totally agree about Shae-Lynn as a choreographer, she totally knocked it outta the park this year: Ashley's SP, Yuzuru's LP, Alaine's SP and Seguin/Belideau's SP are among my favorite programs of this season, all by Shae-Lynn.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Brian has coached any pairs or dance students, his specialty seems to be singles skaters. I suppose that's logical, as he was a singles skater himself.

Were the majority of dance or pairs coaches once involved in dance or pairs as a skater?

 

[mrrice]

I'm guessing Brian has his hands full with singles skaters but, I sure wish someone would give Sandra Bezic a call. I loved her choreography for Lulu and all of her Battle Of The Blades stuff. Has She retired from choreographing for skaters?

 

[andyjo24]

I'm guessing Brian has his hands full with singles skaters but, I sure wish someone would give Sandra Bezic a call. I loved her choreography for Lulu and all of her Battle Of The Blades stuff. Has She retired from choreographing for skaters?

AFAIK, Sandra retired from choreographing for competitive skaters although she still does choreograph for pro skaters, which is extremely unfortunate considering how talented she is.

 

[mrrice]

AFAIK, Sandra retired from choreographing for competitive skaters although she still does choreograph for pro skaters, which is extremely unfortunate considering how talented she is.

Thank you for the information on Sandra. It is unfortunate that she is no longer working with competitive skaters as she was one of the most musical and original choreographer's out there.

 

[topaz emerald]

I'm guessing Brian has his hands full with singles skaters but, I sure wish someone would give Sandra Bezic a call. I loved her choreography for Lulu and all of her Battle Of The Blades stuff. Has She retired from choreographing for skaters?

Is Sandra Bezic that Canadian commentator for Skate Canada?

 

[mrrice]

Is Sandra Bezic that Canadian commentator for Skate Canada?

Sandra is Canadian and a commentator. I know her mostly from US Nationals but she may have done Skate Canada as well.

 

[SarahSynchro]

Sandra commentated for NBC for many US nationals and several Olympic Games, she was usually with Scott Hamilton. I think Tara and Johnny now have their jobs.

I'm not too sure if she's done commentary for Canada, usually on Canadian channels the female commentator is either Carol Lane (CBC) or Tracy Wilson (CTV and TSN).

 

[topaz emerald]

Sandra commentated for NBC for many US nationals and several Olympic Games, she was usually with Scott Hamilton. I think Tara and Johnny now have their jobs.

I'm not too sure if she's done commentary for Canada, usually on Canadian channels the female commentator is either Carol Lane (CBC) or Tracy Wilson (CTV and TSN).

Yeah, maybe I am confusing Sandra for Tracy Wilson. Yes, I think Tracy Wilson is that Canadian commentator for Skate Canada.

 

[NanaPat]

Yeah, maybe I am confusing Sandra for Tracy Wilson. Yes, I think Tracy Wilson is that Canadian commentator for Skate Canada.

Or it might be Carol Lane. Carol Lane is an ice dance coach (coaches Gillies and Poirier) and Tracy Wilson is a former ice dancer and current coach (coaches with Brian Orser). Carol comments with Kurt Browning and Tracy comments with Rod Black. Carol has a bit of a British accent and Tracy has a very calm, soothing voice.