Andrew Torgashev: ‘I’ve grown a lot over the years’ | Golden Skate

Andrew Torgashev: ‘I’ve grown a lot over the years’

gsk8

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“I think I’ve grown a lot over the years, from 2015 to 2020 in Tallinn,” said the 18-year-old. “I definitely learned a lot about myself as an athlete, as a person, and I made a lot of steps in the right direction throughout the years. I’ve learned to not worry so much and to enjoy the moment more.”


“Every season for me, I take positives away. I think from this season, I really found how much I can push my body in training and how much I can train,” he continued. “I’ve pushed myself to new limits, I’ve really put a lot of effort and a lot of work into my body and into my training. I’ve done a lot of work with my mental training as well.”

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Jeanie19

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Really good interview. And I think he will be a terrific choreographer. :thumbsup:
 

el henry

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Thank you; what a great interview! Andrew is such a thoughtful young man, and it shows in his expressive skating. I particularly liked these two bits:

About that compelling SP to Bloodstream: "The whole message is, the story behind it is doing what people want me to do, but it feels uncomfortable and then I start transitioning out of what everyone wants me to do into what I am." So maybe that explains the dramatic kick at the music change?;)


And "I’m doing this sport and this career for myself because I want to. Regardless of what results my parents ever achieved and regardless of what results I ever achieve, I’m doing it for the joy that I have for skating."

The best skaters, for me, always show that joy for skating. And Andrew does:hap10:
 
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ladyjane

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Lovely and enjoyable article. Andrew seems to be a very nice and conscientious young man. Taking his time to reflect on things, besides expressing his joy in skating. Only 18, and already so mature. I love the creativity in his skating.
 

plushyfan

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CCa 5 years ago I had a thought an opinion..He and Gumennik will compete with each other for the victories..
I liked them as juniors so much theye were so promising and they are very promising now.
 

kolyadafan2002

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CCa 5 years ago I had a thought an opinion..He and Gumennik will compete with each other for the victories..
I liked them as juniors so much theye were so promising and they are very promising now.

I think the main difference between him and Gumennik is mindset.
He tends to be more positive even when things aren't going well, and I think it shows in his skating. Gumennik is delightful on a good day, but often his skating starts lacking if he makes mistakes early on in the program. With Andrew I feel he would keep skating well even if he messed up every jump and spin.
 

Seven Sisters

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May I say that I love the idea of Torgashev doing “Latin, Tango, Flamenco” as he discusses in the interview. One of the very few young guys who might be able to pull that off, IMHO.

I shall refer the question to El Henry, who has followed his career for many years. What do you think of that, El? :)
 

el henry

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May I say that I love the idea of Torgashev doing “Latin, Tango, Flamenco” as he discusses in the interview. One of the very few young guys who might be able to pull that off, IMHO.

I shall refer the question to El Henry, who has followed his career for many years. What do you think of that, El? :)

Thank you for the vote of confidence, @SevenSisters:laugh:

Andrew of course had an LP to Tango de Roxanne, which I adored despite Rooooxxxxaaannne for the 85th time;). He definitely has the dance chops and the depth of feeling, which is rare among 18-19 year olds.

So yes:yes:
 

WeakAnkles

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He's never boring. Even doing a warhorse he always brings something interesting to the choreography and performance.

Never boring is a highly highly highly underrated quality.

Very good article. Thank you.
 

YuBluByMe

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Torgashev said:
“I think I’ve grown a lot over the years, from 2015 to 2020 in Tallinn.” “I definitely learned a lot about myself as an athlete, as a person, and I made a lot of steps in the right direction throughout the years. I’ve learned to not worry so much and to enjoy the moment more. ….I’ve pushed myself to new limits, I’ve really put a lot of effort and a lot of work into my body and into my training. I’ve done a lot of work with my mental training as well.”

