Nathan Chen

[Mamamiia]

Yes he can free himself up on Friday and leave on Thursday, I think going to Montreal every weekend is feasible.

And I think Marie France's availability is the last think to worry about. Why would Nathan even mention this without checking with her first.

yyyskate should be happy, obviously Nathan has heard that "Guillaume Cizeron skating skills" requirement.

 

[chanchan]

Did he take online classes? IMO he studied for the yale placement exam. Or maybe both?

 

[Kelly]

Yes he can free himself up on Friday and leave on Thursday, I think going to Montreal every weekend is feasible.

And I think Marie France's availability is the last think to worry about. Why would Nathan even mention this without checking with her first.

And I guess Nathan has discussed this arrangement with Raf already, not like last time with Marina Zueva.

yyyskate should be happy, obviously Nathan has heard that "Guillaume Cizeron skating skills" requirement.

This thought has crossed my mind too.

 

[oatmella]

One step closer to Cizeron-level

I’m not sure about the online classes - and sounds like they’re only offered in the summer https://summer.yale.edu/academics/important-information-summer-online

The number of online Summer Session courses that may be applied to a Yale College degree is limited. No more than two such courses may be taken in any given summer, and no more than four online courses may be applied towards a Yale degree. A student must petition the Yale College Committee on Honors and Academic Standing for permission to exceed these limits. In the petition the student must explain the sound pedagogical reasons for an overload of online courses and how such work will not be done at the expense of study being pursued in regular Yale College courses. These limitations are only applicable to Yale College students.

 

[oatmella]

Yuki’s post - Nathan at teamLab Planets Tokyo:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmQzcE-gY7A/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=13ppfqgnohsbo

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths”. Walt Disney

 

[sheetz]

And I think Marie France's availability is the last think to worry about. Why would Nathan even mention this without checking with her first.

True. Nathan leaves for Yale in 2 weeks so I expect all his training details to be ironed out by now, including whether or not Ingalls Rink is available. If he thinks he will train there then I trust that arrangements have been made so that he can.

 

[sheetz]

Yuki’s post - Nathan at teamLab Planets Tokyo:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmQzcE-gY7A/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=13ppfqgnohsbo

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths”. Walt Disney

That's a different photo than the ones Nathan uploaded so it's likely that she was there, too.

-----------------------------------
US Classic's entries deadline is this Friday. I hope to not see Nathan on the list!
https://www.isu.org/events/eventdet...ional-figure-skating-classic?templateParam=11

 

[oatmella]

Yuki just posted from Yale two days ago - maybe helping with final logistics?

Sounds like everything has been worked out - weekday training on campus (and living super close to the rink) and weekend training in Montreal!

 

[oly2018]

I don't know why people feel like Raf is abandoning Nathan in some way. It's pretty obvious that Raf is closer to Nathan than he is to any of his other students. I think Raf prioritizes him, but that is hard to do when your student is across the country. He is no busier than Marie-France. I am worried about the school balance though. These programs look more demanding than last year's, but he has less time to practice them.

 

[alexaa]

I don't know why people feel like Raf is abandoning Nathan in some way. It's pretty obvious that Raf is closer to Nathan than he is to any of his other students. I think Raf prioritizes him, but that is hard to do when your student is across the country. He is no busier than Marie-France. I am worried about the school balance though. These programs look more demanding than last year's, but he has less time to practice them.

Thank you for your response. I agree with you that Raf is probably closer to Nathan than any other student. They’ve been through so many ups and downs in the past. On top of that, they communicate much better now than before. And one more clarification, when I was posting about how much time RAF would spend on Nathan, I wasn’t complaining about the number of new students coming. I am actually very happy RAF has young talents with good work ethics like Marin and Eun Soo coming in. It is good for the long term development of everyone there. Look how good Eun-soo was doing at AO. I am just concerned how RAF and his team are handling the different demand from each skater. I am sure eventually he and his team would try their best to accommodate all the demands. It is just that this is new to everyone involved right now, and naturally fans would be concerned or even worried.

I agree with mamaiia Nathan must have talked to RAF about the plan and RAF is fine with it. Yes,Marie France is busy, but I read somewhere that it is managed well there, and Gadbois does well is developing skating skills and extracting expressions from students

And sheetz brought up something really important: the training environment.

And I think we need to manage our expectations at this point, it is a huge joint effort for everyone involved. I don’t how well/bad it would turn out. But like I said yesterday, I am not worried too much about the details as long as Nathan figures out what his priorities are and work on that. He has far more and better resources to help him make decisions.

