Nobunari will be coached by Morozov
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Effect on Other Skaters
I'm concerned that Morosov giving an inordinate amount of time to Japanese skaters, especially in the Senior Men's realm does not bode well for Adam Rippon.
I just hope that Nikolai doesn't neglect him.
I'm concerned that Morosov giving an inordinate amount of time to Japanese skaters, especially in the Senior Men's realm does not bode well for Adam Rippon.
I just hope that Nikolai doesn't neglect him.
We do not know what Nobu might believe now. He managed to put on a brave face in front of the camera, but the way his voice trembled when he spoke of that event, or the way he seemed tense all the time, speaks volumes.
Trying to find something positive in Ito's actions reminds me of an old Polish joke:
A certain person created a documentary about Stalin's goodness of heart. The movie starts, and there is a scene of a tiny kid running to the Stalin.
"Uncle Stalin, Uncle Stalin, please give me a candy!", begs the kid.
"GET THE F*UCK AWAY!" screams Stalin and slaps the kid away.
"How nice! He could have just killed the kid." - reads the text on the screen.
Of course JSF want him to be back, they do care about their own purse and there is nobody to replace Nobu. They have been urging him to return since December, wanting him to compete at Nationals, Worlds and Japan Open. They want him to return and perform well, as if nothing had happened. It seems that Nobu could not resist them anymore. His original intent was not to return until the Summer competitions in Canada, which I think was a wiser idea.
However, while JSF demand Nobu's quick return with a smile on his face and motivation to work, this already causes another wave of bashing. The public opinion still remembers very well a "young genius who threw away his talent", "selfish", "not knowing what responsibility means", the one that "cannot be forgiven". This is what made first pages, not "genius of hard work", "such a good person", "one whose smile changes atmosphere in the room", "hardworking", "going out of his way to help other", "emotional", "motivating others to work hard". Goodness does not sell well, sensation does.
What Ito has done was to trigger something that I learned in my psychology course as a "golem effect"; a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. This happens when a figure of authority publically gives a negative opinion about somebody, and suddenly everyone sees that person in negative light and interpret their every action in a negative way. Eventually, even the person affected starts to believe in those hurtful, mostly untrue opinions.
It started to happen already in relation to Nobu's situation. While there are many happy and welcoming posts, there also many hateful ones. "I thought that he spent a year pondering the severity of his sin, but all he can say is "skating is fun" and smile?!", "Not only he commited a serious crime, but he is rewarded by stealing a coach from his rival!", "Rebellious Oda, drunkard and thief!", "He should be hanged for an attempted murder, not skate and have fun!".
Nobu is in a no-win situatiuon; whatever he does will be interpreted by the public in a wrong way.
If he tries to put things behind him, keep skating and winning he will be considered heartless, evil, not caring about others. (It happens already.)
If he shows emotional weakness, expresses remorse and it will impact his skating he will be considered a hypocrite that tries to gain sympathy by crying (has already happened) and a waste of funds.
Is there a way of such situation? I don't know. I know I would have killed myself, because for me there is nothing that could make the suffering of being hated by others bearable. It makes my respect for Nobu all the stronger; because he struggles so hard to put things right in a situation when I would have already given up and has not became consumed by hate (as I have).
Is this catastrophising? For me it is just being realistic. Perhaps there are people who are able to live happily without caring about others' opinion, but I'm not, and from all I have seen and read, neither is Nobu. In my opinion, denying the hell he goes through is an insult to him. To expect that he will return with fires blazing as if he was on holiday with every day free to train and have fun - a lack of imagination.
I'm afraid that being too optimistic, that expecting Nobu to return with a quad and generally be happy and successful, just puts more pressure on him. And if in fact he fulfills those expectations by some miracle, then he will just end up being a victim of even more hateful outbursts from those who do not wish him to do well. I'm not directly touched by this situation, but I've lost 14 kg since last July and I don't think there was a day when I haven't cried. How stressful it might be for someone directly involved, I have no idea.
I agree about people preferring sensation over facts...
I was searching for more articles about Nobu, Dai and Morosov and trying to translate them with Babelfish... Instead I found a new theory: that Nobu should be blamed for Dai's poor performances at Worlds and Japan Open because he stole (Babelfish used the word "plundered", lol) his coach... Conveniently they have forgotten (or didn't bother to look for information) that after 4CC Dai's boots didn't fit him anymore, and the new ones caused him pain. He was also injured in his right big toe. But who cares for facts when you can just blame someone else?
