It seems hard at such a young age for the mind to focus on both image and technical merits. It's like the tech skaters are always thinking one move ahead which seems almost necessary but inevitable takes from the "moment". Few have or ever will master both at the such a young age.
Which do you feel better serves the youngsters?
Shall I crack a PBR?
Got to rep my home state, Rainier, baby!
I think in hindsight, Jason's team was a bit smarter in not forcing the technical content, especially with his growth spurts. He reach his full height of 5'7" when he was 17 or 18. When he was 14-15 he was 5'1". Six inches a huge! I believe that a big reason why it took him so long to get the 3A. IIRC correctly he had a major growth spurt from age 16 to 17 -- about 3 inches and it wreck havoc on all his jumps. So I think it was beter to focus on what he could control, which was performance and improving aspects such as flexibility and interpretation.
Josh seemed to deal with so many injuries and issues over the years, I can't help but wonder if they were having him take on too much, too soon.