Wagner's Olympic Strategy: Play It Safe?

[Olympia]

Yes...I wish Sandra were still doing choreo again :wuzrobbed:

I do miss Bezic. Does anyone know whether there's a chance she might do more choreography in the future?

I'm such a music geek. Every time I'm looking down the thread list and see "Wagner's Olympic strategy," my first thought is of the composer Richard Wagner, and I think, "Olympus? No--he writes about Valhalla." Sheesh...I'm hopeless.

 

[Silver1998]

I'm not so sure I would describe what Ashley has done the past two years as "playing it safe". Sure, she hasn't added a consistent 3/3 to her repertoire, but what she has done is impressive to me. She is skating programs with more complex choreography and delivering them with polish and personality. She is connecting with the audience and putting on a "performance", not just muddling through a checklist of elements and trying to make it all look as pretty as possible. That is no easy task! Certainly, some performances of "Samson & Delilah" were better than others this season, but I'm proud to have her representing team USA. She certainly hasn't regressed in terms of style/delivery and often consistently puts out a respectable amount of technical content.
I won't disagree that to compete for medals with Yuna, Carolina, and Mao it would be most beneficial to have a 3/3, but if she doesn't get it next season, I'll still wish her the best and enjoy watching her! I'm looking forward to seeing another entertaining program that suits her personality. Its up to the other US girls (Gao, Hicks, Zawadzki, Nagasu, Gold, etc.) to work on improving their technical content, style/delivery, and consistency (and seizing the moments they are given on the GP and at Nationals) if they want to challenge Wagner and make the Olympic team. I know everyone isn't a fan and won't necessarily agree, but I for one am enjoying Ashley's progression particularly over the past two years and enjoy watching her perform.

 

[Mrs. P]

I'm not so sure I would describe what Ashley has done the past two years as "playing it safe". Sure, she hasn't added a consistent 3/3 to her repertoire, but what she has done is impressive to me. She is skating programs with more complex choreography and delivering them with polish and personality. She is connecting with the audience and putting on a "performance", not just muddling through a checklist of elements and trying to make it all look as pretty as possible. That is no easy task! Certainly, some performances of "Samson & Delilah" were better than others this season, but I'm proud to have her representing team USA. She certainly hasn't regressed in terms of style/delivery and often consistently puts out a respectable amount of technical content.
I won't disagree that to compete for medals with Yuna, Carolina, and Mao it would be most beneficial to have a 3/3, but if she doesn't get it next season, I'll still wish her the best and enjoy watching her! I'm looking forward to seeing another entertaining program that suits her personality. Its up to the other US girls (Gao, Hicks, Zawadzki, Nagasu, Gold, etc.) to work on improving their technical content, style/delivery, and consistency (and seizing the moments they are given on the GP and at Nationals) if they want to challenge Wagner and make the Olympic team. I know everyone isn't a fan and won't necessarily agree, but I for one am enjoying Ashley's progression particularly over the past two years and enjoy watching her perform.

Thanks for providing a different perspective. You make a good point that growth for Ashley came in a lot of other different ways aside from the 3-3. She was more successful sometimes than others, but I think she came away with some good learning experiences that will help her in the Olympic season.

 

[R.D.]

From Wagner's Twitter:

To answer everyone's question, I simply wanted to try out a new choreographer and help my skating grow!

So...I guess those who offered suggestions for her were on the right track after all.

 

[Icey]

Getting a new choreographer is hardly a guarantee that her skating will grow. It could even prove to be a step backwards. I sense, correctly or incorrectly, that Ashley to the largest extent looks outside of herself for solving whatever problems she has in her skating. Certainly some of that is sometimes necessary, but it can become a defeating habit. Personally, I think if she had given Hughes more time she could have reached the level she is at now, but it was on from Hughes to Priscilla to Nicks and now to........ She may have peaked career wise and will remain stagnant or start to get left behind. I wish both sides would go into polite details. These innocuous statements with no substance only leave the door open for more and more speculation. In any case, this is not the ideal way to start an Olympic year.

 

[KKonas]

Although Nicks was listed as Wagner's head coach, it was Mills who did much of the daily coaching drills, so now that they have split, who will take this task over?

 

[dorispulaski]

Good question, KKonas.

 

[Icey]

Although Nicks was listed as Wagner's head coach, it was Mills who did much of the daily coaching drills, so now that they have split, who will take this task over?

She has decided to follow in the footsteps of Kwan and coach herself this Olympic year.:sarcasm:

 

[Olympia]

Oh, I do hope you're teasing.

