Jason Brown

[Ross74]

Ok, where’s the LP music? @Rosa74, did Zhenya drop any hints in Russian?

Nope. The Russian and the English comments were pretty repetitive. No new information there.

Regarding Champs Camp, are the coaches there the entire time? I would assume they'd be there when the programs are skated, but what else? Seminars?

 

[Tavi...]

Nope. The Russian and the English comments were pretty repetitive. No new information there.

Regarding Champs Camp, are the coaches there the entire time? I would assume they'd be there when the programs are skated, but what else? Seminars?

The blurb says only, “Primary coaches of an athlete assigned to a Grand Prix Series event are required to attend.”

http://www.usfsa.org/story?id=84157&menu=camps

Interestingly, there’s a JGP (Slovakia) scheduled Aug 22-25, which means it overlaps with 2 days of Champs Camp. So if, for example, Jun Hwan Cha or Steven Gogolev (I think Brian is primary for both) compete there, Brian almost certainly won’t be at Champs Camp. Which begs the question of who will, because if you recall, Brian said that he and Tracy would be Jason’s head coaches “on paper,” but Karen Preston and Lee Barkell would also work with him.

I guess who goes to Champs Camp may signal who he’s working with the most (or is most comfortable with). I’m wondering if it might be Tracy, or perhaps Karen Preston - I think she used to coach in US, and may have dual citizenship - but since training clips we’ve seen don’t show his individual training, it’s hard to say. Anyway, I guess we’ll see.

Last but not least: it looks like he’s not absolutely required to attend one of Glacier Falls, Skate Detroit, or Philly, but will he? I guess Philly is most likely?

 

[ice coverage]

Jason is not on dscclub's official list for this year's Skate Detroit, so we can cross at least one thing off the list of possibilities.

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… Regarding Champs Camp, are the coaches there the entire time? I would assume they'd be there when the programs are skated, but what else? Seminars?

IIRC, some of the events at Champs Camp are targeted at GP coaches -- things (both serious and perhaps-not-so-serious [yes, such as team-building ]) for coaches to work on (while GP skaters are otherwise occupied doing their own camp stuff).
I believe part of the evolution of Champs Camp over the years has been to beef up the offerings for coaches.

I do not know whether the coaches-only parts are mandatory for coaches.

ETA:

What I mean is: Hypothetically ... if one of the coaches-only things were scheduled at the end of camp, would a coach be allowed to skip it and catch an earlier flight home in order to get back to her/his skaters who were not at Champs Camp? I do not know.​

---

Thanks to Jason for the photo of Satoko. :luv17:

 

[Haleth]

The blurb says only, “Primary coaches of an athlete assigned to a Grand Prix Series event are required to attend.”

http://www.usfsa.org/story?id=84157&menu=camps

Interestingly, there’s a JGP (Slovakia) scheduled Aug 22-25, which means it overlaps with 2 days of Champs Camp. So if, for example, Jun Hwan Cha or Steven Gogolev (I think Brian is primary for both) compete there, Brian almost certainly won’t be at Champs Camp. Which begs the question of who will, because if you recall, Brian said that he and Tracy would be Jason’s head coaches “on paper,” but Karen Preston and Lee Barkell would also work with him.

I guess who goes to Champs Camp may signal who he’s working with the most (or is most comfortable with). I’m wondering if it might be Tracy, or perhaps Karen Preston - I think she used to coach in US, and may have dual citizenship - but since training clips we’ve seen don’t show his individual training, it’s hard to say. Anyway, I guess we’ll see.

Last but not least: it looks like he’s not absolutely required to attend one of Glacier Falls, Skate Detroit, or Philly, but will he? I guess Philly is most likely?

Junhwan began competing internationally as a senior last year, so, as long as he is well enough (injuries caused some withdrawals last season alas) he will be at SC alongside Jason as a senior (Yipee! Happy that several Team Cricket folks will be there since I got tickets). But you're right in that Brian would want to make sure that Stephen is steered safely on his first JGP series outing. AFAIK he's the only junior he's coaching this season, as Lee Barkell is handling more of the juniors. Thus, if Stephen is scheduled for Slovakia I'm sure Brian would understandably choose to travel with him.

