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Household Tasks in Brisbane
Household tasks are the everyday chores you do to keep your home clean and comfortable. These include cooking, laundry, shopping, and maintenance.
Several services and organisations offer assistance with household tasks Brisbane. These providers can be found through local councils, community centres, and online directories. They can provide flexible options based on your needs and preferences. To know more about Household Tasks Brisbane, visit the Maximum Support Services website or call 1300983885.
Cleaning is an essential task for every household. It involves the tidying up of bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. It also includes vacuuming, mopping floors, and dusting. Cleaning services may include specialised tasks such as carpet cleaning and upholstery cleaning.
Individuals who need assistance with household chores can seek out local home care agencies, community centres, and NDIS representative to explore options for support. They can also consult online directories and support service databases for information.
NDIS participants can also receive assistance with household chores through their individualized support plans. This way, they can live more independently and enjoy their time at home. They can also stay healthy and active while achieving their independence goals.
Meal preparation is the process of preparing entire meals in advance. It involves planning, cooking and storing food for later consumption. Meals are often prepared in bulk and stored in airtight containers in the fridge or freezer until they’re ready to eat.
Meal prep is a tedious chore that demands significant time and effort. In addition, it requires specialised skill and knowledge to craft nutritious meals that meet specific health goals. For this reason, meal prep services offer a more convenient, cost-effective alternative to the DIY approach. Many Brisbane meal delivery services provide a diverse menu selection with a strong focus on nutritional value. These services are ideal for busy professionals and health-conscious individuals. Some even offer kid-friendly options to pacify fussy eaters. Youfoodz, Nourish’d Meal Co and Dietlicious are among the many popular meal delivery services in Brisbane.
Laundry is a household chore that requires time and effort. But fortunately, laundry services in Brisbane are available to help individuals save time and energy while enjoying a stress-free lifestyle. These services provide professional cleaning, convenient pickup and drop-off options, and fast turnaround times.
When choosing a laundry service, look for a provider with competitive pricing and service packages that align with your budget. Also, consider the company’s reputation and customer reviews. Lastly, be sure to clearly communicate your laundry preferences (such as detergent types and folding preferences) to ensure an optimal service experience.
Wholesome laundry services use eco-friendly practices to minimize their water and energy consumption, ensuring that your clothes are cleaned safely while being mindful of the environment. This means you can enjoy a hassle-free household without sacrificing your health or the quality of your clothes.
Shopping is a favourite pastime in Brisbane. The city is full of shopping hotspots that are a welcome break from the sterility of the big malls in the suburbs. One local favourite is Bulimba's Oxford Street, a quirky destination with chic homeware stores, fashion boutiques and plenty of cafes and restaurants.
The trendy Paddington suburb is another popular spot for unique shops. Its quaint streets, Given Terrace and Latrobe Terrace, are lined with antique shops, books, art, and one-of-a-kind clothing designs.
Op shops are also tried and tested stomping grounds for bargain hunters in Brisbane, where you can bag designer clothing, shoes and accessories for a fraction of the retail price. Many op shops also donate their proceeds to charity, so you're helping out the community while you score a bargain.
A clean and well-maintained home is a crucial component of overall wellbeing. However, for some people with disabilities, household tasks can be challenging. This is why the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provides home support services that include household tasks as part of an individualized plan. These home care services can include support for daily chores such as cleaning, cooking, laundry, and shopping. To know more about Household Tasks Brisbane, visit the Maximum Support Services website or call 1300983885.
If you’re a participant of the NDIS and are looking for reliable NDIS providers who can provide household task support, Almond Care can help. We have a team of qualified and compassionate home support workers who can assist you with a wide range of domestic duties, all in the comfort of your own home. We can also help you train to perform these tasks independently over time.
#disability support services#community participation#disability support services brisbane#interpret and translate brisbane#household tasks#assist life stage transition brisbane#disability services brisbane#household tasks brisbane#assistance with life stage transition ndis#disability services provider#disability services providers brisbane#disability services#brisbane disability services
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Friday 10th March 2023
We had a lazy start to the day combined with an absolutely huge breakfast nicely provided by Mr Mercure Hotels. Leaving empty plates we left the premises not having felt that full since the cruise. We waddled out in the direction of Queens St and the tourist information centre. On route we passed Brisbane City Hall. First noticeable thing was a demonstration whose aims were freedom for Tibet. It was peaceful and vocal. I'm sure their protest is admirable but I was concerned that there were posters with pictures of Xi Jinping with a big red line through him. Maybe this could be interpreted badly. So we popped into the city hall and were just in time to tag onto a free tour of the establishment. It was led by a dead ringer of Bridget Jones! To say she was enthusiastic about her job and the building would be an understatement. She absolutely oozed the stuff. We were unusually allowed on this occasion only to see the basement. And how exciting was that! Well not really but she was excited and that's all that matters. There was a room down there that vulnerable women and children could take refuge in during the 1930s from domestic violence. And a wall where on removing the plaster had quite a lot of signatures left by servicemen from many nationalities who were based there during WWII and there was a recent occasion when a visitor recognised a close relative's mark. Well it's times like this that makes life worthwhile. Hmm. On the first floor was a very nice stained glass window with Conjunctis Viribus which translates Connected Strength. Appropriate for a council chamber I suppose, though not the image more often reported.
We made it eventually to the info place and were advised to take the river cat on a free trip down and back up the Brisbane River. We've done this before but were keen to do it again. It's a great little service proving an excellent way of seeing the city. I think everyone on board the good ship Melany was in fact a tourist. We landed back in South Bank, the original site for Expo 88. The perverse angle I cannot get my head around was that Brisbane wanted to show the world in 1988 Australia and 200 years of history, so they knocked everything down on South Bank to build an exhibition! Australians don't appear to like old buildings.
We made it into the Queensland Art Gallery by the bridge in time to dodge the rain. A huge storm is due in tonight and is predicted to relieve itself of 105mm of the wet stuff. This coast has had a fair bit of this recently. It is in its defence, warm rain. We had a flat white obviously then a little trot around some of the paintings. It really is a great building and frankly it would be worth seeing even if there were no paintings within. When the rain reduced to a drip, we made it over to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre to see if there was a possible play on in the next couple of nights. No luck at present, we have to call in tomorrow for cancellations.
ps Our hotel room looks across the road to the City Hall clock tower. Tomorrow we have a tour booked to climb the tower to look at the clock.
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Bridging the communication gap. NDIS Interpreting & Translating Services in Brisbane.
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Tips for Enhancing Your PR Score in Australia
The ANZSCO Skilled Occupation list provides a clear breakdown of how your specific alternatives stack up against those of other professions. In order to be eligible for Skilled Migration to Australia, it is essential for your employment to be on the appropriate list, and you must also have a respectable amount of PR points.
In this article, we will provide you with five of the most useful pieces of advice that will assist you in increasing your PR points. If you follow these guidelines, you will be well on your way to increasing the likelihood that you will be granted permanent residence in Australia.
Receiving a nomination from a state or territory entails the following steps:
Receiving a nomination from the government of a state or territory is one method to ensure that you will get more points in the competition. In many cases, this necessitates possessing certain abilities or experiences that are in great demand in that particular place. It is important to put yourself out there and seek for jobs that might lead to a nomination if you believe you have what it takes to succeed.
To Help You Achieve a Higher Score on Your English Language Exam:
One further approach to raise your points is to do well on any English language exams that you may be given the opportunity to take. The majority of these examinations, such as the IELTS, TOEFL, and PTE, examine your reading and writing skills in addition to your listening and speaking capabilities. The higher your overall performance on these examinations, the more points you will be awarded.
Participate in a Program for a Professional Year:
You have the potential to earn an additional 5 points if you participate in a Professional Year Program. These programmes must be completed once an appropriate degree or certificate has been earned, and their assistance in bridging the gap between education and work in Australia is invaluable. This is an excellent choice for you to make if you're seeking for a means to rack up some more points in the game.
Acquire Experience from Working in Australia:
You probably already know that having previous work experience looks great on a Curriculum vitae, but did you realise that it may also help you score some bonus points? If you have worked in Australia for at least a year in a full-time job, you can be entitled for up to five additional points in the evaluation process.
Translator with Valid Accreditation:
You will get an extra 5 points if you are able to demonstrate that you are a certified translator. There are various routes to take in order to become a certified translator; however, one of the most common routes is to go through the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) (NAATI). They provide tests and classes that you may take to assist you get your accreditation.
It is always important to meet with a Registered Migration Agents Brisbane to get the greatest understanding possible of your unique circumstances. Even though the aforementioned guidelines might help you maximise PR points toward your applications, it is always encouraged to do so.
