Articles on 2013 U.S. champ Max Aaron

[misskarne]

That being said, I am really sorry for Max because who in their right mind would take a dig at a NOVICE skater for their artistry (or perceived lack thereof) when they still have so much time to develop and will likely go through many changes in their career (if they stay in skating, of course)? Good on him for sticking with it and not let that kind of talk drive him away, and sorry it apparently almost happened.

Agreeing especially with the bolded. That's just plain nasty. We're talking kids who are 14, 15. They can't possibly be expected to be full-blown artists.

We have enough problems keeping boys and men in the sport without people having cracks at teenagers because they don't meet their snob-nosed definition of artistry!

IMO - personality is more important than "aristry".

[olympic]

...Ryan Bradley was absolutely gorgeous as a 16-year-old skater. He had such lyrical potential with his long legs and elegant qualities. However, Ryan B stuck with Tom Z and ended up getting stuck between a rock and a skate blade in terms of not developing artistically. Perhaps Max Aaron who doesn't have the long legs or the latent elegance of Ryan B can avoid getting stuck artistically under Tom Z, but still retain him as a coach. At least Max seems to be more aware of the importance of changing the notion that he can't be a complete skater. Max doesn't need to or have to skate like Abbott or Savoie or anyone else. I think Max has a fierce determination and an enthusiasm all his own. He just needs to commit to continue exploring and developing his own unique qualities and to finding the right music and choreography and putting it all out there on the ice. Right now, in this sport, having the quads is essential. Max has the jumps, and the artistry is inside him. He shouldn't give up on tapping into that part of himself and having the courage to bring it out.

The best advice!

I am the first to admit that I ride Tom Z on this board, but the Tom Z team does know how to CoP whore, and he offers training at altitude which goes a long way in conditioning. However, they don't have a great history of packaging their skaters which hits the PCS, and they ignore all the flourishes and non-jump elements that can make a skater stand out. Max is watchable and I think based on the IN article, he understands his limitations and he's using it the right way. By using music from 'Tron' and 'WSS', maybe Team Max knows how to package a skater and as long as Max understand his limitations, he can actively collaborate with Tom Z (if that is where he stays) and come up w/ decent programs.

[Sylvia]

"Jewish U.S. figure skating champ takes a quadruple leap of faith": http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/...emium-1.509429

[Skittl1321]

I don't ever remember so many articles for a figure skater to emphasize the religion of the skater. His faith community has really jumped on his bandwagon. It is nice to see the press.

[Debbie S]

I don't ever remember so many articles for a figure skater to emphasize the religion of the skater. His faith community has really jumped on his bandwagon. It is nice to see the press.

People of our stock aren't plentiful in the elite athlete ranks, so the Jewish press gets very excited when one comes along.

If Max makes the Oly team, I'm sure he will be on the cover of every Jewish publication in both the U.S. and Israel, just like Sasha Cohen was in 02 and 06.

[Zemgirl]

If Max makes the Oly team, I'm sure he will be on the cover of every Jewish publication in both the U.S. and Israel, just like Sasha Cohen was in 02 and 06.

Sasha Cohen was certainly not on the cover of every publication in Israel, actually I don't recall her being on the cover of any publication. C/S's bronze at 2002 Worlds got some attention, and I've seen a few articles about the Zaretskis, but that's about it. Though there was a video on Youtube of her supposedly skating to a song in Hebrew, I forget which; in reality someone just used one of her Nationals performances and changed the music I figure if Aaron visits Israel or does really well next season, there might be an article or two.

Maybe if the Maccabiah had winter sports. I hear Aly Raisman will compete here this summer.

[PRlady]

Several of my Israeli colleagues emailed me about Max over the weekend as I am the only person who has ever said the words "figure skating" in their hearing.

They were very happy about his success, so they must have seen or heard about it somewhere.

[Debbie S]

Sasha Cohen was certainly not on the cover of every publication in Israel, actually I don't recall her being on the cover of any publication.