 

[Kelly]

While I love many things about Land of All and prefer it to Caravan, I wonder if Marie France is responsible for a new phenomenon I don't appreciate:
what is with all these arm wooshes after the jumps in Land of All? It happened over and over again, and most of the time I can't find anything in the music that remotely justified it.

I find it unaesthetic and unnecessary clutter.

skfan - I’m not sure about the arm whooshes - I assumed that was Sam’s choreography, but I don’t really know.

I think oatmella is right that the arm whooshes was Sam's choreography, https://www.instagram.com/p/BkqRtYDFh9d/?hl=en&taken-by=samchouinard15

I liked the movement very much when Sam showed the clip without music. But not so much after watching Nathan's The Ice performance many times.

On the other hand, I first thought the zombie movement in the beginning of Caravan weird but I find it very entertaining now.

 

[skfan]

skfan - I’m not sure about the arm whooshes - I assumed that was Sam’s choreography, but I don’t really know.

I think oatmella is right that the arm whooshes was Sam's choreography, https://www.instagram.com/p/BkqRtYDFh9d/?hl=en&taken-by=samchouinard15

I liked the movement very much when Sam showed the clip without music. But not so much after watching Nathan's The Ice performance many times.

On the other hand, I first thought the zombie movement in the beginning of Caravan weird but I find it very entertaining now.

Thank you Kelly and oatmella for your replies.

When I say arm wooshes in Land of All, I'm referring to a bit of arm movement after the jump has been landed. These arm movements remind me of balance checks by gymnasts who use them to keep from falling off a balance beam after a release move. They don't give the impression of mastery.


For contrast, here is a jump landed with NO arm woosh. https://youtu.be/BavtKk8ZdZA?t=44
This is how I'm used to seeing Nathan jumping.



Here are the arm wooshes I saw in the same video--if you just drag the bar to the right time point, you'll see what I mean.

arm woosh at 1m12 sec--+- some musical justification but still looks silly to me, the arm woosh/movement after the jump was already landed

arm woosh at 2m 1sec-- there is no justification in the music for arm movement after landing jump

arm woosh at 2m 12seconds-- no musical justification

Did Nathan add these arm wooshes, or did Marie-France / Sam include them in the choreography? They make the program look messy. They detract from Nathan's wonderful musicality, because there's no musical justification. When a skater makes a movement that doesn't match the music, it gives the impression the program is not well-choreographed or he's not listening to his music and therefore mis-timing his movements.


Kelly, I like the Sam part when I saw it on ice. Wasn't too excited about it in the studio, but it looks better on ice, and even better in the context of the actual Land of All program.

I also like the zombie rising movements at the beginning of Caravan now.

 

[skfan]

I like to think of this summer as a trial run for the semester. He’s actually been taking online classes this summer already. He also did several shows in Japan as well as stars on ice. The Stars on ice shows have him the chance to practice new transitions, spins,and jump quads while being sleep deprived and exhausted. Personal appearances for events as well as his sponsorship. And in the month of a June got two programs choreographed and debuted them shortly after. He’s super efficient.

I think this year will be all about him learning to balance the classroom work with his skating. He’s probably planned on taking a few online classes this fall to free up his schedule as much as possible. His schedule should start later, ensuring that he can get in morning practice. Most likely he has no classes on Friday, to free up his weekend as much as possible.

Last year was a doozy, in terms of scheduling. All of the traveling and the stress. This year will, be far less stressful, since I its non-olympic year. The focus is now to develop more as a skater. Plus he’s earned enough money, so no more stress about sponsor obligations.

All this added together, I think he can afford a weekly lesson to improve his edgework and skating skills in Montreal.

I mostly agree with you, but I disagree that he has 'earned enough money, so no more stress about sponsor obligations.'

As long as Bridgestone is still sponsoring him, he'll be making more appearances with Ashley at rinks like the one at Scott Hamilton's. His very busy show schedule this summer and his plan to fly all the way to Japan for Japan Open during parents' weekend are two reasons why I don't think he's so well off that he can afford to turn down money making opportunities. Besides, he has to pay for 4 years of training and at least 2 years of school during the next Olympic cycle.

Also, people can define having enough money in different ways. Does it mean earning enough to make up for the expenses your parents ran up in the previous 15 years of your skating career? Or having enough money to pay for all the years of undergraduate and even graduate school, so you don't have to take out loans or rely on your parents?

