4everchan thanks for this!:agree:
But I had to smile to see the line about Alaine not having travelled....the kilometres she and her father put on her grandfather's old megaRV are staggering. See https://www.thestar.com/sports/2016...nd-discusses-gruelling-training-schedule.html
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/w...ure-skating-championships-chartrand-1.3509424
But it's true she sticks close to her family. Sounds as though they're a full team of support such that she brings home to where she trains. But with Leigh and Orser in the Toronto area, and former Slovakian Olympian Robert Kazimir coaching her in Ottawa (couple of hours closer to home), she's got lots of international expertise surrounding her. That said, her shout out to Robert Kasimir for national coaches week thanking him for telling her to "calm down" sounds like advice that all the top three Cnd women could benefit from in the last 3 years. https://www.instagram.com/p/BKtFZy2DvWF/.
Perhaps more and earlier developmental assignments for junior and novice women might be what's needed. It looks like Skates Canada is reconsidering its policy on international assignments for juniors, and sent some novice men to Europe late last season, so perhaps the new girls coming up will get opportunities too.
On the substantive point about late bloomers, I really appreciate your adding this into the thread. Skate Canada is pressing coaches (following Sport Canada policy) to coach to developmental or biological age within the reality of the ISU age criteria. Its Long Term Athlete Development Model documents argue that coaching to chronological age has been a negative in Canada, especially for girls. So, it will be interesting to me to see how this plays out once the major changes in Skate Canada's programming that came in during this quadrennial work through the cohorts coming up.
I'd like to bear in mind that 10 years ago IMO there were very few that would have forecast the incredible wave of new Russian womens' talent in its breadth and depth. Major changes in resources and philosophy at the federation level seem to be able to make significant impacts in this sport.
HEHE yup... i should have expressed myself better here... i know she's done a lot of mileage but yeah...I tend to believe that if family support is extremely vital and essential for top athletes, sometimes, getting away brings something new.
I personally thought that Alaine had a lot of extra pressure at worlds last year.... her entire family was there... she wanted to do so well. I can share a personal story which may explain how I feel about her situation.
I used to be a swimmer. My dad was driving back and forth to the pool at least once a day... in the end, he was just staying in the car, waiting for me while listening to the radio or doing crosswords. When I reached a higher level, well, I plateaued. I was not tall enough and was pretty much done growing. I could have gotten a bit better and further but after not making finals nor improving my best times, I started to feel guilty because my dad had no life other than his work and being my personal driver
So I quit. Too much pressure to do well. Too much guilt when results didn't come... The coach was incredibly upset, saying that the plateau was normal etc.etc.. but there was no going back. I resumed swimming but in a smaller team, for fun, meaning that I trained at school, no extra transiting...
So yeah...perhaps my personal history is colouring my analysis here Perhaps Alaine would do better if she had a different set up?
I am looking forward to seeing what Skate Canada will be doing to address the situation here... however, i still feel pretty excited about the current situation with 3 girls having potential for top ten at wc. When was the last time Canada had 3 strong girls, or even 2?
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