Not to mention Dai always spoke good things about Nobu. Someone even uploaded the interview I mentioned on the previous page of this thread:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NgNdjNDABLw
Dai is not only a great skater, but a great friend, too.
I also found this cute fluff from a year ago and I can't help but smile when I see it:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ze1XPg0pk
When I see this smile, I always remember Sunshine's words: "Hatred is powerful, but love eventually wins." I want to believe that...
I was searching for more articles about Nobu, Dai and Morosov and trying to translate them with Babelfish... Instead I found a new theory: that Nobu should be blamed for Dai's poor performances at Worlds and Japan Open because he stole (Babelfish used the word "plundered", lol) his coach... Conveniently they have forgotten (or didn't bother to look for information) that after 4CC Dai's boots didn't fit him anymore, and the new ones caused him pain. He was also injured in his right big toe. But who cares for facts when you can just blame someone else?
Not to mention Dai always spoke good things about Nobu. Someone even uploaded the interview I mentioned on the previous page of this thread:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NgNdjNDABLw
Dai is not only a great skater, but a great friend, too.
I also found this cute fluff from a year ago and I can't help but smile when I see it:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ze1XPg0pk
When I see this smile, I always remember Sunshine's words: "Hatred is powerful, but love eventually wins." I want to believe that...
I don't know - maybe I just have extremely bad luck and I run into hateful comments like Titanic into iceberg. Then, I admit, I sink into depression and shy away from the Internet for a few days.
It's not like there are no positive posts; in general those who knew Nobu's personality and/or knew him personally are very protective of him. Miki, Daisuke, one lady from JSF whose name I forgot, one anonymous female journalist that in an online article admitted to crying herself sick and losing weight over the entire situation.
But there is definitely a lot of hate and bashing going around. Nobu's fan page had to close it's BBS board, because there were so many hate posts that the admin could not delete them in time.
The thing is, the popular media related the event in a very negative way. If I didn't bother to look for informations in local media, police reports, respectable sport press I would have thought that what happened was that a skater went out with his friends, got drunk into oblivion, went home on minibike and crashed into lamp post in the Osaka city, then got arrested. The media shown a footage of a minibike with a crashed mirror and cut out a part of Nobunari's old interview so that only "I want to have more freedom!" was left. It sounded as a rebellious statement, but in reality it was a part of his speech during his coming of age ceremony ("I want to grow up to be a good person. I want my skating to be more mature and I want to have more freedom on the ice. I'll try not to cry so much anymore.") Some people tried to link Nobu's "erratic" behaviour (being very emotional, that is) to established problems with alcoholism. (In fact, Nobu never drank alcohol before his 20 birthday, he was mocked because of that in one TV show. In other, Nobu (while still not of age) reported with a shock in his voice that he was invited to drink beer at some junior figure skating event, but he politely said "no" and walked away...)
What happened was quite different indeed from what the media suggested, and I feel crushed for Nobu because he kept going out of his way to please others and not be an inconvenience (agreeing to a meeting with his Uni teachers, even though he was jetlagged, not calling his mother at an insane hour in the night (morning...), not wanting to be late at the meeting he had the next day) that got him into that sad situation in the first place. To accuse him of selfishness is... I don't know, I have no comparisons left.
To make things worse, there was a serious accident caused by drunk driving a few days before. Some official was really inebriated and killed a few children in a road accident.
He escaped from the scene and tried to hide the fact that he was drunk by drinking a lot of water, but he got caught anyway. According to public opinion, he wasn't nearly as severely punished as he should be, but people could do nothing to change the fact. So the people shifted their anger on Nobu, who, being a public figure, was more easily available for some quality bashing.I admit I obsessed over the event to the point of stalkerish behaviour. I traced Nobu's route from the train station and checked the traffic at night in that region. I read about the influence of alcohol on people's motor control and how it differs for athletes. I read about the law concerning DUI in various countries. I could not protect somebody if I wasn't really sure of their innocence. And in the end, I feel that I would trust more Nobu's judgement that the judgement of somebody who is able to perceive what is right and what is wrong only according to the rules.
I'm sorry, was this related to my or inskate's comment..? (I assume it is related to the "coach-plundering", but just to make sure...)
Inskate, thank you for the links.
I personally think that Nobu is extremely privileged in a lot of ways.