August will be a busy month at the Cricket Club; especially if the speculation that Boyang may not appear until August proves true. At least Jason, Evgenia, and Yuzu will have been in residence earlier, so it's not like everyone would be arriving at once. But I suspect no one would be surprised if Tracy (or Karen?) came down with Jason, given that Lee may have other JGP contenders like Conrad to worry about. I think we'll know more about how things will shake out for the first JGP closer to the Minto Summer Skate (Jul. 26-29), which Stephen and Conrad will be attending (also their rinkmates Shingo, Bruce, Alison, and Corey will be competing in singles). IIRC the first JGP entry list last year was released just before Minto. Minto results for Stephen and Conrad will affect their JGP season. Depending on where they are sent early in the JGP series, Stephen and Conrad may also be appearing in the GTA Summer Skate (Aug. 16-19) like they did last year. If so those results may also be used in the JGP placements. But the GTA Skate is at the Scotiabank Pond, where Jason and Evgenia have been photographed training at least once a week. That's just a hop, skip, and a jump from the TCC. Therefore, potentially Brian, Tracy, Lee, could have skaters competing just before and after Champs Camp. I don't know how likely it is that Slovakia will be chosen for either Stephen or Conrad, or if they'd have different JGP assignments. I suppose theoretically one could go to the GTASS and the other to Slovakia, but I don't know if that's feasible or likely. The scheduling will certainly be challenging this year!

 

[Tavi...]

Junhwan began competing internationally as a senior last year, so, as long as he is well enough (injuries caused some withdrawals last season alas) he will be at SC alongside Jason as a senior (Yipee! Happy that several Team Cricket folks will be there since I got tickets). But you're right in that Brian would want to make sure that Stephen is steered safely on his first JGP series outing. AFAIK he's the only junior he's coaching this season, as Lee Barkell is handling more of the juniors. Thus, if Stephen is scheduled for Slovakia I'm sure Brian would understandably choose to travel with him.

August will be a busy month at the Cricket Club; especially if the speculation that Boyang may not appear until August proves true. At least Jason, Evgenia, and Yuzu will have been in residence earlier, so it's not like everyone would be arriving at once. But I suspect no one would be surprised if Tracy (or Karen?) came down with Jason, given that Lee may have other JGP contenders like Conrad to worry about. I think we'll know more about how things will shake out for the first JGP closer to the Minto Summer Skate (Jul. 26-29), which Stephen and Conrad will be attending (also their rinkmates Shingo, Bruce, Alison, and Corey will be competing in singles). IIRC the first JGP entry list last year was released just before Minto. Minto results for Stephen and Conrad will affect their JGP season. Depending on where they are sent early in the JGP series, Stephen and Conrad may also be appearing in the GTA Summer Skate (Aug. 16-19) like they did last year. If so those results may also be used in the JGP placements. But the GTA Skate is at the Scotiabank Pond, where Jason and Evgenia have been photographed training at least once a week. That's just a hop, skip, and a jump from the TCC. Therefore, potentially Brian, Tracy, Lee, could have skaters competing just before and after Champs Camp. I don't know how likely it is that Slovakia will be chosen for either Stephen or Conrad, or if they'd have different JGP assignments. I suppose theoretically one could go to the GTASS and the other to Slovakia, but I don't know if that's feasible or likely. The scheduling will certainly be challenging this year!

Thanks for your thoughts! And completely dumb of me to have forgotten that Junwahn is now a senior. I liked his skating a lot at the Olympics (I think), and I know he will be at SCI.

I’m sure they’ll have the logistics worked out for everyone, but it’s a lot to balance, isn’t it, even with a diverse team. So I can easily see that Brian will probably not go to Champs Camp.

In the most recent TSL, Megan Duhamel said something interesting: that because the coaching staff is so busy, while Jason will get attention, he won’t have a single “motherly” coach now, and he may take more responsibility for his career.

I hope that’s true - it will be interesting, for sure!

To completely change the subject, I just realized: it’s now July. Which means Jason should be jumping again soon. What I really want, though, are some glimpses of his programs!

 

[Mrs. P]

In the most recent TSL, Megan Duhamel said something interesting: that because the coaching staff is so busy, while Jason will get attention, he won’t have a single “motherly” coach now, and he may take more responsibility for his career.

I'm kind of mixed viewpoints on this. I don't think Jason had a problem working on his own. Even though he was the "top dog," Jason's always been intrinsiically motivated and didn't slack off when Kori wasn't around, IMO.

