Jackie Wong interviews Brian Orser for John Wilson Blades

aftershocks

Banned Member
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17,317
As sponsored by John Wilson Blades. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW1KaZkBVKM

This is a nice, fairly casual interview. Wong is respectful and easygoing, posing mostly softball questions. While Wong did seem a bit careful and overly eager to please, he at least does not come off as obsequious and fawning as Ted Barton was in his recent interview with Eteri.

It's interesting and enlightening listening to Orser's takes on Jun Hwan, Hanyu, Javi, Medvedeva, Jason, the new scoring system, and indirectly the ISU. Also, although Nathan Chen is never mentioned by name, his presence is felt. :lol: Especially when Orser is praising Jason for scoring in first place at IDF against 'another skater who had quads.' ;) Nathan did not skate a clean sp at IDF and Jason did, so that made a big difference. Jason was spot-on in the sp and it was great to see. I still don't like Jason's fp, (neither the music nor the costume, although Jason appears to be more comfortable with the choreo and the tweaks to music cuts and program layout).

I bow down to Orser's coaching expertise, but I don't especially agree that Jason being so nice and friendly necessarily needs to change. Jason has always been able to be friendly and nice off-the-ice, while taking care of business as a fierce competitor on the ice. So I hope Jason's friendly personality will never change. Because Jason has always been a tough competitor, it shouldn't be hard for him to put on a mature gameface during competitions, if that's what Orser is referencing.

I like a lot of Orser's responses and his levelheaded approach to guiding his charges. Orser was of course being diplomatic and realistic when he said it's important to embrace the new scoring system and rules changes. That makes sense because what else can anyone do if they have to compete within this system? Everyone has to adjust and move forward since the ISU wields a heavy stick in putting down any opposition to their authority. Orser said there's always a reason why the ISU makes changes and that it's not political and not because the ISU is trying to hurt any particular country. I guess Orser means any particular skaters from whatever countries. ;)

Actually, the rules changes were made for a variety of reasons, but were instituted more quickly in part because of Nathan breaking the quad record. The ISU saw that the judging was being taken out of the judges hands, and they couldn't allow that. Now, the judges have more control than they know what to do with via the +5 -5 GOE implementation! Anway, it was a huge error by the ISU to give quads such inordinate point value in the first place. Orser said, part of the ISU's reconsidering the scoring system might be the fact that casual viewers don't understand the scoring, but that's still the case even with the new rules changes. :p And forgive me if I don't believe the ISU truly cares that much about casual viewers, when they certainly don't care much about what hardcore fans think!

I agree with Orser that it might be helpful if some of the officials were required to spend time relearning and updating their judging skill set, especially with the constant rules changes. Orser was very philosophical about why the judges are not giving Jun Hwan as many points as his brilliance deserves. I noticed the judges holding the marks down a bit for Jun Hwan this season, which does not reflect how improved and more mature he looks this season. Orser does not claim that the judges are holding down Jun Hwan's scores, but it is addressed by Orser in a pointed yet generous and agreeable manner.
 
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Vash01

Fan of Yuzuru, T&M, P&C
Messages
55,385
As sponsored by John Wilson Blades. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW1KaZkBVKM

This is a nice, fairly casual interview. Wong is respectful and easygoing, posing mostly softball questions. While Wong did seem a bit careful and overly eager to please, he at least does not come off as obsequious and fawning as Ted Barton was in his recent interview with Eteri.

It's interesting and enlightening listening to Orser's takes on Jun Hwan, Hanyu, Javi, Medvedeva, Jason, the new scoring system, and indirectly the ISU. Also, although Nathan Chen is never mentioned by name, his presence is felt. :lol: Especially when Orser is praising Jason for scoring in first place at IDF against 'another skater who had quads.' ;) Nathan did not skate a clean sp at IDF and Jason did, so that made a big difference. Jason was spot-on in the sp and it was great to see. I still don't like Jason's fp, (neither the music nor the costume, although Jason appears to be more comfortable with the choreo and the tweaks to music cuts and program layout).

I bow down to Orser's coaching expertise, but I don't especially agree that Jason being so nice and friendly necessarily needs to change. Jason has always been able to be friendly and nice off-the-ice, while taking care of business as a fierce competitor on the ice. So I hope Jason's friendly personality will never change. Because Jason has always been a tough competitor, it shouldn't be hard for him to put on a mature gameface during competitions, if that's what Orser is referencing.

