Vincent Zhou to train under Lee Barkell in Toronto

[Rissa]

Press Release:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Jan. 2, 2020) - World bronze medalist Vincent Zhou announced today that he will begin training with Lee Barkell and Lori Nichol in Toronto, Canada. Zhou will continue to train with Mie Hamada. Zhou had previously been coached by Tammy Gambill, Christy Krall and Tom Zakrajsek in Colorado Springs.

“I can’t thank Tammy, Christy and Tom enough for all they have done for me and my career,” Zhou said. “I’m excited to begin training with Lee, and also work more regularly with Lori, in Toronto, and continue to work with Mie.”

In addition, Zhou will immediately begin a gap year at Brown University to focus on figure skating. He withdrew from both of his Grand Prix assignments to focus on school this fall, and will return to competitive ice at the 2020 TOYOTA U.S. Figure Skating Championships, set for Jan. 20-26, 2020, in Greensboro, North Carolina.

https://mobile.twitter.com/govincentzhou/status/1212844996266774528

https://mobile.twitter.com/LynnRutherford/status/1212842229531914240


Well, I wonder if the coaching change will affect his skating at Nationals.

 

[macy]

wonder what his reasoning was for leaving Tom Z.

 

[theharleyquinn]

wonder what his reasoning was for leaving Tom Z.

From my understanding, when he switched to Hamada and started at Brown, he was only being coached by her and Tammy G. And now he's dropped the Colorado team altogether.

He wasn't the first to drop Tom Z but there has definitely been a trend.

 

[skateluvr]

What exactly happened with Vincent this season? Was it school? He made huge strides last season it was so impressive. He is a quiet type kid I think and not an alpha like other top guys. He doesn’t smile much. I hope he does great at Nationals. I assume he will be there?

 

[chuckm]

He wasn't the first to drop Tom Z but there has definitely been a trend.

Mirai Nagasu having to have hip surgery after years of working on 3A probably didn't help Tom.

 

[noskates]

Hope springs eternal.....................

 

[TontoK]

It's odd to think that Vincent is a current world medalist - he's not been seen since the summer.

I'm hopeful this is a good move for him. Honestly, I'm interested in seeing how a closer relationship with Lori Nichol translates on the ice.

 

[Moxiejan]

What exactly happened with Vincent this season? Was it school? He made huge strides last season it was so impressive. He is a quiet type kid I think and not an alpha like other top guys. He doesn’t smile much. I hope he does great at Nationals. I assume he will be there?

Yes, school. He needed to have a solid first semester at Brown so that he would be allowed to take a full gap year. Thus, he did not do fall competitions.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Mirai Nagasu having to have hip surgery after years of working on 3A probably didn't help Tom.

From what I gather this was Mirai’s decision to pursue the jump and it became essentially her claim to fame at the Olympics and led to opportunities thereafter. Surgery is never fun but what she was doing paid off even if it doesn’t for everyone.

This is an interesting switch but kinda makes sense. Zhou achieved a World podium with Tom Z, in just his second senior season, which not a lot of folks can say.

 

[carriecmu0503]

Yes, school. He needed to have a solid first semester at Brown so that he would be allowed to take a full gap year. Thus, he did not do fall competitions.

As a result of attending Brown in the fall semester, Zhou will be able to take more than a gap year. Brown has a policy that as long as you attend one full semester beginning no later than one year after admittance, you can then put off your attendance indefinitely. Zhou has stated he does not intend to return to Brown until after the 2022 Olympics. Brown's policy is in stark contrast to Yale's, in which one is only allowed 2 total semesters of leave. This means Chen will likely have to continue attending through next school year, his junior year, so he can take his leave of absence for the entire 2021-2022 school year. He could then return to Yale in fall 2022 for his senior year.

 

[DSQ]

I’m so so happy Vincent is returning, I was a little worried. That said I do feel a little bad for coach Z, I wonder what happened there.

 

[Jaana]

I´m feeling veeeery happy about Zhou´s Toronto news!!!

 

[alexaa]

From my understanding, when he switched to Hamada and started at Brown, he was only being coached by her and Tammy G. And now he's dropped the Colorado team altogether.

He wasn't the first to drop Tom Z but there has definitely been a trend.

Tom tweeted that he did visit Vincent at Brown in October
https://twitter.com/CoachTomZ/status/1212890964676579342?s=20

Hamada and Tammy visited him in September.
https://twitter.com/VincentZhou1025/status/1173423091986223105?s=20
https://twitter.com/VincentZhou1025/status/1173423013020090368?s=20
With Tammy
https://twitter.com/VincentZhou1025/status/1170889945763860480?s=20

It's odd to think that Vincent is a current world medalist - he's not been seen since the summer.

He went to US Classics in September and his last competition was in October, he performed at Granite in Thanksgiving week.