To me, JSF has been consistently very supportive. The last public appearance of Nobu after the incident was the press conference. JSF officials were there. They made a full formal bow to the public and said aloud “We apologize”. I know it’s a cultural thing, but still a great astonishment to me. It was really “wow” to see all the adults attending there to apologize on behalf of Nobu.
Then this is his first public appearance after the suspension. JSF officials were again there to support Nobu. They made encouraging comments, such as “We expect him to have good placements at GP series.” “We hope that he make good efforts to aim for the Olympics.” This gave him a decent legitimacy to come back just as smoothly as possible. I consider these efforts of JSF as invaluable support to him.
Most importantly, they have kept giving him second chance and third chance. As I mentioned earlier, they have kept trying to make a special case for him to come back as early and smoothly as possible. The official suspension was meant to be only for GP series instead of the whole season. They also guaranteed the financial support as early as possible despite his lack of records. The general principle for public and private funds is “Be productive or perish.” If I were to fail to be productive for whatever personal reasons, whether sickness in me or in my family, would my funding agency still fund me? No. Would I think it unfair? Would I be resentful? Never. I believe that whatever your situation is, you must accept the consequences.
But Nobu was so fortunate enough to be guaranteed the special reinforcement skater status and two GP series assignment despite skipping the Nationals and being ranked 28th by ISU, lower than three other Japanese skaters. I trust that Nobu is a person who is humble enough to understand all these considerations and support.
Moreover, both Nobu and Dai receive special treatments at their university. They built a rink for them. Japanese universities are seriously understaffed and the country is full of working poor PhDs. Instead of investing in the betterment of education and research for the larger population of the students and faculty members, however, this university chose to build a rink. Nobu and Dai belong to the School of Letters, not to the School of Sports. Although both Daisuke and Nobu spend a considerable amount of time abroad, Dai managed to graduate in just four years. These are possible only because the university is so incredibly supportive and makes special cases for them.
When I needed to be physically absent from three classes of a course at my grad school due to my family sickness back home, the prof asked me to drop the course. Although I was catching up reasonably well and did all the reading and written assignments, she simply wanted the students to attend all of the classes. Period. Did I think it unfair that the professor did not make a special case for me? Never. Professors have all the rights and responsibilities to set the standards. For whatever reasons you fail to fulfill the responsibility to live up to the requirements, I believe that you have to accept the consequences.
But somehow these skaters are exempted from such a regular responsibility as a student. Daisuke now goes to “grad school” where he is allowed to focus on getting OGM instead of fully focusing on course work and the Master’s thesis. Whatever commitment he could make, it's still a Master of Arts that he will be offered to receive. Although Nobu seems to be taking the leave of absense, I suppose that this option is open to Nobu in future if he chooses to do so. I must say that all of these are just incredibly special treatments. I don’t think that Nobu is a kind of person who could not appreciate these incredible support resources available to him.
I thought that Nobu just commented that he had received really a lot of letters from his fans and that he now felt even more grateful to his family and those who support him. He also said that he learned a lot through volunteer work during this past year. I also remember his saying that this past year was not a waste.
I simply wish him all the best.
To me, JSF has been consistently very supportive. The last public appearance of Nobu after the incident was the press conference. JSF officials were there. They made a full formal bow to the public and said aloud “We apologize”. I know it’s a cultural thing, but still a great astonishment to me. It was really “wow” to see all the adults attending there to apologize on behalf of Nobu.
Then this is his first public appearance after the suspension. JSF officials were again there to support Nobu. They made encouraging comments, such as “We expect him to have good placements at GP series.” “We hope that he make good efforts to aim for the Olympics.” This gave him a decent legitimacy to come back just as smoothly as possible. I consider these efforts of JSF as invaluable support to him.
Most importantly, they have kept giving him second chance and third chance. As I mentioned earlier, they have kept trying to make a special case for him to come back as early and smoothly as possible. The official suspension was meant to be only for GP series instead of the whole season. They also guaranteed the financial support as early as possible despite his lack of records. The general principle for public and private funds is “Be productive or perish.” If I were to fail to be productive for whatever personal reasons, whether sickness in me or in my family, would my funding agency still fund me? No. Would I think it unfair? Would I be resentful? Never. I believe that whatever your situation is, you must accept the consequences.
But Nobu was so fortunate enough to be guaranteed the special reinforcement skater status and two GP series assignment despite skipping the Nationals and being ranked 28th by ISU, lower than three other Japanese skaters. I trust that Nobu is a person who is humble enough to understand all these considerations and support.
