Nathan Chen

[Kelly]

Re-watch Nathan's FS at Worlds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEe8DxgJ-Hw

At around 3:40, when Nathan jumping a quad Salchow and still in the air there's a man's sound coming from the boards.
Does that sound come from Rafael? If it does, I imagine he's giving Nathan a warning of the landing?
Rafael didn't make any warning at around 3:00 where Nathan jumped quad toe at the same spot as he did the quad Salchow.
Because Rafael knew the quad toe landing would be good? It's kind of very funny to me.

 

[Mamamiia]

hahahah - I think the spice girls song is from the 90’s - I discovered it on my friend’s parents’ karaoke machine. I would think Nathan would not know this song either but seems like he has diverse music tastes so who knows lol
The cast for the Japan SOI is seriously the superstars of skating - I thought I even recall seeing Plushenko (Nathan’s first favorite skater) on the cast list. But the shows here probably more relaxed and by the time the San Jose/Anaheim shows roll around, he will have had plenty of time to have perfected NO good

Plushenko is Nathan's first favorite? He performed in our local rink just a few months ago.

 

[sheetz]

Yeah, that's Raf alright! It's not a warning or anything. I think he does that when he's excited. LOL

 

[sheetz]

This is Raf during Nathan's FS at Nationals.
https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/956586941624893440

 

[yyyskate]

checked many feedback on Chinese platform and US.
The consensus from Nathan's fans is in short, hope Nathan can focus on GOEs and Components more next season. Pretty much the same thing discussed here.
Camden's FS is choreoed by Tom Dickson, and we can see some nice qualities in his skating, flow, SS, sweeping edges, deep edges, whole body skatings etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-kO6z8oh2w
Camden trains under TomZ who is also a tech coach thus people think that good quality Camden display is mainly from Tom Dickson's teaching.
This gives me hope, maybe Nathan can learn all those things from choreographer like Tom Dickson, if Raf cannot provide such capacity. Maybe it is doable, but I just hope that they will put emphasis on it too, Nathan's orginal 2 programs this season are all from great choreographers but we all saw what direction it went as the season went on.
it was said that Camden cares alot about those qualities of figure skating, combined with Tom Dickson's teaching thus we saw beautiful skating.

EDIT: Nathan's OG FS still remains the best version of Nathan's FS for me and it is my most watched Nathan performance. its choreo is not as good as USCI but considering its difficulty 6 quads, it also does kept more original choreo than Nathan's worlds FS outing and OG FS's emotion is explosive and infectious and fitted to the music and theme perfectly.

 

[hhh]

Thanks for sharing; the video quality is quite good. Raf does make that wee sound from time to time LoL to maybe cheer him on or just his own stress reliever thing. Japanese fans have done a few clips of just that, it’s too hilarious.

The Legends is first of March isn’t it over now and I don’t think he went did he? The tickets much be expensive there since they know the main consumer group have deep pocket to spend on them. I would love to see the French Worlds ice dance gold medalists, Kostner and a few Canadian one day of their unique interpretation of dance and music, lovely.

Spice Girls is passed my time but I heard they’re quite popular back then. And those new practice pics from Worlds are nice, glad there were many good photographers around including the one guy who was “kindly asked” by some fans for Nathan’s haha it’s great to have such positive engagement.

Why can’t ISU voluntarily share some videos sigh.

 

[yyyskate]

Where is Tom Dickson located? I enjoyed this program and see those nice qualities - though I have never seen Camden skate before so I have no comparison.
Nathan needs to find someone to work on SS for sure - seriously can Patrick Chan help ?! Get some more coaching experience before you open your skating school, Patrick. But seriously - Nathan needs someone who will work with him on SS.
I don't think Raf cares much about stuff like choreo and I don't know if there's anyone else on team Nathan that even helps him with this. it honestly seemed very DIY as the season went on
I'm such a Nathan fan that I think I can be blind to some of his flaws. But ... especially when watching the fancams at worlds ... seemed like he was skating a lot more slowly - like compared to Rostelecom Cup. I don't know if was due to nerves, not feeling good or what.
I can see that Raf wants to be the boss and I don't know if he even really cares about stuff like SS. He coached Ashley too and she was also known for poor SS, Adam known for two-footed skating, etc.

true, if Raf is proud of changing lay-out all the time, there is NO way he cares about choreo...
true, sadly, watching fancam, I have to admit that, he is faster in OG and COR comparing to worlds..
true, both Ashley and Adam the so-called "artistic" skaters from Raf's team are not actually good at SS nor blade work, actually Adam's triple-only program at OG is embarrassingly slow. you can just compare to junior Camden just saying.