 

[skfan]

https://twitter.com/s5n2w5c2/status/1027587349121708032

 

[sheetz]

Nathan and Mariah have a chance meeting with a fan
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmRy4JRBPWO/

 

[Kelly]

When I say arm wooshes in Land of All, I'm referring to a bit of arm movement after the jump has been landed. These arm movements remind me of balance checks by gymnasts who use them to keep from falling off a balance beam after a release move. They don't give the impression of mastery.


For contrast, here is a jump landed with NO arm woosh. https://youtu.be/BavtKk8ZdZA?t=44
This is how I'm used to seeing Nathan jumping.



Here are the arm wooshes I saw in the same video--if you just drag the bar to the right time point, you'll see what I mean.

arm woosh at 1m12 sec--+- some musical justification but still looks silly to me, the arm woosh/movement after the jump was already landed

arm woosh at 2m 1sec-- there is no justification in the music for arm movement after landing jump

arm woosh at 2m 12seconds-- no musical justification

Did Nathan add these arm wooshes, or did Marie-France / Sam include them in the choreography? They make the program look messy. They detract from Nathan's wonderful musicality, because there's no musical justification. When a skater makes a movement that doesn't match the music, it gives the impression the program is not well-choreographed or he's not listening to his music and therefore mis-timing his movements.

Thank you, skfan, for your further explanation about "arm woosh". Now I get what you're saying.:agree2:

 

[SnowWhite]

Going to Montreal every weekend? Wonder if he’s had this plan for quite awhile, or maybe he really liked it there when he went for choreo.

If we think Raf is busy with his many students - isn’t Marie-France super busy as well? Guess she will have to make time for Nathan

Nathan hasn’t attended regular school for like 5 years - so it’s possible he’s underestimating school. Or maybe it won’t be that difficult for him ?

Before they split, Seguin/Bilodeau used to go to Gadbois every Friday to work on SS, performance etc, so I guess they have some experience doing that for someone they don't coach.

If one of the big things Nathan wants to work on in Montreal is SS, then he can join in on stroking classes if they have them at the right time. I imagine ice dancer stroking classes would be great for singles skaters, and since they are done in groups easier to fit him in. Stellato/Bartholomay mentioned that they were able to join in on that when they went for choreo. I'm sure he'd want some individual attention too, but some of it being group stuff means it wouldn't be as hard for them to make time.

 

[oatmella]

Before they split, Seguin/Bilodeau used to go to Gadbois every Friday to work on SS, performance etc, so I guess they have some experience doing that for someone they don't coach.

If one of the big things Nathan wants to work on in Montreal is SS, then he can join in on stroking classes if they have them at the right time. I imagine ice dancer stroking classes would be great for singles skaters, and since they are done in groups easier to fit him in. Stellato/Bartholomay mentioned that they were able to join in on that when they went for choreo. I'm sure he'd want some individual attention too, but some of it being group stuff means it wouldn't be as hard for them to make time.

Thanks for the info . I’m sure Nathan can benefit a lot from training at Gadbois.

 

[oatmella]

I mostly agree with you, but I disagree that he has 'earned enough money, so no more stress about sponsor obligations.'

As long as Bridgestone is still sponsoring him, he'll be making more appearances with Ashley at rinks like the one at Scott Hamilton's. His very busy show schedule this summer and his plan to fly all the way to Japan for Japan Open during parents' weekend are two reasons why I don't think he's so well off that he can afford to turn down money making opportunities. Besides, he has to pay for 4 years of training and at least 2 years of school during the next Olympic cycle.

Also, people can define having enough money in different ways. Does it mean earning enough to make up for the expenses your parents ran up in the previous 15 years of your skating career? Or having enough money to pay for all the years of undergraduate and even graduate school, so you don't have to take out loans or rely on your parents?

Yeah, ‘enough’ is relative and seems like Nathan is a saver. I would guess the ‘stress’ of sponsors, earning money, etc. will still be there to some degree - though not at the same level of intensity as last season.

 

[skfan]

Before they split, Seguin/Bilodeau used to go to Gadbois every Friday to work on SS, performance etc, so I guess they have some experience doing that for someone they don't coach.

If one of the big things Nathan wants to work on in Montreal is SS, then he can join in on stroking classes if they have them at the right time. I imagine ice dancer stroking classes would be great for singles skaters, and since they are done in groups easier to fit him in. Stellato/Bartholomay mentioned that they were able to join in on that when they went for choreo. I'm sure he'd want some individual attention too, but some of it being group stuff means it wouldn't be as hard for them to make time.

Thank you for this helpful post.

*hauls out dead horse to flog in new context*
In your experience, is posture part of the curriculum for the stroking class, or would a skater seeking posture guidance need individual attention from the coaches? Thanks again.