Moreover, both Nobu and Dai receive special treatments at their university. They built a rink for them. Japanese universities are seriously understaffed and the country is full of working poor PhDs. Instead of investing in the betterment of education and research for the larger population of the students and faculty members, however, this university chose to build a rink. Nobu and Dai belong to the School of Letters, not to the School of Sports. Although both Daisuke and Nobu spend a considerable amount of time abroad, Dai managed to graduate in just four years. These are possible only because the university is so incredibly supportive and makes special cases for them.
When I needed to be physically absent from three classes of a course at my grad school due to my family sickness back home, the prof asked me to drop the course. Although I was catching up reasonably well and did all the reading and written assignments, she simply wanted the students to attend all of the classes. Period. Did I think it unfair that the professor did not make a special case for me? Never. Professors have all the rights and responsibilities to set the standards. For whatever reasons you fail to fulfill the responsibility to live up to the requirements, I believe that you have to accept the consequences.
But somehow these skaters are exempted from such a regular responsibility as a student. Daisuke now goes to “grad school” where he is allowed to focus on getting OGM instead of fully focusing on course work and the Master’s thesis. Whatever commitment he could make, it's still a Master of Arts that he will be offered to receive. Although Nobu seems to be taking the leave of absense, I suppose that this option is open to Nobu in future if he chooses to do so. I must say that all of these are just incredibly special treatments. I don’t think that Nobu is a kind of person who could not appreciate these incredible support resources available to him.
I thought that Nobu just commented that he had received really a lot of letters from his fans and that he now felt even more grateful to his family and those who support him. He also said that he learned a lot through volunteer work during this past year. I also remember his saying that this past year was not a waste.
I simply wish him all the best.
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But this "special treatment" is natural in this situation. Both in the "education case" (I guess every single successful athlete in the world gets this kind of special treatment from his/her university/school) and when it comes to the JSF attitude. Nobody gives Nobunari any gifts. Like rankings matter something. Or did he do something utterly unforgivable driving that poor moped that distant summer night? (See the signature below.) They just invest resourses in one of their most promising "projects".
And, no, I don't think that JFS solely consists of heartles aliens (who previously abducted the real JSF members) whose deeds are fueled only by greed, selfishness etc. (Actually I would be really grateful, if somebody posted all the official JFS comments (in context) on this matter from the moment of that unfortunate (or maybe fortunate, in case if you believe in Something beyond just mathematical possibilities and physical laws like a driving force of this planet) event). On the contrary. I just think that this JSF's attitude by itself in this situation justifies or defines little.
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- Joined
- Oct 27, 2006
To get back on track....aren't there other coaches in the world besides Morozov? What makes him better then other coaches? I am really asking this seriously. Everyone seems to want to go train with him and I don't know why.
Yes, but do you really think that, after the comment that Ito had made, JSF being there and apologizing had any positive effect on the public opinion?
Imagine yourself in a situation of an average person who does not follow the sport much, who knows that an athlete in question exists and won something, but knows little or nothing about the athlete's personality, training habits, overall situation, etc.
Then the athlete gets into trouble and you see that his superiors not only fail to speak a single positive thing about that person, but also accuse the athlete of "not knowing what responsibility means", committing actions that "cannot be forgiven", being "spoiled" and, later, "selfish". And yes, then they bow with customary "We have no excuse".
Very smart for JSF, I must say, because it takes any blame off them and makes them look like poor martyrs who have been burdened with the unfortunate situation of pumping their resources into someone unworthy. They have cherished a snake on their bossom, sucking their finances away and spending them on booze, which probably had already deranged the athlete's in question brain, and they seem to be unable to count the jumps in their own program. Nerves and heavy pressure? Pfft!
I fully agree with summervie here:
By dramatizing the situation and making Nobu look like Paris Hilton in training Ito might have made an unrepairable damage to Nobu's reputation (and his psyche). Sad thing is, people usually prefer to remember bad thing rather than good, any any attempts to repent and make up for the mistake might be treated as an act of hypocrisy rather than welcomed.
His words concerning Nobu's withdrawal from Nationals were even more shocking. First, he treats the athlete like a common criminal with no sense of responsibility and conscience and puts a heavy punishment upon them. Then, when the athlete actually PROLONGS his own punishment (giving up Worlds' berth, ISU points, money bonuses...) he calls the athlete "selfish"?!
