changing coaches
In my sport (dressage), people often change coaches. In my case, it's because I started out learning from an eventor (the sport that combines dressage and jumping and then later switched to focus on dressage... so I needed a coach who is a dressage specialist. For others, it is due to many variables - they get a new horse who needs a different approach, they move, the coach moves, etc.
The other point to note is that there were comments as to why a Russian ISU official would visit Michelle Kwan to help her with the CoPs... well, in dressage the best riders in the world are - hands down - from Germany. And it is very, very common for big name German instructors to tour the USA and other countries, sharing their expertise. It's all for the advancement of the sport (and, of course, they also make a nice living this way).
So I find it very interesting that coaching changes make such waves in the skating world, and that the commentators always seem to point them out (or point out that a skater has never made a coaching change).
Brian Joubert's regular French coach has been with him since the beginning, I think. The extra help Brian's been getting on the side hasn't proven to be such a great course of action. A coaching change could be good or it might not necessarily be so.
Linny
