Patrick Chan

[4everchan]

hehe tropical fruits and a fragrant flower... that's all i need

I had to join the two tropical fruits in giving you a thumbsup.

Yes Patrick seems happy and relaxed these days, quite a contrast to his depression and pondering quitting the sport when Krall quit him. I figure there wasn't the drama trauma leading up to Krall's resignation this time around. I hoping he will stay happy and relaxed through the next Olympics.

 

[ice coverage]

Great find, Mango! Thanks for confirming what I said - I'll be sharing this. Love the Skate Canada shirt, BTW.

vivley, if you are interested:

I am 99% sure that in years past, the Canton website had a photo of Patrick on the ice there. IIRC, Kathy was in the photo with him. I forget whether MZ was with them too.
The photo was from at least a couple of years ago, IIRC. Some months before 2014 Sochi, I believe -- but I do not remember exactly.
I think the photo had a brief caption, but I do not recall whether it said anything meaningful. It clearly was a training photo. Not a performance for a show or anything like that.

In my experience, the Canton website is updated only on a very erratic basis.
I have not checked to see whether the old photo still is on the website, but would not surprise me if it is.

Perhaps none of this is of interest to you.
But when I read your post about Canton, the first thing that popped into my mind is that it is not the first time that Patrick has skated there (at least on a temporary basis).

---

ETA:

The next thought that popped into my mind is that when Gracie Gold temporarily was without a permanent coach, Arctic Edge was her temporary base -- for a couple of months, IIRC. She already had left Alex O, and had not yet auditioned for Frank Carroll.

At that time, Gracie already had a history with Oleg Epstein, I believe, And she already had been working on choreo with MZ, IIRC?? So Canton was a logical choice for GG when she was in limbo.​

 

[vivley]

My goodness, he looks thin. I came here for some rational speculation and looks like I got it! So he's training in Canton right now, that's good. I am not and have never been in the "he needs a real coach" boat. Patrick knows what he needs. I just want him to be happy and keep himself on an even keel. I hope the split with Kathy was amicable and mutual.

Yes, he does look thin in that photo. Glad you found what you were looking for. Please spread the word at the other forum!

AFAIK there are no longer any competitive skaters at Granite.

Thanks for letting us know. Did they all migrate to the Cricket Club?

vivley, if you are interested:

I am 99% sure that in years past, the Canton website had a photo of Patrick on the ice there. IIRC, Kathy was in the photo with him. I forget whether MZ was with them too.
The photo was from at least a couple of years ago, IIRC. Some months before 2014 Sochi, I believe -- but I do not remember exactly.
I think the photo had a brief caption, but I do not recall whether it said anything meaningful. It clearly was a training photo. Not a performance for a show or anything like that.

In my experience, the Canton website is updated only on a very erratic basis.
I have not checked to see whether the old photo still is on the website, but would not surprise me if it is.

Perhaps none of this is of interest to you.
But when I read your post about Canton, the first thing that popped into my mind is that it is not the first time that Patrick has skated there (at least on a temporary basis).

---

ETA:

The next thought that popped into my mind is that when Gracie Gold temporarily was without a permanent coach, Arctic Edge was her temporary base -- for a couple of months, IIRC. She already had left Alex O, and had not yet auditioned for Frank Carroll.

At that time, Gracie already had a history with Oleg Epstein, I believe, And she already had been working on choreo with MZ, IIRC?? So Canton was a logical choice for GG when she was in limbo.​

Thank you, Ice Coverage. Have no fear, anything related to Patrick interests me! I checked their website and didn't see the photo, but maybe it's still there somewhere.

TSL was the first to report that he was training in Canton. He may be there temporarily, who knows? I wonder which program he was working on with Charlie? Short? EX? Can't wait to find out.

It occurred to me that during his coachless state (which hopefully is temporary), we fans can step it up to encourage him and be his eyes, so to speak. We can help by giving him good feedback from our observations of his performances.

 

[4everchan]

honestly, I don't think Patrick needs our eyes. Our support and belief in his skating is enough... That's our job as fans. He will get tons of feedback by qualified experts I am sure. I'd like to mention that he probably will have to go through some sort of grieving period too... he will need quiet time. It's a big deal parting with such an influential coach at that point in his life and career, even if it were mutual agreement.

So here are my words : Thank you Kathy Johnson for bringing such beautiful flow to Patrick's skating, an attention to detail in body position and your big big smile in the KnC

To Patrick, my unconditional support and fan love during this transition period. I cannot wait to see your new programs and see you skate like the champion you are !

 

[CdnSk8Fan]

Thanks for letting us know. Did they all migrate to the Cricket Club?

IIRC there were only a handful competitive skaters (no elite skaters) in the past few years who have migrated to other locations with coaches / for coaching.
From what I understand programs are now mainly recreational. But don't forget there are many elite skaters who get choreo there as well as other (pro) skaters using it to get ready for shows.

ETA Liz Manley is now head coach (announced on her twitter) (did not have this info earlier) so I'm guessing they are looking to increase their profile again and gain competitive skaters.

