LA Times - Interesting Quotes About Sasha's Move To Newington (Has Spoilers!!!)

[adrianchew]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-skate4nov04,0,7090399.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2D sports

Briefly, oh Sasha's coaching change...

Sasha on having to leave John Nicks...

"It was really hard to leave Mr. Nicks. He was my coach since intermediates. As a person, it was hard to imagine anyone else putting me on the ice, but I realized for my skating to progress, I really needed a higher lever of training."

Her mom's thoughts...

"This isn't about winning Olympic gold. It's more about improving as a skater," Galina said. "She has a chance to fulfill her potential. Whether that's Olympic gold or not, who knows? That's four years away. I can't think that far. She can be much better as a skater, and she feels she's training and improving. Every day she comes home and says she's progressing, and that's a great thing."

And Tatiana Tarasova's thoughts...

"She have a very professional coach before, the best coach in the U.S.," Tarasova said. "I know this coach all my life. We compete together. I had [Irina] Rodnina and [Alexander] Zaitsev, he had [Tai] Babilonia and [Randy] Gardner.

"He open this talent, because Sasha is real 100% talent. Talent like this is coming maybe one in 10 years. The last one like this was [1994 Olympic champion] Oksana Baiul. I try to help her open her talent more. Maybe I do something special for this unbelievable talent."

Gosh I hope Tatiana does - the improvements are already so obvious!

[loveskating]

I so agree with this orientation. Realizing your full potential is everyone's desire, and skating happens to be Sasha Cohen's passion, just as painting was Van Gogh's, singing Caruso's.

[AxelAnnie22]

How wonderful to hear both skater and TT acknowledging Mr. Nicks. I really admire these people. TT seems so gracious. Sasha and her family I have ALWAYS thought were quite wonderful people.

[KBW]

Oh yeah! I was reading this article earlier today and was like, "How wonderful that they talk about Mr. Nicks in the article this way..."

That was real classy. I sometimes feel like old coaches get "left in the dust" in the public eye even when they play a major part in a skater's development.

[Yazmeen]

I admire the way this was handled on all ends: Sasha was honest yet caring, TT was gracious toward Sasha's former coach, and Mr. Nicks, well, forgive my bluntness, he had the decency and graciousness to just keep his mouth basically shut. A three way class act.

[Mistyeyed]

I don't get it!! Sasha is a lovely skater. Someone tell me WHY she would risk all that is ahead of her just to be the FIRST woman to land a quad/something-or-other-jump? Goodness, is she NOT paying attention to what has occured with Tara Lipinski and now Yagudin????? Does she want to wack out her sill maturing body? She is a special skater because she can do the jumps and she is so obviously graceful and lovely on the ice. Why does she not just work on consistency and skip all those quad jumps? I don't think she needs a quad jump to prove that she is a good skater and besides she has already thrown her back out, what are these people thinking of? If Sasha would just get consistent in her short and long then she would be a force to be reckoned with.

[adrianchew]

Originally posted by Mistyeyed

I don't get it!! Sasha is a lovely skater. Someone tell me WHY she would risk all that is ahead of her just to be the FIRST woman to land a quad/something-or-other-jump?

Perhaps because the competition continues pushing the envelope - we've just had 2 3-axels landed in competition. Girls in the JGP are attempting 3/3 combos. Some Japanese girls are also talking quads.

As for her back injury - I suspect it came from a myriad of different factors... she has mentioned having to strenghten herself with off-ice training (something most skates even today still neglect). All that buffing up can easily be seen - she's not big like a bodybuilder, but you can see the muscle definition that wasn't there back in 2000.

If you look at Michelle Kwan - she's buff too and has been for some years, and she's avoided major injuries... I don't think its just pure luck. As great a coach as Nicks might be, his approach could still be a factor since Naomi was injured too. Aleksei simply did not get any rest - neither did Goebel. Part of Aleksei's problem too though, is a birth defect.

Sasha's coaching change seems to have racheted down the intensity of jumps in practice sessions and warmups I saw... but the times she attempts triples they are almost always on, and if she falls its sitting on a jump rather than crashing hard on landing.

I believe Sasha's certainly capable of a quad, and don't see why we shouldn't allow the ladies to go for it. Injuries in the sport are always a risk, but if such is the case, even the triples can be problematic. Its good training habits that helps keep a skater out of trouble.

Her 3-toe/half-loop/3-sal she did in practice at Skate Canada... the 3-sal at the end of that sequence had great height and flow out (its as good as a 3-sal done by itself). I don't believe a 4-sal is that much bigger of a deal... height and rotation is not the problem, she just has to learn how to check the landing.

[duane]

Originally posted by Mistyeyed
I don't get it!! Sasha is a lovely skater. Someone tell me WHY she would risk all that is ahead of her just to be the FIRST woman to land a quad/something-or-other-jump?

i LOVE the big jumps and jump combos, but i have to agree. sasha's presentation is so magnificent that IMO she is not a skater who needs to land a quad in order to be a champion. i think if she became consistent in landing a clean, 7 triple program--with one 3/3 combo (3lutz/3toe) and sequence (3toe/half-loop/3sal)--there is no skater who would beat her.

[hoptoad]

Duane, I agree with what you said:

i LOVE the big jumps and jump combos, but i have to agree. sasha's presentation is so magnificent that IMO she is not a skater who needs to land a quad in order to be a champion. i think if she became consistent in landing a clean, 7 triple program--with one 3/3 combo (3lutz/3toe) and sequence (3toe/half-loop/3sal)--there is no skater who would beat her.

...for this year, but I think she's planning for 2006, where it may not be enough to hold off the "up-and-comers."

[AxelAnnie22]

I think Sasha saw a chance to move to the head of the pack last year, and took it. If you recall, Sasha was usually quite undermarked. She felt she needed to make a distinction for herself. Also, don't forget....she can land that jump! I have seen her land it....in person. I am sure the lure to be the first was quite strong.

I also think she learned a very important lesson. I suspect we will see her skating smart from here on in.

[Marie]

I can see a HUGE difference in Sasha this season.

IMO she was under marked last season. The media did her no service with the gushing they put on her. This along with some early interviews she did, put a real blinder on the fact that she was an incredible skater with major possiblilities.

I predict she will make up for it this season8-)

[nits]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AxelAnnie22
[B][COLOR=indigo]I think Sasha saw a chance to move to the head of the pack last year, and took it. If you recall, Sasha was usually quite undermarked. ]

I'm curious. Which competitions are you suggesting she was "undermarked" at?