News and Views from the world wanderings of Pj Kwong. Finally! A place for all of the things I write and think about!
|
Friday, December 24, 2010 10:20 AM
Posted By SkatingPj
|
It has been a busy couple of weeks - and I know I am not the only one who has been up to their eyeballs over the last little bit! I took advantage of being on a radio show together with Elvis Stojko a couple of nights ago to entice him with a cup of coffee and a copy of my book (Taking the Ice) to come and meet me for a quick interview. (Actually it was a couple of interviews - some stuff for you here and more cool stuff for my piece that will appear on www.cbcsports.ca next week). In any event - talk about busy! First of all - those of you lucky enough to live in Peterborough, Cornwall, North Bay, Kitchener and Sarnia - starting on January 4, 2011 Elvis Stojko's show "Rock The Ice" Tour is coming to your town. (www.rocktheicetour.com) He chuckled when he told me that the nickname for the show is The Tour of The Rebels and in tellng me about the cast I can see why: Elvis who will not only skate but sing as well, his wife Gladys Orozco-Stojko, Gary Beacom, Emanuel Sandhu, Surya Bonaly can all explain the rebel part. The rest of the show is rounded out with some really cool acts provided by Violeta Afanazieva (from Battle of the Blades) and husband and partner Pete Dack as well as a couple of other adagio teams and spectacular aerialist Emmanuelle Balmori who was once a Quebec ice dancer. When the N'Ice Guys were in Italy last year, it was with a bunch of people from this same show, co-produced with Daniel Weiss and is well worth the effort to come out and see them - you won't be disappointed!
I am always delighted to speak to Elvis. He and I both agree that we would rather have a healthy discussion filled with opinion rather than a wishy-washy exchange of pleasantries. We went over his retirement from amateur skating after the Olympics in 2002 and taking some time to do other things. I didn't know that his love of music and singing dates way back to childhood and singing at school and then taking guitar in high school - although more formal voice training has been ongoing since about 2002. He talks about skating to "Lift you Up" by Gotthard and how he relates to it; a 'ringleader' pulling people in to a common effort. His other piece, When a Hero Cries by Ed Guy, is the perfect way to express that no matter how strong a hero is - there is still room for emotion. He says with a smile that it reminds him of his favourite show - Smallville. Today's Elvis says that when listening to music, he was always thinking about how he would move to it on the ice. What he would like people to know about his skating is that he was drawn back to it by the joy he saw on student Umberto Contreras' face as he skated, and it made him want to help skating and skaters in Mexico move towards more and better training facilities. He is back to training 2 -3 hours per day and still does 3Axels and "on a good day" can do quads. He says: "It's not ballet on ice or contemporary dance on ice. It can be anything on ice." Despite what you may have thought or heard, Elvis clearly wants the world to know that there is room for everyone in skating. Follow me on Twitter @skatingpj and Elvis @therealestojko Check out Elvis' Show and Happy Holidays to everyone!
*** Get Taking The Ice by Pj Kwong at www.cbcshop.ca and www.takingtheice.com **
|
|
Thursday, October 14, 2010 4:46 AM
Posted By SkatingPj
|
Skating is just around the corner and Canada’s Jeremy Ten will be at the first 2 events: NHK and Skate Canada. Intelligent and articulate, he admits that not qualifying for the Olympic Games in Vancouver was a disappointment, but that was then and this is now. Jeremy says: “My goals for this season are to have a good season and have a good time and perform better and get stronger; working towards becoming one of the best in the world.”
Looking back on last season he says: “I was in a slump after nationals although I am a firm believe that things happen for a reason. There was a lot of pressure on a “hometown kid” and going to the Olympics. I am proud for never giving up on myself - I survived and everything happens for a reason.” He explains: “I think with my injuries that Nationals was where I was supposed to end my season - had I gone to the Olympics, my injury was at its' peak and it wouldn’t have been good.” The problems were in his feet: on one foot it was the metatarsal bones jabbing into each other on triple and quad toes and then after Nationals he also had problems with his right ankle. Jeremy explains: “I think we had my skates rebuilt sometime earlier and they were too stiff and it hurt and because you don’t have a lot of time, I pushed through it and the bones started impinging on each other and swell and hurt a lot. I had 6 months with no flip or Lutz jumps because of pain The problem was finally diagnosed as bone impingement and he started treatment. Back on track, Jeremy is looking to improve his technical consistency with the inclusion of 2 triple Axels in his free program. He defines his skating style as “passionate and artistic” and looked to David Wilson and Jeffrey Buttle for the creation of his short program to music from “The Single Man” soundtrack, one of his all-time favourites. For the free program, he says with a laugh that it is to the same music from the Queen Symphony and he calls it his Queen v2.0 which was re-worked by David Wilson.