I like a lot of Orser's responses and his levelheaded approach to guiding his charges. Orser was of course being diplomatic and realistic when he said it's important to embrace the new scoring system and rules changes. That makes sense because what else can anyone do if they have to compete within this system? Everyone has to adjust and move forward since the ISU wields a heavy stick in putting down any opposition to their authority. Orser said there's always a reason why the ISU makes changes and that it's not political and not because the ISU is trying to hurt any particular country. I guess Orser means any particular skaters from whatever countries. ;)

Actually, the rules changes were made for a variety of reasons, but were instituted more quickly in part because of Nathan breaking the quad record. The ISU saw that the judging was being taken out of the judges hands, and they couldn't allow that. Now, the judges have more control than they know what to do with via the +5 -5 GOE implementation! Anway, it was a huge error by the ISU to give quads such inordinate point value in the first place. Orser said, part of the ISU's reconsidering the scoring system might be the fact that casual viewers don't understand the scoring, but that's still the case even with the new rules changes. :p And forgive me if I don't believe the ISU truly cares that much about casual viewers, when they certainly don't care much about what hardcore fans think!

I agree with Orser that it might be helpful if some of the officials were required to spend time relearning and updating their judging skill set, especially with the constant rules changes. Orser was very philosophical about why the judges are not giving Jun Hwan as many points as his brilliance deserves. I noticed the judges holding the marks down a bit for Jun Hwan this season, which does not reflect how improved and more mature he looks this season. Orser does not claim that the judges are holding down Jun Hwan's scores, but it is addressed by Orser in a pointed yet generous and agreeable manner.

I really hate watching videos (unless they are skating performances, where it is unavoidable) of interviews, discussions, speeches, etc. i would rather read the transcripts of them. So thank you for putting that in your post.
 

Sylvia

TBD
Messages
79,989
I'm just going to post this here rather than starting a new thread... Ted Barton interviewed Brian Orser at the GPF/JGPF in Vancouver (looks like it was before the competition started) - ISU posted the video today on their website (Jan. 9, 2019): https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/news/interviews-fsk/12379-brian-orser?templateParam=15
Today, Brian Orser might be one of the best coaches in the World, working out of the Toronto Cricket Club with stars such as Yuzuru Hanyu, Evgenia Medvedeva, Jason Brown, Gabrielle Daleman and Javier Fernandez. He is also somewhat of an icon in the world of figure skating, as double Olympic silver medalist in 1984 and 1988 as well as World Champion in 1987.
Brian sat down with fellow Canadian Ted Barton to talk about the evolution of the sport, his approach to coaching and some personal details that let us in on who Brian is as a person.
Direct link to the 15-minute conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l19nom2VjZA
 

barbarafan

Well-Known Member
Messages
5,303
I'm just going to post this here rather than starting a new thread... Ted Barton interviewed Brian Orser at the GPF/JGPF in Vancouver (looks like it was before the competition started) - ISU posted the video today on their website (Jan. 9, 2019): https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/news/interviews-fsk/12379-brian-orser?templateParam=15

Direct link to the 15-minute conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l19nom2VjZA

Just love this. Did not realize he was a judge.
 

aftershocks

Banned Member
Messages
17,317
Just love this. Did not realize he was a judge.

Yes, I didn't know that either. And Brian started out being a judge at a young age and did it for 10 years! There's always something new to learn.

I must say this interview of Orser by Ted Barton is very good. Well thought out questions and great answers too. :) Thanks for sharing @Sylvia.

ETA:
Brian speaks very articulately and thoughtfully about the judging process and the new rules changes. Hopefully, things will improve, but I'm skeptical about everything becoming more clear to the audience. Even the judges have to adjust to the new powers that +5 and -5 allow them.

Plus, there are issues with over-zealous and sometimes questionable UR calls. Time will tell. We'll see what happens. But there are still a lot of problems the ISU isn't adequately addressing IMO. Still, it's nice that Brian is so optimistic and enthusiastic.
 
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paskatefan

Well-Known Member
Messages
8,201
^ A little aside here, but there was a hilarious SOI ensemble program called "Fun & Games" in the 1998 tour, during which Brian Orser was one of the "judges" (in a gray/white wig, no less). The cast members had funny names. For example, Kurt Browning played the part of a skater named "Cyril Lutz." Roz Sumners' character was "Ivanna Medal," etc.
 

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