Words fail me. Maybe there is some kind of Universe when actions like that make sense, but I don't think I even want to understand the logic behind them.
I certainly don't think that all the people in JSF are heartless aliens (I wouldn't place my bet on Ito, though...). The one thing I might blame them for is lack of personal courage, because while some members of JSF made positive comments about the entire situation, the comments were anonymous and therefore had little impact.
Most of them have already been mentioned, I think. Ito's enraged comments were made during the "apology" press conference (27th July, I think). Some random words about the "unforgivability" were spoken during the official announcement of the JSF's punishment (about a week later).
Then there was the "selfish" comment about the withdrawals from Nationals and Worlds (and the possibility of loosing 3 berths. Well, JSF should send some flowers to Verner and Chan...
) At the same time an anonymous member of JSF said that Nobu and his family have been victims of "unnecessary bashing", which caused Nobu's mental trauma.Somewhere around 7th January, 2008 another anonymous comment by a JSF member was printed in Asahi Weekly. I haven't read the comment itself, but a fan posted on her blog a summary of it. She said the comment was nice, but that overall, it wasn't a nice article to read for a Nobu fan. I wondered why - whether an additional angry comment was made, or was it just the fact that the article itself was rather gloomy, stating that Nobu is still suffering from mental trauma, suffering from appetite loss and subsequent loss of weight and muscle strength.
Indeed he did, but listen to his voice while he speaks those words. I thought he'll choke himself on them. And I think that if even thinking about the year that had passed causes so much pain, then it was not a good year.
I doubt we'll ever hear about it from Nobu. He never complains and always tries to say things that will not let his fans and federation down.
There were many interviews in which he said that he was okay, but his face spoke otherwise. An interview after the reversal of the results during the 2005 Nationals, for example. "I'm okay!". Smile. Two seconds. And then looking away from the camera as if it burned, tears in eyes, biting lower lip, trying to hide it behind the scarf. There were (too) many occasions like that...
A short clip from the interview mentioned above was included in a fan montage (00.47).
I just noticed that the "comeback" interview posted by a Korean user has been deleted.
I'll reupload it under the username "oscillating".In my opinion, instead of throwing away the child with the bath water and then wondering why the tub is empty, JSF could make an effort to neutralize the public outrage, instead of fuelling it. Something like that:
"While in no way we approve of DUI, we do believe that this matter requires a closer inspection. We have worked with many years with skater Oda, and he has always been the epitome of responsibility, hard work and consideration for the best interests of his federation and his country. What he did was wrong in the light of the law, but committed out of lack of experience and misjudged attempts not to let others down. As such, we believe that skater Oda has been suffciently punished by the letter of the law and shall never commit the same mistake anymore. However, skater Oda has insisted on inflicting on himself a penalty beyond the standard measures in order to show his willingness to pay for his mistake. Therefore we decided to allow him to withdraw from the upcoming events, and continue to work for the benefit of his home rink Kansai Arena and the entire community as a voluntary worker."
Here. It should be supported by the exact description of what happened, not some vague note that twists the facts into something else altogether.
The effect would be the same; the punishment would be established, and the JSF would say no-no to DUI. But Nobu would be treated with the respect he deserves and the media wouldn't have much to bite into.
And, for goodness sake, someone should do something about the most aggressive of the media. I'm not just talking about this case, but about what all the Japanese skaters (and probably other athletes as well) go through. Cheap sensationalism, panty shots, fake gossip, misinformation, trying to create bitter feelings between skaters, managers, coaches, fans and who knows else. This is wrong in itself, but twice as much damaging, because it concern the athletes that are still very young.
I think some people are mistaking freedom of speech with freedom to pull stuff out right of their... behinds.
In other news...
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/080428/oth0804281837005-n1.htm
According to Nobu it was Morozov that approached him a few times and suggested they should work together.
Well, there are certainly many other great coaches. Morozov is, however, perhaps the most accomplished at using the athlete's current abilities to their absolute maximum. Just looking at the athletes he coached: Shizuka - Olympic medalist (after two bad seasons), Daisuke - World silver medalist and World record breaker (after being extremely inconsistent), Miki - Gold medalist (after being inconsistent and while struggling with many injuries), Adam Rippon - World Junior Champion (with no 3A and no quad). It's too bad that Daisuke struggled with boot problems and foot injury at Worlds, he had every chance to add another medal to his collection. He had the same problem at the beginning of the 06/07 season, but once he found the right pair of boots, his consistency improved immediately.
