- Joined
- Jul 31, 2014
I have been thinking on this too, and well I think the best explanation is that he had a "I had some growing up to do" moment much like Josh did after NHK. While for Josh it was training more and harder, for Jason it may have been training smarter.
Jason is a hard working bundle of energy. Up until last year he could just take a "keep working hard at it, it will come in time" approach and it was no big deal. Last season their were reports of him being at the rink 12 plush hours a day... i can't have been the only one to say "is that a good idea?" and it probably was not. As long as the skater does not mind skating that much and is healthy... it is fine to do that. But now after injury, Jason does not have that option anymore. He can't just do it all through hard work, he has to work smarter.
And working smarter is always a good thing, and often what is needed to solve many of life's challenges. It is pretty clear his issues with the quad (and jumps) is more mental than physical. Kori and he have both alluded to that, and it is evident by his technique and his physique that that is not likely where the problem lies. Now he is limited in how much he can skate/train/try so he has to think more about what is working and what is not... he has to make ever attempt count much more now than before. And humans are surprisingly good at rising to the occasion. I have heard a joke that the best way to get a behind schedule project done on time is to hire half the staff. The idea being that the people left cut the BS, think what has to be done and pulls together and does what it takes. We may just be seeing Jason manifesting this phenomenon. Once his resources were cut, he found a way to do what he needed to do.
Also - i think some coaches advocated limited time. Pretty sure that Jenny Kirk mentioned that in her time with Franky they had very limited run through chances, which she seemed to think helped as it made each attempt count. You don't get to this level without being competitive, so if you only have a few chances to get it done, this type of person gets it done. Also both she and Mirai have talked about him throwing them off the ice of bad behavior...so clearly he thinks lack of training is a consequence. It clearly works for some, so maybe it is working for Jason. In fact maybe that was part of why he was training with Frank. To get more used to the limited training/attempts approach.
So him landing quads actually does not surprise me. His triples up to 3A came back very well, it sounds like he did have a 4T at least in practice last year so it being stable is not shocking to me, just normal recovery. The 4S has been in the works for a long time... again not surprised it is at least looking ok. I really think he had his epiphany moment much like Josh.
As for his long term comments. Well he is always far less sure of his abilities than Kori - reality is likely about a 70-30 split between the two. And I don't think that making the 2018 Olympics is the goal...I think medaling in the individual event has always been the goal. So even a 4T and a 4S may not be where he wants to be... especially in a year and a half. I suspect he wants to be more of a 2 quad short 3 maybe even 4 quad free by the Olympics. So it is very possible that he is landing them both, but still have a way to go.
And I think that's why we're all here, as had been said so many times: we love what makes Jason special and let's face it, jumps aren't what makes him special.
eace:
:hap85:
