Alexandra Trusova switching from Tutberidze to Plushenko

[vorravorra]

Sofia Titova had just turned 9, it's pretty common to be unable to do 2A at the time. She had a -2Lo combo and her jumps were very big, she also had very strong presentation abilities - And I think she's in fact regressed in this regard quite a bit since leaving Crystal for Plushenko, now she's quite a bit more boring to watch IMO.

She has shown good results, the rest is subjective. We'll have to see how she develops. She may be successful or not, it's too early to tell. The original complaint was about Plushenko taking established skaters and not bothering with novices without consistent 3-3s. I just wanted to point out that it's not correct, although of course it is not relevant to Sasha.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Sofia was 24th at the Novice Russian Championships the season before last, last season she won it. So yeah, I'd say she got a good result.

On topic I'm looking forward to seeing Sasha's Romeo and Juliet and also her SP (music still unknown).

 

[Scott512]

Aside the fact that 3/4 of the fandom is praying for that to happen just to give a lesson to Eteri, no, there isn't any reason to believe so imo.

I still hope that the team will change the strategy.

I hope the team changes their strategies too. But they won't do anything I like three quads because that's what EG wanted. I expect 4.

At beginning of the season she did 4 at Japan open fine. She got worse throughout the season (probably due to her rotation getting worse).
She probably "could" do 5. The key is to get the 4S consistent - and if that happens her head will be in right place to complete other quads.
If not she will be shaken and might make mistakes on her other quads (usually on later 4T's).

Later in the season she got even "more worse" probably because she lost confidence during the season as it got worse.

With mental help, 4 or 5 quads is not out of the sentence.

Mental help? I think Sasha just needs to avoid puberty hammering her. She should be fine she's still on the way up in her career.

 

[Amei]

Mental help? I think Sasha just needs to avoid puberty hammering her. She should be fine she's still on the way up in her career.

I think most people theorize that Trusova is having some kind of mental issue pop up come competition time - she does the quads fine in practice but when competition time happens she messes them up.

 

[yume]

Plushenko doesn't only coach Sasha and Alyona (I am not even sure he had plans to take Alyona). His other skaters are much younger. To see what he himself can do as a coach it is interesting to observe the progress of Sofia Titova who is just 11 and couldn't rotate a 2A when she came to Plushenko two years ago. There are also the Sarnovsky brothers. Kirill just made juniors this season, Nikita is still a novice. We'll need to see how the kids do to decide if Plushenko is worth anything is a coach.

Yes, I know. My post wasn't to say that Plushenko can't train novices. It was to say that though Plushy and Eteri both get skaters from other coaches, it's not exactly the same thing like the post i was responding to (and other posts too) was suggesting.

Plushenko is luckier because he got skaters of much higher level than what Eteri uses to get (Trusova, Kostornaya, Zhilina). It won't take him years to develop hard jumps and hype since they already have them. The hardest is done. So his situation is more comfortable than Eteri's imo.

 

[Ifwe]

I think most people theorize that Trusova is having some kind of mental issue pop up come competition time - she does the quads fine in practice but when competition time happens she messes them up.

i mean she said it herself at the euros it’s mental problem.

 

[Mathman]

i mean she said it herself at the euros it’s mental problem.

I think that almost all performers run into some form of nervousness/performance abxiety/stage fright on occasion. I think that this is just human nature. I wouldn't say that it is a "mental problem" nor would I necessarily expect that counseling, sports psychiatry, hypnotism, etc., would be of much use.

There are, of course, those rare exceptional athletes with ice water in their veins ("clutch players") who somehow are able to make that adrenaline rush work for them instead of against them.

 

[Scott512]

I think most people theorize that Trusova is having some kind of mental issue pop up come competition time - she does the quads fine in practice but when competition time happens she messes them up.

It's not a mental problem. Sasha just knows that Anna and aliona are more consistent than she is and that puts pressure on Sasha to not make mistakes and of course she makes mistakes with her unbelievably tough free skate. Sasha can still do the toughest free skate of all and she does and if she becomes more consistent then she will win more golds.

Yes, I know. My post wasn't to say that Plushenko can't train novices. It was to say that though Plushy and Eteri both get skaters from other coaches, it's not exactly the same thing like the post i was responding to (and other posts too) was suggesting.

Plushenko is luckier because he got skaters of much higher level than what Eteri uses to get (Trusova, Kostornaya, Zhilina). It won't take him years to develop hard jumps and hype since they already have them. The hardest is done. So his situation is more comfortable than Eteri's imo.

Getting those three skaters in a 2 month span is really unbelievable. Plushy has Rozanov and the girls are already great. They are so good that no one can mess them up.

I think that almost all performers run into some form of nervousness/performance abxiety/stage fright on occasion. I think that this is just human nature. I wouldn't say that it is a "mental problem" nor would I necessarily expect that counseling, sports psychiatry, hypnotism, etc., would be of much use.

There are, of course, those rare exceptional athletes with ice water in their veins ("clutch players") who somehow are able to make that adrenaline rush work for them instead of against them.

Definitely not mental problem for Sasha. She does the toughest free skate ever for the ladies and so naturally there will be more mistakes and her free skate than the one aliona does for instance.
If Sasha can become a little bit more consistent in her free skate she will win more often.

Ice in the veins man you're talking Michael Jeffrey Jordan and Eldrick Tiger Woods.

 

[silveruskate]

It's not a mental problem. Sasha just knows that Anna and aliona are more consistent than she is and that puts pressure on Sasha to not make mistakes and of course she makes mistakes with her unbelievably tough free skate.

If she is thinking about this pressure then that is the definition of a mental barrier.

 

[dunffvanstorn]

If she is thinking about this pressure then that is the definition of a mental barrier.

Exactly, thank you for saving my time.

 

[Libertine]

i mean she said it herself at the euros it’s mental problem.

There may be some additional mental problem, but I don't think that's the main problem for her. I think the bigger and more glaring problem is how to warm up with multiple quads in only six minutes warm up time. She herself has talked about this. It's just not enough time. This is why she does better in practice.

She needs to learn to warm up very time-efficiently, or train some quads so well she doesn't need to do warm up for them.

 

[el henry]

think translation may be a little bit of an issue here?

Feeling pressure at big comps (or at little comps) is not a "mental problem" as that is understood in English. It's part of the universal human condition.

Performing well under pressure is something that every athlete, and indeed every human, strives for. You can never ignore the pressure, but you can make it work for you.

I would imagine that is what Sasha, as does every athlete, wants to do.

 

[kwanatic]

I feel like people are seeing the word "mental" and assuming it means something more than what it means. It just means she gets a bit too in her head during competition time and is unable to execute the way she does in practice. Up against Alena and Anna there is more pressure on Sasha to deliver because she knows she needs every point she can get to make up for her lower PCS marks. That causes pressure on top of the pressure of doing difficult jumps and it got to be a bit too much for her as the season went on last year.

It is a mental block that she's going to have to get past like all competitors. We all know she can land the jumps--her practices are often stellar--but competition is where her nerves get to her and she doesn't execute as well. For her sake, I hope they adjust their strategy. Going for maybe 2 quads instead of 4 or 5 and then stacking the rest of her content would probably help her get clean performances under her belt. Clean performances will build her confidence and from there they can start adding a 3rd or 4th quad.

 

[vorravorra]

I feel like people are seeing the word "mental" and assuming it means something more than what it means. It just means she gets a bit too in her head during competition time and is unable to execute the way she does in practice. Up against Alena and Anna there is more pressure on Sasha to deliver because she knows she needs every point she can get to make up for her lower PCS marks. That causes pressure on top of the pressure of doing difficult jumps and it got to be a bit too much for her as the season went on last year.

It is a mental block that she's going to have to get past like all competitors. We all know she can land the jumps--her practices are often stellar--but competition is where her nerves get to her and she doesn't execute as well. For her sake, I hope they adjust their strategy. Going for maybe 2 quads instead of 4 or 5 and then stacking the rest of her content would probably help her get clean performances under her belt. Clean performances will build her confidence and from there they can start adding a 3rd or 4th quad.

