Which current skaters will be top coaches in the future?

[floridaice]

Just watched an interview with Brian Orser about coaching. I've been wondering, after seeing him and how many of the Ice Dance coaches last night were top competitors in the day -- who among the top skaters now will be top coaches in 20 or 30 (or less) years?

I know many older skaters all ready coach on the side, or like Misha Ge are choreographers. Of course, being a successful skater doesn't mean you can coach and vice versa. Any predictions?

 

[Twilight1]

I could see Meghan Duhamel, Patrick Chan and Tessa Virtue being fab coaches.

Aljiona too if she retires.

 

[screech]

Both Patrick and Javi have expressed their desire to be coaches. Patrick has plans to open a skating school in Vancouver, and IIRC, Javi wants to open schools in Spain.

I'd like to see Javi work as part of Brian's team for a while before heading back to Spain.

I could see Dylan Moscovitch join the pairs coaching team at Cricket. I'm thinking Lubov will be staying in Canada (I think she has a boyfriend in Toronto), so she might help out too.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Not current (exactly), but I think Joshua Farris will be a fantastic coach/choreographer. I believe he is currently assisting Damon Allen.

 

[Carolla5501]

Javi- he’s going to lead a Spanish skater to the top

Mirai and Jason . They may never be at the top but they will have happy skaters

Bradie. Her skaters will have great technique

 

[Ohyes]

V/M will be amazing coaches. so will Mirai and javier.

 

[Holy Headband]

Aliona has reinvented herself (and her partners) so many times and so successfully that I have no doubt she can do it as a coach.

 

[zebraswan]

Sergei Voronov...he has worked with so many coaches himself that I think he can take the best of all of them, he has the personality for the job and I think he would not push skaters to overtrain & risk injury like some others.

Tatiana Volosozhar, Fedor (if he wants to stay in the sport), & Javier also would be good.

 

[starrynight]

It's an interesting question. Being a top athlete doesn't necessarily make you a good coach. The skills required to be a good coach are often very different to the self-focused single mindedness that is necessary to be a winner.

Being a coach is a big exercise in people management (namely parent management) and spending long long hours devoted to the pursuits of others. For some of the very top skaters it would probably be easier to make a living doing something else.

I think Meagan Duhamel will be successful. She actually watches all the skaters, knows their scores, knows how everything is judged and is very interested in the sport outside of herself. I can think of plenty of others who say they barely watch any other skaters so I couldn't imagine they would have the foundation to step into coaching.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Aljiona too if she retires.

She'll be like Moskvina: in her 70's, demonstrating lifts with her students.

 

[starrynight]

I remember reading an interview with Anjelika Krylova where she said she knew coaching was for her as towards the end of her career she started developing the ability to identify and correct issues herself without needing a coach to point it out.

It's also probably a factor which skaters actually have input or ideas about their own skating. I know Marina Zoueva said that the Shibutanis have been the only dance team she's trained who actually have their own clear vision about what they want to do.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I know Marina Zoueva said that the Shibutanis have been the only dance team she's trained who actually have their own clear vision about what they want to do.

I think they'd have to: for so many years, they were young, and there was some much focus on V/M and D/W. And they have so wonderful programs to show for it.

 

[WildRose]

When V&M took 2 years off, Scott Moir coached in his hometown of Ilderton, at the skating club his Mom runs, and he opened a skate shop in nearby London with his uncle. He’s a small town guy, close to his family and the friends he grew up with, I could see him going back there and coaching.

 

[misskarne]

I actually think Max could be a good coach if he could be persuaded to try it rather than business school.

Listening to him describe how he fixed his quad toe on his own - by locking himself in his room, examining videos of every man who could do a quad toe, and then taking it onto the ice and mix and matching the different techniques until he found one that worked for him - demonstrated that he's clearly got a superb grasp of technical theory. And since he's filled his circle with lots of different teachers - spin coaches and choreographers and dance teachers as well as Tom Z's coaching team - he clearly has a grasp of the "it takes a village" concept. He's also affable and sweet, and would instill in any student the value of a good work ethic and good sportsmanship.

I hope Josh's coaching is going well. And I could definitely see Jason as the world's most awesome LTS coach. He loves kids and they love him. As a higher level coach I'd wager he'd take a lot after Kori.

I hope Gracie's coaching is going well!

 

[starrynight]

A factor for the top skaters going into coaching is that you need to be there all the time if you are running a full program of students. So things like show skating, media appearances being away from home can't happen. That's all fairly lucrative for those at the top. 4 years after Sochi Meryl Davis is barely at home due to the amount of travelling she does.

