Nathan Chen

[Mamamiia]

Nathan does seem awfully excited by Yale, though. Handsome Dan is about the only thing you can get him to wear on a t-shirt/hoodie/cap besides a Nike swoosh.
Photo at Chelsea Piers last week:https://www.instagram.com/p/Biham-5AJeM/

Granted, I think Nike makes the Yale hoodies, as well.

:eeking:he did go to Chelsea piers! I was out of town that week otherwise I would go there trying to catch him.

 

[shine]

@bonita, did you mean you think Raf doesn't care about PCS or does care?

 

[yyyskate]

^^ Honestly all that other stuff I didn’t think was all that important in terms of detail, the main point was that Raf wanted Nathan to do one thing, Nathan decided to do another (for whatever reason, family being a possible factor) and it ended up backfiring on him. It left both feeling frustrated at the situation but they were able to overcome it. That’s the moral of the story

if Nathan did whatever Raf wanted him to do (who knows what), will Raf be confident it will NOT backfire.

 

[shine]

^I guess there's no way to tell.... People can only comment on what happened not what could've happened.

I personally think Raf would be too optimistic/naive if he thought had Nathan followed his direction everything would've been fine and he would be an OGM. Because like I said before, Nathan's problem the past season was much more than just not following the layout Raf wanted him to do.

 

[heyheyhey]

if Nathan did whatever Raf wanted him to do (who knows what), will Raf be confident it will NOT backfire.

Well I would give the benefit of the doubt to the coach with 30 years of experience and who’s trained Olympians before I would to the 18 year old who’s in his second year in seniors and had never been to the Olympics before. Nothing is guaranteed but logic dictates that listening to Raf would have a higher likelihood of Nathan getting a better SP result than chosing not to listen to him. We won’t know now, it is what it is.

 

[Mamamiia]

is it because I am a Raf hater thus I am quite cute?

Just your tune about Raf in this particular post is cute lol

 

[yyyskate]

Just your tune about Raf in this particular post is cute lol

tried my best to be cute and funny when Raf is involved, still I need some snowflakes for my red hot cheeks: tho.
but thank you for detecting my effort. #Soulmates.

 

[heyheyhey]

I always wonder if cultural differences have a lot to do with how people react to Raf lol. It’s quite funny

 

[alexaa]

Nathan does seem awfully excited by Yale, though. Handsome Dan is about the only thing you can get him to wear on a t-shirt/hoodie/cap besides a Nike swoosh.
Photo at Chelsea Piers last week:https://www.instagram.com/p/Biham-5AJeM/

Granted, I think Nike makes the Yale hoodies, as well.

Haha, that is my impression. From that Yale hat to the hoodie. And he talked about "transfer to another school" before if things don't work out. Now after the Bulldog days, he refrained from saying that, instead be more vague about it "try something else". I know we should not read too much into what he said, but to me personally, his love/passion for Yale seemed to be much more than before the Bulldog days.

For the hat, there is Nike version and the Under Armor version, the Nike version is more expensive. But it work for Nathan!!!!

With his Mickey ear hat look and this love for Handsome Dan, I don't have the heart to say "unrealistic", "unreasonable" to him but just hope all his wishes will come true.

 

[discode]

Haha, that is my impression. From that Yale hat to the hoodie. And he talked about "transfer to another school" before if things don't work out. Now after the Bulldog days, he refrained from saying that, instead be more vague about it "try something else". I know we should read too much into what he said, but to me personally, his love/passion for Yale seemed to be much more than before the Bulldog days.

For the hat, there is Nike version and the Under Armor version, the Nike version is more expensive. But it work for Nathan!!!!

With his Mickey ear hat look and this love for Handsome Dan, I don't have the heart to say "unrealistic", "unreasonable" to him but just hope all his wishes will come true.

He seems really enamored with it, but it's also new and exciting. Give it a year and he might feel differently.

Though I did always think there are only two options if this long distance coaching doesn't work. Leave Yale or leave Raf. I mean, really what else is there? I guess a secondary coach, but that should be happening this year tbh.

 

[oatmella]

Haha, that is my impression. From that Yale hat to the hoodie. And he talked about "transfer to another school" before if things don't work out. Now after the Bulldog days, he refrained from saying that, instead be more vague about it "try something else". I know we should read too much into what he said, but to me personally, his love/passion for Yale seemed to be much more than before the Bulldog days.

For the hat, there is Nike version and the Under Armor version, the Nike version is more expensive. But it work for Nathan!!!!

With his Mickey ear hat look and this love for Handsome Dan, I don't have the heart to say "unrealistic", "unreasonable" to him but just hope all his wishes will come true.

Yes I have the same feeling - really hoping he can realize all his dreams

He really does seem to love Yale very much already

And so proud to be wearing his (Nike) Yale hat and hoodie

 

[heyheyhey]

Not that I think this will happen but if Nathan chose to give up skating for his studies, I wouldn’t be disappointed or anything.

