Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Skating News-By-The-Numbers, September Edition

What does “skating-news-by-the-numbers” mean? Check this out:

Number of new articles out this week about Yu-Na Kim: 1.
Here it is, and in case you’d just like me to cut to the chase… she’s reportedly going to announce her new coach early next month, having now narrowed it down to 2 or 3 candidates.(Hey, that’s bonus numbers!) The part that intrigues me the most is where it points out that while former coach Orser was paid “hourly” fees, Kim is now likely to hire a “full-time coach”. Meaning what… the coach has to work with Kim exclusively? Meaning he or she has to be on call 24/7? Meaning they have to coach Kim on more than skating? The mind boggles…

Number of people comprising the 2011 class of the U.S.F.S. Hall of Fame: 34. With the 50th anniversary of the Sabena crash looming, the entire 1961 U.S. World Figure Skating Team (along with the coaches, judges, officials, and family members) has been announced as the inductees.
Here’s where you can read more about it.

Number of days until the start of the first Senior ISU Grand Prix event: 36. I’ve no news about this; I just like counting it down.

(But meanwhile, the Junior Grand Prix is already underway…)

Number of U.S. skaters who have already medaled in the first two events: 10! Including a gold medal won in the Men’s division by Keegan Messing. If his name sounds familiar it’s because he competed at the senior level in the most recent U.S. Nationals, finishing 9th. As always, it appears the Skating Powers That Be are keeping Wikipedia very well informed;
as you’ll see here. I’m not kidding; they do a very thorough and accurate job.

Another one of the names you’ll see there is GP Courchevel silver medalist (and reigning U.S. Junior Men’s Champ) Jason Brown. I found his free skate from that event on You Tube—it’s an amateur video, but it’s still the
Clip of the Day. For now, 15 year-old Brown is easily distinguished from the pack by his ponytail. With any luck, in time he’ll be noticed for much more.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Based on what I read in Korean news articles, Yuna team's preparing a formal contract does not mean they want exclusivity on a new coach, but they just want specific terms formally written down. I think Yuna team is going in a right direction by specifying contract terms, considering they are in a multi-million business now.

Yuna is flying to NYC to participate in "the international day of peace" ceremony at the UN HQ tomorrow in capacity of UNICEF goodwill ambassador. She is scheduled to make a little speech to a group of young students regarding UNICEF's new plans. Here is her latest UNICEF promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MygALijuLc8

Anonymous said...

Yuna's UN international day of peace discussion session opening comment. (in English)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3C35uV8QzQ&feature=player_embedded

Anonymous said...

http://www.unicef.org/people/people_56052.html


UNICEF coverage of Yuna's visit and her interview today.

Elizabeth said...

I guess with Yuna having a multimillion dollar brand in her skating having a salaried full time coach may make sense as a model. Although, it seems a little silly to "reveal" Orser was paid hourly as most North American coaches are no matter how high level the skater. Coaches also typically work with other skaters but have to make decisions on how many skaters to take on based on their skaters' competitive levels. Orser seems to know how many he can handle as opposed to someone like Nikolai Morozov who seems to always have a new crop of skaters rotating in and out as runs across the world.