- Joined
- Oct 14, 2019
Now seems like a good time to reinvigorate the thread after FCC. It's well established their programs are not great, nor are they a likely contender for Worlds. So, I think a more productive conversation is how they can salvage their standing and reputation if they really want a shot at the Olympic podium. To me it's going to be a mix of things:
- Bring in outside choreographers and counsel, and publicize they are doing this. They might need to stay at Gadbois politically, but they need new eyes and ears on how they should be presenting themselves on the ice. This is less about skating at this point, it's branding and packaging.
- Get knocked down a size by someone they respect. Is anyone telling Zach his prick attitude is making them unlikeable? They need someone in their lives to be much more honest with them who they will actually listen to. I fear they might not have that person at Gadbois. Zach is a guy's guy and I don't really see Marie France getting through to him...
- Do some stuff outside of skating and bring that back to the ice. Volunteer this summer, or spend a couple weeks taking a college class in Montreal. Meet new people who do things other than skate and expand their world view.
- Not have Madison's mom make their costumes. It's sweet she still does some of them, but sweet doesn't win medals.
- Show they are listening. They've stuck by and defended both this year's and last year's program to the end. What's wrong with starting to admit this program didn't work as well as they imagined? Or, genuinely taking into account fan's suggestions for programs? Can you imagine if they did that how many more people would be rooting for them? Madison started to show some level of self-awareness in the press conference after the FD. More of that please.
- If I were them, I would start mentally focusing on 2020/2021 season now. Forget this season. Be spending 70% of your time working through these changes vs. trying to tweak their FD once again.
I could go on But I'm interested in what others think. If they want to medal at the Olympics, what will get them there?
I agree with everything that you said. It's a shame that this season has gone so poorly for them when they are such strong skaters, but that's the world of ice dance. They've benefited tremendously from having good material in the past, and not they're struggling with poor material. More important than anything, I think they need Challengers next year to show their programs before the Grand Prix season and make the appropriate changes before it's too late. It will be difficult to climb back up, second winds in ice dance don't happen very often, but C/B managed to revive their careers through better programs, and H/D absolutely can too.