briancoogaert
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 13,721
Absolutely brilliant. His glide is fantastic. Compared to the others, it was obvious. I missed him so much in competition. A pleasure to watch, jumps or no jumps.
Patrick of all the top men is my favorite. . .That said, my no BS hope is that he either ditches his dance coach and goes to a High level Freestyle coach or keeps her on his team but make her second in charge to my first suggestion . . . Anyhow, he needs an experienced skating coach and he needs one fast. While i respect and understand that Kathy helped him with the quad toe, Patrick has not improved technically in years and has what I would label as endless capability.
I got a chance to speak to Patrick (briefly!) this past May. I told him that I just wanted him to be happy this upcoming year. I don't think he got what I was saying to him and I wished that I had the time to fully explain myself. In essence, I wanted him to skate for himself, free from the expectations of his fans (esp. Canadian). I also wanted him to ignore his many haters and detractors. I think both issues have weighed heavily on him in the last few seasons leading up to Sochi.
I've had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Patrick on three occasions '12 (fundraiser), '14 (CSOI pre-show meet & greet) and '15 (CSOI pre-show). He has a different persona in person than on tv. In person, he is more reserved, self-assured (I find in tv interviews he has a deer in the headlights look) and in every instance I found that he actually tries to absorb what the other person is saying to him. I like him very much as a person.
Four weeks ago, I responded to a poster on this board who referred to Patrick as "tactless, hypocritical, arrogant, snide, misinformed and uninformed". I'm saddened for his ignorance but I am also angry for the spreading and perpetuating of this view. Patrick's detractors didn't see what I saw in May. He was the only SOI cast member that went up in the stands to interact with the fans. Accompanied by arena security he spent approx 1/2 hr signing autographs and posing for pictures pre-show. I really feel that he respects and appreciates his fans.
As his fan I want him to kick-butt this year. As a figure skating fan I just want to enjoy his incredible skating skills but above all I just want him to be happy.
Don't hold your breath waiting. Patrick has not expressed any interest in getting a technical coach and has actually made it clear that he's not coming back to land jumps or win titles - he just wants to expand his artistic range.
So, expect flawed 3As and falls on footwork etc. from Patrick as per usual. If he pulls out a clean performance or two, I'll consider myself surprised.
But he's my favourite man as well. The men's field is otherwise a bit lacking IMO. I can't really get behind Fernadez or Hanyu. Ten is enjoyable, but I'm still waiting for something akin to brilliance from he, he seems to come close but then always miss the mark.
Maybe some of the youngsters like Una and Nam will up their game this year and revitalize the field.
Don't hold your breath waiting. Patrick has not expressed any interest in getting a technical coach and has actually made it clear that he's not coming back to land jumps or win titles - he just wants to expand his artistic range.
So, expect flawed 3As and falls on footwork etc. from Patrick as per usual. If he pulls out a clean performance or two, I'll consider myself surprised.
But he's my favourite man as well. The men's field is otherwise a bit lacking IMO. I can't really get behind Fernadez or Hanyu. Ten is enjoyable, but I'm still waiting for something akin to brilliance from he, he seems to come close but then always miss the mark.
Maybe some of the youngsters like Una and Nam will up their game this year and revitalize the field.
@Vash01 Chan actually has two Olympic silver medals.
There was one moment when I thought, "It's too much!" It was after coming back from doing my last show in Japan, and it was time to really buckle down and start running through sections, and connecting the little dots of the programs. It was the week before [Kathy came to Detroit], and I called her in panic mode, being like, “Why am I doing this? I shouldn’t even be coming back. This is so stupid, I’m so frustrated. I don’t even know why I’ve considered coming back, I should have just let it go.”
I was not aware of this...Life knocked him around a little; in December of 2014 a long-term relationship ended. “There’s nothing worse than holiday time to realize how alone you are. During Christmas and over my birthday I had times where I felt very much alone and very much lost,” said Chan, born on New Year’s Eve.
I'm off to Lethbridge in the morning. Will miss you being thereTime to get this party started! TSN has put up a bunch of athlete videos for Skate Canada, two of which are Patrick:
Extreme Sports
Looking To Leave His Mark
Chan’s practice [on Thursday] was solid. He doubled his planned quad jump in his program run-through, but went through that segment again, landing a beautiful quad-triple combination.
Among the changes the 24-year-old has made: no training on weekends.
“Just skate Monday to Friday, and really give it every day of the week 100 per cent and not have to dread skating on weekends and feeling tired from one week to the next. Now I feel rested and motivated and energized when I get to the rink on Monday,” Chan said Thursday.
Patrick's practice SP just finished: http://youtu.be/myXhHr-1es4
I'm probably in the minority here, but after seeing this (esp. that perfect, beautiful quad combo) I don't really care about the final results this weekend. I'm thinking of Patrick's comeback as a marathon and not a sprint. Imo, his priority should be to get back into competition mode and less about results.From 4rkidz in the practice thread:
just watched Patrick do his Mack the Life and put him back in first - wow his quad triple combo was a thing of beauty and the footwork his whole body is in it
I've been streaming all morning just fine but of course when Patrick went to skate his program it froze. Argh.
Just a bit of an observation from watching Patrick and Kathy Johnson in practice today. She is very animated - much more demonstrative then most or all of the other coaches at the boards.
She uses a lot more of positive reinforcement than most figure skating coaches I have seen.
Okay, I was watching yesterday with no sound because I was watching at work, and now that I can hear the music, those little shoulder shimmies make perfect sense!Patrick's practice SP just finished: http://youtu.be/myXhHr-1es4