I discovered Torgashev this year at a Challenger but forgot he was American until I ran into him again at US Nationals. After Junior Worlds, I watched his performances from 2016 to present to better understand exactly what I’m getting into. The improvements are obvious if you watch his performances in chronological order. I watched a performance in which he fell three times and popped his remaining jumps into singles. He had a serious addiction to popcorn back in the day. He also seemed to give up on his performances when he made mistakes. (The hell with combos! I’m going to lose anyway!) He seems to have overcome his addiction (I hope) and even in his disastrous free skate at JWorlds, he still laid down two 3-3s. I don’t think that would have happened a few years ago.

From what I can tell, his Nationals performances this year was definitely his best back-to-back skates ever. Yeah, he fell two times in the free skate, but he also upgraded his technical content (added a 4S!) and kept performing until the end. I’ve noticed that when he lands the 4T he falls on the 3A or vice versa. His Nationals SP is a notable exception, but I don’t think he has a problem with either jump individually. Okay, the technique on the 3A is suspect, but I saw him land two in one of his quad-less free skates earlier this year. So the love-hate relationship with the 4T and 3A is a conditioning problem and he said he’s working on it. Also, nerves! He knows how to jump. He has a great 3F. He can land a 3A. He can land a 4T. But once the music starts in competition, it all goes to the underground. He said he did a lot of work on this (I can tell) and I think going full senior next season will help him as no one will be looking at him too hard. Everyone’s going to be too busy looking at Chen, Zhou, and Brown. This probably wasn’t the case on the junior level where he was perhaps expected to dominate.

Torgashev said:
“I think I like the short program more because it’s just something it’s different.” “I don’t hear many people using this music. The whole message is, the story behind it is doing what people want me to do, but it feels uncomfortable and then I start transitioning out of what everyone wants me to do into what I am. So, it was something I worked very well with his season and I’m excited to find another piece of music that really speaks to me like that.”
I liked the tonal shift in his short and I like even more that apparently there was a purpose to it. In the first half, he’s skating prettily to Claire de Lune and then it’s…

…SIKE SUCKAS!

It worked. And the reason why he pulled it off is because his skating was gorgeous in the first half. It’s important to skate that part well because if he doesn’t the second half will just come off as crude. He also put some thought into the concept so it wasn’t just a weird music cut. More of that next season please.

Torgashev said:
“In skating there is a very limited selection of music that’s good to skate to. I think if someone has skated to it, then they showed you that it’s skating music. Or judges accept it. When many people skate to a piece of music, I look at their program, especially very big names, and see what they have done with it. And then I think to myself, ‘can I do it better or can I do it differently?’ If I can answer both of those questions with a yes, then I don’t mind using the same music.”

How I wished every skater in the world thought this way. I said a while back that certain pieces should be “retired” in the same way that sports retire jersey numbers. I think he reached his goal in doing something different with the Tosca program. The entire program is great, but I think the last 45 seconds or so is especially excellent. The dramatic step sequence and the end pose. A lot of skaters will skate right through that music as if they’re deaf, but he actually brought the drama and gave the piece justice.

I look forward to his first full senior season. ...If there is a season.
 

el henry

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whole post

What a wonderful description of Andrew's strengths and challenges; time to hop aboard the Andrew T. train, choo choo:biggrin:
I like the description "popcorn skater" which I always just thought of as "heartbreaker": so talented, so engrossing, skating so unique and then, falling apart so spectacularly.

And I don't know how you feel, but although I was always Andrew's fan based on videos when he was a truly young pup (as in six years ago), I was amazed when I saw him live. Granted in a tiny rink at a summer comp (which probably won't happen this year, no inside knowledge, just guessing:sad21:), but his passion truly extends to the audience. What may come across as "extra" in videos is real on the ice.

Please let us see at least some of his skating this year:pray:
 

iluvtodd

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We discovered Andrew @ least 5/maybe 6 years ago @ the summer comp that el henry mentioned! He won the US junior title in 2015, IIRC, and his grandfather was sitting in our section. His grandfather was absolutely beaming with joy as people in our section congratulated him. His English was limited, but it was so endearing of him to pass out post cards of his grandson. We're been cheering him on ever since!
 
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