 

[vivley]

honestly, I don't think Patrick needs our eyes. Our support and belief in his skating is enough... That's our job as fans. He will get tons of feedback by qualified experts I am sure. I'd like to mention that he probably will have to go through some sort of grieving period too... he will need quiet time. It's a big deal parting with such an influential coach at that point in his life and career, even if it were mutual agreement.

So here are my words : Thank you Kathy Johnson for bringing such beautiful flow to Patrick's skating, an attention to detail in body position and your big big smile in the KnC

To Patrick, my unconditional support and fan love during this transition period. I cannot wait to see your new programs and see you skate like the champion you are !

Well, it was just a thought on my part. But I agree with your wise words about the parting and about Kathy. Much appreciation and respect to her!

 

[ice coverage]

... Thank you, Ice Coverage. Have no fear, anything related to Patrick interests me! I checked their website and didn't see the photo, but maybe it's still there somewhere. ...

vivley, I was referring to MZ's Canton website, which is different from the site for the rink.
I now have gone back to MZ's site to get the exact links for you.

The old photo I remembered of Patrick training at Arctic Edge is in the 2013 Summer Training gallery of MZ's site:

http://internationalskatingacademy.com/wppg_photogallery/gallery3​

If you click on a photo when you are on the gallery page, a caption pops up along with the photo.
The caption for photo that I remembered was simply: "Patrick Chan with Kathy Johnson & Marina Zoueva".

http://internationalskatingacademy.com/assets/simple_photo_gallery/3/3.jpg​

Another one in the same gallery was: "Patrick Chan at Canton Ice Arena".

http://internationalskatingacademy.com/assets/simple_photo_gallery/3/7.jpg​

---

... Yes Patrick seems happy and relaxed these days, quite a contrast to his depression and pondering quitting the sport when Krall quit him. I figure there wasn't the drama trauma leading up to Krall's resignation this time around. ...

In defense of Christy, I will add:
It was Patrick who wanted to alter her role on his team -- to reduce her role and to increase Kathy's role.
When he informed Christy of his intentions, she understandably (IMO) decided to decline the reduced role and to resign from his team.

Did Patrick himself ever use the phrase "drama trauma"?
If not, I do not think that it is a fair characterization of what happened.

In any case, whatever words you want to use, Patrick was at least 50% responsible for Krall's resignation, IMO.
His desire for her to "quit" her role as his head coach is what caused Christy to "quit" him.
(To be clear: I am not criticizing Patrick for planning to reduce Christy's role. A skater is entitled to change her/his mind as to what s/he wants from a coach. And a coach in turn is entitled to walk away.)

ETA:

Doubly unhappy to see that you used the "drama trauma" phrase in the thread in The Edge as well. Just my opinion.​

ETA (on Aug 24):

Eeeek ... I just now have noticed and corrected my stupid :hopelessness: misspellings of Christy's name. My feeble excuse is that I had too much "K" on the brain, what with Kathy and Krall. ​

---

ETA:

... I hope the split with Kathy was amicable and mutual. ...

:agree:

 

[Violet Bliss]

Ice Coverage, the drama trauma was among the people close to Patrick who was clearly very stressed, to the point of depression. It's in the past and I'm not faulting anybody in particular. Everyone has moved on. I was especially impressed by Patrick winning the Worlds title under such stress and bouncing back to continue his brilliant career.

 

[ice coverage]

Ice Coverage, the drama trauma was among the people close to Patrick who was clearly very stressed, to the point of depression. It's in the past and I'm not faulting anybody in particular. ....

Just my two cents (and I will not dwell on my opinion after this post), but:

If your point is that the stress was genuinely profound (and I am not doubting that it was genuinely profound), then IMO, "drama trauma" comes across with exactly the opposite tone.
To my ear, "drama trauma" sounds cavalier and snarky -- making light of what in fact were major career decisions both for Patrick and for Christy.
It is confusing to me that I believe that you do not intend to make light of what happened with Patrick and Christy, but you use that phrase.

(Anyway, good to know that you are not faulting anybody in particular.)

 

[Sorrento]

Article

 

[vivley]

Article

Thanks, Sorrento.

"A Skate Canada official said that Chan will "share his plans for the upcoming season next week at high performance camp." The official also said he will speak with the media regarding his future plans on Aug. 31."

 

[Sorrento]

Thanks, Sorrento.

"A Skate Canada official said that Chan will "share his plans for the upcoming season next week at high performance camp." The official also said he will speak with the media regarding his future plans on Aug. 31."

Sounds like she (author) never had any other info than Kathy's announcement and took couple of days trying to dig anything but no success.

 

[calica]

The article is not a article, it´s only 2 tweets and old info about the past coachs of Patrick... more time for speculations...

 

[vivley]

My response to the Icenetwork article, for those interested:

http://bit.ly/pccoachnews

(Scroll down toward the bottom for my humble opinion.)

 

[deedee1]

I should rather write here , not in The Edge hwell:, I thought.

At the beginning of every season I hope all skaters to have a great, fruitful and injury-free season, esp. veterans in the later chapter of his/her competitive career, or those who don't get much love by his/her own federation. I sincerely hope so Patrick, more than anyone, this season.