OK, I stand corrected. I do remember articles in Israeli pubs on her leading up to the Olys, with large photos, so I assumed they must have been at or close to the front of the pub. But hard to tell online. Most Jewish pubs in the U.S. had her on the cover - thinking of the weekly papers - as part of the JTA Olympic preview. There were some other Jewish athletes profiled, but as a ladies singles skater from the U.S., Sasha was the most prominently featured.

[Zemgirl]

OK, I stand corrected. I do remember articles in Israeli pubs on her leading up to the Olys, with large photos, so I assumed they must have been at or close to the front of the pub. But hard to tell online. Most Jewish pubs in the U.S. had her on the cover - thinking of the weekly papers - as part of the JTA Olympic preview. There were some other Jewish athletes profiled, but as a ladies singles skater from the U.S., Sasha was the most prominently featured.

IIRC, she did get more press here than most figure skaters - but since skating isn't something most Israelis are familiar with, it just doesn't get much coverage, and what little there isn't always of the highest quality. And I don't think this will change until we have a high profile local skater break through.

[Sylvia]

Re-posting these comments from another thread:

On spanish tv they were saying Max Aaron played hockey till he was 14 and picked up fs from there...dunno if it's totally true as they often make some stories up

It's not true.

I would really like to know a real bio on him. The information seems to be very conflicting.

His ice network bio says he started figure skating at the age 9. I would bet it wasn't very seriously at first though. Wikipedia reports 9th place juvenile at regionals in 2003, so he would have been like 11 then? He won juvenile the next year.

The ice network bio says he played elite hockey for 14 years. If he started hockey skating at age 4 like he bio says, I imagine there were a number of years he played non-elite hockey too, right? But wikipedia says he stopped playing hockey in 2008 (and had to take a year off the ice due to injury), and he would have only been 16ish then, so those numbers don't work.

It is interesting that he was playing with the US development team levels in hockey while competing junior in figure skating. That must be hard to maintain high level in two sports.

From this article: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news
"Aaron's first ice sport was hockey, which he played from the age of 3 until almost 17, when he broke his back. At that point, he decided to focus exclusively on figure skating, which he had started at 9."

Not True - he was playing hockey (and apparently quite good at it), but he was also figure skating. He competed in Intermediate Men at the 2006 USFS Junior Nationals (so Dec. 2005), when he would have been 13, unless my math is off.

Yes, Aaron was 13 when he won his Intermediate bronze medal that season (Miner won the gold and was 14).

From his Team USA bio on IN: http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=101022
"Suffered a fractured back four years ago and was off the ice for a year."
This sentence isn't exactly true since he didn't miss a competition season. His back injury occurred after 2008 Nationals (placed 13th in Junior) and he spent four months in a body cast. He next competed at 2009 Midwestern Sectionals in November 2008 (8th in Junior).

ETA 2 photos:

Here he is wearing that new suit (birthday gift) that his parents helped purchase for Worlds: http://instagram.com/p/XFc0hJI2A5/

Aaron was recently honored by the mayor of Colorado Springs with a "Spirit of the Springs" award: http://instagram.com/p/XFgE3NI2EU/

Max's next competition is World Team Trophy in Tokyo, April 11-14.

[sk8er1964]

Now I am curious about his hockey.

Article from the 2004 junior nationals, which he won at juvenile.
This from his old hockey team's page from the 2005-2006. Bantam AAA would indeed be an elite team - Bantams are 13/14 year olds. His bio mentions the developmental team as well as being a nationally ranked figure skater.
Current article about his hockey career.

[spikydurian]

Max looks cool in his new suit!

[misskarne]

Love Max's new suit - the grey looks really good on him.

But oh dear, those shoes.

