New Skating Lesson Podcast: Tim Goebel Interview

[Kelvster]

absolutely loved the interview. Thanks v. much for posting.

brings back so many memories (I feel like Tim is really in "my generation" of skating)

He comes across as a very sensitive, thoughtful and funny person. I imagine he's v. smart too - graduating with a degree from Columbia (majoring in maths of all things!) is not easy! By the way, do people know what he is doing now? Does he have a full-time job? Whatever he does, I wish the best for him.

[BigB08822]

I think Tim mentioned he was coaching a little but he didn't make it sound like a full time thing at all. Not sure what he does other than that to make money.

[Sylvia]

Via LinkedIn:

Tim Goebel
Greater New York City Area | Market Research
Current: Senior Analyst at The Nielsen Company
Education: Columbia University in the City of New York, Loyola Marymount University

ETA this May 2010 article: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/201...ile-tim-goebel

In fact, as a math major, Goebel is now pursuing a career in finance—he’s preparing to work for Nielsen, a large marketing and media information company, doing financial analysis in the customs division.

[aftershocks]

I was puzzled by that too. If Frank was the one to end the relationship, why was Tim still under contract to him? That sounds like some iron-clad contract.

It sounds as if Frank arranged to send him to Audrey Weisinger since Tim mentions that she was the only other person who knew about the split when he was at NHK. I could see Frank delegating the day to day supervision to another coach if he and his student were no longer getting along, but Weisinger was on the opposite coast. I don't see how Frank could have been construed as being involved with him by any stretch of the imagination.

Not sure of your meaning re bolded comment.

Regarding the contract, it's already been pointed out by other posters, but clearly Tim (as he said in the podcast interview) had to sign a contract every year. He briefly mentions in the interview something to the effect that he was conflicted about signing the contract but he wanted to work with Frank and he didn't anticipate that he and Frank would break-up, perhaps especially not in the middle of a season. It's a good thing that Tim is being so open about this, as it might help younger skaters to get their agents and attorneys to ensure they don't get locked into this type of contract. The wording in the contract should have been to the effect that should there ever be a break-up initiated by the coach during the middle of a season, then the skater would not have to continue paying the coach through the end of that particular year's contract.

Frank was looking out for his bottom line, but once Tim was fired it seems egregious that Tim had to continue paying Frank, while also paying his new coaching team.

My impression of Tim Goebel is that he can't accept the fact that his body changed and he couldn't do the big jumps any more.

I don't know why he keeps bringing up his split with Frank. He set the tone for his relationship with Frank when he abruptly split from Carol Heiss two weeks before Worlds. The fact that Frank accepted him under those circumstances should have told him how Frank felt about loyalty and coaching relationships.

The above were your initial comments (in the original Skating Podcast thread) in reaction to the preview excerpt from Tim's interview. Now that we've seen the entire interview, perhaps you were judging Tim a bit too harsh. He seemed to have had a hard time accepting the end of his career, while it was happening. Certainly I recall that he was very down on himself when he retired (perhaps due to all the mixed emotions he was dealing with at the time). In any case, he's certainly revealed in the interview with Jenny & Dave, the emotional difficulties involved in expecting to continue getting better, when in fact you have peaked physically.

Also Tim hasn't kept "bringing up his split with Frank." He was asked specific questions and he answered them with a lot of candor and some thoughtfulness.

[NadineWhite]

I finally gave in and watched my very first podcast ever!

After reading all the comments I got very curious and said the heck with it, I don't care if it does last 2 hrs. *zzzzz* This is why I've never watched one before, because of the t-i-m-e- constraints, it's always scared me off.

Anyhow, I'm glad I did. It was nice seeing Jennifer again; she's so professional, well groomed (except for the see-through blouse, ouch), like she belongs on CNN.

Now to the meat/heart/bones of the matter - Timothy Goebel. Hmmm, I have to admit I've never really cared for Timothy, even when he was competing, though I did enjoy his winning Olympic bronze medal performance. He just came across to me as mean, mad, sneaky, bad tempered, et al. Just my perception.

And in this interview my perception didn't change much, though I do appreciate Timothy and his honesty, speaking from the hip. No holds barred.

What I took from this interview was a new deeper reinforced admiration for Michelle Kwan and Evgeni Plushenko. They truly are above everybody else. Legends. Just listening to Timothy makes me appreciate those that don't complain, just do their job day in & day out, full run throughs, no exceptions, same time every day. The mindset & mental game of Michelle & Evgeni blows my mind, as it obviously did not only Timothy, but Jennifer as well, and I imagine their competitors. To be a legend you have to go above & beyond, and they did, they did!

Another thing I enjoyed from this interview was Timothy stating the reason why he was so consistent was because he literally did what he did every day in practice, no matter the venue, he just came in and did his job, period. Whereas others, as he stated, might have this idea in their head that they were going to do the best ever at Nationals, go above and beyond, maybe even land things they never landed before. And that's why they failed. Instead of seeing it as just another practice they are being influenced by the brighter lights, the surroundings, et al. Interesting...

OTOH, I sincerely believe that one must dream BIG! Without risk there is no reward. There would be no magical Sarah Hughes 2002 Olympic FS performance wherein she hit two 3/3s for the first time ever at the Olympcs of all places. Nor Evgeni Plushenko going all out and landing two quads (one in combo.; a 4/3/3) at the 2002 Olympics, along with an unbelieveable 3A-1/2R-3F! The risk is great, true, but the reward extraordiinary. In contrast, one that is over-cautious will accomplish little. Therein calls into matter character. It is at such a juncture true character comes into play, I believe.

Anyhow, great interview, makes me wish I would've watched one of manleywoman's podcasts before now. But better late than never.

[aftershocks]

^^ Yes, I too enjoyed hearing Tim's comments re the way Michelle trained, and I also thought Tim's comments were very insightful about "not holding back" on going for difficult jumps at Nationals, if you've been landing them consistently in practice.

In addition, Tim highlighted an aspect of something I've expressed before in a different way. Namely, the fact that some top level skaters from countries that lack depth in terms of fs talent, means that the top level skaters in such countries will have a better opportunity to go all out in competing difficult jumps such as quads (because whether they make mistakes or not, they will still be able to go to Euros and Worlds). And therefore, they also have a greater opportunity to make progress faster on mastering harder jumps than competitors in the United States where the depth of talent is greater, and top level skaters are more cautious about performing difficult jumps at Nationals because mistakes are more costly.

Of course there is great depth in Japan where many of the male skaters have solid quads. But one of the reasons Japan has so many male skaters who have been able to master quads, is because their federation is very involved in supporting their training and sending them to top coaches, etc. The great depth among Japanese men means they have to fight just as hard as U.S. guys must at their Nationals, but OTOH, Japanese skaters have less leeway for holding back and being conservative.

[rudi]

Thanks for posting these links! I enjoyed this interview. Tim was very candid. It was nice to see Tim again and see that he is doing well.

Also, kudos to him and his parents for keeping education a priority.