What coach would you choose for *your* kid? (Piggybacking off Kostornaia thread)

[Icetalavista]

Given the fierce debate in the Kostornaia thread, I am genuinely interested in which coaches FSUers who are more informed than I would choose if they could pick any coach for their child. I only know what I read in FSU and have not had any interaction with top coaches so I'm clueless.

Artunian seems like one candidate. He seems to genuinely care about his skaters, and his view that his technique takes two years to master seems common-sense.
Thoughts?

 

[kwanette]

Frank Carroll..forever..

 

[Hedwig]

Nick Perna.

I love his ideas and how he focuses on basic skating.

 

[aka_gerbil]

I don’t have children, so this really is hypothetical. For basic skating and the developmental years, Paul MacIntosh in Canada.

 

[skategal]

Marie-France Dubreil and Patrice Lauzon

 

[Icetalavista]

I am finding out about coaches new to me! Will have to look them up and see who trains with them

 

[MacMadame]

My former coach, Peter Sasmore. He's great with the kids and teaches great technique. He also has no problem passing skaters onto other coaches if they get to a point where he can't do any more for them or if they need to move to get a partner (ice dancers mostly). I think that's perfect for a developmental coach.

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

Todd Eldredge,for reasons too extensive to list.

-BB

 

[screech]

• Ravi Walia. I'm surprised that other than his few months around the 2018 Games with Patrick, he hasn't really had anyone other than Kaetlyn. He seemed like such a supportive coach, and he was able to coach her from childhood to Olympic medallist
• Lee Barkell seems like he'd be a good coach both for someone up-and-coming, as well as at their peak (like he was with Jeff Buttle and Nobunari Oda)
• If they were already successful but looking to move to someone new, then Brian Orser/Tracy Wilson. They don't seem to really have anyone they've coached from the 'ground up', but they do really well with those who've already had some success

 

[Vash01]

Michelle Kwan

 

[SpeedySucks]

Not Eteri.

 

[becca]

I surprised there is no one with Adelinas old coach. She seems to be very good with building kids from the ground up. Adelina, Ten etc

 

[Wyliefan]

• Ravi Walia. I'm surprised that other than his few months around the 2018 Games with Patrick, he hasn't really had anyone other than Kaetlyn. He seemed like such a supportive coach, and he was able to coach her from childhood to Olympic medallist

Doesn't Ravi have some good juniors?

 

[Hindernisse]

Rafael Arutunian for singles and Romain Haguenauer if ice dance.

 

[overedge]

It would depend on what the kid wanted to do and who they enjoyed working with. There are many, many fantastic coaches out there who aren't famous, but who do exceptional work in giving kids strong basics (or beyond) and getting them to love the sport.

 

[Bigbird]

It would depend on what the kid wanted to do and who they enjoyed working with. There are many, many fantastic coaches out there who aren't famous, but who do exceptional work in giving kids strong basics (or beyond) and getting them to love the sport.

Whoever coaches Ksenia Sinitsyna.

 

[Orm Irian]

Michael Huth and his team for singles, given how well he coached Carolina Kostner and for how long, and Romain Haguenauer for dance. I don't know enough about pairs coaches to make a judgement call, but if Jean-Francois Ballester were still alive I'd probably pick him.

 

[flyingsit]

Nick Perna.

I love his ideas and how he focuses on basic skating.

Nick was my coach for a while!

 

[Ananas Astra]

I don't have kids and don't want any but if I had any who'd actually like to try out figure skating, then of course Mishin or Moskvina in case they'd want to do Pairs.
For Ice Dance...mh...tricky...Team Montreal seems to be a good choice, but I am already sick of their hipster style...so probably either Babs to teach them "The Stare" or Svinin/Zhuk for the beginning.

 

[Bigbird]

I don't have kids and don't want any but if I had any who'd actually like to try out figure skating, then of course Mishin or Moskvina in case they'd want to do Pairs.
For Ice Dance...mh...tricky...Team Montreal seems to be a good choice, but I am already sick of their hipster style...so probably either Babs to teach them "The Stare" or Svinin/Zhuk for the beginning.

Hipster style? I can't find one word to define their style anymore to be honest. But they do focus on good basics, refinement, sophistication, great posture and detailed styling.

 

[Peepsquick]

Hipster style? I can't find one word to define their style anymore to be honest. But they do focus on good basics, refinement, sophistication, great posture and detailed styling.

... and well-being of their students! That is the number 1 quality I would look out for!

 

[Immortelle]

Mishin or Kagiyama snr for singles, Moskvina for pairs, Babs or Krylova for dance.

 

[Vagabond]

I don't think that The Stare can be taught. Ya either got it, or ya ain't.

 

[once_upon]

I dont know much about coaches, but I think I would look for a basic skills coach - someone who excelled in teaching figures. Then as they matured would look for someone to enhance the basics with artistry.

If by some huge miracle my child progressed to an elite competitor status with those basics, I would seek a coaching team that complemented their personality and skills.

But then, I don't think I'd want to push a child into skating - or really any competitive sport.

 

[Hedwig]

Nick was my coach for a while!

Oh cool
Was he as good as I imagine?

 

[briancoogaert]

For my kid, a beginner, none of those famous coaches

 

[PRlady]

Kori Ade. Based purely on how supportive and positive she seems to be. And good at squashing trolls.

 

[flyingsit]

Oh cool
Was he as good as I imagine?

Yes. His passion is edge work and basic technique. A favorite saying of Nick’s is that skating isn’t dangerous, but bad technique is.

He also is strongly of the opinion that the demise of figures led to many of the injury problems we’ve seen since; not just because skates didn’t have time to jump as much, but because high-level figures required that skaters have much more precise body control, and therefore they were able to apply corrections without needing as many repetitions.

 

[Hedwig]

Yes. His passion is edge work and basic technique. A favorite saying of Nick’s is that skating isn’t dangerous, but bad technique is.

He also is strongly of the opinion that the demise of figures led to many of the injury problems we’ve seen since; not just because skates didn’t have time to jump as much, but because high-level figures required that skaters have much more precise body control, and therefore they were able to apply corrections without needing as many repetitions.

I am very envious of you! ? He sounds like a great coach.

and a good coach really does make all the difference. I am not necessarily a fan of doing the work for basic skating and edge work during skating - I prefer to jump and do nice tricks but I always notice how much easier everything - jumping as well - is, once I put in the work for more edge work and everything. I think Nick would be a great coach for me since he seems to have so many different ideas and approaches to the basic work.

 

[Icetalavista]

This! This is a responsible coach.

A favorite saying of Nick’s is that skating isn’t dangerous, but bad technique is.

He also is strongly of the opinion that the demise of figures led to many of the injury problems we’ve seen since; not just because skates didn’t have time to jump as much, but because high-level figures required that skaters have much more precise body control, and therefore they were able to apply corrections without needing as many repetitions.