Morozov contributed to creation of many masterpieces of choreography (like Yag's "Winter").
I think what is good about his coaching is that he not only pushes the skaters forward, but also knows the athletes strengths and uses them extremely well. I was quite impressed with what he did for Adam. While he is still young and quite unpolished, Morozov gave him programs that really highlight Adam's abilities; his musicality, flexibility, great steps. It allows him to compete against skaters who have perhaps more technical prowess than him, but not as much "wow" factor as Adam has.
Well, in this particular case, as it is mentioned in the interview above, it was Morozov that wanted to work with Nobu. :thumbsup:
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/080428/oth0804281837005-n1.htm
According to Nobu it was Morozov that approached him a few times and suggested they should work together.
Well, there are certainly many other great coaches. Morozov is, however, perhaps the most accomplished at using the athlete's current abilities to their absolute maximum. Just looking at the athletes he coached: Shizuka - Olympic medalist (after two bad seasons), Daisuke - World silver medalist and World record breaker (after being extremely inconsistent), Miki - Gold medalist (after being inconsistent and while struggling with many injuries), Adam Rippon - World Junior Champion (with no 3A and no quad). It's too bad that Daisuke struggled with boot problems and foot injury at Worlds, he had every chance to add another medal to his collection. He had the same problem at the beginning of the 06/07 season, but once he found the right pair of boots, his consistency improved immediately.
Morozov contributed to creation of many masterpieces of choreography (like Yag's "Winter").
I think what is good about his coaching is that he not only pushes the skaters forward, but also knows the athletes strengths and uses them extremely well. I was quite impressed with what he did for Adam. While he is still young and quite unpolished, Morozov gave him programs that really highlight Adam's abilities; his musicality, flexibility, great steps. It allows him to compete against skaters who have perhaps more technical prowess than him, but not as much "wow" factor as Adam has.
Well, in this particular case, as it is mentioned in the interview above, it was Morozov that wanted to work with Nobu. :thumbsup:
My business kept me from coming here .... so it's a little late, but I edited my first post on this thread to add some translations of the news.
How I look at Nobu's situation is somewhere in between Bennett and Oscilla.
But the main interest for me, and probably for the majority of fans in Japan, is now this:
Will Daisuke keep being coached by Morozov ??
What's written in the interview is true, it's Morozov who pursuaded him, according to Nobu.
What will Dai-chan think of this! It must have been a huge shock to him ....
How I look at Nobu's situation is somewhere in between Bennett and Oscilla.
But the main interest for me, and probably for the majority of fans in Japan, is now this:
Will Daisuke keep being coached by Morozov ??
What's written in the interview is true, it's Morozov who pursuaded him, according to Nobu.
What will Dai-chan think of this! It must have been a huge shock to him ....
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
If Takahashi really decides to look for another coach because of Morozov coaching Oda - then it is a pity.
I think that Morozov is a good coach - but not for everyone. Yes, he gave Ando back her self-confidence and some kind of consistency - but I prefer Ando pre-Morozov. Her skating may have been a bit bland back then, but I prefered the more fluid style. Even her spins were better back then. She had quite lovely natural arm movements too.
Takahashi on the other side has this talent for fast, sharp and confident movements, with his arms, feet and whole body. He is similar to Yagudin in that aspect. If they skate/skated to Morozov's programs it looks great, they sell the programs. If Ando skates to Morozov's programs, her movements tend to look choreographed, which of course they are - but in my opinion they shouldn't look so choreographed, so planned.
Takahashi and Morozov's programs just fit - it works. And they developed some pretty great programs together - therefore I just hope that they will continue to work with each other.
Oda's style was relatively raw as far as I remember, fantastic jumps and spins but I can't remember anything else being really impressive. Perhaps Morozov will be able to help him develop as a skater - but only into another Morozov-skater. And that won't really increase the diversity in figure skating. I am not really a fan of this coaching-decision.
I doubt that he is terribly shocked.
The practice clips that were aired a few days ago were actually filmed at the beginning of April, when Nobu had a few test practices with Morozov. Daisuke must have known about this.
Around the same time Daisuke started mentioning his wish of going to Olympics together with Nobunari. He brought up Nobunari's name all on his own, he was never specyfically asked about him. In totally unrelated to Nobunari speeches/interviews (graduation speech and interview about his future goals) he choose to speak about Nobu out of his own will. He also made it sound like he would be as much OK with winning silver as with winning gold, provided the gold would go to Nobu.