On the other hand, I do see, as Dave Lease seem to hint at, at Orser and Co. being FAR more no-nonsense in whether to do a certain jump layout. I feel Kori was kind of motherly in the way of "Let's see how you feel in practice at competition" and then determined layouts based on that. Which resulted in all the last-minute layout changes and played with his psyche. I don't see Brian doing that at all unless there are major issues in practice.

 

[el henry]

As much as I love Meagan and even give TSL clicks when she's on (but dear Lord, that audio!:eeking I didn't get the "motherly" quotes. In the weeks when Jason has been with Frank, whom no one has ever accused of being "motherly", it's not like he slacked off. In fact, wasn't that one of the great quotes from Frank: Jason will do anything you ask?

I can see that when approaching a competition layout, perhaps Kori went for the "what works psychologically" rather than the "let's just grind it out". I don't really know.

Well, if Jason goes to Philly, I guess I'll at least make the SP, but I'm not really sure he'll do one. I think he is finding his "sea legs" at TCC, and that USFS might be content to monitor him at Champs Camp. He tried to do too much too soon last year; this year, he may take it slow. Just a hunch.:scratch3:

 

[Mrs. P]

As a mom, the what works psychologically approach is kind of "mothering 101." I know with my own kid, I think a lot of what works for my kid and that influences my behaivor/actions toward her.

I know Kori does the same with her other students, but it seem like she was especially sensitive to Jason's psyche/needs because of their relationship.

 

[Tavi...]

First, in case you guys haven’t seen, someone posted the complete Facebook live with English subtitles- it is great! Zhenya is so funny! My favorite part was when she said the watermelon (which I think Jason cut) looks like a “victim.” It did! And he just keeps eating it.

Okay back to Jason: first, he has a really good ear for languages! He was saying some stuff in Russian and his pronunciation was pretty good - he only made one mistake - pretty cool.

Second, I think I took Megan’s comments a bit differently than you guys did. My sense is that Jason always deferred to Kori and Rohene’s knowledge and ideas - a lot. Like they always set direction for him. For example, he’d always talk about how Kori and Rohene would never let him get comfortable in a particular style, to the point where they would veto him if he wanted to do another Latin program. Even his costumes seemed to be a bit of a battle between Kori and Rohene. It made him seem a little young and passive to me.

He’s less like that now. He finally started asserting himself - simple black and whit costumes, the Hamilton short program. And he even started to see himself as part of the process of interpreting newly composed music.

So I took that comment of Megan’s to be more along those lines - taking strategic charge of his career as well as being a driving force in music and costume choice, interpretation, etc.

It was actually Dave who took the conversation in a direction I didn’t like, and which I didn’t feel Megan necessarily agreed with. He was the one who made weird comments about Kori / Jason pretending the quad was going to be in his program (planned content sheet) and then not competing with it. He also implied that Jason not competing at NHK was a game, which, given his injuries, was completely stupid.

Anyway, I never thought Megan was saying that he wasn’t motivated as to practice. That was my take, anyway.

 

[Mrs. P]

I definitely don't agree with that take RE: Dave's comment on layouts or that they were "pretending" to put the quad in. That clearly wasn't the case at GPF (there was no-quad at the start).

I guess I actually agree with your assessment, Tavi, that Jason deferred to both Rohene/Kori a lot and I especially think that was case of layouts. Some skaters take it the other extreme and totally put in jumps they aren't even close on. Jason was the exact opposite -- he kinda let Kori be the gatekeeper whether to put in the quad or not (or to do a certain layout) and I think that really played with his psyche. Like at NHK, when she moved up the 3As up (along with taking out the quad)? I completely got the logic why she did that (he had not landed them well in warm-up). But how many times have we heard of skaters being complete wrecks at practice/warm-up and then slayed it it in actual competition? Jason in essence, turned over ownership of the quad to his coaches, rather then believing that he could do it. Maybe he would have still fared poorly if they kept the layout as is, but at least he would have tried.

(Which means I have to admit that TontoK was ultimately right in his assessment of NHK. LOL, hope he's not reading. Just kidding)

With Brian, I don't think there will be any of that. He'll either do it or he won't. And that's going to be decided before he leaves for competition, not at the six-minute warm-up.

