Nathan Chen | Page 665 | Golden Skate

Nathan Chen

It would be really hard to give up full paid tuition (plus some extra) at Yale of all places for FS. I hope he continues to balance both.
 
100,000 for a year is not joking... Now i fully understand his decision. And I like those plans (go Moscow before idf and visit California before US championship) , so I hope those plans are helpful for My boi.
 
Wow at Nathan’s well deserved scholarship! Now we can better understand how Yale was the most willing to work with him - full scholarship and ice time right on campus.

Good to hear that Nathan will be able to train with Raf before IdF. And he will be in Moscow - home of Masaru :)
 
Does anyone know why Raf will be in Moscow before IDF? Is he there now? Wonder if he will bring his other students too.
 
So happy to know about the scholarship, Nathan so DESERVES it!!!

Thanks Rainmaker for the link. It is a very good interview. Here is the link to the FSU translation

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/vaytsekhovskayas-interview-with-arutyunian.104701/

The Nathan part is a little bit concerning to me. Raf is worried about Nathan overtraining himself and possible injuries from it, and I guess he is not optimistic about working with Nathan in summer and holidays would produce the progress he would like Nathan to make.

I share his concerns and hope there will be some plans/changes in future to address those concerns. Raf really cares about Nathan to me, they just probably needs to try more ways to see how Nathan could get as much interaction with Raf.

And from that August interview to this one, Raf seemed to have changed quite a bit: it is more a coach‘s responsibility if the athletes not following advices or not motivated enough.

Hollymolly, Raf has very high opinions of Korean skaters.
 
Thanks bonita for the link to the translation. Informative interview from Raf!

‘But you know, my son had a girlfriend who was living in Netherlands and they were in a relationship over the skype. You know how it usually ends, right? It's the same.’

Yikes.
 
Yeah, he sounds worried he's going to lose Nathan slowly. It's valid concern of course. Whether it be to a new coach or just not anyone at all and he lets his training slip eventually, who knows.

He is right about rivals not slowing down either. Well, I hope it works out.
 
bonita said:
The Nathan part is a little bit concerning to me. Raf is worried about Nathan overtraining himself and possible injuries from it, and I guess he is not optimistic about working with Nathan in summer and holidays would produce the progress he would like Nathan to make.

I share his concerns and hope there will be some plans/changes in future to address those concerns. Raf really cares about Nathan to me, they just probably needs to try more ways to see how Nathan could get as much interaction with Raf.
Click to expand...

Same :( a very concerning interview. I want to believe in the best but when the coach himself says Nathan just can't develop his skills training like that, he can only stay at his previous level (while the competitors are developing)...


These parts just scare me: "my son had a girlfriend who was living in Netherlands and they were in a relationship over the skype. You know how it usually ends, right? It's the same."
" The serious work in sports demands a daily interaction. Face to face. It will be hard for Nathan, of course. It's easy to overtrain and be injured, hence am very worried. But what can I do? Perhaps for Chen getting accepted to Yale was the dream of his life? It's the top of the education - there is a reason only the special ones get accepted there. Nathan told me recently he became friends with a girl in the uni whose father is a high shot in the Georgia government. You understand the level? Just that I love my job so much that I find it hard to imagine how would anyone want to do anything else. Guess it's my Yale. But the athlete does not have to think the way I do, right?"

So he is kinda insinuating that Nathan might... just... choose Yale over skating?

"Not only he has to maintain the level, but always to think how to progress, find new things, get on a higher level. For now it doesn't happen...
Before the Nationals Chen will spend the holidays with me in California, and he'll come over at the summer. But it's not the work I would love to see done. The rivals are not sitting back and waiting."

Like... yeah it's cool he will come to Moscow.. But the rest of it is very pessimistic to me. I don't see any possible "plans/changes" but to leave Yale or study online but we know both things aren't possible as Nathan worked too hard to make his Eavy League dream come true. So... You know what's left...

Sorry if it's too pessimistic. Or rather... realistic?
 
I don’t think Raf is trying to suggest that Nathan would choose Yale over skating. Nathan himself has said that he plans on attending Yale for the next two years, and focus on preparing for the Olympics after that.