Utilizing the in-built Australia PR Points calculator that is made accessible via Education Embassy is an efficient approach to determine the current amount of points that you have earned for permanent residency in Australia. Education Embassy helps revolutionise the way you think about migration in Australia, which is just one of the many wonderful advantages it provides.
#Registered Migration Agents Brisbane#immigration agents brisbane#migration agent brisbane#migration agents
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Small Business Consultants in Brisbane Chart the Path
Embarking on the journey from a fledgling start-up to a thriving success story is a formidable endeavor. In the dynamic business landscape of Brisbane, this trajectory is illuminated by the invaluable guidance of Small Business Consultants. These seasoned professionals possess the expertise to shape the path of emerging enterprises, leading them from initial concepts to full-fledged stardom. As architects of growth, they bring strategic insights, industry wisdom, and a keen understanding of local markets to the table. This introduction delves into the transformative role Small Business Consultants play in propelling Brisbane's start-ups towards stardom, crafting strategies that navigate challenges and embrace opportunities, all while nurturing the spark of entrepreneurial vision into a blazing success story.
Expert Strategy Crafting: Navigating the Initial Course
At the heart of a Small Business Consultant's role is the art of strategic planning. In Brisbane's dynamic business environment, these consultants meticulously craft strategies that lay the foundation for success. By conducting thorough market research, analyzing competition, and identifying target audiences, consultants guide businesses in defining their unique value propositions and market positioning. These well-crafted strategies serve as the initial charting of the path, setting businesses on a trajectory that aligns with their goals and optimally utilizes the opportunities inherent in the Brisbane market.
Market Insights and Trend Forecasts: Steering Through Changing Tides
Adapting to market dynamics is essential for any business's sustained growth. small business consultant brisbane serve as adept interpreters of these dynamics, providing crucial insights into shifting consumer behaviors, emerging trends, and technological advancements. By staying attuned to these changes, consultants help businesses navigate evolving market tides. Whether it's capitalizing on new customer preferences or embracing innovative technologies, their guidance ensures that businesses remain agile and proactive in the face of change.
Risk Management and Mitigation: Sailing Smoothly Through Challenges
In the journey of entrepreneurship, challenges are inevitable. Small Business Consultants act as navigational beacons, helping businesses anticipate and mitigate potential risks. Through comprehensive risk assessments, consultants identify vulnerabilities in operations, finances, and market positioning. They then collaborate with businesses to develop contingency plans and strategies that minimize the impact of potential challenges. With their guidance, businesses can navigate stormy waters with resilience, ensuring minimal disruption to their course.
Operational Efficiency and Process Optimization: Streamlining for Success
Operational efficiency is the wind beneath the wings of business growth. Small Business Consultants delve into the intricacies of a business's operations, identifying bottlenecks and areas of improvement. By introducing streamlined processes, automation solutions, and workflow optimizations, consultants enhance productivity and reduce wastage of resources. This not only translates to cost savings but also frees up valuable time and resources that can be redirected toward strategic endeavors, propelling businesses forward on their journey.
Financial Navigation: Ensuring Smooth Financial Sailing
Financial management is a critical aspect of any successful business voyage. Small Business Consultants in Brisbane steer businesses through the complexities of financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting. By optimizing cash flow, advising on investment decisions, and helping businesses secure funding, consultants ensure that the financial ship remains steady. Their expertise in financial navigation empowers businesses to make informed decisions that align with their growth trajectory and capitalize on opportunities.
Expansion and Scaling Strategies: Sailing into New Horizons
As businesses gain momentum, the prospect of expansion and scaling arises. Small Business Consultants are instrumental in guiding businesses through this pivotal phase. By conducting thorough market analyses, assessing resource requirements, and evaluating potential risks, consultants help businesses expand in a calculated and sustainable manner. From entering new markets to launching additional product lines, consultants ensure that businesses set sail on these new horizons with a clear strategy and the wind at their backs.
Advisory Mentorship: Cultivating Leadership for the Voyage
Beyond strategic planning, Small Business Consultants provide invaluable mentorship to business owners. They offer personalized coaching and skill development that nurture entrepreneurs into effective leaders. By sharing experiences, insights, and fostering a growth mindset, consultants empower business owners to steer their enterprises with confidence. This advisory mentorship equips them with the leadership skills needed to navigate challenges, make informed decisions, and inspire their teams towards shared success.
Innovative Navigation: Pioneering New Routes
Innovation is the compass that leads businesses to uncharted waters of opportunity. Small Business Consultants in Brisbane encourage businesses to think beyond conventional routes. Through creative problem-solving, brainstorming sessions, and the infusion of fresh perspectives, consultants inspire businesses to pioneer innovative paths. By embracing change and exploring new avenues, businesses can gain a competitive edge and uncover hidden opportunities that propel them further along their journey.
Conclusion
In the bustling hub of Brisbane's business landscape, Small Business Consultants emerge as indispensable navigators, charting the path for enterprises to sail towards success. Through expert strategy crafting, insightful market foresight, and adept risk management, these consultants provide the guiding stars that keep businesses on course. They optimize operations, ensure financial stability, and facilitate seamless expansion, all while fostering leadership growth through advisory mentorship. As businesses navigate challenges and seize opportunities, these consultants prove to be visionary partners, steering them through uncharted waters with innovative navigation. In their strategic collaboration, Small Business Consultants pave the way for businesses to not just chart a course but to conquer new horizons, ultimately shaping the destiny of entrepreneurial ventures in Brisbane's dynamic arena.
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NIET Offer Courses
Nationally Recognised Courses
National Institute of Education and Technology (NIET) is a nationally recognised education and training provider based in Brisbane and Hobart. NIET provides a multitude of flexible learning options to suit any student’s schedule.
Whether you have family responsibilities or are busy with jobs, you can gain a nationally recognised qualification with NIET. NIET uses a robust online learning platform to deliver educational content and course details, and has a rolling intake so students can start whenever they are ready to start gaining a new qualification.
Select a Faculty
Fashion
Aviation
Accounting and Finance
Business Administration
Child Care
Elicos
Graduate Studies
Aged Care
Commercial Cookery
Information Technology
Leadership & Management
Real Estate
Translating & Interpreting
Remedial Massage
Hospitality & Retail Management
Short Courses
Vocational Training
NIETLevel 4, 2 Kirksway Place,
Battery Point TAS 7004
+61 (0)7 3117 1772
www.niet.edu.au
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So the people are relieved on acquiring the online translation services?
All the migration translators totally make sure that all the verified documents are totally translated to English appropriately for all the people from all over the world who are applying for citizenship in Australia.
There is no need for all the people, to take trouble and look for all the services as the clients or the customers from all over the world as the documents like the birth certificate translation, Degree certificate translation, Driver’s license, Visa documents, Marriage certificate translation, Divorce certificate translation and the medical report are perfectly translated by the translators in a very short span of time and at a very affordable rate.
The online translators translates all the documents with sheer ease and comfort thereby ensuring that the perfect services are rendered to all the people from all over the world.
Now let’s come to the question that why should all the people trust the effective translators?
The services make the people understand the urgency of translating all the official documents to English. The people from all over the world can get in touch with the professionals and the translators at any time according to their convenient time and in this way, they make the people realize how dependable and qualitative services are being provided to the people.
The translators from the translation services Australia totally make sure that the documents are well protected and highly confidential and they are not at all shared to any of the third party.
So we can also get to know the people rendering their services, get the most effective and trustworthy service at reasonable prices from the online services.
The translators try to deliver all the services within a short span of time somewhat like in 24 hours or on the same day to ensure that the people get their important documents translated in a very quick period of time.
We can totally say that the reputation of their services is gradually rising day by day in all over the world as the services provide brilliant services to all the people thereby offering personal guidance.
The people who want to reside in any parts of Australia can get their documents translated through the online translation services.
The places in Australia where the translation service operates are Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as the documents are easily translated and interpreted to English.
The translation services almost cover all types of languages like:
i. Chinese translation service
ii. Arabic translation service
iii. Italian translation service
iv. French translation service
v. Vietnamese translation service and many more.
Suppose a person wants to reside in Melbourne. So the first thing he or she is going to do is to get their documents translated easily.
So the high-quality translation services are able to make it an absolute point that whether they want to reside in many parts of Australia, the perfect services are rendered to the people in a most efficient and accurate manner thereby assuring that not a single mistake is made on the translation.
There are more than 2500 translators who make sure that all the documents are translated and well implemented and the execution is made perfect so the people do not have to look helter-skelter all around the internet for translating their documents as all the services could be misleading.
They can misguide the people and that might lead to the wastage of time and money so the review system is made where the customers can go for the perfect translation at affordable rates.
All the service producers totally translate the documents into English that are totally NAATI credited. The translation services Melbourne totally makes sure that the interpreter and the translated documents usually take not more than 2 to 3 days thereby ensuring the high quality and the authentic translation services are rendered to them through email.
Conclusion:
Thus we can totally conclude from the fact that the qualitative and the effective services are rendered to all the people from all across the word and in this way we come to know that they can easily feel relieved as they do not have to take trouble and pain while getting their documents translated.
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What are some of the languages that the translation services translate?
Approximately more than 330 native speakers communicate through English but it has been found that in most of the countries people have problems dealing with English.
Since it is a globally recognized language all over the world so the migration authorities from all over the world translate other difficult languages like Chinese, French, Vietnamese, German and Italian to English.
Everyone from all over the world does not speak English so the NAATI certified translation services in Australia have come up with a new procedure to translate the vital documents to English.
Translation is a helpful process where all the vital documents from different countries are interpreted to English so that it becomes a universal verified documents.
Let’s look at some of the languages which the translation services in Australia translate:
Chinese Translation Services-
The NAATI certified translation services translate the important Chinese documents like the birth certificate, marriage certificate, medical report translation, police report translation, bank statement, academic documents, migration certificate and the university degrees to English.
We all are aware of how complicated Chinese language is but since the Chinese language is not universally accepted so the NAATI certified translator translate each and every important and vital documents to English in order to help the people globally.
The thorough translation is done with detailed certification and in this way the people get more accustomed to the NAATI certified website. The rich quality Chinese translation services are done through the NAATI certified services all across Australia.
French translation services-
There are features associated with the language French which are:
French is spoken in 30 countries
The native speakers of the French are approximately 130 to 135 million.
Around 76 million people use French as the first language
It is one of the important official languages in the United Nations.
It is derived from Latin language.
The professional French translation services in Australia translate French to English with the help of French Experts from all over the world as the language is really important to be translated to English.
All kinds of certificates are translated in almost all the parts of Australia like Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide.
The translators of the team set by Australian Citizenship provides the best possible service through NAATI certified website.
Vietnamese translation service-
Vietnamese is the official language of the Vietnam in South East Asia.
Besides the republic of Vietnam Vietnamese language is used by almost all the communities around the Globe, like Cambodia, United States, France and Australia.
Vietnamese has been considered as the sixth most common spoken language all over the world.
85 million people speak the language and cover more than 80% of the world population.
The Vietnam translation services by NAATI certified translators are used all over Australia which interprets the important documents to English thereby providing 100% original and genuine content within a very short span of time and at a very affordable rate.
In this way the translation services are dedicated to all the languages and for more information Australian Translation Service is always there for you.
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Prophetic Dream: New Tools of Authority Over Worldly Systems
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A couple of years ago I had a dream in which I was playing tennis at a regional tournament, the Brisbane International.
It’s one of those tournaments that are played before a Grand Slam and, in this case, the Australian Open. Out on the court I looked up to see my opponent on the other side of the net was Roger Federer who is commonly considered to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
We were in a warm-up session, and although he was going easy on me, I just couldn’t keep up with the speed and strength with which he was hitting the balls. A little while into playing, he motioned toward his bag, inviting me to use his equipment. At first I thought he was suggesting we use his tennis balls. Being able to read my thoughts, he shook his head and motioned again. I then realized he was inviting me to use his tennis racket. Without hesitation, I ran over and picked up his Nike racket and woke up from the dream.
Immediately the Holy Spirit began to reveal the different symbolism in the dream and its interpretation to me. Roger Federer is considered the greatest tennis player of the open era—if not all time. In this dream, I sensed, he represented the Holy Spirit. In the natural, Wilson is the sponsor of Federer’s tennis racket, but in the dream it was Nike, which means victory.
The tennis court represents prayer and winning the battle in the courts of heaven—in the realm of the spirit. I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You have been playing in the semi-pro, regional tournaments, but I’ve designed you for the Grand Slams. Come, learn from My Holy Spirit, learn from the best, and I will give you the tools of victory to win battles at a global level.”
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This is our role as sons and daughters—to rule, govern and legislate in the heavenlies. Here we release the word of the Lord to see unrighteousness overruled and justice prevail on the earth. The Holy Spirit is the greatest teacher and He desires to show you how to most effectively operate in this place of governance.
Judges 4 is a great example of how we can position ourselves to do so. Verse 5 speaks of Deborah, a prophet, who sat under the palm tree between Bethel and Ramah in the presence of God to govern Israel in righteousness and justice. Bethel is translated as the house of God or seat of worship. Ramah is the hill. It is from the place of rest that we enter into worship and as the house of God, the house of prayer, are given the strategy to take the hill in our place of victory for the kingdom.
Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:2-6 NIV).
This type of influence and authority is being revealed to us in ways we haven’t previously understood or experienced. The bride of Christ is coming into order and alignment with her groom, the man Jesus Christ, and as members of one body we are going to begin to operate at a level that shifts the powers of darkness and overthrows worldly systems that have set themselves up against the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The prophetic office is a place of service to the body of Christ as an equipper unto the nations to release the word of the Lord for a specific time. The Word tells us that the roles of apostles and prophets are foundational (see Eph. 2:20). Foundations are hidden, and it is in the place of prayer that I feel we can be of greatest service to the multitudes. You can’t separate prayer from the life of prophecy as we’re called to advance in the heavenlies and see its outworking in the earth. It’s important to remember, in our pursuit of seeing the kingdom increase, that our desire isn’t to dominate people or take over in the natural. If you don’t understand the Father’s heart toward people, you’ll interpret your assignment as a way to lord it over them instead of serving for the good of many. The Son of Man didn’t come to be served but to serve and seek and to save all who were lost (see Matt. 20:28). This points us back to the place of intimacy, because as we behold Him we become like Him.
Remember, as happy prophets connected to one another in community, one of our core values is service to others. It’s to champion and lead others into freedom, not to gain control over them. Then we’re able to use the healthy foundations the Father has established in us to share revelation that builds healthy foundations in others. This is where I believe the Father is moving us into in this time. I sense there is a coming of age for us, the bride of Christ. Just like turning 21 marks adulthood, I sense that in the coming years we are going to see the sons and daughters of God grow up into a place of maturity that enables us to run together and build long term for generations. There is going to be a recognition that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17), and through identity, sons and daughters will take hold of it and move in authority, love, and power in ever-increasing ways. This will be especially prevalent in the prophetic as we respond to the word of the Lord.
“Right believing leads to right behaving,” and as we understand who we are, good works will be carried out and divine strategies given us. Not only that, signs will follow those who believe. In Jesus’ name we will heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. And in freedom and joy they will give (see Matt. 10:8).
Recently I saw a picture of a beehive hanging from a tree. It was being repeatedly poked with a stick, disrupting a bee or two every time. Finally, the constant poking awoke the whole hive and the bees began to swarm and move as one. I sensed the enemy has tried to agitate and harass members of the body of Christ, and by doing so he has now awakened an entire army on a mission, ready for war. There has been a tremendous shaking in recent times, and it is producing a righteous indignation in the body. The enemy has overplayed his hand, and where he’s tried to afflict the few, he’s awakened an army ready to charge!
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naati brisbane course
The Credentialed Community Language (CCL) test is a testing and assessment service related to migration and other government services. This service is separate from NAATI certification and cannot be considered as a NAATI credential.
As part of certain points-based visa applications made to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, individuals who pass the NAATI Credentialled Community Language Test can claim Credentialed Community Language (CCL) points (sometimes referred to as the ‘five bonus points’).
NAATI's work enhances the translation and interpreting industry’s competitiveness and contributes to a community demand for everyone to be able to communicate and interact with each other.
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Disability Services Providers in Brisbane
Disability support services offer a wide range of services and activities for people with disabilities. These include physiotherapy, positive behaviour support and speech therapy. These services can help people improve their quality of life and achieve their goals.
My Disability Provider is an NDIS registered provider that offers a variety of services for individuals with disabilities. These include community access, group and center-based activities, personalised support, and respite care. To know more about Disability Services Providers Brisbane, visit the Maximum Support Services website or call 1300983885.
They provide home support, respite and short term breaks, community participation, and allied health. They also help participants to find the best housing for their needs. Their residential services include Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) and shared NDIS housing. This includes purpose-built apartments in the suburb of Mitchelton.
Other than disability services, Maximum Support Services offers a variety of health care services such as mental health support and nursing services. They have been providing person-centred supports and services to people with disabilities for over 18 years. They are a leading NDIS registered provider for Logan, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Redland Bay, and Lockyer Valley.
They offer a wide range of disability services in Brisbane. Their services include a disability service coordination, allied health assistance, and thalidomide support service. They also provide home modification and community nursing services. They are open 24/7 and are responsive to urgent requests from clients. To learn more about their disability services, please call them or submit a contact form online.