Dai-chan said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgNdjNDABLw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7EUuxXrP-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhp4sF28AGs
There was also an article here but it was removed. I spoke of it on Ballerina on Ice if anyone's interested. The quote above comes from this interview.
My point is, I doubt that Dai would have been bringing up the issue of "going together" over and over again if he had any hard feelings. On the contrary, I got the vibe that Daisuke has already known about the possible coaching change and spoke about "going toghether" literary, as "togather as a part of Team Morozov".
It's too bad that it looks like JSF didn't notify Daisuke's manager in time. From what I understand, most of the controversy was caused by the unfortunate article in one of the somewhat unreliable newspapers, which quoted Daisuke's manager as being very perplexed and doubting if it's good for two rivals to work under the same coach. (1) Other newspaper said that Nobu and Dai will work together.
(1)There have been cases when two competitors worked under the same coach and it worked well for them. Nobu and Jeff both trained under Barkell and it worked well for them - when they competed against each other in 05/06 they kept trading places - Nobu won Thornhill, Jeff SP at SC, Nobu LP at SC, Jeff placed higher at GPF, Nobu placed higher at Worlds...
Besides, Nobu and Dai already train at the same rink, and they said (in an interview before Nationals 2006 IIRC) that it inspires them - Daisuke likes Nobu's jumps, spins and "power of will", while Nobu thinks highly of Daisuke's steps, quad and maturity. One of them (Nobu, IIRC) said that they motivate each other to work on their weaknesses.
So, unless the media will blow things out of proportion again, or JSF will encourage Daisuke to switch coaches, I don't think there will be a problem. Especially not for Dai-chan, who is in a way more comfortable position. (Unless Mr.X threw a hissy fit over Dai speaking well of Nobu and decided to delegate him to Syberia to train with some obscure coach. But I hope not.)
I think Miki could be great while working with Morozov. I absolutely loved her Scheherazade, and Samson and Delilah and Carmen could be masterpieces as well.
You are right that some things about her skating got worse recently. But I don't think its her fault, or Morozov's for that matter. The problem is that she is constantly suffering from injuries, and the things she needs to work on the most - spins, arm movements, posture - just cause her more pain, so she can't practice them. I think that even if now she would go back to her Wilson programs (I liked them as well) they wouldn't look half as good. Even her Scheherezade at Worlds wasn't as good as the one at Skate America.
I watched a program about Morozov aired by a Japanese TV recently. There was some footage showing Miki's practices from time when her injury got a bit better, and I was really impressed. Her spins were better, and her steps and expression were just 'wow'. But as soon as the injury got worse again it showed in her skating.
I doubt that someone who is in pain can concentrate on the flow on the program, it's more of a struggle to just do elements and not fall.
I hope that something - rest, surgery - will help Miki to get her form back. I think she has amazing potential, but every time she tries to live up to it, she is held back by injuries.
Nobu, IMHO, has amazing potential; as Morozov said, there are no negative points about his skating. He has tremendous charisma, his jumps are out of this worlds, has great flexibility, spins (including lovely layback), spirals better than some of the ladies, great Ina, great musicality, the ability to skate to emotional music as well as to comedy programs...
The problem is - he does those things mostly in practices, shows, warm-ups, gala finales... Nearly none of those abilities were used in his programs in his last season. IMHO they were a disaster, especially both of the long programs. They did not take advantage of any of Nobu's strengths, except perhaps jumping ability, and instead forced him to skate like crazy around the rink. Both of the programs didn't really fit, the first one looked like a speed skater on crack was skating to funeral music, the second one was like "I try to look macho, but I really don't".
His old program, Zatoichi, was infinitely much better, even though at that time Nobu was not as polished a skater as he was later.
I don't think Nobu was very happy with the programs either, although he was way too polite to say it out loud. Instead he decided to change his LP just before Worlds, wanting Wilson to choreograph an "entertaining" program for him. I had great hopes for the new program, but MI's choreography wouldn't look entertaining to me even if it was skated by Charlie Chaplin.
However, I loved both of his programs that he skated in shows after the 06/07 season. "New Cinema Paradise", despite the fact that it was a very old program with rather juniorish choreography, really highlighted his ability to emote well. I would love if someone - Morozov or Miyamoto - would rechoreograph it, because the music is just perfect for Nobunari.
