Bradie Tennell Announces Coaching Change

[natsulian]

Bradie Tennell announced her coaching change on Instagram today. Bradie's head coach will now be Benoit Richaud and Cedric Tour will be her jump specialist. Bradie will also relocate to Nice, France.

Instagram caption:

With the beginning of the new season, I want to announce some changes I have made to my coaching team. I am excited to announce that I will be moving to Nice, France, where Benoit Richaud will be taking on the role of my head coach and Cedric Tour will be my jump specialist. This is the start of another new chapter in my skating and I can't wait to get back on competition ice to show everyone how much I've grown. As I turn the page on the last few years, I would be remiss if I didn't thank Tom Z for all of his support, expertise, and encouragement through what was undoubtedly the most challenging few years of my athletic career. Between training through the Covid shutdowns in 2020 and the uncertainty and struggle of my injury last year, it meant a lot to me that I could count on my team to support me through every challenge I faced. I also want to my family for always supporting, but especially for being there for me through this last year. Lastly, thank you to all my fans who have continued to send me encouraging messages wishing me well. You're all too sweet. I'll see you on the ice.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChlQYoesJb6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[ChelleC]

I thought Benoit Richaud was primarily a choreographer. Does he coach anyone else?

 

[BittyBug]

She seems to work very well with Richaud, so I hope this will be a good move for her.

 

[Stefanie]

Wow! Quite a move. Hope it works out well for her!

 

[skatfan]

A risky move, but she is an adult and gets to choose. Hope it works for her.

 

[Rukia]

I'm all for escaping Tom Z so good for her.

 

[Frau Muller]

Is it April 1?

Did Bradie ever compete while coached by Tom Z? I honestly can’t recall if so…between injuries and COVID.

As always, I wish Bradie T. the best!

 

[kirkbiggestfan]

I was really puzzled to see Adam Sia Him Fa move to Nice. I am hearing amazing things about the off ice trainer there. Richaud grew up in the Zazoui school and can teach good basics. His choreographies are not my cup of tea. Way too gimmicky!

Tour is absolutely charming and artistic. I remember him having very average jumps. However, I saw him teach good jump technique to kids. It is just so surprising to see Adam and Bradie go there while the best jump experts in the world would take them in a minute.

 

[platniumangel]

Isn’t she dating Cedric?

Bradie Tennell announced her coaching change on Instagram today. Bradie's head coach will now be Benoit Richaud and Cedric Tour will be her jump specialist. Bradie will also relocate to Nice, France.

Instagram caption:


Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChlQYoesJb6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[euterpe]

Go BRADIE!!!!!

 

[Rukia]

Isn’t she dating Cedric?

Posts like this are why we need a reaction

 

[Frau Muller]

I can think of worse places (to move to or visit) than Nice, France. Allez, Bradie!

Remember when Mariah Bell was our French Connection in US Sr Ladies skating?

 

[SidelineSkater]

Time to warm up the fax machine for @AngieNikodinovLove

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Bradie Tennell announced her coaching change on Instagram today. Bradie's head coach will now be Benoit Richaud and Cedric Tour will be her jump specialist. Bradie will also relocate to Nice, France.

Instagram caption:


Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChlQYoesJb6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

say what now?

this is fax-worthy!!!!!!!

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Time to warm up the fax machine for @AngieNikodinovLove

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChlQYoesJb6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Is the guy on the right Cedric? So who is he besides a future PORNY candidate? Him and Paul and John Kerr are definitely the top three on my radar at the moment. Was he a figure skater??

 

[ice coverage]

... Did Bradie ever compete while coached by Tom Z? I honestly can’t recall if so…between injuries and COVID.

As always, I wish Bradie T. the best!

Tom Z was Bradie's coach when she competed during the 2020-21 season -- when Bradie won 2021 Nats , for example.

Bonne chance to Bradie this season!

 

[On My Own]

The only Cedric I knew died in 1995

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Ah, I go down to Nice a couple of times a year. Maybe i could ask Bradie for coffee at the Cafe Lyon, my usual spot.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I wonder if Bradie will enter any competitions before Grand Prix Sheffield? I wonder if that’s going to be her debut. And then she just stays in Europe?

it would be cool if she was ready for Nebelhorn or something

 

[Frau Muller]

Tom Z was Bradie's coach when she competed during the 2020-21 season -- when Bradie won 2021 Nats , for example.

Bonne chance to Bradie this season!

I know now. US title, then went Stockholm Worlds…Duh! I had totally forgotten. Out of sight - out of mind!