If you are looking for disability services providers Brisbane, look no further than Diverse Disability Services. This NDIS registered service provider offers a wide range of support options, including home and living assistance, community participation, life stage transition support, and mental health and wellbeing support. It also provides community nursing care and support coordination.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is an Australian government scheme that provides day-to-day disability support to help people with disabilities live a more independent lifestyle. It can be difficult to navigate the complex landscape of NDIS, but a good disability services provider can help you make sense of it all.
There are many services and resources available to people with disability in Australia, including the Disability Gateway website and phone advice line. This service provides information on disability services and how to access them, and can help you make a complaint about an NDIS service provider. It also has information on the National Auslan Interpreter Booking Service and the National Companion Card scheme.
National Ability Service is a non-profit organization that provides disability services to empower individuals with various disabilities. Its programs are designed to help individuals achieve their goals by building self-esteem, confidence, and lifetime skills through sport, recreation, and educational programs. Its aim is to inspire individual achievement and create a global impact for people with different abilities.
This provider is a registered NDIS provider that offers customized services to assist participants with their daily activities. They also provide community access, home support, respite care, and Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA). Moreover, they can assist participants in finding comfortable and secure housing.
The National Ability Supports System (NASS) is a database that records information about disability-funded services. It is maintained by the Health Research Board (HRB) and the HSE. Its data collection is conducted through an online web-based system, LINK. NASS collects demographic, socioeconomic, and diagnostic information about service users and their needs. The information is used by the HRB and the HSE to plan, develop, and organise services.
WMQ provides community care services, including home support, respite and specialist residential care for people with complex needs. Their compassionate team is committed to helping you to stay independent at home as long as possible. Their home care packages are subsidised by the Australian government and include personal care, domestic assistance and regular nursing help.
Wesley Mission Queensland is also the provider of two new mental health and wellbeing service streams launching in early 2023. The first stream is designed to support adults experiencing situational distress, while the second is aimed at people who identify as LGBTIQAP+. To know more about Disability Services Providers Brisbane, visit the Maximum Support Services website or call 1300983885.
Karl Meng says moving into Wesley Mission Queensland’s Rosemount retirement community in Sinnamon Park “just felt right”. “I know I’m getting good care, they look after me and it feels like my own home,” he says. “And I can always ask for help if I need it.” Located in Geebung, the community offers spacious single, double and superior suites.
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From fireballs in the sky to a shark in the stars: the astronomical artistry of Segar Passi
Elsie Passi, Author provided
When Uncle Segar Passi watches the position of the setting Sun from his front patio, he notes its location and relates that to the time of year and changes in seasonal cycles.
What he sees translates into his artworks. They are visually stunning, a rich tapestry of colours jumping off the frame with a palate that easily rivals Vincent van Gogh. This is reflected in the many awards he has garnered over the years.
Lidlid by Segar Passi (2011) Queensland Art Gallery
His artistic talent is matched only by the depth of his wisdom and cultural knowledge, which he teaches through his practice.
An island home
Turning 79 this year, Uncle Segar is a senior Meriam elder and a Dauareb man, meaning his community is originally from Dauar, the larger of the two small islands off the coast of Mer (the other being Waier) in the eastern Torres Strait.
The volcanic trio of islands are collectively known as the Murray Island group, and sit at the very tip of the Great Barrier Reef.
The Murray Island group in the eastern Torres Strait: Mer (foreground), Dauar (upper right) and Waier (upper left). Duane Hamacher
Professor Martin Nakata, a Torres Strait Islander and Pro-Vice Chancellor at James Cook University, brought me to Mer years ago to help the community document its star knowledge for education and community programs.
We stood on the beach near Uncle Segar’s house, watching the sunset near the double-hilled island of Dauar when he told me:
That place has powerful magic. If you want to learn about traditional star knowledge, you ask those elders. They’re the big dogs.
Looking to the artworks on the wall in Uncle Segar’s workshop, I noticed a plethora of subtle characteristics encoded within each one.
I know his artistic style is unique and aesthetically gorgeous, but I also know that every colour, brushstroke, motif and design has meaning. I see a painting showing a crescent Moon with the cusps pointing up. Above it are puffy cumulus clouds and the moonlight reflected in the choppy waters.
Kerkar Meb I (Left) and II (right), 2011. These paintings by Segar Passi show the changing orientation of the crescent Moon, which informs seasonal weather patterns. Segar Passi. QAGOMA, Brisbane.
Another painting, which looks nearly identical from a distance, shows the Moon tilted at an angle. The clouds above are cirrus, and the reflection of moonlight is clear and strong on the calm, still water.
In his characteristic soft voice, Uncle Segar explained the meaning behind this pair of paintings.
Every month there is a New Moon at a different angle. Did you ever notice this?
He explained how the New Moon (kerker meb) can tell you about the changing seasons if you look at the angle of its tilt. When the cusps are pointing up (Meb metalug em), it is the dry season, the Sager.
You will see large cumulus clouds in the evening sky and the water is choppy. When the cusps point at an angle (Meb uag em), the water is calm and you see cirrus clouds. This is the wet monsoon season, the Kuki. He pointed to the painting:
If the water looks rough and the Moon is pointed up, you know the winds will die down and the next day the water will be fine.
The art of knowledge
The paintings are a medium through which complex systems of knowledge are passed down. These systems are based on generations of collective observation, deduction and interconnection – a longstanding system of science.
Read more: The Moon plays an important role in Indigenous culture and helped win a battle over sea rights
Uncle Segar is an expert on clouds and weather, the plants and animals, the sea, land, and the sky. His knowledge is as deep as his artworks are captivating.
The self-taught artist developed his style in the 1960s and has since won several major awards for his work, gaining an international profile through his raw talent, complex works and lovely personality. But his passion is for local community, both on Mer and across the Torres Strait.
Uncle Segar’s work has appeared in local school books and seasonal calendars about traditional knowledge. He has also worked closely with me and other academics over the years, sharing Meriam Star Knowledge and co-authoring several research papers.
These include publications about traditional ways of interpreting the twinkling stars, the role of astronomy in song and dance, and the relationship between bright meteors and death rites in the Torres Strait.
Uncle Segar is currently contributing to a major book on Indigenous astronomy for a global audience and has been featured in recent Indigenous astronomy articles in Cosmos magazine. His knowledge has even been written into the Australian National Curriculum for schools across the country.
The flying spirits
This knowledge has found its way into films by some of the world’s most critically acclaimed directors. Members of the Mer community performed the Maier (Shooting Star) dance for the 2020 Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer film Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds.
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Fireball, Visitors from Darker Worlds.
Maier is a term from the Meriam Mir language referring to fireballs (exceptionally bright meteors), which are seen as a celestial personification of a recently deceased person’s spirit flying to Beig, the land of the dead.
The brightness, trajectory and sound of a Maier all have special meaning. If the Maier breaks into fragments and you see sparks fall (uir-uir), you know that person left behind a large family.
The trajectory of the Maier tells you where that person is from. And when you hear the booming sound (dum) as the fireball explodes, it tells you that person has arrived at their destination.
The Maier dance is originally from Mer but had not been performed on the island since 1969. In late 2019, the community approved Herzog and Oppenheimer to film the dance on Mer.
Led by Meriam elder Alo Tapim, four local dancers were taught the kab kar (sacred dance) and performed it on the beach at sunset just hours later, with cameras rolling. The segment you see at the end of the film is the first time the dance had been performed on Mer in 50 years.
A ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ photo of the community performing the Maier Dance on Mer at dusk for the film ‘Fireball’ in 2019. Duane Hamacher
Name in the stars
In 2020, his lifetime of work and his contributions to astronomy were recognised when the International Astronomical Union renamed the asteroid “1979 MH4” as “7733 Segarpassi”.
This is a 1.9km-wide asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is 2.4 times farther from the Sun than Earth is, and takes 3.7 years to orbit the Sun.
Read more: From 7809 Marcialangton to 7630 Yidumduma: 5 asteroids named after Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Uncle Segar’s important contributions to culture and science are also encapsulated in the newly released commemorative coin “The Shark in the Stars”.
Released on March 4, 2021 by the Royal Australian Mint, this non-circulating coin features Uncle Segar’s artwork. It is the third and final instalment of the Star Dreaming series, and was so popular all 5,000 coins sold out within two hours.
Beizam, the Shark in the Stars. Uncirculated $1 coin released by the Royal Australian Mint. Royal Australian Mint
The celestial shark is called Beizam, a Meriam constellation formed by the bright stars of the Big Dipper (part of the Western constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear). It traces out the head, body, fins and tail of the shark.
The changing position of the shark in the northern skies throughout the year is a seasonal marker that notes shifting seasons, when to hunt turtle, when to harvest yams, and informs the observer about the behaviour of the shark itself.
