Nathan Chen

[besti loop]

TSL interview with Nathan July 2015
https://youtu.be/1s4iJf5Zsrw

Talked about injuries, Michael Jackson program, his personality, Raf, 3A, who updates his Wiki page, home school vs public school, what he likes to do for fun.

Highlights: how it was uncomfortable for him to first do programs like Michael Jackson as a reserved personality type.
How he thought Raf was a scary and tough Russian guy at first. "He is very tough but thoughtful and respectful to me."

Definitely a must watch if you haven't seen it already.

Oh, thank you so much, can't believe I didn't see it before! Very interesting, also interesting to know about his Osgood–Schlatter disease (I hope it's gone away). His voice is still a bit childish in the video Also interesting to know about Raf, haha They started to interact when Nathan was so small, no wonder he was a bit afraid of big tough Rafael

 

[besti loop]

Nathan is spotted training at lake forest again (not lakewoord).

I saw an Insta post [link], one girl met Nathan yesterday at Lake forest and he was doing some foortwork and also signed her boot.
Anyway, I always mix Lakewood and Lake Forest, could you pls tell me what's the difference? These are 2 different ice-rink located in LA?

 

[yyyskate]

speaking of pausing (pausing in music/choreo phrasing not literally stop movement) I remembered Yuna's 2014 Send in the Clown CBC commentary. I think some of the quotes (from lovely Uncle Kurt again) maybe helpful to Nathan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJdzWppwG14 (this is only a fan recording, I could not find CBC version of Yuna's sochi OG SP on youtube)

"How does she do that!" "only 4 international competitions since 2010!" ...
"She has a jumping technique that is absolutely perfect, and that means it can have a little problem mentally or physically and you don't have to recover as much" (strong mentality rely on absolute prefect jump technique)
"some of the best moment is that she wasn't doing anything, there was these pauses, these beautiful pauses, the way she step forward and pause and then unfold into her spiral, in the music, in the moment, on the present."

here is Yuna's send in the clown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOE_ELE6kQA
here is Nathan's FS COR choreo only practice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoBZKzIktGg

Watching their movements, I think Nathan understands what Kurt Browning's "these pauses" means.

Anyways, I think these quotes from CBC commentary is helpful to Nathan.

 

[yyyskate]

I saw an Insta post [link], one girl met Nathan yesterday at Lake forest and he was doing some foortwork and also signed her boot.
Anyway, I always mix Lakewood and Lake Forest, could you pls tell me what's the difference? These are 2 different ice-rink located in LA?

According to google, it is about 1 hour drive from lakewood (The Rinks) to lake forest..

 

[sheetz]

Philip Mills works at the Lake Forest rink.

 

[sherlock trollmes]

Nathan was at Lakewood over the weekend (on Saturday). There was a reporter there doing interviews and she posted him in her IG story training there. He has been at a lot of other rinks though, it seems - so I don't know what the situation is.

 

[besti loop]

Nathan was at Lakewood over the weekend (on Saturday). There was a reporter there doing interviews and she posted him in her IG story training there. He has been at a lot of other rinks though, it seems - so I don't know what the situation is.

Did someone save that instastory?:sad21:

 

[sherlock trollmes]

Did someone save that instastory?:sad21:

I didn't - it was a very short clip, he was practicing his long program.

 

[besti loop]

He has been at a lot of other rinks though, it seems - so I don't know what the situation is.

Rafael once said they have to skate with other people at free skating time as they've no private rink? It's pretty uncomfortable. Maybe he switches rinks going from one to another according to how crowded they are... Though these are my speculations only.

 

[sherlock trollmes]

He was at Lake Forest a few times prior to the Olympics because he was in some pictures with MCM who also was training there. So maybe he liked the conditions there. It's really hard to say.

 

[sheetz]

I think it might just be the scheduling. The rinks have only a limited number of hours for the elite figure skaters, so if you want extra time you have to find a different rink.

 

[besti loop]

Is Raf around? Wonder how Nathan’s training for worlds is going. And really wonder if he will stay with Raf after this season - he’s possibly moving away for college.

The girl who posted this answered me that Raf wasn't there.
She said, though, that she saw Nathan and Rafael there together before the Olympics.
So no worries, seems like it's just another training base for him and Arutyunyan!

Upd.: funny enough that @sheetz said "The rinks have only a limited number of hours for the elite figure skaters" because here it's so difficult to find a rink for an amateur skater, everything's given to professional skaters and their skating schools

 

[yyyskate]

I really think that Nathan deserves better considering his current caliber.. Lots of things around Nathan's figure skating career (at this stage) seems unprofessional...