 

[el henry]

Ok, hearing all the explanations, I'm convinced:agree: In my defense, I could only listen to that TSL video once and didn't hear anything Dave said, so maybe I was misremembering, to coin a phrase.

And we do know that Jason deferred to his team, but he trusted them ... it also worked when they said, yeah, let's go for Olympics 2014, and that was not in his mind.

And no, Jason is not Christopher Bowman, giving poor Frank Carroll a heart attack by adding random jumps to his program at 1990 Worlds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q3LST_EkA0

(I know I've posted this before, but I love this program, and I really love the KnC. Sniping usually isn't funny, but with these two it was.....)

 

[Mrs. P]

The Zhenya video with subtitles was really good. I agree she's really funny. And oh this friendship is going to be so fun! She's going to be a button pusher/dry humor person, I dig it.

I bet Jason's going to learn Russian, just because. (And so he can catch on to her jokes, LOL.)

 

[katmari]

Jason's #dedicationworks video this week is split jumps! :luv17: :luv17:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkyxZktBjAz/?taken-by=jasonbskates

 

[Tavi...]

That’s so funny - and how weird to see a young Frank Carroll!

I agree with what you guys are saying. Rohene and Kori’s plan did work for the Olympics. And I don’t think it was wrong for Jason to let himself be guided by them - he had just turned 19 and he was a first year senior. I just think it took him awhile to realize that his own input was crucial. And look what happened when he started to become more involved. His elegant black Piano costume is still my favorite of his ever. And by the end of last season, I think he’d managed to convince most people of his vision for Hamilton.

On the other hand, last season overall was ultimately unsuccessful. He didn’t make the team. Perhaps it was that as he started asserting himself, he resisted Kori’s guidance, no matter how sensible or right it was, like any kid growing up does. Because I’m still not sure who was pushing to put those quads in and taking them out and moving stuff around to make the program work.

It might have been Kori - I know she used to talk about moving stuff around because the programs were hard. At the same time, wasn’t she the one who made him do 40 clean programs before he won 2015 Nats? I’m sure they weren’t moving jumps around then - he never would have gotten the programs consistent. So it’s hard to say who was making those decisions. And I’m not sure if the FS was just too ambitious, given that it was a brand new program.

But I do agree that with Brian and Tracy, they’ll set the program and stick to it.

By the way I’m sure we’ve all seen this by now, but look at Baby Jason’s split jumps. Of course they’re better now. But they were amazing even when he was young!

https://twitter.com/jasonbskates/status/1014340929346363393?s=21

 

[Ross74]

(....Which means I have to admit that TontoK was ultimately right in his assessment of NHK. LOL, hope he's not reading. Just kidding) ...

Oh I disagree with the referenced post so much and I am not a Kori cheerleader. But I just deleted what I was going to say because it hurts my head to think about it.

Great Transformation Tuesday, Jason!

 

[Mrs. P]

^ Now I want to know what you wanted to say. On the other hand, better not to go back for your mental health.

I don't agree with every single aspect of his post, but I do think there were some decisions made, whether intentionally or not, that did adversely affect his confidence. And that was the general argument being made, IMO.

We can agree the post of baby Jason doing splits is cute.

That’s so funny - and how weird to see a young Frank Carroll!

I agree with what you guys are saying. Rohene and Kori’s plan did work for the Olympics. And I don’t think it was wrong for Jason to let himself be guided by them - he had just turned 19 and he was a first year senior. I just think it took him awhile to realize that his own input was crucial. And look what happened when he started to become more involved. His elegant black Piano costume is still my favorite of his ever. And by the end of last season, I think he’d managed to convince most people of his vision for Hamilton.

On the other hand, last season overall was ultimately unsuccessful. He didn’t make the team. Perhaps it was that as he started asserting himself, he resisted Kori’s guidance, no matter how sensible or right it was, like any kid growing up does. Because I’m still not sure who was pushing to put those quads in and taking them out and moving stuff around to make the program work.

It might have been Kori - I know she used to talk about moving stuff around because the programs were hard. At the same time, wasn’t she the one who made him do 40 clean programs before he won 2015 Nats? I’m sure they weren’t moving jumps around then - he never would have gotten the programs consistent. So it’s hard to say who was making those decisions. And I’m not sure if the FS was just too ambitious, given that it was a brand new program.