Read more: New coins celebrate Indigenous astronomy, the stars, and the dark spaces between them
When the nose of Beizam touches the horizon at sunset, sharks are feeding on sardines that swim in tight ribbons close to the shore. This occurs during the Sager, which can be a dangerous time to go for a dip.
Later in the year, as the shark dives below the horizon at dusk, you will see the first lightning of the coming monsoon.
Meriam people teach that water rushes through Beizam’s gills as it dives into the sea on the horizon, casting water into the sky which falls as the rains of the wet season, the Kuki.
Uncle Segar Passi continues to share his knowledge with the world, benefiting his community and the next generation of Meriam scholars. And we are exceptionally lucky and honoured to continue learning from Elders like him.
Read more: A shark in the stars: astronomy and culture in the Torres Strait
Duane W. Hamacher, Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Brisbane Architecture News, Queensland Buildings
Brisbane Building News, Architecture in Queensland, Architects Offices, QLD Properties, Built Environment
Brisbane Architecture News
New Queensland Architectural Developments: North East Australia Built Environment
post updated 8 Nov 2020
Architecture News Brisbane
Brisbane Architecture Designs – chronological list
We have 3 pages of Brisbane Architecture selections with links to many individual QLD project pages.
Brisbane Architecture News (this page)
Brisbane Buildings : key projects A-G
Brisbane Architecture : H-Z
Brisbane Building Developments
Architecture in Queensland – latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:
4 Nov 2020
Moorooka House
22 June 2020
57 Coronation Drive, Quay Street Precinct, Brisbane CBD
Architects: Rothelowman
image courtesy of architects
57 Coronation Drive Brisbane
A new subtropical residential, tourism and lifestyle hub at 57 Coronation Drive by Maple Development Group has received the green light for Brisbane City’s Quay Street precinct, with development approval granted by a full council meeting on Tuesday 16May, following recommendation of the planning committee.
4 June 2020
TRIO on AMOS, Fortitude Valley
19 Mar 2020
Burleigh Pavilion, Goodwin Terrace, Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia
Design: Alexander &CO.
photograph : Anson Smart
Burleigh Pavilion Restaurant in QLD
Australia is known for its vast coastline, surfing spots, and beach culture. Oceanfront pavilions are of equal architectural and design importance and were built to provide shelter and amenity to bathers and surfers who flocked to the beaches when the ban on daytime ocean bathing was lifted in 1903.
19 Apr 2020
Couldrey House near Mount Coot-tha, Queensland
27 Apr 2020
Northshore Pavilion
Design: Anna O’Gorman Architect
Northshore Pavilion
photo : Christopher Frederick Jones
Northshore Pavilion, Queensland
Northshore is Queensland’s largest waterfront urban renewal project, spanning an area greater than Brisbane’s CBD. As the precinct’s steady transformation takes place, Northshore Pavilion provides the public with a continual anchor to the area.
20 Mar 2020
Kagome Bamboo Woven Pavilion at QLD University
30 Jan 2020
Walan Tower on Kangaroo Point Peninsula
30 Sep 2019
Brisbane Houses
19 Sep 2019
Mansergh Shaw Makerspace
Design: Cox Architecture
photo : Christopher Frederick Jones
Mansergh Shaw Building Level 1 at University of Queensland
The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Mansergh Shaw Makerspace, also known as UQ Innovate, has placed the world top-50 university at the forefront of hands-on education in Australia.
31 Jul 2019
Southpoint Apartments
12 Sep 2018
Pullenvale Church
Architects: Hogg&Lamb
image : Hogg&Lamb
Pullenvale Church Building
Discreet buildings cluster together to form a “village” around a landscaped courtyard. The layout provides spaces of multiple scales which in turn accommodate the hosting of various events.
21 Aug 2018
Reliance Worldwide Headquarters
Design: Biscoe Wilson Architects
photograph : Aperture Architectural Photography
Reliance Worldwide Headquarters Building
A new corporate headquarters building for a world leader in water control and measurement products. This facility houses the head office, manufacturing, and warehouse operations.
23 Jul 2018
Anglican Church Grammar School Centenary Library, Oaklands Parade, East Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Design: BSPN Architecture
photograph : Christopher Frederick Jones
Centenary Library, Anglican Church Grammar School
The Centenary Library at Churchie is the most significant project undertaken in the school’s 105-year history. The library activates the heritage-listed portion of the site by creating a space for the future.
2 May 2018
Waltzing Matilda Centre, Winton, Queensland
Design: COX Architecture
photo © Casey Vallance
Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, Queensland
The rebuilt building was designed to reflect the significance of this iconic Australian song through an architecture and interpretative experience. The centre is a robust and expressive facility capturing the distinct nature of the landscape and people that inhabit this great land through its’ experiential design.
2 May 2018
Felicity on Felix Apartment Building, Lutwyche
Architects: The Buchan Group
image from architects
Felicity on Felix, Lutwyche Apartments
Thirty-six exclusively crafted apartments in Lutwyche, in Brisbane’s inner north. The $18 m luxury apartment development by boutique developers Sanchi Development.
7 Mar 2018
City Arcade
Design: The Buchan Group
photo : Andrew Rankin
City Arcade in Townsville, Queensland
The addition to the Flinders Street project included a Woolworths supermarket and supplementary parking to support the growing demand for city shopping and casual dining in Townsville’s CBD.
18 Oct 2017
Anna Meares Velodrome
Architects: Cox Architecture
photograph : Christopher Frederick Jones
Anna Meares Velodrome
The building creates a public plaza between the velodrome and the BMX track that serves both facilities ensures its use all year-round.
10 Sep 2017
Goodstart Early Learning, Adelaide Street
Architects: Gray Puksand
photograph : Christopher Frederick Jones
Goodstart Early Learning, Adelaide Street in Brisbane
Gray Puksand has designed a ground-breaking 207-place early learning and care centre for Goodstart Early Learning in Adelaide Street, Brisbane. In this unique CBD location, Gray Puksand’s team has achieved outstanding results within difficult parameters.
21 Apr 2017
The Melbourne Residences, South Brisbane
Architects: Tony Owen Partners
image courtesy of architects
The Melbourne Residences
The Melbourne Residences, is a 20 storey building consisting of 200 units in Brisbane’s Southbank. It contains retail and rooftop club including gym, pool, cinema and dining room.
20 Feb 2017
Habitat on Terrace
Design: REFRESH*DESIGN
photograph: Christopher Frederick Jones and Roger D’Souzaspan
Habitat on Terrace
The two critical drivers informing the conceptual framework for Habitat on Terrace were context and feasibility, both of which leaned heavily on the local town plan. This project is an exercise in densification of the inner city suburban site while respecting the local context. It attempts to form an example of how a development project can respond to the character of the Queensland vernacular through its contemporary interpretation.
10 Feb 2017
Australia’s tallest engineered timber building – 5 King
Design: Bates Smart Architects
image courtesy of architects
5 King Tower in Brisbane
5 King is a high performance commercial building and the tallest engineered timber building in Australia. The 52 metre* high tower in the Brisbane Showgrounds development will also hold the title for the largest gross floor area (GFA) for an engineered timber office building worldwide.
30 Jan 2017
Breeze Apartments
Architects: Tony Owen Partners
image courtesy of architects
New Apartments in Mooloolaba
Mooloolaba is a resort town on the southern coast of Queensland. It has expansive beaches and a laid back feel.
3 Jan 2017
Kings Co-op
Design: The Buchan Group
image courtesy of architects
Kings Co-op Redevelopment
The next chapter of the $2.9 billion regeneration of Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds is underway with the construction of Kings Co-op, a mixed and adaptive re-use development.
page updated 27 Dec 2016 with new photos
Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba
Design: Wilson Architects + Donovan Hill Architects
image courtesy of architects
Translational Research Institute Building in Woolloongabba
The TRI is conceived as a series of interconnected places to enable a community of research. From the intimate to the expansive, the building acknowledges the diverse communities that make up TRI. It enables both the intensity of scientific research and a range of opportunities for collaboration.
20 Dec 2016
Hawthorne Deluxe Precinct
Design: The Buchan Group
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Hawthorne Deluxe Precinct Brisbane
An old Brisbane dilapidated cottage has been transformed to form the heart of a new entertainment and retail hub following a $3.5 million refurbishment and redesign.
7 Nov 2016
Felicity on Felix Apartment Building Lutwyche
Architects: The Buchan Group
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Felicity on Felix Apartment Building Lutwyche
Brisbane’s inner north is about to welcome a new $18 million architecturally-designed residential development, with construction well underway on Felicity on Felix, a five-storey, 36-apartment building at Lutwyche.
10 Jun 2016
480 Queen Street Brisbane
Design: BVN
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“The innovation on display in this building is a real credit to all involved,” said the Hon Anastasia Palaszczuk, Queensland Premier and Minister for the Arts, as she officially opened 480 Queen Street, Brisbane on 9 June 2016.