[pinky166]

Max looks great in his long suit and as for his short legs...male figure skaters are generally getting shorter these days so I hardly even notice it! Like seriously they are all so small now, most are not even the average male height of 5'10". I think the technical demands of COP are favoring smaller guys because if you think back: Lysacek is 6'2", Cousins was 6', Boitano 5'11", Bradley 6', Andreev 6'1", and I'm sure there were others that were similarly tall. But these days, not many tall male skaters, and the most successful ones are almost all below average height. Most of the guys are quite small, maybe 5'5" to 5'8" on average, some even less (Oda and Machida), and the few that are around average height are usually stick thin to make up for it, like Reynolds, Kovtun, and Song who I think are like 5'10". Joubert is a normal sized man but his quads are now getting downgraded and he's really not a member of the new generation anyways.

A new age of skating has arrived and it's about big jumps and athleticism and less about lines and artistry and Max is really representative of this new mold. So who cares about the lack of artistry as a novice or even now, if you have the jumps to make up for it, a skater will still do well.

[museksk8r]

Jeremy looked like he was being killed by slow torture.

LOL! "Les Miserables" is not a warm and fuzzy musical; it would be completely inappropriate to the theme of his musical selections if he were to smile through that piece. If I saw anyone ever smile while interpreting "Bring Him Home", I would think they completely lack any mental capacity or lack maturity. It's like Gracie Gold grinning through her entire "Life is Beautiful" program . . . do you not know anything about the music and the movie that you are skating to?

[Vagabond]

I don't ever remember so many articles for a figure skater to emphasize the religion of the skater.

In the runup to the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games, there were lots of articles that emphasized the fact that Tugba Kardemir was a Muslim. Look for even more if Armin Mahbahnoozadeh or Yasmin Siraj ever wins a national championship.

[gkelly]

I think the technical demands of COP are favoring smaller guys because if you think back: Lysacek is 6'2", Cousins was 6', Boitano 5'11", Bradley 6', Andreev 6'1", and I'm sure there were others that were similarly tall. But these days, not many tall male skaters, and the most successful ones are almost all below average height.

Lysacek is certainly from the IJS era, so he's an exception to the pattern you're trying to show.

But there were plenty of short male skaters, 5'7" or under, long before IJS: Scott Hamilton, Paul Wylie, Brian Orser, Alexander Fadeev, Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko, Tim Goebel, Takeshi Honda, etc. Plenty more in the 5'8"-5'9" range. I think it's more the demands of multirevolution jumps that favor more compact bodies.

And shorter skaters also tended to be better at quick footwork, in the days when that was especially valued in step sequences. It still is, but only as one feature among many.

[Eladola]

"Jewish U.S. figure skating champ takes a quadruple leap of faith": http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/...emium-1.509429

How did i miss this ?

If Max makes the Oly team, I'm sure he will be on the cover of every Jewish publication in both the U.S. and Israel, just like Sasha Cohen was in 02 and 06.

Huh?! Where ?

Maybe if the Maccabiah had winter sports. I hear Aly Raisman will compete here this summer.

I'm sorry, "Here" ?
Are you in Israel ?

And if so, Wanna be my new best friend ?

[mag]

Cousins was 6'...

A new age of skating has arrived and it's about big jumps and athleticism and less about lines and artistry....

I always find it funny when I read how tall a skater says they are. Steven Cousins is not 6'. Maybe he has shrunk, but I stood beside him not long ago and I would say he is maybe 5'10". Joubert walked by me while I was waiting for the bus at Worlds (I never really appreciated him until I saw him live, but I digress ... ) and he is also around the 5'9" maybe 5'10 mark.

As for line and artistry not counting for anything, I disagree. If anything I think the focus is on having a whole package. Jumps and artistry together.

As for Max, he was one of the highlights for me at Worlds. Yes, he has lots of areas he can improve (who doesn't?) but he has great attack, great presence on the ice, and he seems to thrive on competition. I look forward to seeing what he does next year.

[gkelly]

I always find it funny when I read how tall a skater says they are. Steven Cousins is not 6'.

I think she was referring to Robin Cousins.