There is no confirmation as to "who left who," only that Mira & Joanne McLeod are no longer student and coach. Mira's Skate Canada bio has had two recent changes: the coach's name is now blank, and the choreographer no longer has Mark Pillay's name, only Joanne McLeod's.
Mira's "unorthodox technique" has been very obvious ever since 1996 when she was Pre-Juvenile. Until the past couple of years, Mira wore a Cooper hockey helmet, as well as knee, elbow and hand pads on every practice session. I've often wondered if the reason she entered her jumps in such a unique position, including tilting her face up to the ceiling, was a conseqence of limited vision due to the helmet.
Since the news surfaced I've noticed many people on the net, for example:
jesslily said: Mira and her mom might just make the right decision. Mira's jumping technique and stroking all look weired. I doubt that her coach had been seriously coaching her to correct these problems.
suggesting Mira's list of coaches over the years have been negligent in correcting her technique idiosyncrasies. It is a pretty difficult thing for any coach to do when Mira is only in a professional lesson situation perhaps 30 - 60 minutes a day, 5 or 6 days a week. Every coach, Joanne McLeod included, has had to contend with the coaching interference of Mrs Leung. Mira is on the ice pretty much non-stop, 7 days a week, and every moment the coach is not there Mrs. Leung is instructing Mira on how and what to do. IMO, Joanne McLeod has done a great job in cleaning up Mira's deficiencies. When Mira first began with Joanne every one of her triples were hugely cheated, she had spent next to no time developing skill in any field movement, her spins were mediocre at best, and she frequently aborted her choreography to include additional jumps that she may have missed or just because she thought it was a smart thing to do. The Mira you see today continues to have a serious problem with her 2Axel, but beyond that basically has her triples cleaned up, her spins are generally good, and she sticks to the program (for the most part). I'd say Joanne did a lot for Mira's technique and general skill package, as well as get her a ton of exposure, television appearances, exhibition skating opportunities and sponsorship deals (e.g. the Vancouver Board of Trade). I am not convinced there is anyone out there who would offer Mira a better or more comprehensive coaching package, or would be more determined to see that she succeeds. :yes:
It will be interesting to see where Mira goes to for coaching.
