I honestly think him deciding to throw in the 6th quad without telling Raf is more of an exception than the norm. And considering the extraordinary circumstance he was in, I don't think there was a "good plan" either way so I don't really fault him for doing it this time. He literally had nothing to lose, so what if he threw in the 6th quad and fell? And that's the reason I'm not making a big deal out of it in this case. Yes he did mention his talk w ith his mom, but it sounded more like a conversation to cheer him up / boost his morale than a conversation about his jump plan.
That is not the impression I got from that interview. Nathan did mention about the 6 quad plan, and said his mom fully supported it because she always encourages him to push himself to his limit. From the context, it does sound like the specific plan was presented to his mom for approval.
Instead of saying that his mom is too involved in his skating, I think it is more that she failed to teach him the professional way to handle a situation like this.
I am old enough to be Nathan's father. I would support whatever decision he makes, but would also remind him to discuss any skating related issues with his coach. The last thing I wanted is to get in between my kid and the coach.
And I am not talking about either he landed 6 quads or fell all over the place. That is not the point.
I am talking about how he should interact with his coach. If his first resort is his family, then that is a huge problem no matter who the coach is.
In my eyes, and my psychologist friend's eyes, a ton of things went wrong.
As I said, my friend is very close to a Chinese family. And he has some very harsh things to say about the whole thing.
He keeps reminding what I was like when I was 18...
He said, 18 is an interesting age. That is when a teenager wants to be in charge of everything, but that is also when a person does not have the best judgement yet. Very dangerous age.
) and I had a wonderful teacher who put a lot of emphasis, not only on the right technique, but also on interpretation, so I know what you mean, and I also observe that kind of musicality in Nathan's movements, that you describe.
you could tell he was congested by the strained way he was trying to clear his throat/swallow, especially whenever he finished his programs, and the little coughs here and there.