 

[besti loop]

I really think that Nathan deserves better considering his current caliber.. Lots of things around Nathan's figure skating career (at this stage) seems unprofessional...

It seems that all american top-skaters are under the same conditions (Adam, Ashley). Don't know about Vincent and youngerl girls (Starr, Tenell) though. They all have private sessions sometimes, yes, but as long as they have no private RINK they have to share the ice with other people, yes. But isn't it a common thing in the U.S.?

 

[yyyskate]

It seems that all american top-skaters are under the same conditions (Adam, Ashley). Don't know about Vincent and youngerl girls (Starr, Tenell) though. They all have private sessions sometimes, yes, but as long as they have no private RINK they have to share the ice with other people, yes. But isn't it a common thing in the U.S.?

I guess so, I think Vincent, he trains at USOC, may have a better integrated training situation (just relatively speaking).

As for Nathan, not jut rink availability, from cultivating a figure skating super star perspective. lot of other stuff seems unprofessional.

Fans have expressed their disappointment regarding Nathan's OG season trajectory. At the beginning of this OG season, Nathan's outings are beyond expectations. Both new programs have masterpiece written all over them (absolute OGM programs level). and his jump is mint with a new quad jump in his arsenal. Fans have hoped that he can polish his programs as the season goes on and peak at OG..But, somehow, it just did not happen... SA is a turning point, and it was a downhill afterwards (yes, Nathan landed 5 quads in his FS as nationals, but ...) Raw talent (as showed in Nathan's OG FS) can only take you this far..

 

[sheetz]

I think Nathan spread himself too thin this season. Between his shows in Japan, choreography in Canada, costumes in NYC, and sponsorship and media demands he must have spent more time traveling than any other top competitor. I heard that he was exhausted at GPF.

 

[yyyskate]

I think Nathan spread himself too thin this season. Between his shows in Japan, choreography in Canada, costumes in NYC, and sponsorship and media demands he must have spent more time traveling than any other top competitor. I heard that he was exhausted at GPF.

yeah, exactly, seems unprofessional. (and do not blame all this on Nathan)

 

[lappo]

I do agree that he is not managed the way you see other skater and that either Raf find a way to work on this too or he should consider moving to better coaching options (even though I cannot think of better other than Orser). For instance all the other competitors have in house choreography or the choreographer travel to see them (i.e Boyang) not the skater. As for the custom, we all know that he could have done better with what he was wearing in his first outings and this would have saved time from travel. And as for sponsorship, I'm glad that he has been able to capitalize all the year of investment but for some reason I find his manager a bit too pushy and eager to think about money more than Nathan welfare (it's her job, of course and she probably gains a good chunck of his contract); that's my impression but I think that they could have toned down the interviews, the media outings and everything else (see Yuna or Yuzuru before the Olympics, where there was no access to them and the only information was through Brian).

 

[yyyskate]

^^@lappo agreed, just wanna add a few points.
I think in-house choreographer(especially the choreographer created the program and shared the vision with the skater) is very import and an experienced figure skating costume designer (catering to the program and the skater) maybe is better than a big name fashion designer.
I fellowed Yuna's figure skating career (as well as Yuzuru's) very closely before. The image that David Wilson fine tune Yuna's choreo/performance on her side on a daily basis, the image that Yuna's former costume designer alter Yuna's costume while she is wearing them on herself to better fitted to her shape really impressed me and never left my head.

here is a documentary about how Tessa, Scott (literally the most decorated figure skaters) and Team created their masterpiece Moulin Rouge at OG season. Highly recommend to watch, really could learn a thing or two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqdWD53t7hM

 

[lappo]

I already saw the documentary, but thanks! I think that for all the talk about the Montreal mush Marie France knows a thing or two about micromanaging her teams, while allowing them the freedom to be creative (i.e. Guillame designing the clothes, cooperation with other choreographers). I never liked a Vera costume in my life so I truly hope he reverts back to the one who made his prince Igor suit. As for the choreographers, I think that at Nathan's stage he could benefit from a daily cooperation with an experienced choreographers and a SS and spin expert; in the case of Yuna and others, I sometimes regret that she did not work with other choreographers who could open new vision for her (but this is another story). And, I'm sorry but I don't particularly like Rafael approach and way of handling his students, as I already stated previously.