Well Kori said this during Skate Canada:

“My magic number for him was that if he could come in and land one quad each time he tried three, that includes circling, popping, if he got one out of three, then it can go in the program<” she continued. “Jason loves goals, so if we give him a tangible goal like that, he will go grab it, and I knew that’s what was going to happen. I would definitely look forward to one or two quads in this program. And for sure in the long by the end of the season.”

That's why I feel like she became a gate keeper of the quads. Oh well, it's water under the bridge at this point.

 

[Tavi...]

Frankly, I don’t think much of TontoK’s analysis. In the first place, Nats wasn’t ever going to be the stand-alone event for selecting the team - remember BOW? In the second place, a clean, quadless Jason could have podiumed at NHK, could possibly have medaled at the GPF, and could certainly have made the US Olympic team. The problem was that he wasn’t nearly clean in any of those events. In the third place, at least part of the reason for Jason’s collapse at NHK was probably due to the fact that after Hanyu’s last minute withdrawal due to injury, he was favored to win - which he wasn’t prepared for. And in fact, it’s not impossible that even without a quad he could have beaten Voronov, who won NHK with 271 points.

As I said above, I’m not sure where the blame lies for Jason’s failed season. Kori may well have made mistakes. But only someone who values quads and athleticism above all else could possibly conclude that it was the lack of a quad that caused his season to end as it did.

ETA: the fact that Kori was willing to let him do quads if he had a 33% success rate in practice- absurdly low - suggests he was the one pushing to put them in even though he wasn’t landing them.

 

[Ross74]

Frankly, I don’t think much of TontoK’s analysis. In the first place, Nats wasn’t ever going to be the stand-alone event for selecting the team - remember BOW? In the second place, a clean, quadless Jason could have podiumed at NHK, could possibly have medaled at the GPF, and could certainly have made the US Olympic team. The problem was that he wasn’t nearly clean in any of those events. In the third place, at least part of the reason for Jason’s collapse at NHK was probably due to the fact that after Hanyu’s last minute withdrawal due to injury, he was favored to win - which he wasn’t prepared for. And in fact, it’s not impossible that even without a quad he could have beaten Voronov, who won NHK with 271 points.

As I said above, I’m not sure where the blame lies for Jason’s failed season. Kori may well have made mistakes. But only someone who values quads and athleticism above all else could possibly conclude that it was the lack of a quad that caused his season to end as it did.

YES! So much I agree with here. I definitely think being favored at NHK messed with his head there. And I think making the GPF and having to deal with that stress when he wasn't at his best didn't help things. He was on a downward spiral from a certain point in the season that he couldn't reverse. And I don't necessarily blame the coach because there are so many factors involved and things we don't know. I think a lot of Jason's issues were in his head and were due to the stress of the Olympic season, and though I think his team tried their best to help him, things just couldn't be righted. I don't know if a different coaching situation or different decisions would have helped him last season. He just put too much pressure on himself.

 

[Mrs. P]

YES! So much I agree with here. I definitely think being favored at NHK messed with his head there. And I think making the GPF and having to deal with that stress when he wasn't at his best didn't help things. He was on a downward spiral from a certain point in the season that he couldn't reverse. And I don't necessarily blame the coach because there are so many factors involved and things we don't know. I think a lot of Jason's issues were in his head and were due to the stress of the Olympic season, and though I think his team tried their best to help him, things just couldn't be righted. I don't know if a different coaching situation or different decisions would have helped him last season. He just put too much pressure on himself.

Those things were a factor, sure. And I'm definitely not saying it's ALL Kori's fault either or that Jason is blameless in the situation either.

That said, I do question the constant layout switching last season. And the fact they waited to change the choreography of the FS (or that they didn't go back to The Piano FS) until U.S. Nationals. Everything just felt really reactionary last season.

But i don't know, maybe everything had to happen the way they did so Jason could realize it was time to make some major changes.

ETA: Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a debate with that post -- I just felt a certain sentiment, which is why I brought it up.

I think we're all glad that Jason seems to be in a good place now and we have things to look forward to as fans.

 

[dorispulaski]

If Jason is going to be at Philly, I definitely have to go, even though it is a sizable drive!

Kori used to have Jason's programs develop slowly through the season, so his Glacier Falls versions had very few well completed jumps in them. I wonder whether Brian has a similar philosophy?