2 Jun 2016
Student Residences at St Lucia Campus
Design: Wilson Architects + Partners Hill
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$250m home-away-from-home for 1300 students, with around-the-clock pastoral support and security.
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Kiss & Cry - Episode 4
Welcome to the fourth Episode of “Kiss & Cry”, Max&Angelo’s Podcasts.
If you missed previous Episodes, you can catch up with it here (1), (2), (3)
This third podcast is 154:17 minutes long (so, good luck to anyone who’ll be brave enough to go through it all ;) and even biggest thanks to our editor and proofreader, Gladi: please don’t kill anyone of us three! ), and it’s available to be listened in Italian here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/talk-sport/puntata-4_1
In the following translation, (M) indicates when M. Ambesi is speaking, (A) indicates when A. Dolfini is speaking, (H) when the Host, A. Genuzio, intervenes.
Translated by The-A-Factor Team. Please do not repost without permission.
Table of Content
Junior Grand Prix - Analysis of what happened at Egna and during qualification stage.
Senior Grand Prix - Preview of first Event, Rostelecom Cup.
Q&A Session
[T/n: This translation starts at 3:00. In the first minutes, Genuzio thanks listeners for the feedback over last episode, introduce Max and Angelo and lists the topics covered in this episode]
Part 1: Junior Grand Prix
Analysis of what happened in the whole qualification series with a particular focus on Italian juniors and Matteo Rizzo’s historical win in last stage at Egna.
(H): Let’s start with the Junior Grand Prix; we’ll try to sum up what happened and draw our conclusions with a view towards the final.
(M): Yes, let’s start by saying that Russia won 10 consecutive ladies’ competitions, something that had never happened before; the old record belonged to the US: they won 8 consecutive JGPs, but we have to go back to over ten years ago. The most impressive thing is how the Russian girls won these competitions – by dominating the field. Sometimes they even had two girls on the podium, one in first and the other in second place. Though, I have to say that in my opinion the “wrong” Russian lady won in Egna, the least competitive among the two. The GP was won by Sofia Samodurova, who qualified for the final with two gold medals, while Alyona Kostornaya who, at least in theory, could have had something more, had to settle for second, though just by a few hundredths of a point.
They represent two completely different views on skating: Samodurova comes from St Petersburg, from Mishin’s school – and, well, his wife’s – while Kostornaya has started training with Tutberidze’s group a few months ago, and she has already shown to be a complete skater, maybe she’s even more suited to compete in the senior category – if her body will allow her to do so.
There’s another athlete who qualified through the last GP, Rika Kihira, who finished ahead of another Japanese lady, who turned up out of nowhere, but proved to be very competitive, especially on toe jumps. Name is Nana Araki, and she’s the strongest of the field when it comes to toe jumps, although she did not manage to qualify for the final.
We have five Russian ladies in the final, four coached by Tutberidze, while Samodurova comes from Mishin’s school, and Rika Kihira from Japan, coached by Mie Hamada. Kihira could actually win, because if she nails the 3A, she will have an advantage. It’s obvious from what we’ve seen so far that Tutberidze’s girls are more consistent at the moment: Trusova is going into the final as the first seed – she won two GPs, and in both of them, she tried a 4S as the first jumping pass in her free skate. Things didn’t go like she wanted in both cases – they actually went better the first time around [it was landed but called UR, while she fell on it in her second JGP] – but it’s obvious that if she nails it, nobody else can win.
Without 4S, the competition is very open: Alyona Kostornaya will go to the final with the highest score we’ve ever seen during a JGP, as she got almost 200 points in her first GP – there’s someone who’s done better in a Final, see Alina Zagitova. Daria Panenkova can compete with her teammates, if she’s in peak condition: she has always had problems with the Flip, but she seems to have solved them almost completely now. Tarakanova is the one who struggled the most – she’s the newest in Tutberidze’s group – but if she skates well, her GOE on toe jumps could make a difference, especially when it comes to the Lutz. She lacks a bit of consistency if compared to the others though.
However, this is an army: I’ve never seen 4 athletes who share the same coach in a Final. I guess it isn’t even easy to manage all these girls in the same competition at once – I’d also like to you remind you that Tutberidze already has 7 ladies who have qualified for Russian nationals. Out of these 7, 3 will try to qualify for the Olympics – the names are the usual ones: Medvedeva, Zagitova and Tsurskaya – and the others won’t be at disadvantage, as they have the technical content to compete with the senior girls; actually some of them are even stronger than most seniors in theory.
Anyway, the ladies’ final will be very interesting; I do think it’s the juicy part of what we’ll see in Nagoya, there’s no other field that could be so interesting. The kind of quality we have in the ladies’ field is unique.
(A): Yes, the ladies field this year had an even higher level than in the past, and I have to say the ladies’ competition is usually the most fascinating of the junior field. You’ve already said pretty much everything, and I agree with your analysis: I’d say there are three girls who have the biggest chances to win, Trusova, Kostornaya and, naturally, Rika Kihira, who qualified in spite of a bad free skate, with several mistakes. In spite of that, she has already shown to be quite mature; her 3A, much like Trusova’s 4S, could make a difference.
There are also many talented girls who didn’t manage to reach the final. You talked about Nana Araki, but there are also the Korean girls, You Young and Lim Eunsoo, some other interesting Japanese girls and even other Russian girls – like Gulyakova, who was second in Brisbane, but didn’t have a second JGP. She sure has potential. The level was extremely high and the last GP, in Egna, was amazing; the fact that three girls qualified through it is further proof that the field was incredible.
(M): Let’s go into details now and highlight what are the differences between these girls. You named three girls who could win: Rika Kihira, the Japanese girl, who has a 3A – she even has a pretty good success rate in practice – then Trusova, the youngest of the field – actually the youngest winner ever of a JGP – who goes into the Final as the first seed, and Alyona Kostornaya – who was already quite known to those who follow the Russian juniors field – who wasn’t even meant to participate at first, but was able to exploit the opportunity she was given. She won her first JGP and almost won in Egna.
Let’s talk about the differences between them – maybe even by comparing them to the others and the Korean girls you mentioned earlier. I’ll play the devil’s advocate: Trusova and Kostornaya have something more than the others, as their programs are full of one-footed skating and transitions that might make a difference when it comes to PCS.
(A): In my opinion, Kostornaya, showed us she has – in the SP more than the FP, and transitions and complexity aside – the personality that others, like Samodurova, still lack. Samodurova’s skating is a bit more basic and juniorish. It still lacks transitions, even though she’s quite elegant, I must say that. Her movements lack the kind of quality that comes with being able to perform to the music, which is usually the weakest point of these girls, for obvious reasons; but I think that Kostornaya and Kihira already have the maturity to give a good interpretation and performance, which is something that Nana Araki doesn’t have yet for example.
(M): Kostornaya has a great 2A, which is quite a difficult jump for most of the new generation of Russian girls. If we take in consideration all the girls born after the second semester of 1996, the only ones with a great 2A are Sotnikova and Tuktamysheva. All the others have always struggled with this element. Kostornaya has something more than them when it comes to the 2A – among the others, maybe Tsurskaya is the best one, but girls like Radionova, Pogorilaya and Medvedeva herself, have always had problems with it. Liptniskaya had a decent 2A, in fact she used to do it in combo, as she planned two 2A3T.
(A): True but, forgive my wording here, it was an ugly 2A in terms of technique. It wasn’t very high, but had enough speed.
(M): Let’s say it had enough flow to make a combo.
(A): Yes, that’s true.
(M): She dominated the junior field with that combo and with amazing scores back then. The fact that she changed it when she became a senior probably penalized her a bit, but that’s another matter. Anyway, Kostornaya has a great 2A; we’re talking about a girl who used to do a 3A in harness in training.
(A): Yes, well she obviously has more quality on the Axel. A jump that, on the contrary, the Japanese girls can execute with great quality. In general, even if you put aside the fact that many Japanese girls have done a 3A before, there have always been many Japanese ladies with a great Axel.
(M): Although Kostornaya has a problem: her 3Lz doesn’t have a clear outside edge. She may receive a wrong edge call that would put her at disadvantage, because in the end, all these girls can complete 2A and 7 triples, so it’s GOE that makes a difference. At that point, it’s obvious that if you do 2 3Lz and lose about 2.5 points in terms of GOE when compared to the others, it’s quite difficult to fill that gap. That’s the reason why she lost in Egna: then, of course, we could discuss a lot about these calls, but this might be a problem for Alyona.
(A): Yes, there was even an underrotated jump that probably held her back in Egna – as you recall, she lost to Samodurova by a narrow margin. Though she wasn’t the only one who had some problems with Flip or Lutz edges – even Samodurova got an unclear edge call on one of her Flips, and she even did two – so quite a lot will depend on the technical panel in the Final.