Good luck to Patrick!

 

[4everchan]

My response to the Icenetwork article, for those interested:

http://bit.ly/pccoachnews

(Scroll down toward the bottom for my humble opinion.)

very good points you made there viv...

1) old news about Don Laws... Patrick was a kid back then....
2) Kathy getting all the blame not much credit for... in the medias, that's quite common indeed... but that's for most coaches... probably a bit more for her though.

and yes, I thought he'd be in Vancouver by now??? I mean the summer is so nice over there, why spend it in Michigan??? hehe

 

[blueberryhill]

1) old news about Don Laws... Patrick was a kid back then....

Since Patrick's relationship with the late Don Laws is now brought up, I'd like to expand on what I wrote in the "other" thread. Just to put things into context, in fall '09, Patrick had an leg injury, swine flu, coaching uncertainty and feeling the stress of an upcoming Olympics in his home country - all before his 19th birthday. Last point, my memory tells me that Don Laws was based in Florida, which is an odd place to be training for an Olympics. Patrick would have been commuting between Florida, Colorado (where Christy Krall was) and maybe his home base of Toronto. Not an idea situation.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/skating/2009/10/15/patrick_chan_believes_swine_flu_led_to_injury.html

Here is the full text of what Don Laws wrote in his book concerning his split with Patrick. The part bolded and in italics was omitted in the "other" thread in the interest of brevity.

"I suppose I will never know why Patrick's initial look of joy when he saw me became other than that. Perhaps - and I speculate - I just became too old for him, and he was afraid that he would lose me the same way he had lost Colson. Nevertheless, our separation was untimely, for both sides I dare say, and though undeniably it hurt me and puzzled me, my departure as his coach was the correct choice. Therefore, no matter how disconcerting it all was, ending our association, which lasted more than three years, was the only honest thing to be done. I could not "pretend" to be his coach, because the 2010 Olympics were nearby, solely to deflect criticism. I could not stand at those Olympics taking in the periphery of that shining spotlight that comes with champions, if there was no harmony between us. I would not use him, and I would not allow him to use me either, so I walked away. I left with the same openness of conscience and spirit that I had when I entered Patrick's life. I tendered my resignation to Skate Canada and disassociated myself publicly, as had already been done with me privately. I am proud that I stepped in after my old coach Colson Osbourne and help Patrick Chan on his way. I am rewarded knowing that, with my guidance, he leaped into the winning golden seasons of 2008 and 2009 in senior events world-wide and was poised to go forward, as he has."

In the book, Mr. Laws writes that he first met Patrick at Colson Osborne's funeral. Mr. Osborne had been Don's coach and he felt the natural progression would be to take over the mantle for his old mentor. Mr. Laws calls his work with Patrick "unfinished business". That along with the line "I left with the same openness of conscience and spirit that I had when I entered Patrick's life." suggests that while the "split" was regretful, the overall experience was not. I do not detect any acrimony at all.

This is my take on the situation: Despite the best of intentions, some things don't happened as planned and there is no one person to blame.

-------------------------

Some last minute googling in order to fact-check my post yielded this article (dated Jan 9th, 2010):
https://www.thestar.com/sports/olympics/2010/01/09/skater_patrick_chan_parts_ways_with_mentor.html
Very classy comments by both Mr. Laws and Patrick regarding the split.

 

[Violet Bliss]

I'm not going to find and link original articles but will write from my memory, which is vivid as the stories touched me.

Patrick and Don Laws met at Mr. Colson's funeral and Patrick felt a closeness with Laws as both were Colson's students.

Patrick's training with Laws in Florida was very hard on him, sharing a motel room with his mom and eating microwaved food in bed. He was isolated with no friends. But theirs seemed to be a good relationship from the interactions that we could see. Laws introduced Patrick to Kristy Krall, a Dartfish software specialist for jump training. Laws became unhappy that Patrick started spending more time with Krall in Colorado Springs. He explained his resignation at the time that he could not train someone from so far away and he considered Patrick as leaving him first.

I think they were civil and respectful of each other about and after the event but I thought Laws' action and timing selfish and egotistical. I don't necessarily think that was his personality but this particular action/reaction was not considerate or professional.

There was turmoil within Team Chan in Colorado Springs when Johnson's role increased in importance but Krall waited till the end of the season after the World Championships to resign. I appreciate the professionalism.

Patrick's love for Mr. Colson continues after his death. He went to talk to him at his grave before going to Moscow Worlds 2011 as he often did. At Worlds 2012, he blew a kiss skyward when he finished his winning LP because it was Colson's birthday. Of course as his fans we are grateful for the foundation he laid down for Patrick and his belief in him as motivation for Patrick to go on to become one of the greatest skaters ever.

 

[4everchan]

^^
I cannot imagine how it must have been for Patrick to lose his mentor so young. It perhaps has shaped his relationships with other coaches? It must be difficult for anyone to feel that they can bring something as valuable to Patrick as what Mr Colson brought him. I am obviously extrapolating in here and projecting my own thoughts not making affirmations

 

[vivley]

After reading your posts above, I think this quote is appropriate:

"Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.”

–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hyperion