U.S. Men in 2018 - articles & latest news

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A.H.Black said:
I think he over talks. I'm yelling at him to shut up pretty often. I want the Eurosport commentary. Oh well.
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Ryan has to comment way too much on the landing of every single jump of every single skater. Its tiresome. And Im fairly certain 90% of viewing audience has no idea what "landing outside of the circle" means which he says on 50% of jumps. Other comments like "tight landing," "free leg came down," and "landing forward" I think most people can understand... but he has to comment on every jump landing all the time.
 
Asking nicely... can the Ryan Bradley discussion be moved over to the TV Commentators thread? ETA that I've just quoted/copied over a bunch of the comments from here to over there: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...mmentators-thread.102118/page-11#post-5340802

Speaking of Ryan, he and Ross Miner are the 2 male headliners in the Skating Club of Boston's "Ice Chips" show, April 7-8: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/sc-of-bostons-2018-ice-chips-show-april-7-8.103705/

Ross performed a number to Ed Sheeran’s "Sing" in the Skating Club of Amherst's 50th anniversary club this past Sunday -- here's Maisy Ma's on ice photo with him: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgxCRxKH8FV/?taken-by=maisyma1999

The Professional Skaters Association recently announced their annual Performance award winners from Nationals in San Jose, CA - congratulations to Ross!

Best Performance Men
Ross Miner – Championship Men Free Skate Program
PSA Coaches – Mark Mitchell, Peter Johansson
Choreographer – Jamie Isley
Music Selection – Queen
Costume Designer – Alicia Jackson
 
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Excerpts from the Alex Krasnozhon article linked above:
Once back in Texas, Krasnozhon learned he had suffered a Grade 2 sprain of all three major ligaments. He wore a boot for a week or so, then switched to a brace.
The good news is that both Krasnozhon and his coaches don't expect next season to be impacted by the injury.
"It was a long season for him; his body was tired," [Darlene] Cain said. "After this event, we were going to give him some time off to relax. He had wanted to go to the beach and have fun. He's shut down for the same amount of time -- he just won't be able to go to the beach. We were going to start his season later this year, start programs later, so we're still on that same time frame."
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If all goes well, Krasnozhon will be working on three quads (salchow, loop, toe) for next season, when he hopes to get some senior international assignments. In addition, after he turns 18 next month, he'll apply for U.S. citizenship. (Krasnozhon grew up in Russia and moved to the U.S. in 2014 to train with the Cains and compete for the U.S.)
Cain said they expect him to be a U.S. citizen in time for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
"I always say, you have to be happy with what you get," Krasnozhon said thoughtfully. "I was lucky to just have a sprained ankle, not a broken ankle. It could have happened sooner. I've been undefeated in junior all season. Sometimes, you can't have it all. I hadn't had an injury in four years. It makes me more hungry for next year. Maybe it's the turning point."
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:respec:
 
BittyBug said:
Unless Nathan Chen is messing with us for April Fools, hat tip to @gokcenx for noticing that Chen is now listing Yale class of 2022 in his Instagram profile. If that is his plan, it will be interesting to see whether and how he will continue to compete.
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Assuming that Nathan will be attending Yale this fall - Nathan is plenty young enough that if he wants to take a season (or even two) off training full time to enjoy college, he can do it and still get ready for 2022. Virtue/Moir took two seasons off - and they were considerably older than Nathan. I could argue that the time away doing shows gave them the mental break needed to be even better when they came back.
 
ilovepaydays said:
Assuming that Nathan will be attending Yale this fall - Nathan is plenty young enough that if he wants to take a season (or even two) off training full time to enjoy college, he can do it and still get ready for 2022. Virtue/Moir took two seasons off - and they were considerably older than Nathan. I could argue that the time away doing shows gave them the mental break needed to be even better when they came back.
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Except maybe Plushenko and some rare cases, most other comebacks for male singles aren't as successful as the skaters would like. First off, it's hard to get back the speed and power, even if you can get the jumps back.
 
