What does concern me re Brian is that FFSG is apparently pressuring him to drop his current coach, and move away from Poitiers to train with someone who has experience preparing skaters for the Olympics - which Simond does not. I think pressure and coaching changes before an Olympic season is the last thing anyone needs.
Hopefully Brian find the best solution and come back motivated, happy ans strong next season.
Well, this is just online gossip and conjecture, but apparently Gailhaguet has been hoping to get Brian away from JCS for some time now - preferably to Annique Dumont - and is using Worlds as an excuse, saying that since changing the LP at the last moment was Simond's idea, he's a bad strategist. Which may be true, but ultimately this type of decision needs to be up to Brian and based on what he feels comfortable with.
But I agree that there is an acceptable amount of involvement for a federation, and Gailhaguet and FFSG are way beyond that here.
OMG, what the hell is going on?
I completely agree with Didier about JCS as a
tactician, but not as a
coach.
JCS is the best coach Brian has ever had. The problems with Brian's preparation came from Brian's stuborness, not from JCS. When Brian finally decided to do as he was told, then things went very smoothly. JCS is the best coach he as ever had. Firstly his character suites Brian: he is firm, yet he isn't arrogant or condescending like one or two people he has worked with in the past. Brian trusts him and respects him. I think that Brian has come so far since Turin, partly thanks to JCS.
The problem was that just before the LP JCS ill-advised Brian (if he did indeed approve or come up with the idea of trying to skate tacticly). Instead of trying to find another coach, maybe Brian should be accompanied backstage by somebody else as well as JCS, like many other skaters do.
I've got the feeling that since Brian has been with JCS, he has matured a lot, not just thanks to himself, but also because JCS allowed him to. Brian and JCS clearly form a time, whereas before his coaches would often take the credit for the good stuff and blame all the mistakes on Brian. JCS has allowed Brian to take his own decisions and face the consequences (good or bad), without despising him for his mistakes, but helping him learn from them and giving him a kick in the backside when he needed it.
As for what Didier said about Brian having to move from Poitiers, I think Didier is extremely wrong. Brian has considered in the past working elsewhere, in France or abroad, but if he never did it's because he loves his home town and wouldn't be very happy living elsewhere. If Brian sees living in Poitiers as something fundamental for his state of mind, then it would indeed be a huge mistake going eslewhere, maybe to a better coach, if it's just to be depressed and so not be in any mental state to become Olympic champion.
Plus, one musn't forget, Brian still lives with his parents, so moving away would mean living alone, and I'm not sure Brian will be able to handle having to adapt to living alone and to change his training conditions.
I've read some people questioning his Mom's role. If anything, she is one of the best people in his close circle. He relies on her a lot. She organises his medical visits, takes care of him, plus she isof good advise to him, even though he doesn't always listen: before the OG, she told him to change back to the Latrix, but he didn't; at the beginning of the season, she told him to change his skates, but he didn't...
Concerning training with Annick, I think the idea, in theory, is wonderful, because she is an amazing coach who as already worked with him, who knows hil and he trusts her, but there are two problems. Firstly, she has other important pupils such as Alban. Brian (and myself!) trust her completely and have every faith in her to give all to each of her pupils, but the thing is, Brian really needs an almost exclusive coach, he needs his coach to really be focused almost solely on him and to adapt to him. Secondly, Annick works in Champigny, not far from Paris, and, as already said, Brian really wants to stay in Poitiers. Thirdy, Brian enjoys skating in Poitiers because he can do so without being hounded by fans becaue everyone knows him, whereas in Champigny it would be impossible to get any peace. If Annick were to train in Paris itself (say at Bercy where Candice Didier trains and where the TEB is held), then it might have been plausible, as he could take the TGV there every morning. But as Champigny is a real pain to get to from Paris (I don't live far and trust me, it's a nightmare), I really can't see Brian going to and from Champigny every day.
.
He seems to be a guy that needs stability more that anything.