Fabian Bourzat went straight into coaching but the consequence of that was that he and Nathalie stopped doing shows.

So unless it's some kind of consultancy role, I don't know if I see Moir coaching in a proper full time position straight away because I would have thought they'd want to make money from shows for a while first.

I think there was also an interview with Maxim Trankov where he said that he was looking into coaching but found it wasn't for him.

 

[MAXSwagg]

A factor for the top skaters going into coaching is that you need to be there all the time if you are running a full program of students. So things like show skating, media appearances being away from home can't happen. That's all fairly lucrative for those at the top. 4 years after Sochi Meryl Davis is barely at home due to the amount of travelling she does.

Fabian Bourzat went straight into coaching but the consequence of that was that he and Nathalie stopped doing shows.

So unless it's some kind of consultancy role, I don't know if I see Moir coaching in a proper full time position straight away because I would have thought they'd want to make money from shows for a while first.

I think there was also an interview with Maxim Trankov where he said that he was looking into coaching but found it wasn't for him.

Trankov said he doesn’t think he can coach because he feel he doesn’t have the technical knowledge.

 

[Judy]

I could see Meghan Duhamel, Patrick Chan and Tessa Virtue being fab coaches.

Aljiona too if she retires.

Patrick says he is interested in becoming a real estate agent in Vancouver and also eventually coaching.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Just watched an interview with Brian Orser about coaching. I've been wondering, after seeing him and how many of the Ice Dance coaches last night were top competitors in the day -- who among the top skaters now will be top coaches in 20 or 30 (or less) years?

I know many older skaters all ready coach on the side, or like Misha Ge are choreographers. Of course, being a successful skater doesn't mean you can coach and vice versa. Any predictions?

Skating and coaching are very different skill sets, so it is hard to say.

 

[WildRose]

So unless it's some kind of consultancy role, I don't know if I see Moir coaching in a proper full time position straight away because I would have thought they'd want to make money from shows for a while first.

I meant that I could see Scott coaching when they are done with skating in tours and shows which could be years yet. Tessa also has a career ahead of her in media if she wants it.

 

[RoseRed]

I think Meagan will definitely go into coaching. For one, her husband is a coach, so she can work with him. Also, she's already started. She said in the TSL pairs recap that she's been coaching the North Koreans at the Olympics as they prepare for Worlds. IIRC she also said something about helping MT/M, but I might have that wrong. She also said they've been invited to North Korea to do some coaching. And she and Eric are signed up to lead some sort of development camp for skating in Australia this March.

 

[Kateri]

Out of everyone mentioned, I have to say I think Meagan would be the most amazing coach.

 

[livetoskate]

Skating and coaching are very different skill sets, so it is hard to say.

Very true. Without knowing the skaters' personalities well and their own desires/strengths/weaknesses, it's impossible as a skating fan to say whether someone's going to be a great coach or not. Teaching someone how to skate is, to me, tedious and boring. It's nothing like going out on a session and having fun skating. You have to be able to communicate things to children and be very patient, not to mention have business skills and the tact to deal with parents, kids w/attitudes, rink management, etc. I heard of a former competitive skater who was awful to students and staff, couldn't work well with others, cursed in front of people, etc. What a shame, but sometimes it's the skaters who did not get far in the sport, who are more humble and understanding, that can be great coaches.

 

[screech]

She also said they've been invited to North Korea to do some coaching.

Wow, I did not know that! That's both an amazing and... interesting... opportunity. I wonder if it will be taken. There seems to be a big difference between the North Koreans coming to Canada, and the Canadians going to North Korea. Bruno didn't wear any sort of team jacket in the K&C with the North Korean team (whether there wasn't one available, or whether it was because of politics, who knows)

 

[RoseRed]

Wow, I did not know that! That's both an amazing and... interesting... opportunity. I wonder if it will be taken. There seems to be a big difference between the North Koreans coming to Canada, and the Canadians going to North Korea. Bruno didn't wear any sort of team jacket in the K&C with the North Korean team (whether there wasn't one available, or whether it was because of politics, who knows)

She said they were also invited to skate in a show in NK in past. Apparently Elladj Balde has gone and done that show twice. Apparently there's also a junior pairs team they are hoping will be able to come to Montreal and train. Boy have 3A and a quad and the girl has all her triples, but they want them to do pairs.