Adam Rippon Needs Gracie Gold's Coach

[dorispulaski]

I think Alex is the best coach in the state of IL. Yes he is a little nuts. If he sees you working hard the he will work with you & you will get the jumps.I think Alex is better than the so called great coaches.

ctcl, Welcome to Golden Skate! We hope you post long and often.

Alex has done a great job with Gracie's jump technique, for sure.

 

[mskater93]

Thanks . Yeah, I just don't really understand all the Jason hype. Well, I mean, in a sense I do, he is very talented and certainly has an interesting style and is a great performer, but with no 3a at 17, I'm surprised so many people are convinced he is the next big thing. I mean, I think he could become the next big thing when/if he gets the 3a and a quad, but we don't know when/if that will happen so right now, I'm a little puzzled that Jason Brown is the talk of the boards. I honestly think Denis Ten should have beaten him at Junior Worlds (please don't hate me for saying that, but D10 did have a LOT more content and it wasn't like he made that many mistakes...). QUOTE]
A lot of posters (Mrs. P, me) haven't said "he's the next big thing" they are saying he's an excellent PERFORMER and appreciate his magnetism and style. I think you need to read more clearly, at least what I have written about Jason. I've ALWAYS only said things about appreciating his perfoming abilities that seem natural and something he's been able to do since he was very young and (I hope) that if he finds the key to getting his 3A and hopefully quads that he could be unstoppable.

 

[silverlake22]

^^ Ok well this makes more sense. He is a great performer. Hopefully the 3a and quads will come...and come soon.

BTW, would Adam have better luck with a 4t? Most skaters say the 4s is harder...

 

[mskater93]

No - Adam's edge jumps are MUCH better than his toe jumps and at that point, it's a matter of preference.

 

[silverlake22]

No - Adam's edge jumps are MUCH better than his toe jumps and at that point, it's a matter of preference.

Really? His 3f-3t and rippon 3lz seem pretty solid and I've never thought his 3lo or 3s were any better.

 

[mskater93]

That was HIS reasoning for going with the 4S over the 4Lz, so we have to go with that.

 

[Serious Business]

When I started reading this thread, I was charmed by this tidbit about coach Alex Ouriashev:

His most famous phrase around our rink is "you go do." (in his Ukranian accent).

Then I was horrified by this tidbit about coach Richard Callaghan:

I'm not sure if Callaghan takes on any male students. A sexual harrassment complaint by a former male student forced him to temporarily retire in 1999. Since then, however, he's coached Jennifer Kirk, Angela Nikodinov, Kimmie Meissner, and Shizuka Arakawa.

Why, why WHY would it be OK for him to have students as long as they aren't male? That's like saying just 'cause someone got caught embezzling Euros, it's OK to entrust him with dollars! Really, existing stats show that gender-preference among child predators is plenty fungible.

Adam's huge problem is that his skating is so painfully slow. Somehow the international judges no longer seem to ding him as much on that. But I don't imagine his lack of speed helps him with the triple axels and quads at all. I'm not sure any coaches can help him with that. At least, any human coaches. Chuck a few hungry alligators onto the ice while he is practicing and I'm sure he'll improve in a hurry.

 

[icebeauty]

I don't think Adam need s coaching change...not yet at least
but i think his biggest issue with the 3A (as some of you have already mentioned) is the log glide. Adam is not a fast skater so he already lacks the speed and momentum to go into the jump. The longer the rides the edge, the less speed he will have which ill actually give him less time to complete the jump b/c he will cover less ice during the jump. So unless he's a fast twister or a very springy jumper, he won't get all the revolutions in. After watching Adam for the past 6-ish year, he's a pretty fast twister/spinner but he's not the highest jumper, which means getting the extra half rotation for the 3A not going ot happen if he goes into the jump with the same speed as he attacks his other triples. Currently, I think Adam and his coaching team are going with the view point that they need to spend more time on the 3A since it's a "must have" jump, but I almost think they Adam should get the quad. I know that sounds crazy, but I personally think Adam doesn't have the quad yet b/c he hasn't put in enough time. His triples jumps (excluding the axel are all very solid jumps with the exception of the flukely landing errors he makes sometimes) Adam seem to be the kind of skater who skates great when he doesn't worry about what he has to do, but once his brain kicks into gear and focuses too much, he makes mistakes. There a was period over the past 2 years where it seemed like he was going to turn the corner with the 3A, but he just never did and I wonder if that because he put so much focus into it that he's now completely over-thinking it?

 

[Violet Bliss]

If Adam improves his basic skating skills, he will improve his speed, his jumps and his PCS. It's about the basics, the foundation of figure skating and its elements.

 

[Serious Business]

icebeauty, I'd wager Adam deliberately slows down before the triple axel with the long glide to either give himself more control, or the illusion of it. His slow speed is a crutch and/or a safety blanket for him at this point, IMO. He needs to let that go and embrace flight, but easier said than done after so many years!

