Mr. Nicks retiring?

[NYscorp6]

Seems to be official, too much travel.

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130425&content_id=45755208&vkey=ice_news

 

[ice coverage]

Excerpt of tweet yesterday from ‏@AshWagner2010:

"Life has been throwing me a lot of curve balls lately.."​

But see her full tweet here: https://twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/327182051142934528

 

[demarinis5]

I knew Mr. Nicks was up there in age but had no idea he was 84. Good lord he deserves a rest. lol

Curious on what direction Ashley will take. I suppose it will depend on where her new coach is based.

It sounds like Mr. Nicks is willing to be an adviser to Ashley but like he said in the article, it is up to Ashley.

Thanks for sharing the article and tweet and best of luck to Ashley!

 

[Mrs. P]

The good news is there are a lot of great coaches in S. California. Maybe she could join her BFF Adam Rippon and go to Arutyunyan? As far as I know his only high profile students are Nathan Chen and Adam. And he isn't really coaching any ladies at the moment....

 

[Jammers]

This makes Phillip Mills leaving even bigger now because he would have most likely took over as her coach as well as choreographer. This is the last thing Ashley needs heading into the Olympic year.

 

[FSGMT]

I hope she will keep working with Nicks the USA, though: she can maybe train 1/2 of the time with him, and 1/2 with another coach who can go with her at the competitions...

 

[tulosai]

I hope she will keep working with Nicks the USA, though: she can maybe train 1/2 of the time with him, and 1/2 with another coach who can go with her at the competitions...

This, but I don't envy her the decision. From what I get from the article he is willing to keep coaching her full time, but not willing to travel. Under those circumstances I'd probably stick with him if I were her.

I am actually surprised he's not going to stick out the Oly year. I feel him about travel stinking but he always seems to have so much spirit I'd have thought he's want to be in Sochi.

 

[tulosai]

On a RIDICULOUSLY SELFISH note I am going to SO miss him at the boards at competitions. He actually is one of my favorites to see there and has been for over 10 years now.

 

[Trewyn]

I'm so so sad Not only did he really seem like the right coach for Ashley, I met him in Nice and he was awesome. At 84 he's definitely earned his retirement, but I'm going to miss him!

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Didn't he coach Tai and Randy? If so, he has been coaching Olympic-level athletes for 35+ years, which is pretty incredible. I wonder if Ashley were a serious medal contender would he stick around one more year.

 

[mskater93]

Probably not. I think the Sochi trip for the GPF really took its toll reading between the lines

 

[ffionhanathomas]

On a RIDICULOUSLY SELFISH note I am going to SO miss him at the boards at competitions. He actually is one of my favorites to see there and has been for over 10 years now.

Me too!

 

[amc987]

Sorry to see Mr. Nicks is retiring. He's more than earned it, though.

So... who do we think would be good coaches to complement his influence on Ashley? I'm thinking that Rafael Arutunian could be excellent.

 

[dorispulaski]

I don't know-isn't it a bit late to go to a jump coach?

 

[Icey]

I hope she will keep working with Nicks the USA, though: she can maybe train 1/2 of the time with him, and 1/2 with another coach who can go with her at the competitions...

Even before now, Mills did the day to day coaching. Don't see Nicks doing half time now.

 

[Nadia01]

This, but I don't envy her the decision. From what I get from the article he is willing to keep coaching her full time, but not willing to travel. Under those circumstances I'd probably stick with him if I were her.

I am actually surprised he's not going to stick out the Oly year. I feel him about travel stinking but he always seems to have so much spirit I'd have thought he's want to be in Sochi.

He may have other reasons (like health or family) that we may not know about. Traveling can be very hard on people, esp. people as old as him. And I'm not sure if he flies coach/economy or business, but that would also make a difference. (flying coach international can be brutal...not that business is that fabulous, depending on what airline you fly with)

 

[ice coverage]

I cannot believe that the outright reason from Mr. Nicks that he prefers not to make the looooong trip to Sochi again seems insufficient to some.
No reading between the lines necessary.

The GPF in Sochi was a test event for the Olympic skating competition as a whole.
In the case of Mr. Nicks, it also gave him a chance to experience exactly how demanding the travel would be. The total flight time plus 9-hour layover would be draining for anyone of any age -- whether in first, business or economy class.
If one of my relatives in their 80s decided to avoid repeating a marathon trip like that, I would totally understand.

It's not as if Mr. Nicks would be going on vacation, and upon arrival, he could relax and take his time recharging his batteries, so to speak.
Quite the contrary. Just like Wagner, he would have to be at the top of his game at the Olympics. They both would want to hit the ground running.

And if travel realistically has become a bit of a physical challenge for Mr. Nicks, I think that recusing himself well in advance is definitely the responsible thing to do.
Throughout Wagner's first (and only?) Olympics, she will have to keep her mental focus on the task at hand. Wondering out of natural concern whether someone so important to her on both professional and personal levels is overly fatigued, not feeling 100%, etc., could be a negative distraction. I am not saying that Mr. Nicks would ever intentionally say or do anything to make Wagner fret about him. But neither one of them is a robot. If he did not quite seem to be himself, chances are that her own radar would pick it up.