PeterG every time I think I can't love you more...
What happens in Vancouver stays in Vancouver.
I'm off to the Patrick Chan threads...where you can watch a molehill become a mountain in seconds!!!
No one is going to document in those forms what they've seen.
If you talk to enough people who have spent time at 8 Rinks around that training centre, there's a pretty consistent set of stories that emerge. I see no reason to doubt those just because they aren't in an article or video.
I would have been here sooner, but the bus kept stopping for other people to get on it. - Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory
FREE KEVIN!!!!
BARK LESS. WAG MORE.
Since this old thread from early April was bumped up with Reynolds' SP video from the Ondrej Nepela Memorial, here are first-hand impressions posted in the Nepela competition thread in Kiss and Cry about his FS:
Poggi's video of Reynolds' 2nd place FS (139.72), 4th overall at Nepela: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pDDRu7gTJU
Music is "Concerto no. 4 for Piano and Orchestra" by Andre Mathieu (a French-Canadian composer) and the program was choreographed by Kenji Miyamoto.
"Randy [Starkman (1960-April 16, 2012)] lived by the same motto as the rest of us. The Olympics isn’t every four years, it’s every single day. He just got it." --Canadian Olympic kayaker Adam van Koeverden
Thanks Sylvia.
The title of this thread makes me laugh. Isn't 'Plan B' a birth control method?
I agree that Kevin is talented and wish him well, but I find it very hard to take him seriously as long as he's got an Old English Sheepdog puppy on his head.
Varla: "You knew my mother?? What was she like?" Coco: "Very sweet." Evie: "Uh-huh, and a BIG pothead!" -- from "Girls Will Be Girls" (2002)
Kevin really needs to work on his basic skating skills. He is the slowest male skater out there.
Also he needs to work on his landing knee. His quads are not impressive at all because it doesn't get enough height plus he has no flow coming out of them because he doesn't know how to use his knee to land them.
But there must be at least a few people who like and respect Joanne McLeod? She must have at least a few things going for her, even if she is largely disliked and considered to be lacking in talent.
I also find it interesting that none of her top skaters have left her. Sandhu was a headcase and probably couldn't make a coaching change, even if someone would have taken him.
As to the others, I just find it strange. Skaters leave even well-respected coaches with a excellent track record. How can teams Leung, Ten and Reynolds be completely unaware if McLeod's is stalling her skaters progress?
IIRC someone (overedge?) said that 8 Rinks was embarrassed by McLeod but not willing to lose face by admitting it and that McLeod ran the rink like a tyrant.
True as that may be, Skate Canada has no particular loyalty to McLeod so far as I know. And Skate Canada members are quite capable of recommending a coaching change to a skater, aren't they?
Contrary to popular belief, I don't believe any Section or National Board member or employee would put themselves in the middle of a coach skater relationship. Decisions about coaching are made by skaters and/or their parents. I have no idea if JM is a tyrant or not. I do know she has been awarded the BC/YT Section coach of the year more times than any other coach. My opinion about Kevin needing a coaching change is based on my observations and my opinion that his development has stalled in the last few years. That can happen even if the coach is fabulous. Sometimes people just need a change and a different voice.
"You can get so much of good thing, you can linger too long in your dreams, say good-bye to the oldies but goodies, 'cause the good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow isn't as bad as it seems" Billy Joel (as quoted by BigBadBob)