Here's what I posted in Nathan's fan thread earlier:
Sylvia said:
Congrats to Nathan!! I'm sure he will be asked about his college plans during the upcoming SOI tour. It's possible he will defer his admission for one year if he wants to continue to train in California, for example.
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Sylvia said:
Another possibility is that he starts his freshman year at Yale this fall and takes the 2018-19 season off from competing. It might be smart strategically for him to see how any IJS rule changes passed at ISU Congress this year affect the men's field next season and then plan his comeback accordingly. ;) Note that I'm just speculating here.
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ilovepaydays said:
Assuming that Nathan will be attending Yale this fall - Nathan is plenty young enough that if he wants to take a season (or even two) off training full time to enjoy college, he can do it and still get ready for 2022. Virtue/Moir took two seasons off - and they were considerably older than Nathan. I could argue that the time away doing shows gave them the mental break needed to be even better when they came back.
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You really can't compare the intense fine tuning of fitness required to jump a 4 to 6 quad mens free skate to dance. Plenty of singles skaters talk about spending just a small time off ice (holidays, injuries etc) and having to work hard to get triples and quads back.

I suppose either Nathan wants an exit strategy out of figure skating, or else is trying to have it all.

However, there's plenty of universities which could provide him with a flexible study option which could fit in around skating (most skaters do study) so there must be some particular reason he wants to go to Yale. It wouldn't be his first choice if he was just looking to get study underway while skating was his number one focus.

I know plenty of these skaters are overachievers and want to win every aspect of their lives, but even super extra skaters like Yuzuru Hanyu only online study whilst skating.

But it remains to be seen whether he will start study immediately. No doubt the applications were put in before the Olympics. If he'd won the gold maybe he would be retiring now.
 
misskarne said:
Max took his classes in person.
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But he did study in Colorado Spring, where his training centre was located. Not that what he did wasn't very impressive, because it was, but it's not the same as Nathan and Yale. It's my understanding that there aren't any top coaches right near Yale, so balancing school with training would be harder there than in Colorado Springs.
 
Vagabond said:
Lipinski has more to talk about. :shuffle:

But Weir does remark when skaters "give up" after initial mistakes and acknowledges doing the same when he was competing.
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I have to take exception to this. He didn't achieve the pinnacle, but Johnny was a world medalist, 3-time national champion, on the US podium for the better part of a decade, multiple GPF medalist, Jr world champ with about a 15-year career overall as an international competitor. I'm not a fan of either of them as commentators and less so together, but he has a lot to bring to the plate when it comes to insight from his own competitive experience. And I think he does that without making it all about "me".

Apologies for diverging from the thread topic. It will be interesting to see how things unfold for Nathan but I actually think his bigger challenge, if he wants to stay in, will be staying physically healthy. I think that's what faces all the guys in this era of the multiple types of quad programs and he's already been hampered by a number of injuries.
 
I know there were a few skaters that went to Harvard and UofM and other universities while skating, but I also know it's extremely tough and many either had to go on a part-time load for school or ended up concentrating fully on school after their freshman or sophomore years. However, I'm not familiar with rinks near New Haven. I know people commute to/from Connecticut to New York/NJ on the regular, but that seems like a lot for an elite level skater to do.
 
misskarne said:
Max took his classes in person.
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So did a lot of other skaters. I assume Mirai did/does, since she attends the same school as Max, plus Meryl Davis, Charlie White, Evan Bates at U of MI, and I think the Shibs also attended UM for a couple of years. What made it possible was their school being a short drive from their training center. Many skaters don't have that available to them. Also, state universities serve a diverse population (i.e. lots of part-time, non-traditional students) and offer flexibility in enrollment...from what D/W and Evan have said in their interviews, it sounded like they only took 1-2 classes per semester, as opposed to the more standard load of 4 or 5.

Yale, like most smaller, private universities or liberal arts colleges, serves a mostly traditional college-age population, where nearly all live on campus and are expected to attend full-time and show consistent progress toward a degree....they likely require students to earn the necessary credits each year to graduate in 4 years and if a student doesn't, they are considered to not be in good standing. Yale may provide more flexibility to Nathan, but it's not likely they'd stray too far from their standards.