If I were as intense an Ashley fan as I was a Michelle fan, I'd be feeling so sick right now.

 

[skateluvr]

I think it will be a mistake. Ashley reminds me a lot of MK..Ashley should stay with Mills. Too bad -had to be big blow up. I wonder if Shae Lynn Borne and Jeff Buttle would be good for her. I'm concerned for her, really. Just want her to get to Olys and make top flight.

 

[Icey]

Since Tara is her favorite skater, why not go to Richard Callaghan if nicks retires? Maybe she could get that 3/3 solid.

 

[ForeverFish]

Since Tara is her favorite skater, why not go to Richard Callaghan if nicks retires? Maybe she could get that 3/3 solid.

Callaghan is based in Florida, isn't he? I don't know if Ashley would want to move cross-country again, especially if she wants to maintain her relationship with Nicks (who might end up staying on for one more year to coach her to the Olympics).

ETA: If Nicks could coach Sasha Cohen to a quad (ratified or not), he can probably get Ashley's 3-3 solid in the off-season. If all else fails, she goes back into the pole harness for a week or two--it's not the end of the world. And there are always the summer competitions to get in practice before the start of the GP.

 

[evangeline]

I do miss Bezic. Does anyone know whether there's a chance she might do more choreography in the future?

I don't think Bezic choreographs competitive programs anymore, she doesn't like CoP and finds it too restrictive. She does still choreograph some exhibition programs from time to time however, I think she did one for Yu-Na fairly recently.

 

[Skater Boy]

I'm not so sure I would describe what Ashley has done the past two years as "playing it safe". Sure, she hasn't added a consistent 3/3 to her repertoire, but what she has done is impressive to me. She is skating programs with more complex choreography and delivering them with polish and personality. She is connecting with the audience and putting on a "performance", not just muddling through a checklist of elements and trying to make it all look as pretty as possible. That is no easy task! Certainly, some performances of "Samson & Delilah" were better than others this season, but I'm proud to have her representing team USA. She certainly hasn't regressed in terms of style/delivery and often consistently puts out a respectable amount of technical content.
I won't disagree that to compete for medals with Yuna, Carolina, and Mao it would be most beneficial to have a 3/3, but if she doesn't get it next season, I'll still wish her the best and enjoy watching her! I'm looking forward to seeing another entertaining program that suits her personality. Its up to the other US girls (Gao, Hicks, Zawadzki, Nagasu, Gold, etc.) to work on improving their technical content, style/delivery, and consistency (and seizing the moments they are given on the GP and at Nationals) if they want to challenge Wagner and make the Olympic team. I know everyone isn't a fan and won't necessarily agree, but I for one am enjoying Ashley's progression particularly over the past two years and enjoy watching her perform.

A fair assessment. She has done the US proud and has that graceful American champ - but she doesn't have that specialness so to speak that rarely happens -think Kwan and even Cohen. But not everyone can have that je ne sais quoi - still a lovely confident and competent skater.

 

[LeCygne]

The thing about Ashley is that she has great presentation and nice choreo and everything, but it doesn't come off effortless. Yu-Na makes everything look easy, Mao looks like she's skating on a cloud most of the time, even Gracie's jumps look effortless when they're on. Ashley has detailed and difficult choreo but it looks like she's performing detailed and difficult choreo. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's just her style, but I often get the sense that she's trying really hard when she skates, and sometimes it comes off as unnatural.

 

[Mrs. P]

The thing about Ashley is that she has great presentation and nice choreo and everything, but it doesn't come off effortless. Yu-Na makes everything look easy, Mao looks like she's skating on a cloud most of the time, even Gracie's jumps look effortless when they're on. Ashley has detailed and difficult choreo but it looks like she's performing detailed and difficult choreo. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's just her style, but I often get the sense that she's trying really hard when she skates, and sometimes it comes off as unnatural.

Actually, I think there's been improvement in this arena. If you look at her programs from 2009-2010 or 2010-2011, you can see how much labored they were. I think she's still a work in progress, and I think she exudes a lot more confidence in her programs now, which I really appreciate.

Ashley is a power skater, so I don't think it would work to make her look like she's floating on clouds.

 

[R.D.]

Ashley is a power skater, so I don't think it's would work to make her look like she's floating on clouds.

EXACTLY. Don't try to be something you're not. She has an athletic style and she needs programs that embrace that style and exploit it to its fullest. THAT will max out her "potential" at least in my eyes.