Jeremy’s coaching team includes long-time coach Joanne McLeod as well as Neil Wilson and then there’s Megan Wing, whose “crazy stroking lessons make 15 minutes feel like 45” but who has helped him increase his overall speed.
Jeremy’s biggest competitive obstacle has been: “myself and I think right now I am still struggling with the confidence factor and putting program out when it counts. I am just going to focus on making myself better which should be the first step in catching the top skaters.”
In adition to skating, Jeremy is enrolled in 2 - 3 courses at a time at Simon Fraser University and did get a chance for some well deserved R&R over the summer. He and best friend and fellow skater Kathryn Kang took off for Whistler and got a jump start on their tans. He also works at Armani Xchange where the best thins is the people he meets AND the discount!
Back to his number one focus, Jeremy says: “ Skating brings the gift of expression and the ability to connect with people without saying anything.” He loves “to bring someone from the outside on your journey on the ice.” This season, Jeremy’s journey starts next week at the NHK Trophy.
***Taking The Ice by Pj Kwong is flying off the shelves - www.takingtheice.com ***
|
|
Saturday, October 9, 2010 12:52 PM
Posted By SkatingPj
|
At the September High Performance Training Camp, I watched as Christy Krall headed out the door for a bit of fresh air and decided to follow her. I had met her a couple of times through Lori Nichol and asked if we could chat for a minute. What transpired was a portrait of the secret weapon that Patrick Chan has in his arsenal with Christy as his base coach.
Christy was raised and skated in Colorado and says that she trained with the best namely Carlo Fassi and Eddie Shulder and credits her training with getting her to the World Championships 3 times between 1963 and 1965. After attending college, she retired from skating and started coaching. She was a big part of the USFSA, where she did 6.5 years in athlete programming and then became intrigued with Dartfish, the technology that she credits with revolutionizing her coaching. "The product was just coming out in 2002 and I glommed on to it." she says. Being able to show the skaters what happens every 100th of a second has been an invaluable tool. "It tells the kids where they have to be in the air in the first 2/100ths of a second." If they aren't then the jumps isn't going to happen. The technology has allowed the skaters to have their image overlaid on top of or beside the "ideal" in 1/100 of a second increments if desired. Take the legendary Evgeni Pluchenko for example, his quad toe took .667 seconds in the air and reached a height of 21" in the flight path. Christy is able to show the skaters if they are getting sufficient height while helping them to see that height isn't the only key. Christy Krall and Patrick Chan's former coach, Don Laws have shared a long and supportive friendship over the years and it was Don who first brought Chan to Colorado. Christy says that the technology revolutionized Patrick's thinking and she was able to help him transform his kinesthetic awareness in the air by using sight - he could watch what he was doing in the air. She says candidly that the biggest part of her lessons are spent on the first 3/100ths of a secondof a jump - "If that's right then you have a good shot at landing the jump." She never imagined that she would end up coaching again on a full-time basis as she really liked consulting - but when the opportunity came up, she took it. She says that she has a very specific way of coaching Patrick and says modestly that she is only one of the people who make up Team Chan: Dr Peter Davis - sports performance; Andy O'Brien - strength training (also works with Sidney Crosby); Christy - what she calls "the inside edge" ; Lori Nichol - "the outside edge" and Dad; Lewis Chan who along with wife Karen is there every step of the way. She says that she has pulled back Patrick's skating to 3 sessions a day and that they have entered into a "gentleman's agreement" with respect to his training. Patrick has agreed to certain stipulations like taking 2 days off a week to relax and play and to observing the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly training schedules and goals that have been created for him. For this season, the Team is committed to the P.Ization Plan - it took me a second - and when I asked her she smiled: The Patrick-Ization Plan. Simply put, no longer a child, Chan gets to drive the bus and be the master of his destiny greatly supported by those around him who care about him most. With so much at stake, helping Chan to see that his results are no accident could define his coming season.
***** Taking the Ice could be your Best Fundraiser - www.takingtheice.com for info ****
|
|
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 4:34 AM
Posted By SkatingPj
|
There’s a new kid in town. Ok – officially not until Saturday and the town is my town of Toronto. I spoke with Richmond Training Center Director and veteran coach Bob Emerson, who confirmed that Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic will become Bob’s newest student.