And Kenji Miyamoto's "Around the World" is just amazing, and the fact that I'll never see it skated cleanly just puts me in a million depressions.
The choreography was superb, fully taking advantage of Nobu's showmanship, superb spins, spirals, graceful posture and great contact with the audience. I think it was the first program when the jumps didn't matter all that much - usually if Nobu had problem with jumps, then the entire program ended up looking flat. At Dreams on Ice he was breaking in new boots, so the jumps were not good, but the rest was still amazing. It was extremely warmly welcomed on the Internet. There were a lot of posts from people who did not usually watch figure skating, but saw Nobu's performance while searching for "Red Hot Chili Peppers" on youtube and loved it to pieces. "I saw a new rockman today, his name is Nobunari Oda..." "Please come to Tokyo Rock Festival!!!" and so on...
It was also used as a CM together wit YuNa's "Just a Girl". I was pleasantly surprised, because the TV stations usually use part of programs of those skaters who were the most successful last season, so I expected YuNa's, Daisuke and Stephane's instead. It turned out people loved the attempt to turn a performance into a mock rock concert, with "air guitar", and synchro skaters lifting Nobu in the air...
I, on the other hand, have more faith. I think that while he assisted Daisuke, he must have seen Nobu doing what he did in practices, Gala finales and generally in those situations when Nobu was just being Nobu and doing what he does best. And as Morozov said, all the needed positive aspects of his skating are already there. What he needs are good programs and stronger nerves, and those are things that Morozov has already helped many other skaters with.
What I'm more interested in, is whether Nobu will keep Lori's program(s), or will he have a new set choreographed by Nikolai. I hope that if Morozov decides to give him new programs, Nobu will at least skate to "Un Ballo in Maschera" in some Galas, because I just loved the music choice.
This is nor here, nor there, but I just love this mix with music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rnPCoz5Cyg
And this wins "The best Lutz in the World, ever" award, hands down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ze1XPg0pk
(I particularly meanthe one after 2.35
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- Joined
- Dec 21, 2003
Morozov is a good politician too!
I think it just a matter of way of perceiving. Yes, you don’t have to feel obligated because you are entitled to it. But I personally never take it as a matter of course whenever I receive any public or private funds for my studies. Sure you get those funds because you won the competitions and they thought that it's worth investing to you. But I still feel it very fortunate and grateful as well as responsible. I don’t know how to explain, but I just feel that way. Besides, there is always an element of luck. Not everyone with the same qualification is granted the opportunity. If it weren't for those fund raising efforts in the organizations, you wouldn't have the opportunity in the first place. Nobu is so lucky that he is peaking at the right timing when figure skating is extremely popular in Japan. That’s why the kinds of special treatments that he gets are so incredibly special from the normal standard. There are numerous athletes in the country, but I don’t think that those in unpopular sports will get the same amount of support as Nobu does. I believe that Nobu would be humble enough to acknowledge special treatments he has gotten.
To me, Nobu has been a great entertainer on the ice. I really liked his short program in the previous season. It was very nice. He was also gaining a lot of fluidity in his moves. I read an icenetwork article that features Lee Barkell’s interview. He said that Nobu had been practicing ballet to increase sophistication in his moves. I was also happy that he started to work with Nichol because his flow and natural spring would go well with Nichol’s great musicality. Although I don’t know if they’ll keep the program after going to Morosov, I hope that the experience of working with Nichol would at least leave him some good effects on his performance.
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- Joined
- Feb 11, 2007
What makes you convinced about what kind of reaction Daisuke had?
And why should it be a "huge shock"?
Do you know if Morozov breached his contract with Daisuke or something? Did anyone actually try to undermine Daisuke? So far I have heard no such thing as a confirmed fact..
I was not convinced, just made a guess.
Nothing about contracts, just about the coach's concentration on Daisuke, I thought he would feel he's losing his coach's energy, split and decreased.
I wrote my guess after reading the news on NikkanSports, and the paper may have exaggerated the reaction of the "Takahashi side".
Now come to think of it, the fact that Mao did perfectly well coachless makes me feel that Daisuke may do just fine with less influence from his coach. Again just my guess. Dai might enjoy some partial self-coaching with smaller control from Morozov.
Or even, the possibility is not zero that it was Dai who gave the idea of training together with Nobu to Morozov.
So, I would now say, it was probably a huge shock to Dai, but it's not completely unthinkable that the shock was only to his manager(s).
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