Joannie Rochette update

[fiercemao]

Joannie's update on her blog.
http://www.joannierochette.com/journalentry08.htm

Looking back at the last 2 seasons, if I want to achieve better results in the future, I sure have to work on building better momentum for next year by performing two strong programs in a couple of competitions in a row. And in my mind, momentum is extremely important in today’s skating. It impacts the way you see yourself, the way you project yourself and the way others see you. To be seen as a contender, you first have to see yourself as a contender and strongly believe you are one. I think the only time I was able to relatively do that was with 4 Continents and Worlds last season and it resulted in a 5th place finish in Sweden, my best result ever at Worlds with programs that could have been better.

It might also be because of a habit to intellectualize everything and my need to feel “mathematically” solid with a new element – 3 flip-3 toe to name it – to be aggressive with my skating and have the necessary freedom to deliver the way I should, the way I can, like in exhibition for instance. It might also have to do with age since, at 22, I think it is getting harder to get the confidence to upgrade significantly your technical level and trust your capabilities.

Consequently, I believe momentum has a lot to do with the program component score (PCS) you achieve. I feel like my relatively erratic performances through the competition I made never provided me the appropriate momentum to score higher in that department.

To put things into perspective, I also have to say that we kind of “sacrificed” the last two seasons on getting confident with my 3-3 combo for the short program particularly.

At the end of last season, with my 5th place finish at Worlds and my Grand Prix season in mind, we sat to analyse what was missing to my skating to reach an higher level. The conclusion was obvious. I have to improve my components. Since it would be too easy to blame it only on momentum, we went much further in our reflexion. We consulted many people and came to the conclusion I had to work on my upper body. I was kind of obsessed with having the best posture possible. It definitely made me stiff with my upper body and kept me away from using everything I could to relate better to the music, the audience and, of course, the judges. Believe me; we took that into consideration in the development of this year’s programs!

 

[Spun Silver]

What an honest, tough self-assessment. Maybe too tough on herself? I really like Joannie and wish her a great season.

 

[kittyjake5]

Thanks for sharing. Joannie definitely does not give any excuses, I like that.
I can't wait to see her programs at SC. I hope that this is her year.

 

[fiercemao]

What an honest, tough self-assessment. Maybe too tough on herself? I really like Joannie and wish her a great season.

Too tough, Why is that? The matter of the fact is that she needs to perform consistently in all competitions. We'll see whether she can deliver that.

 

[museksk8r]

I love how honest and self-aware Joannie is. She's right, the PCS marks are generally a reflection of a skater's momentum. She knew she was not getting the PCS scores necessary to be a champion and seems to have zeroed in on that problem, which makes me so happy. I'd love to see a greater use of full body movement in her numbers. I think the judges want to see a greater ease with her body movement too. The stiffness may give them a sense that she is nervous in competition, which hinders her presentation mark. She does have exquisite posture, great basic skating skills, and uses her arms very well to emphasize her maturity. Hopefully, the fruits of her labor on the components will be realized in her performances. I remember reading articles from her in the past where she has been embarrassed by her muscular arms, which I personally think are beautiful. She should be proud of her physique as I see her as one of the most fit ladies in eligible figure skating at the moment. Hopefully, she has successful performances and likewise, successful results and greater confidence. I'm rooting for her!

She sounds very happy with her personal life, which is really great! Her journal entries are so well thought out. GO JOANNIE!! :thumbsup:

 

[Blades of Passion]

Wow, that was really great. Smart girl.

 

[chuckm]

What Joannie is saying is pretty much what I have been saying right along. Joannie has to believe in herself, deliver clean programs, and her PCS scores will go up. She also addressed the problem of her stiff upper body, and is taking steps to soften her look.

 

[Spun Silver]

Yeah, my q was whether the belief in herself is there yet. She is remorselessly honest but I'm not feeling the self-confidence. I wish they sold it by the bottle.

 

[fumie_fumie]

Yeah, my q was whether the belief in herself is there yet. She is remorselessly honest but I'm not feeling the self-confidence. I wish they sold it by the bottle.

Good question. I think Joannie is a shy person who always under-estimates herself and doesn't believe herself. Thus, she doesn't exude the confidence in the same way as other top skaters do (Yukari, Mao, Yuna). I hope she gets over it before her career is over.

If she wins Skate Canada, I will be happy to eat a plateful of worms, just like a headmaster did in Peter Gzowski's show.

 

[R.D.]

Well, this is one skater who is not afraid to "tell her tale" so to speak. Kudos to her for sharing it with her fans and the public.

 

[Ladskater]

When Joannie "lets go" - just listens to the music she really flows. I think when she concentrates too much on the jumps she forgets to just enjoy herself out there. I wish her the best this season. Thanks for this.

 

[Spun Silver]

If she wins Skate Canada, I will be happy to eat a plateful of worms, just like a headmaster did in Peter Gzowski's show.

OK, you win the best fan contest!