 

[Karen-W]

I wonder if Bradie will enter any competitions before Grand Prix Sheffield? I wonder if that’s going to be her debut. And then she just stays in Europe?

it would be cool if she was ready for Nebelhorn or something

The USFS hasn't announced their assignments for the 4 remaining pre-GP Challengers - Nebelhorn, Nepela, Finlandia and Budapest. My money would be on Budapest since it's 4 weeks prior to her first GP.

 

[Sylvia]

Bradie has shared a clip from Benoit Richaud's Peak Ice Camp this summer in La Garde, France that shows the progression of her 3Lz to 3Lz+3T: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Chmwr9wg5HG/

ETA that I posted this on August 11 in the U.S. Women's news thread:

I noticed that Bradie is now listed in USFS' Team A funding envelope (Mariah & Karen are still listed): https://www.usfigureskating.org/skate/scholarships-and-funding/team-usa-funding

Under ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS in the 2022-23 Athlete Support Funding Criteria document ... "Consideration will be given to place athletes who were named to the 2021 World Team but could not compete in 2022 due to injury or illness into Team A – Tier 2 or Team B – Tier 1 at the discretion of the ICMS." I take it as a positive sign that she was placed in A over B.
...
She is still in France and can be seen in this live video of Richaud's skating skills session (along with Adam Siao Him Fa) 2 days ago: https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChCM_GBv5h6/

 

[DreamSkates]

Ah, I go down to Nice a couple of times a year. Maybe i could ask Bradie for coffee at the Cafe Lyon, my usual spot.

And take photos to share with us!

 

[Nmsis]

I was really puzzled to see Adam Sia Him Fa move to Nice.

Rodolphe Maréchal, his ex-coach moved to Nice. Maréchal always said there wasn't enough ice time in Toulouse and that it was a big limit for child and teen Adam.
There is probably a lot more ice time in Nice.

Last season, there was also Romain Ponsart in Nice. He was at the Novice championships with Maréchal around cute novice champion Stefania Gladki. Don't know if he's still there.

 

[Sylvia]

Figure skating champion Bradie Tennell, a competitive “shark,” making her comeback in new waters
By Philip Hersh (Sept. 2, 2022):

Figure skating champion Bradie Tennell, a competitive 'shark,' making her comeback in new waters

A year after losing her chance to skate in another Olympics, Bradie Tennell speaks for the first time about her “honestly traumatic experience.”

olympics.nbcsports.com

Excerpts:

“In my core, I’m an athlete,” Tennell said via telephone in an interview last week. “I take so much pride in being able to demand pretty much anything of my body and being able to do it. If I want to go on a 10-mile hike, I can go on a 10-mile hike. This was like my identity as an athlete being so suddenly ripped away.”
This lengthy phone and text interview was the first time the two-time U.S. champion and 2018 Olympian had spoken at length about what she described as an “honestly traumatic experience.”
Its nadir, feeling the loss of self, followed several difficult months in which the two-time U.S. champion had withdrawn from one event after another, seven in all, with a right foot issue whose source she said has never been diagnosed. She rejected a suggestion for what would have amounted to exploratory surgery to seek an answer.
Tennell had vowed to herself even before last season that it would not be her last as a competitor. Being physically able to fulfill that vow was an eight-month process that went on below the radar until her Aug. 22 post on Instagram revealed a startling change in the process: new coach, new training base on a different continent.

But Tennell had no coaching history with Cedric Tour, 28, the Peak Ice technical director, who competed once in the French senior championships, finishing 12th.
It took just one session with Tour for Tennell to like his approach. She immediately told Richaud how impressed she was with the way Tour could fix flaws and explain the reasons both for doing it and for how he did it.
“I said that to Benoit after my first lesson with Cedric because he is so smart in technical corrections,” Tennell said. “Some of the things he was telling me I hadn’t heard before, and the exercises and drills he was putting me through was like a cold bucket of water over my head.
“I loved it because it showed me how much more I have to learn about jumping and technique in general. I think at this point in my career, it’s important to be excited not only for training every day, but also to learn about the how and why certain things are important.”
Richaud makes no secret of his disdain for continual pat-on-the back coaching when a skater needs criticism. He sees in Tennell a skater whose ego will not be bruised by having her mistakes pointed out.
“Everywhere I go, I always hear, ‘Good job,’ even when it’s a terrible job,” Richaud said. “Bradie is not a `good job’ girl. She craves correction. She wants to be better.”