That's not to say combining Yale and Oly training can't be done, but it will be a challenge. Derrick Delmore completed Stanford in 4 years, but he wasn't competing at Nathan's level. Emily Hughes was able to combine Harvard and skating for a couple of years but did take time off to prepare for the Olys.
 
Umm... i’m assuming he applied to Yale in the first place because he has plans for a career beyond skating, alla Sarah Hughes. There’s no pro career to move on to and as we saw with Evan, even winning an OGMs doesn’t get you much in terms of $$ and gigs these days. Nathan is a WC. He can stay in 4 more years and abuse his body with quads and maybe have a snowballs chance of winning ogm, and then what? If I were him and interested in a career outside of skating, I’d just get on with it. I’m sure he would like an ogm but the idea that one can excel in multiple areas today is a bit naive imho
 
Most recently, Christina Gao probably came closest to trying to balance an Ivy League education with high-level competitive skating, but she didn't have to train multiple quads and the challenge of combining high-level athletic training with high-level athletic demands is a lot easier when you have resources at your fingertips. Students attending Harvard have the Skating Club of Boston, which has high-level competitor ice and coaches, 10 minutes away. New Haven is a bit more of a desert. Chen could go down to Stamford for quality ice, but that is an hour away and they don't have World level coaches. Simsbury is a bit further away and they don't really have super competitive coaches left there anymore.

Honestly, if Chen's goal is in fact to both compete in Beijing and graduate with the class of 2022, I think his best bet would be to double down on studying now, try to get ahead of his studies, and then take the year before the Olympics off from school to train full-time. He's probably exhausted from a life time of training and at the same time starting college is overwhelming, so if he's strategizing about possibly fitting in a break, stepping away from competition now would make sense to me.

The other thing is I think I remember Chen saying he is interested in becoming a doctor. If he's pre-med, it will be very difficult to fit in all of his lab time with training.

Of course, all of this is premised on the assumption that Yale hasn't agreed to allow him to go part-time.
 
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If Nathan practices at Yale, I'll be glad I retired just in time to hopefully see him do so. It's a bit of a schlep down to Yale, but only 10 minutes to Simsbury
 
I think Yale will be tough also because it is on the other side of the country from where he is now located. Maybe he has more plans for education than skating. He has had a lot of injuries so maybe it makes sense to get a year of college under his belt and heal up and then see where it goes.
 
Nathan Chen at an early age has had the chance to observe ALL that skating has to offer a person. He and his family have figured out for themselves that there are better opportunities for him beyond a skating career. He is going to use his skating ability to his advantage, which is better than being used by the sport and be brushed aside by the "next Champion." I applaud his decision to go to college now. This decision should be a signal to all parents in evaluating where they are in their child's skating career and help their child design a future beyond skating.
 
Sk8yDad said:
Nathan Chen at an early age has had the chance to observe ALL that skating has to offer a person. He and his family have figured out for themselves that there are better opportunities for him beyond a skating career. He is going to use his skating ability to his advantage, which is better than being used by the sport and be brushed aside by the "next Champion." I applaud his decision to go to college now. This decision should be a signal to all parents in evaluating where they are in their child's skating career and help their child design a future beyond skating.
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Except that designing a “future beyond skating” is not synonymous with going off to university right after high school. That is one of many options and is not inherently better or worse than others. I am a university graduate and believe an university education is important both as a means of becoming a better educated person as well as a great assistance in the job market either through direct training (professionals programs like medical school, architecture, etc) or by raising the promotional ceiling.

Whether a skater decides to go directly to university following high school graduation, or decides to take a few courses at a community college, or decides to take a year or two off from school and see where their skating career goes, it is a personal decision. Again, none of those options, no matter what the skater’s level, is better or worse. Nathan Chen’s decision to attend Yale has no bearing on what other skaters should or shouldn’t do. Furthermore, at 18, I would hope that it is the skater evaluating their career, their hopes and dreams, and their future. It is certainly not the parents’ job to be doing that.
 
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