 

[silverlake22]

If Adam improves his basic skating skills, he will improve his speed, his jumps and his PCS. It's about the basics, the foundation of figure skating and its elements.

I think you hit on a good point and I also think it's important to mention that Rippon did not even start skating until he was 9 or 10, that's really VERY late to start among the elite echelon of skaters, where the average skater began around age 5, a fair amount before that, and occasionally you hear maybe starting at 7, but that's usually the latest. It's not surprising that Rippon's skating is slow and his basics aren't that strong because in the grand scheme of things, he hasn't been skating for all that long and missed out on valuable basics learning years from starting the sport so late in life. Maybe you guys think it sounds crazy, but I'm personally shocked he managed to even get to this level at all considering how late he started skating, especially when you consider many elite skaters were jumping certainly doubles and oftentimes triples by the age of 10...

 

[RemyRose]

^ Yeah but didn't Johnny Weir start at 11 and didn't he have nice basics?

 

[Serious Business]

^ Yeah but didn't Johnny Weir start at 11 and didn't he have nice basics?

Yes. Starting at age 9 is not an excuse for Rippon. He managed to learn lots of other skills in skating that the vast majority of skaters who started much earlier never did and never will. Rippon is scared of speed, that's what it seems like to me.

 

[Tonichelle]

^ Yeah but didn't Johnny Weir start at 11 and didn't he have nice basics?

yes and legend has it he started skating in a corn/wheat? field.

 

[silverlake22]

Yes. Starting at age 9 is not an excuse for Rippon. He managed to learn lots of other skills in skating that the vast majority of skaters who started much earlier never did and never will. Rippon is scared of speed, that's what it seems like to me.

It's still a remarkably late age to begin skating. I mean think what Nathan Chen was capable of at age 10, or Julia Lipinskaya, Elena Radinova, etc.

 

[Violet Bliss]

^ Yeah but didn't Johnny Weir start at 11 and didn't he have nice basics?

Not nice enough for current level of competitions like what Adam faces, or even his later years of competitive career, despite his claim of having a better Olympic Free Skate than Lysacek.

 

[silverlake22]

Not nice enough for current level of competitions like what Adam faces, or even his later years of competitive career, despite his claim of having a better Olympic Free Skate than Lysacek.

This. I always thought Johnny had awkward crossovers and feel the same about Rippon. If Johnny's basics were so good, he could have handled programs that weren't so painfully empty choreographically. There's a reason his PCS were the way they were...

Plus competition is much steeper now. Johnny wasn't competing against Hanyu, Chan and Kozuka at their primes, and these unreal quad jumpers like Brezina and Fernandez. Adam is already pretty weak in the jump department, his basics aren't so strong either and this is why he ends up 13th at Worlds. I know he wasn't at his best in Nice, but he skated like he has all season, about as well as we can expect from him at this point, and the placement is accurate. In fact, he's probably not even the 13th best skater in the World right now because others underperformed or were not at Worlds. Idk. Adam has nice spins and artistry but that isn't enough, certainly not now. It was never enough for Johnny and that was during an era where the men's field wasn't quite so stacked.

 

[Sjs5572]

When I started reading this thread, I was charmed by this tidbit about coach Alex Ouriashev:



Then I was horrified by this tidbit about coach Richard Callaghan:



Why, why WHY would it be OK for him to have students as long as they aren't male?

It's not OK. I am shocked that the USFSA never fully investigated these heinous allegations based on some misplaced "statute of limitations" consideration. It can take years before an abused teenager has the self-confidence to go to authorities; and thus, statute of limitations laws shouldn't apply.

 

[Serious Business]

It's not OK. I am shocked that the USFSA never fully investigated these heinous allegations based on some misplaced "statute of limitations" consideration. It can take years before an abused teenager has the self-confidence to go to authorities; and thus, statute of limitations laws shouldn't apply.

I've seen first hand how ridiculous, protracted and unhelpful investigations into child sexual abuse can be. I used to think people cared about children being sexually abused and would make preventing it a priority over lots of other things, it's a really rude awakening to find out the truth was otherwise.

 

[bigsisjiejie]

Then I was horrified by this tidbit about coach Richard Callaghan:
<references in quote by another poster about Jenny Kirk, Angela Nikodinov, Kimmie Meissner, Shizuka Arakawa>

Why, why WHY would it be OK for him to have students as long as they aren't male? That's like saying just 'cause someone got caught embezzling Euros, it's OK to entrust him with dollars! Really, existing stats show that gender-preference among child predators is plenty fungible.

As I recall, all of these female skaters were legal adults, not minors, when they went to train with Callaghan. And since all went to him after 1999, the year the allegations against him were made public, we can presume they were aware and knew full well what they were doing. And perhaps either did not lend credence to the allegations, or did not feel that there was a situation that would be detrimental to their person or their quality of training.

FWIW, the PSA did exonerate Callaghan, in 2009 I believe. And I recall there was a lot of suspicion that the accuser, also a fairly well-known coach, was being untruthful and had other motives for the accusation. Waiting so long to bring up accusations did not help his case.