Realistically the Olympics is really more for personal satisfaction, it’s not a way to get a lot of money or fans or success. Usually people only care about the Olympics for that month and then most wouldn’t even be able to tell you who won a week later even as they watched it in front of their eyes. It’s really more of a personal goal and someone as talented as Nathan has SO many options of being successful that he could realistically probably make even more money/have a easier life in some other field than skating.

Being Olympic Champion has to be really important to him, something he really desires as a personal goal, otherwise it won’t make sense for someone of his talents to give up so much for a sport that’s not all that rewarding relative to other sports. I think his desire to be Olympic Champion is strong so I don’t envision him letting go of skating until he makes it happen but if he does, then I know he has stronger (and probably smarter) priorities in his life and I would totally understand. Skating needs him more than he needs skating (atleast US) realistically.

 

[oatmella]

He seems really enamored with it, but it's also new and exciting. Give it a year and he might feel differently.

Though I did always think there are only two options if this long distance coaching doesn't work. Leave Yale or leave Raf. I mean, really what else is there? I guess a secondary coach, but that should be happening this year tbh.

Or he could feel more strongly and love Yale even more after a year ?

From LA Times article - sounds like working with another coach is something he is considering (or already has):

How will Chen manage to balance schoolwork and skating? "To be determined," he said, laughing, during a phone conversation. "There are rinks around campus that I can skate at and coaches, but we'll figure out something good.

 

[besti loop]

i am a little worried about Nathan. I have a gutting feeling like some of you here, maybe Nathan is indeed NOT hiding any card, maybe he has no cards...

omg. I love some drama actually I am afraid of this, too. There's no much time to arrange some "secret plans", also there is no actual need to hide those "plans". Even Evgenia Medvedeva revealed the trurh about her changing the coach. We are starting to get the news about some other skaters: switching coaches, going to internships, new programs etc... And Nathan is quite.

 

[alexaa]

He seems really enamored with it, but it's also new and exciting. Give it a year and he might feel differently.

Though I did always think there are only two options if this long distance coaching doesn't work. Leave Yale or leave Raf. I mean, really what else is there? I guess a secondary coach, but that should be happening this year tbh.

With you and oatmella keep posting the Mickey ear hat gifs, my brain barely functions.

I think I liked your post about the two options. Or the third option is to leave Yale temporarily like after a year or something, and come back after 2022? It took Sarah 6 years to get the degree with the year off option. And I read on that FSU thread that even if you enroll in Yale just one day, you are a matriculated student, things should be much easier than if you don't matriculate. Maybe with approval from somewhere higher up in school, he can have more time off? He probably needs to reapply then.

 

[heyheyhey]

omg. I love some drama actually I am afraid of this, too. There's no much time to arrange some "secret plans", also there is no actual need to hide those "plans". Even Evgenia Medvedeva revealed the trurh about her changing the coach. We are starting to get the news about some other skaters: switching coaches, going to internships, new programs etc... And Nathan is quite.

But...he already told us his plan lol. He made it pretty clear no?

 

[besti loop]

But...he already told us his plan lol. He made it pretty clear no?

But it doesn't sound like a plan which can actually keep him in the top-5, imo.

 

[yyyskate]

But it doesn't sound like a plan which can actually keep him in the top-5, imo.

his plan that reveals to us seem is "train by himself"

Let us wait and see what new programs Nathan will get next season, this can tell something.

also not just you. many Nathan fans felt the uncertain around him Lots of Nathan fans have this heart attack moments since started to stan Nathan.

 

[discode]

Or he could feel more strongly and love Yale even more after a year ?

From LA Times article - sounds like working with another coach is something he is considering (or already has):

How will Chen manage to balance schoolwork and skating? "To be determined," he said, laughing, during a phone conversation. "There are rinks around campus that I can skate at and coaches, but we'll figure out something good.

Yep, of course. Which I why I say leave Raf is an option. Either get a new coach or just stop skating altogether if 2022 just seems too long away and school is more interesting.

I'm not saying he's going to learn to dislike Yale eventually and move back to Cali by any means. Either thing could happen. Or maybe he is able to acutally balance it, who knows.

And I'd feel a million times less stressed if I knew he had a coach with him at Yale in some capacity.

 

[heyheyhey]

But it doesn't sound like a plan which can actually keep him in the top-5, imo.

Even when Nathan bombs he’s in the top 5 lol. But honestly I’m not sure what more people want to hear of his plan. He’s giving it a year. He will try to train in Cali as much as possible and remotely train with Raf while he’s in Yale. He has a Olympic rink 30 minutes away from his campus. The rest he will figure out as it happens. If it works, good. If it doesn’t, he’ll reevaluate. There’s really not more to it or to plan. Now it’s just about executing and seeing if it works. That’s it. We just have to be patient. There’s nothing more he can tell us yet.