Q: If you'd do that for Joannie, what would you do for Fumie???

 

[Wrlmy]

Although I have two other favorites skating at Skate Canada, I'll be very happy to see Joannie win and make final.

 

[passion]

I really like her honest self evaluation. Who can criticize her with her attitude? It's something Mira could learn from Joannie.

 

[PolymerBob]

I don't ever ..... EVER ..... remember a figure skater telling the general public she was living with a boyfriend. They just don't talk about such things.

 

[museksk8r]

Part 2: October 27, 2008


The Theme of next season: Investment in Program Components!

With respect to the analysis of my situation during the last two seasons, the focus for the next one is set on improving in the program components department, while it was all about getting confident with new elements for the last 2 years.

I now can honestly say that I feel confident with these new tricks. The way I am mentally, this is a key step I had to achieve to be aggressive with it.

For next year, I have one major objective that should be quite obvious with what I wrote so far: improving my program components score (PCS). I want to improve my PCS each time I go out. I feel a mission to score better consistently, no matter how my program turns out, whether it is completely clean or with a little flaw. Therefore, we worked hard on improving my upper body and on creating intricate and complete programs. Every time I’ll step on the ice, I’ll have in mind to deliver the best performance, the best edges, the best speed with less crossovers, the best interpretation and best body movement that I can.

My short program was created by Shae-Lynn Bourne on Summertime. Shae-Lynn had already done an exhibition on that song for me, in addition to my last Die Another Day exhibition program. I really feel we have a great chemistry and I was happy to have my first competitive program done by her. Thanks to Kaitlyn Weaver who accepted me in her apartment, I spent a couple of weeks working with Shae-Lynn in Toronto on fine tuning the program but also working on all aspects of my skating by making, amongst other things, many runthroughs.

I realized a dream and offered me an incredible gift for my long program by working for the first time with Lori Nichol. For the music, I’ll do my first contribution to what we could call “figure skating’s all-time greatest hits” with Aranjuez. I see it as a very interesting challenge to skate on a well-known music that I’ll have to make my own. I hope that after this season, people will be able to associate it to some moment I’ll have created on the ice when they’ll hear it again.

Lori creates a program like nobody else I previously worked with. She really did the choreography with the moves that suited best my style and natural movement. I was amazed at her attention to technical details like adding the most difficult jump entry and exit possible and counting with such precision the amount of crossovers during the program. Work days are incredibly long and demanding with her since we can easily spend 7 hours on the ice, working on the program. In short, it turns out to be the most challenging long program I’ll ever have skated to.

Despite working with him again, I am greatful to David Wilson for where he brought me program-wise during all the seasons we worked together and I know it will show this season again.

In terms of goals for next season, they are set real high. For the first time, I have the confidence, the faith, assurance and perhaps maturity to say that I want to land on the podium at L.A.’s Worlds since I believe I have the skills to do it. I’ll be working all season to build and be able to reach that goal.

During summer, Shae-Lynn suggested me to read The Secret. People who know me can say how rational I am. Still, I think it might be one of the influences that helped me prepare for this upcoming season. Even if it's funny to say, I want the song Believe by Suzie McNeil to be the soundtrack of my 2008-2009 season. Through the Bell Champions program, I took part to the shooting of the video of the song last year. For those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s a link: www.bell.ca/believe

I also shot a TV commercial for CTV during the last month with other canadian athletes. It was a lot of fun, but a very long day for me since I really wanted to do it in both canadian official languages.

I can’t finish that entry without talking about Jeffrey Buttles’s retirement. Ever since I compete on the World scene, Jeff and I mostly had the same assignments. It will be different to travel without him. As far as I am concerned, Jeff is more than ever an inspiration for me with the way he performed at last Worlds and with the integrity he showed in his retirement.

I’ll try my best to come back with hopefully goods news to talk about, as soon as possible.

Good season!

Joannie

I her confidence in this entry . . . I hope her goals come true! :thumbsup:

 

[fairly4]

Amazing she can be honest about herself after what was written about her on the internet last year. Some of the post pointed that out. Now she is claiming she thought of it all by herself.
She might have but she also could hav
e talked to her coach and read some post.

That is all I am going to say on the matter,.

 

[Winnipeg]

If she wins Skate Canada, I will be happy to eat a plateful of worms, just like a headmaster did in Peter Gzowski's show.[/QUOTE]






Will you please video this and post it?

 

[kittyjake5]

Joannie's LP is to Aranjuez. I love that music and have always associated it with Kwan. I believe Joannie will make quite a statement herself with Aranjuez, and I think it is perfect for her.

 

[ae9177]

I didn't know that Joannie and François-Louis already dated for over 2 years, they kept the secret pretty well. I'm very happy for both, they're a lovely couple.

I love her skating, if she can get solid 3-3, she'll become a major competitor of the podium this year. Just like men's field, Mao and Yuna are the clear front runners so far, then we have a big group of competitors fighting for the 3rd spot. Who will make it at LA?