I say all this as a true Nathan fan and out of my deep love of Nathan.

EDIT: I don't know Camden's skating before as well, but from TSL, they compared Camden before and now, and they think it is a huge improvement and credited to Tom Dickson. I don't know where TomDickson is located.

 

[yyyskate]

I really hope Canadian Nathan fan can download and share Nathan's CBC commentary from CBC website , it really worth listening to. I do not have VPN to do that myself..

 

[yyyskate]

also I think, good approach to figure skating artistry is based on SS, blade work, whole body skating, meaningful artistic direction of the program as a whole and authentic interpretation as demanded by music/theme/artistic direction. Not a couple of fist pump after you finished all your jumps.
maybe this is a little hash, I apologize in advance.

 

[yyyskate]

at Nathan knee bend, that is also something I asked myself quite often, why he does not have the knee bend like Shoma not in his SS not in his jumping (well maybe not as extreme as Shoma to use his bending to save landings). Maybe due to injury ... i don't know

i will put Camden's chopin and Nathan's chopin here
Nathan is much younger than Camden thus less power and flow in his SS but, his raw talent in components as showed in this program is so rare and precious.
Camden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-kO6z8oh2w
Nathan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwTUs71GEPc

I hope Nathan can bring some of those quality back.

"Raf has said in interviews before that he wishes Ashley and Adam had better fundamentals and base. " seems like another episode of Raf blame others (the skaters' bad foundation this time) for whatever bad results. Why can Brian Orser change Javi (who does not have that fab of a foundation as well) into a master over years of working with him

 

[georgia]

Tom Dickson teaches in Colorado Springs, and some of the skaters he worked with for years, developing their artistic skills are Matt Savoie, Jeremy Abbott, Joshua, Yuna Kim ( he actually started working with her in Italy, when Carlo moved back some moons ago, and took Tom with) etc... Tom In the past, I don’t know now, had the skaters do figures, and from time to time he will bring Janet Lynn to work with them for hours and days at a time.... he is a great teacher.
As for RAF, I think he is doing a great job developing skaters. Someone mention that Adam’s skating is embarrassing slow. I want you guys to go back and watch Adam’s programs during the years he skated in Canada under Orser, and you will then realize how much faster he skates now. Many artistic skaters tend to skate slow. See Jason.
I also agree with RAF that his older students when they went to him, they were lucking fundamentals. No doubt about it. But look who’s students reprised America the bes

 

[yyyskate]

Tom Dickson teaches in Colorado Springs, and some of the skaters he worked with for years, developing their artistic skills are Matt Savoie, Jeremy Abbott, Joshua, Una Kim ( he actually started working with her in Italy, when Carlo moved back some moons ago, and took Tom with) etc... Tom In the past, I don’t know now, had the skaters do figures, and from time to time he will bring Janet Lynn to work with them for hours and days at a time.... he is a great teacher.
As for RAF, I think he is doing a great job developing skaters. Someone mention that Adam’s skating is embarrassing slow. I want you guys to go back and watch Adam’s programs during the years he skated in Canada, and you will then realize how much faster he skates now. Many artistic skaters tend to skate slow. See Jason.

first, I disagree with the bolded part (both the statement and the example)
second, let us watch how Adam skated in 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahYcimSca3k
seems faster than I remembered his skating in this OG which is indeed embarrassingly slow.

 

[yyyskate]

Thanks georgia for the information about Tom. I am not familiar with all those skaters but I think Jeremy had some great programs with style and great SS.
I never noticed that Adam was *that* slow in past performances - I very much enjoyed his FS at NHK 2017 - but he was particularly slow at the Olympics. It seemed that everyone noticed.