Two quads is losing right out of the gate if the rest keep their jumps. I don't think that'll build her confidence being such a huge step back. Three sounds like a reasonable start, keeping in mind that at Nationals even that will likely not be enough if she wants to medal and not lose to Valieva as well as the other two As.

 

[Sugar Coated]

think translation may be a little bit of an issue here?

Feeling pressure at big comps (or at little comps) is not a "mental problem" as that is understood in English. It's part of the universal human condition.

Performing well under pressure is something that every athlete, and indeed every human, strives for. You can never ignore the pressure, but you can make it work for you.

I would imagine that is what Sasha, as does every athlete, wants to do.

Mental problem doesn’t mean that they have mental health problems. And it doesn’t mean it isn’t part of the human condition - every athlete deals with pressure and nerves at some point. However, if you are failing to deliver and haven’t been able to consistently get passed the pressure then it’s problematic.

It doesn’t mean anything is “wrong” with Sasha it just means her challenge is learning to deliver consistently under pressure. Which is not a physical limitation - she clearly has the ability to do so - so it would be a mental preparedness issue. Totally normal to say it’s a mental issue and not mean anything negative about it - it’s a normal thing to experience as an athlete that most top athletes deal with at some point.

 

[colormyworld240]

I feel like people are seeing the word "mental" and assuming it means something more than what it means. It just means she gets a bit too in her head during competition time and is unable to execute the way she does in practice. Up against Alena and Anna there is more pressure on Sasha to deliver because she knows she needs every point she can get to make up for her lower PCS marks. That causes pressure on top of the pressure of doing difficult jumps and it got to be a bit too much for her as the season went on last year.

It is a mental block that she's going to have to get past like all competitors. We all know she can land the jumps--her practices are often stellar--but competition is where her nerves get to her and she doesn't execute as well. For her sake, I hope they adjust their strategy. Going for maybe 2 quads instead of 4 or 5 and then stacking the rest of her content would probably help her get clean performances under her belt. Clean performances will build her confidence and from there they can start adding a 3rd or 4th quad.

I think with 3 clean quads she'd still be losing against Alena and Anna, if they perform like last season, and she'd still end up 3rd again. Unfortunately, she just doesn't have the components. Of course she can work on them, but Alena and Anna are working on them as well so I don't see her catching up. Unlike the possibility of losing jumps when skaters grow, it's unlikely that they'll lose their components. I think she needs at least 4 quads, and that's if Anna doesn't get a 3A and Alena doesn't get a quad, which we know they're working on as well. And looking forward to the Olympics, Kamila will be eligible and she is also a high PCS skater (her junior PCS is even higher than Alena and Anna). And losing cost of losing to the 3 of them would be a spot on the Olympic team.

It's tough because she's having to use technical prowess to beat more PCS heavy skaters, which would work if those skaters didn't have 3As/quads, but they do in addition to components. And while relying on the technical side to win has worked in the past, 4/5 quads is a huge ask. But in terms of winning, it's her best bet.

But anyways, from Sasha's interview she was very unhappy with Eteri's team limiting the number of quads she did, and that was her reason for leaving, so I don't think her new team will limit her. She would've been clear with them in what she wanted and would not have moved to Plushenko's team if they didn't agree.

 

[vorravorra]

According to the documentary, Sasha moved to Plushenko to skate with quads cleanly and consistently, not to put 1000 quads in and fall all over the place.

 

[Thrashergurl]

Does anyone know if Kamila will have a new programs this year? Honestly, all I know of her is that she repeats her programs. Is this done so she’ll have the advantage of consistency? That said, I am looking forward to seeing her skate. She has all the hype right now and I can’t wait to see her skate.

 

[dunffvanstorn]

Does anyone know if Kamila will have a new programs this year? Honestly, all I know of her is that she repeats her programs. Is this done so she’ll have the advantage of consistency? That said, I am looking forward to seeing her skate. She has all the hype right now and I can’t wait to see her skate.

This is Sasha moving to Pluschenko thread.

 

[vorravorra]

As for PCS, Sasha has been working with Maria Borovikova in Denis Samokhin's group. This is a dance group so I can't think what she might be working on there other than components. Samokhin's students tend to have good skating skills.