(M): So, Kostornaya has problems with her Lutz edge. Panenkova has problems with the Flip – looking at it, she doesn’t have a clear inside edge, but by changing the entry, she has made some progress with it. Trusova shouldn’t have problems with toe jumps, and she would have an advantage with the 4S. Kihira has a 3A, but isn’t as consistent – she hasn’t skated clean yet; it’s obvious that a mistake on the 3A would affect her, as it is a jump that requires a lot of mental and physical strength. See what used to happen to Asada. In the end, both of them (Kihira and Trusova) take some risks with a jump that might also hinder them. Tarakanova has always had consistency issues: she might skate clean and win – she is the former Russian novice champion, a title that isn’t easy to win – but we’re also used to seeing her bomb programs – we’ve seen free programs that barely reached 95-100 points. With that kind of FP, she wouldn’t even reach the podium in a JGPF. I think Samodurova is weaker than the others, but in the end, she almost got the same PCS as Kihira and Kostornaya in the SP in Egna.
(A): Which is debatable, but has to be taken into account. Although Samodurova has been quite consistent, if they all skate clean, Kostornaya, Kihira and Trusova have something more than the others, but consistency rewarded Samodurova, who is the second seed for the Final.
(M): Let’s not forget Tarakanova though, especially since the SP has the Lutz as the solo jump. That’s where she makes the difference. And in the free, she has two 3Lz: if she does it well, she should receive +2 from all the judges. Tarakanova is the kind of girl who might make you wonder about a possible 4Lz in the ladies’ field, because of the height and distance she gets. And she’s the only one that comes to mind, Polina Tsurskaya aside.
The competition is quite open. There’s still a couple of months to go. And I want to recall something we’ve already mentioned before: let’s go back to the JGPF won by Medvedeva, so three years ago. It wasn’t Medvedeva who had caught our eye during the JGP, but her teammate, Serafima Sakhanovich, who had reached amazing scores. She was the favourite over Medvedeva, also because she didn’t get a wrong edge call for her 3Lz. We talked about how Medvedeva didn’t stand a chance, and how could she, when Sakhanovich was so superior when it came to her skating – she was incredibly talented. Two months passed, and Medvedeva won the Final. Many things can change during these two months: you could be in better physical condition, you could have improved some details, made the programs more complex, etc. Medvedeva, who has always worked extremely hard, surprisingly managed to win the Final. And after that, Sakhanovich wasn’t able to keep up with her.
(A): She almost disappeared, as a matter of fact.
(M): We’re talking about very young girls. What happened to Sakhanovich throughout that season? Her body changed. Especially her upper body, which was the main reason she struggled to complete her programs, with all the jumps in the second half, and she started to lose quality.
These girls are 13-15 yo. The oldest girl in the Final is Kihira – I don’t remember whether Kihira is older than Samodurova, but they’re the oldest. So things can change – yes, Samodurova was born nine days after Kihira; they’re both 15. Some of the others are 13 years old. At this age, things can change quickly.
(A): Yes, nothing is certain in the JGP. The competition will be very open, but these girls have the potential to reach very high scores for sure.
(M): Five out of six could reach 200 points. I don’t want to be harsh towards Samodurova, but I don’t see her reaching 200 points. She won two GPs, but you can see she isn’t as great as the others.
(A): Yes, if they all skate clean, she should end up behind them.
(M): Many people were expecting the Korean girls to make a splash, us included. We will probably have to wait another year, because Lim, Kim and You didn’t manage to reach the Final. Lim will be the third substitute. Many are wondering what the Koreans lack at the moment. The topic is quite complex: if You can overcome this phase (t/n referring to puberty), she will be able to compete with the Russian and the Japanese girls. The others are following a different route and, in my opinion, if they keep it up, they might become skaters like Park or Choi: skaters who might end up in the top 10 at Worlds, but that won’t go anywhere near the podium.
(A): Well, we’ll see what they will choose to do; it depends on the federation, and on them too, as it might require making some drastic changes [in terms of life choices]. You Young has been showing her amazing potential for a while now; she’s always stood out for her programs, which were already quite complex, and her intricate skating. She’s growing, so this is a delicate phase, but it’s clear that she has raw talent.
There are others with good potential. As I said, I liked Lim Eunsoo throughout this JGP. She’s already shown some good things, and she seems to have grown quite a bit already. She has beautiful lines, she’s elegant, but she definitely needs more complex programs.
(M): Although we don’t have to take for granted that more intricate programs will lead to better quality, when it comes to jumps, they don’t make them more consistent. It’s one thing to do a program with 2 2A and 7 triples with long set ups, while adding transitions is another. At the junior level, you can get away with it on PCS, see Samodurova’s case, but when you become a senior, you pay the price, compared to the others. And you can’t make up for a huge difference on PCS with TES, that won’t be much higher than the others.
(A): Yes, we’ll see. Anyway, even if they didn’t reach the Final, they showed interesting things – more than a couple of them ended up in the top 15 of the JGP standings. We’ll see if they will be able to improve; You Young seems the most likely to do so, although Lim Eunsoo got better results this time around.
(M): Why are we saying that You might have something more than the others, looking at the future? She moved to Toronto and started working with Brian Orser’s team, the same team that brought Kim to the Olympic title in 2009-2010 and then Yuzuru Hanyu, in 2014. It’s a team that immediately understood how the new scoring system worked, that’s how you can make the difference through PCS: see Fernandez’s case. Fernandez is no Hanyu, in terms of skating skills, so they clearly know how to work to raise the PCS.
(A): Or Daleman.
(M): Yes, but even Fernandez’s case is impressive. If you didn’t know Hanyu, Chan, Fernandez, Uno, Chen and Boyang, and you saw them skate with a hood on their heads, you’d choose Hanyu and Chan. You wouldn’t even look at the others. It’s the same thing we were saying about the Russian ladies: if you saw Sotnikova, Tuktamysheva, Pogorilaya, Liptniskaya, Radionova and Medvedeva skate, without knowing who they were, you’d choose Sotnikova. Immediately. The fact that Fernandez is getting almost the same PCS as Hanyu, says a lot about Orser’s school’s quality. Then, some people might complain about these scores, but in the end Fernandez has been able to get more than 90 PCS in the FP quite easily.The others will have to follow You, if they want to get to that level.
(A): Yes, although it’s obvious that they have done a good job in Korea, as there are many competitive young ladies.
(M): Now, regarding the Italians. I think we saw interesting things in Egna; there are some interesting girls for the future – I mean, Kostner can’t keep being responsible for the entire Italian team. She will be 31 at the Olympics, and there won’t be many girls over 25 yo there. Rodeghiero, who might be at the Olympics, could actually turn out to be the second eldest lady after her. We’ve seen girls with different qualities; we quite liked Lara Naki Gutmann.
(A): Yes, Lara Naki has very good fluidity, she’s made some technical progress and she has also shown to have good complexity when it comes to her skating. She’s always had quite a lot of transitions – as we said earlier – and complex programs. She stood out in such a deep field.
(M): Regarding Lara Naki, her biggest improvement was the 3-3 combo.
(A): Yes, she did 3SLo3S, but getting 3T3T combo was important, especially for the SP. She’s improving a lot, especially her technical content, which is the most important thing, because she already had solid basics. The 3T3T was very important for the SP, and she managed to do 3SLo3S, even though the second Salchow was called underrotated, so she’s trying more than one combo with two triples. I’d say she did quite well, she even tried a 3Lo, though she didn’t manage to execute it perfectly.
(M): Elisabetta Leccardi is the girl who got better results throughout the JGP. Lucrezia Beccari also did very well – they’re the ones who got the best scores. We must say that Leccardi has very ambitious programs, so if she manages to skate them clean, what kind of scores can she get? She’s age eligible for the Olympics. Does she have a chance?
(A): Yes, Leccardi has difficult programs. She still makes lots of mistakes, but it’s understandable, because the planned content is great: 3-3 in the SP, 2A3T in the FP. She still needs to improve the quality of her jumps – she got some underrotation calls, especially in the second half of the program when she’s more tired. And she’s also a skater who could get good scores for PCS, she has less complex programs in terms of transitions, if compared to Lara Naki, but she’s better in terms of interpretation. She’s quite elegant; she already stood out at the Junior Worlds last year, thanks to that. She’s still very young, but I believe she has a chance, especially if she becomes more consistent. We’ll see at Nationals.
(M): Let’s not forget that there are other girls who did well in a recent competition, at the Coup de Nice. We had Lucrezia Beccari there and Alessia Tornaghi too, who got a medal. They’re both very promising, they have good technical content. Then of course, it depends on their physical conditions, Beccari looked better at the start of the season, now Tornaghi is in better shape. I think both could do well in the JGP next season, while Leccardi will probably start competing as a senior – even though she could still compete among juniors. Maybe we’ll talk about age eligibility later.