All these skaters georgia listed are skaters with strong real components quality (SS, transitions, interpretation etc)

 

[shine]

"Raf has said in interviews before that he wishes Ashley and Adam had better fundamentals and base. " seems like another episode of Raf blame others (the skaters' bad foundation this time) for whatever bad results. Why can Brian Orser change Javi (who does not have that fab of a foundation as well) into a master over years of working with him

There's nothing wrong with Raf saying that and I don't think that qualifies as "blaming" skaters. he was probably referring to jump technique here and was just stating a fact/giving a neutral opinion. It's true that the fundamentals and habits associated with a jump are developed very early and it's incredbily hard to correct those habits. Adam and Ashley are known for not having the best fundamentals and they came to Raf as mature skaters so it's harder to fix their flaws. Javi I don't think has had such obvious flaws in his jumps. Mao Asada also had a flutz that she spent years trying to correct and was never able to.

 

[sheetz]

The Legends is first of March isn’t it over now and I don’t think he went did he? .

It's this Friday, Mar 30.
http://figureskate-mwg.com/

Regarding Nathan's SS. I'm sure everyone here agrees that should be his next area of focus. However, I'm not sure I agree that Raf intentionally ignores those aspects of his students. I would say he is just extremely practical; Adam and Ashley did not have the jumps to be competitive when they went to him and therefore that was his focus. The result? Ashley has a world silver medal and Adam has an Olympic team bronze (and become America's Sweetheart!). Nathan's team is aware of his shortcomings, as they are constantly getting feedback from numerous sources. Everyone on Nathan's team wants him to be the best, so I'm sure they have a step by step plan to make that a reality.

 

[shine]

It's this Friday, May 30.
http://figureskate-mwg.com/

Regarding Nathan's SS. I'm sure everyone here agrees that should be his next area of focus. However, I'm not sure I agree that Raf intentionally ignores those aspects of his students. I would say he is just extremely practical; Adam and Ashley did not have the jumps to be competitive when they went to him and therefore that was his focus. The result? Ashley has a world silver medal and Adam has an Olympic team bronze (and become America's Sweetheart!). Nathan's team is aware of his shortcomings, as they are constantly getting feedback from numerous sources. Everyone on Nathan's team wants him to be the best, so I'm sure they have a step by step plan to make that a reality.

I sincerely pray that's the case! Raf has said that has a 5-year plan for Nathan if he continues, and I dearly hope this plan does not just involve more and more quads.

 

[georgia]

Thanks georgia for the information about Tom. I am not familiar with all those skaters but I think Jeremy had some great programs with style and great SS.
I never noticed that Adam was *that* slow in past performances - I very much enjoyed his FS at NHK 2017 - but he was particularly slow at the Olympics. It seemed that everyone noticed.

I have always been a big Adam fan, and actually many of my friends we meet at Nationals turned to be Jason fans, and I was the only one with Adam this year. So I know Adam.. I know his weaknessess and I was there for his triumphs. RAF was very good for him.He was always slower skater, except at worlds. I was too nervous to watch him at the OG, but I believe you. Nervousness can slow you down.

 

[oatmella]

Smaller Nathan Chopin program - love it so much and especially the last step sequence in the one he performed at Nationals. Incredible music edit - cutting a piano concerto to just a few minutes and still sound coherent seems impossible to me.
The music and lightness and everything (thinking of Nathan dealing with severe heel pain) makes me want to cry. And I do not cry easily and have never shed a tear over any other Nathan performances. I have to say this is by far the most moving Nathan program that I have seen. I vote for another Chopin Piano Concerto no. 1 op.11 for future program

 

[yyyskate]

There's nothing wrong with Raf saying that and I don't think that qualifies as "blaming" skaters. he was probably referring to jump technique here and was just stating a fact/giving a neutral opinion. It's true that the fundamentals and habits associated with a jump are developed very early and it's incredbily hard to correct those habits. Adam and Ashley are known for not having the best fundamentals and they came to Raf as mature skaters so it's harder to fix their flaws. Javi I don't think has had such obvious flaws in his jumps. Mao Asada also had a flutz that she spent years trying to correct and was never able to.

I agree with that jumping technique is very difficult to change once you already formed your triples technique, thus to learn proper jump technique from the beginning is a general correct statement.
that is all.

 

[Mamamiia]

Hey no one should complain Nathan skating slow in that FS after all the craziness ...