But for Raf, seems that if he were in Nathan’s shoes, he wouldn’t have made the same decision to attend Yale. Which is fair, but Nathan has dreams and goals that go beyond figure skating.

Nathan’s tech level is really high - so if he can maintain/solidify all his jumps, that’s already very good.

Maybe Nathan just wants to ‘maintain’ for two seasons and then devote himself fully to skating after that. I’m not really sure.
 
There are still things that Nathan can improve on his own like SS, spins, and fitness so as long as he can keep his jumps he should still be competitive.

The biggest danger is probably overtraining if he doesn't get enough rest and watch his nutrition.
 
sheetz said:
There are still things that Nathan can improve on his own like SS, spins, and fitness so as long as he can keep his jumps he should still be competitive.

The biggest danger is probably overtraining if he doesn't get enough rest and watch his nutrition.
Click to expand...

Nathan doesn’t always have good landings with his jumps, which yyyskate has some posts talking about it. I remembered from that Canon interview one of his goals is to improve the quality of his quads, which is so important with the new GOE changes. The GOEs of his quads at SkAm don’t not really look that good with 3A from the SP having the highest GOE. While his 3A is stabilizing, the one in his free was not that good. I don’t remember he has anything above 3.

It is true he can improve ss and spins on his own, but all those level 2s don’t indicate lots of improvement to me. I understand that we cannot expect too much from the first semester or even the first year since he is still trying to figure out a way to balance the two, but it is a fact that he didn’t have enough training prior to JO, which might not happen if he has someone to watch him to stick to his training. He was terribly sick before nationals, and suffered from injuries which prevented him doing 4lz, he missed about 10 days of training, but all his quads looked good except the missing 4lz, while his quads are a mess at JO.

Back to Besti loop’s concern, I am not that pessimistic. I think there are lots of ways they can try, it is just up to Nathan and Raf if they are willing to go that far.
 
I think if they can come up with a very thourough daily training plan, and stick to it, it’s not that hard to avoid overtraining. Not sure if they have done that already but seems like they barely had time for a meaningful conversation.
 
bonita said:
He was terribly sick before nationals, and suffered from injuries which prevented him doing 4lz, he missed about 10 days of training, but all his quads looked good except the missing 4lz, while his quads are a mess at JO.
Click to expand...

Once again, JO is not a real competition and can't be compare to Nationals. At JO he included a dicey 4Lo and threw in an impromptu 4Lz, things he would not have done if it were a real competition. His condition at SA is comparable to how he was at US Classic last year.
 
Compare the preparation for JO with his plans for IdF where he's going to fly to Moscow to train a week before the competition. It's not the same at all.
 
I'm not sure you can use SA and it's harsh judging as a basis for the theory he's not improving. And Raf did say he's paying attention to things he didn't before. It would be best to judge after IdF to see where he stands compared to everyone else.

Though I see no reason to fret and worry about something you can't change.

And JO remains questionable that he even did it. Tired, Jet lagged and sick don't mix. It's not something that should be used against him anyway since there are reasons he didn't do well (and he did fine in the ex programs).
 
sheetz said:
Once again, JO is not a real competition and can't be compare to Nationals. At JO he included a dicey 4Lo and threw in an impromptu 4Lz, things he would not have done if it were a real competition. His condition at SA is comparable to how he was at US Classic last year.
Click to expand...

My point is his not enough training for some time might be the cause of the poor performance at JO. He acknowledged in his interview that it was a wake up call for more time on the ice. Like frida80 said, it is easy to be buried in studies and lost balances without someone reminding you, which i believed was what might have happened given how overwhelming his school workloads are, and all the adjustments he has to make in a totally new environment without family and friends.

I am not comparing it with what he is planning to do for IdF, nor am I fretting about his improvements. All I want to say is that there are lots of things to work on, which might need either some coaching help, or at least some prompt feedback on what you are doing.

I am very proud of what he has done so far, but I do share Raf‘s concerns about progresses he was planning for Nathan with the current coaching situation. I will be more than happy if he proves me wrong.
 
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