At granite in November
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5gLEn3Hf1j/?igshid=uivoqxuga4fq

 

[alexaa]

As a result of attending Brown in the fall semester, Zhou will be able to take more than a gap year. Brown has a policy that as long as you attend one full semester beginning no later than one year after admittance, you can then put off your attendance indefinitely. Zhou has stated he does not intend to return to Brown until after the 2022 Olympics. Brown's policy is in stark contrast to Yale's, in which one is only allowed 2 total semesters of leave. This means Chen will likely have to continue attending through next school year, his junior year, so he can take his leave of absence for the entire 2021-2022 school year. He could then return to Yale in fall 2022 for his senior year.

Nathan said in an interview that there are ways to get approval to take break for more than a year, he is just not sure he wants to do that.

He originally plan to study for 2 years at Yale in an interview from May 2018. My guess is that it is rather his decision to pursue junior year than school policy. Nathan is super super good at planning, he should know very well his options back in 2018 before he matriculated at Yale. Phil Hersh said in his interview with Jack Gallagher that the leave policy is 2 semester only, but he thinks it should not be problem to get three semesters of break.

He did say in his new year resolution that he wants to improve both study and skating in 2020.

 

[snowflake]

Thanks for the news. I've wondered how he's doing. So he has now finished his studying (with top results I expect ) and can focus on skating.

Barkell left the Toronto Cricket club to start his own training center, right? I've seen him in kiss & cry with students but right now don't remember wit whom. Gogolev?

Anyway happy for Vincent whatever he thinks is best for him. Isn't his family living in Boston? Closer to Toronto than Colorado.

Excited to see him perform at US nationals if it's possible. US nationals seems like the hardest nationals to be able to experience.

 

[fzztsimmons]

Thanks for the news. I've wondered how he's doing. So he has now finished his studying (with top results I expect ) and can focus on skating.

Barkell left the Toronto Cricket club to start his own training center, right? I've seen him in kiss & cry with students but right now don't remember wit whom. Gogolev?

Anyway happy for Vincent whatever he thinks is best for him. Isn't his family living in Boston? Closer to Toronto than Colorado.

Excited to see him perform at US nationals if it's possible. US nationals seems like the hardest nationals to be able to experience.

Lee Barkell moved from TCC to the Granite Club which is also in Toronto, so not quite setting up his own training centre. He has had a number of students but currently he is Gabby Daleman's main coach (was at TCC and she went with him to Granite) and Satoko Miyahara.
I think he is still listed as a coach for Gogolev but I believe Stephen spends most of his time training with Raf in California.

 

[Makemi]

I’m so so happy Vincent is returning, I was a little worried. That said I do feel a little bad for coach Z, I wonder what happened there.

This is off-topic for this thread but I'm actually really wondering what is going on with Tom Z. Seems there was some sort of mass exodus. I did see him with some lower skaters at Sectionals but I think his only top/elite student now is Ting (assuming she's still with him). I heard over the summer Tom was maybe moving to California but it seems he's still in Colorado and on the Broadmoor coaching staff so I don't know what's up.

 

[theharleyquinn]

Tom tweeted that he did visit Vincent at Brown in October
https://twitter.com/CoachTomZ/status/1212890964676579342?s=20

Hamada and Tammy visited him in September.
https://twitter.com/VincentZhou1025/status/1173423091986223105?s=20
https://twitter.com/VincentZhou1025/status/1173423013020090368?s=20
With Tammy
https://twitter.com/VincentZhou1025/status/1170889945763860480?s=20



He went to US Classics in September and his last competition was in October, he performed at Granite in Thanksgiving week.

At granite in November
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5gLEn3Hf1j/?igshid=uivoqxuga4fq

The Jack Gallagher article when he first switched to Hamada and got the new sponsorship made it sound like it would be primarily Gambill and Hamada, and he had Vincent as a direct source.

It's interesting that Tom Z is tweeting that he visited Vincent in the fall after he's announced his switch. Not saying he wasn't advising Vincent in some way, but it's interesting.

 

[DSQ]

This is off-topic for this thread but I'm actually really wondering what is going on with Tom Z. Seems there was some sort of mass exodus. I did see him with some lower skaters at Sectionals but I think his only top/elite student now is Ting (assuming she's still with him). I heard over the summer Tom was maybe moving to California but it seems he's still in Colorado and on the Broadmoor coaching staff so I don't know what's up.

I don’t want to speculate but he seems like an alright guy and has been a top coach for so long. I hope everything is alright.

On the other side it’s nice to see foreign students with a Japanese coach.

Back on topic I’m very excited for US Nationals now.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Thanks for the news. I've wondered how he's doing. So he has now finished his studying (with top results I expect ) and can focus on skating.

Barkell left the Toronto Cricket club to start his own training center, right? I've seen him in kiss & cry with students but right now don't remember wit whom. Gogolev?

Anyway happy for Vincent whatever he thinks is best for him. Isn't his family living in Boston? Closer to Toronto than Colorado.

Excited to see him perform at US nationals if it's possible. US nationals seems like the hardest nationals to be able to experience.

Daleman, Miyahara, used to coach Gogolev, until he moved to Raf in California. He also used to coach Roman Sadovsky until he moved to new coaches in Richmond Hill.