How did this happen? Bob said: “I understood that he was trying out several facilities around North America this summer and he popped by ours. He asked for some lessons and we worked together and then he moved on to someplace else. About three weeks ago I got a call from him asking if I would be his coach.” He says that at a different time, he probably would not have considered it. As it was, he says: “I think it is an honour to have him ask.”
Bob feels that especially with the short notice ahead of the skating season that this is going to be a challenge for both of them, but he feels they are each up to the challenge. Tomas is slated to compete at the China and Russia Grand Prix events and the first task will be to get him on a training schedule and to see how it goes for the next couple of weeks. Bob is not planning any major changes at this point and is going to allow things to unfold for a bit in the interests of time. In the works is a possible trip to choreographer Pasquale Camerlengo to tweak the programs he created for Tomas. The goal for the season at this point are to help Tomas skate consistent programs and to build up his cardio during on and off-ice training.
With the possibilities of travel how will the school manage? Bob says: “It will be non problem at all. I work with some very good people and when I am not there, the school will be in very good hands.”
What were his first impressions of the 2008 European Champion? “He is an outstanding young man. The other word I would use is intelligent and he is extremely good to deal with.” Bob says that he is impressed by his degree of commitment coming into the season. Bob says: “If I hadn’t felt that connection when we worked together in the summer, I am sure at this stage of my career, I wouldn’t have gotten involved.”
The Grand Prix events are about 5 weeks away. Both men have their work cut out for them and couldn’t be looking more forward to getting started.
|
|
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 5:34 AM
Posted By SkatingPj
|
Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s coach Marina Zoueva never changes. Always warm and friendly, on the day in question at Skate Canada’s High Performance Camp she was happy to chat. Where did she get her start? After obtaining a degree in Sport Science from University of St Petersburg, she went on to a second degree in Art from the University of Moscow when she had to submit a sample of her work for a final exam. Having had a career as a figure skater, Marina turned to the area she knew best for her school project. She created a concept Short Program using Stravinsky’s Firebird incorporating music, costuming and choreography for Soviet champion Elena Vodorezova (now Buianova).
Legendary coach Stanislav Zhuk had to sign off on the project for his student and was sufficiently impressed that Vodorezova kept the program for the season and Marina’s coaching career at the Red Army Sports Club was launched. Right off the bat she started to work with 2 time Olympic Champions Ekaterina Gordeeva and (the late) Sergei Grinkov who were 11 and 14 respectively. Marina says with pride: “I did all of their sports competition programs from the first to the last.” She is beaming when she says: “and now I will be doing some choreography for Katia on Battle of the Blades.” Nothing like coming full circle.
Her other big project is her son Fedor Andreev’s entry into the world of international ice dance with newly single 2009 European Champion Jana Khokhlova. The Russian Federation called Marina and coaching partner Igor Shpillband looking for a partner for Jana and it was decided that she would come for a week to try out with Deividas Stagniunas and Fedor. Jana was to return to Russia with DVDs of both tryouts but was grounded for an extra week when Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud was preventing air travel. They made good use of the time. When a committee in Russia viewed the DVD Fedor was chosen and it was Alexander Gorshkov who was particularly excited by their potential. Fedor was faced with a huge decision because initially the Federation wanted him to commit to the next 4 years. Marina stayed out of the decision saying it had to be up to Fedor. Fedor left for Florida to do choreography for Richard Callaghan’s skaters and found that Richard advised ihim n the same way Igor had. In other words to commit for one year and see how it went. Fedor and Jana have been together since the second week of July and Marina says the biggest challenge was amping up to the 5 -6 hours a day on the ice for Fedor vs the 2.5 he was used to as a singles skater. He seems like a natural and apparently always wanted to dance but never had a viable partner; ‘til now.
The skaters Marina says have good chemistry and work well together and may compete at Cup of Russia but only if they are ready. I wondered about Fedor's back which had bothered him once upon a time and all those dance lifts? Marina says that all is going well and that Jana has been a huge help as Fedor has learned about body positions and dance holds, lifts and transitions. They are skating their Short Dance to a classical piece: Natasha’s First Waltz from Profokiev’s War and Peace. Their Free Dance is to music from the Beatle’s Abbey Road. Marina says they have a look along the lines of Canada's Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon with Jana’s delicate and diminutive beauty against Fedor’s bigger and more masculine frame. Can’t wait to see them!
***Pj’s Book Taking the Ice is available now at www.takingtheice.com*****
|
|
|
|