I’d say we have a pretty good ladies’ field at the moment. Only Kostner – who got a medal at a JGPF and won a JGP – and Berton got better results before.
(A): Yes the junior ladies’ field is getting deeper and deeper. Russia and Japan aside, we’re not that far from US, when it comes to results.
(M): I’ll just say this – and I am ready to discuss it thoroughly with everyone – if Gutmann, Beccari, Leccardi and Tornaghi had been called Ma, Harrell – tell me another couple of names here – they would have gotten 2-3 more points in the SP, and at least 5 more in the FP, when it comes to PCS. If someone wants to deny it, feel free to contact me, we can discuss it.
(A): I think we have 5-6 promising girls, let’s hope we can keep working with them.
(M): 20,72: it’s Lara Naki Gutmann’s score on PCS in the SP. I invite you to look at the scores of those who skated before her and at the quality of their programs. Maybe it was due to the group she was in – but then, in the JGP the skating order is based on the draw, so you can see the best girls even in the early groups. It’s obvious that reputation can count, but I don’t see that much of a difference between them and the US ladies – some of them are interesting, some have ok jumps… but they’re no phenoms.
(A): Yes exactly. And in Europe, Russia aside, we have a better field than France, Germany etc. I think we can be satisfied at the moment; then of course we need to improve, because the first 5-6 girls are unbeatable now – well Leccardi ended up 7th after the SP, so…
(M): Which was the best result she could have gotten, even though she beat one of the Korean girls in the SP. And she was behind an interesting US girl – of course, since she’s interesting the US federation sent her only to the last JGP. Figure skating is going in a different direction according to them – towards underrotated jumps probably, see Wagner, Chen etc. Which is fine with a certain type of panel – and that’s how you get a silver medal in Boston by skating the best programs of your career – but if you find the kind of panel that actually calls underrotations, see Shin Amano, you don’t end up in the top 10. Or if you do, it’s because you get 70 PCS.
I hear a lot of complaints from the US, things like “the Russian girls don’t have a step before their solo jump” – and we’ll talk about this sometime - but I don’t see how the US girls are doing something more than Medvedeva or Zagitova. I don’t see it. It’s the same kind of criticism we’ve heard from Brown’s coach towards those who can do a quad – while her pupil can’t. So, she says that nobody has steps into the solo jump. Can we talk about Hanyu’s 4Lo?
(A): It’s clear that she’s right about some of those quads – and we always mention that when it happens, because there are many quads with no step, even in Russia for example – but if you look at the top men, like Hanyu, Fernandez, etc, you can definitely see that they have a step into the solo jump. Even after it to be honest.
(M): We even got a question about this: “I haven’t seen anyone with steps or connections into a quad.” These are Brown’s coach words. I’d invite her to come with me, hand in hand, to see Yuzuru Hanyu’s entry into his jumps. Not only the solo jump, but also his other jumping passes. Because we can even see it in his 4T3T combo.
(A): Hanyu, Uno Shoma – he has different entries for his 4T – and we could mention Fernandez.
(M): I really can’t stand this approach to be honest. If your athletes can’t execute certain technical elements, or if your ladies’ field can’t keep up with the others it’s still nonsense to demonize the others. “That’s not skating”, “there’s no step before the solo jump”, “Tutberidze’s athletes have bad skating skills, they all do the same thing”: it’s not like that.
(A): This kind of attitude doesn’t bring you anywhere too. It would be better to try to understand the situation and try to keep up with the others. I think they could do it, they certainly don’t lack rinks, athletes nor good coaches. There are good coaches, and from many different schools: there are Russian coaches, and good US and NA teams too.
(M): Yes, although - and then we’ll change topic - at the moment I see many coaches from different countries.
(A): Yes, less US coaches you mean.
(M): Well, if there are Australian coaches who know figure skating better than the US ones… that says something [t/n meaning if the USA needs to import Australian coaches to cover the lack of coaches of their own]. Let me tell you that I would never let Carroll be my daughter’s coach, even if he was the last possibility. Never. See Kostner. Because Kostner was at her worst in 2009-2010. And there are many examples of this.
Then, there are teams who work well in the US, maybe they are demonized as well because I think that the most famous coaches in the US have all an obsolete view of skating. Just to be clear: we’re not in the same era as when Lysacek won the Olympic gold in 2010. These are the times in which Gracie Gold, an amazing talent, won’t win anything in her career. And I doubt we’ll see her again inside the rink.
(A): Yes it’s difficult considering what we’ve heard lately…the fact that she withdrew from the GPs to take better care of herself. It had become clear that she was having a difficult moment.
(M): Yes, this might even be it for her. We got a question about this, I hope this answered it.
Let’s talk about the men’s field now. Matteo Rizzo made history, as he became the first Italian men to win a JGP. To give you an idea of what he did: in 21 years, no Italian man had ever won a JGP. Zelenka had won a silver medal before. We always talk about the ladies’ field’s amazing quality, but it’s not like men are bad, most of the best skaters had to compete in the JGP in one way or the other: see Hanyu, Uno, Jin Boyang, etc.
What I am wondering is: should we be happy that he won, or should we regret that he didn’t reach the Final. Matteo won in Egna, with 230 points: he had a perfect SP, but he could have done an even better FP, because one of his planned triples became a double. He popped a 3S into a 2S, a jump that usually doesn’t give him any problems – see Lombardia Trophy’s FP. Let’s add that jump and the choreo sequence, and he could have reached the national record already, which is around 237-238 by Righini. If we add 3.5 points from the choreo sequence, and another 3.5 points of the 3S, and that he could reach higher PCS, then Matteo could already break the national record. Considering that at the JGPF scores are usually higher, he could have reached 235-240 points there, without the choreo sequence. With that score you could even win, especially this year, since there are no phenoms in the Final; and there are even skaters he has already defeated before, see Torgashev. The most solid man is probably the Russian boy from Tutberidze’s school, Alexei Erokhov, who has two quads.
So, I was thinking: you could be there with the others in the SP: 3A, 3Lz, 3F3T combo – and Matteo is very solid on these jumps. If all skated clean, quality makes the difference, along with PCS. Among those who qualified for the Final, nobody has outstanding skills, and Matteo – who comes from a family of ice dancers – has an advantage on that. And he will grow even more. That means he could have ended up first or second in the SP and that he could have skated second to last in the FP. He would have seen the others before him fall (t/n literally ‘kill themselves’) on their quads – because this is what usually happens in the JGPF for men – and at that point, he could have done what he did in Egna: he knew what the others had done and he knew that he could win even without a perfect skate. And there he was able to do his best in the FP, one triple aside – actually he probably didn’t do it on purpose in order to avoid risks. So maybe we should regret not seeing him in the Final, because he could have even won the Final, and I’m not exaggerating.
(A): Yes, considering what he has done so far, he could have reached the Final. It wouldn’t have been easy to win, because there are a couple of skaters with a solid quad or two, but it wouldn’t have been impossible to win a medal. With some luck, he could have even won, but anyway, reaching the podium wouldn’t have been impossible. In Poland, he was second after the SP, behind Erokhov only, then he sadly had a bad FP – which can happen, he had already competed a lot before then – but he could have really reached the Final. I mean, in Poland, he showed to have the potential to be in the top 3, and then he won in Egna, with some margin.
(M): Many asked me what he should have done in Poland in order to reach the Final; well, substantially, he only needed to finish 5th instead of 6th.
(A): Yes that would have been enough. He only needed a couple of points more than that.
(M): Yes, it’s a pity, because he had a chance there. Many asked me what are the age requirements to compete in juniors, too, since Matteo competed both in the JGP and the Nebelhorn Trophy, which is a senior event. Let’s explain why he could do that.
To compete in juniors, a skater competing in singles must fulfill two requirements: first, they must have reached the age of 13 before the July 1st preceding the event; second, they mustn’t have reached the age of 19 before the July 1st preceding the event.
So, theoretically, a skater could compete in juniors for six seasons, but it rarely happens within major federations because they have many high level athletes and the turnover is high.
Matteo was lucky enough to be able to compete in the JGP until 19, and as I see it, if a male skater can get more than 200 points, then allowing him to take part in the JGP is the right decision, even if he’s at his last eligible season in juniors.
On the other hand, having an 18 year-old skater who can’t reach 170 points in the JGP is definitely a bad decision, because it means you’re only pleasing a coach, sending their athlete to a competition he wouldn’t normally have the chance to take part in, without any consideration of your field.
So, summing up, from 13 until 18 years old, you can compete in juniors. Once you turn 15, you can start competing in seniors too.
The crucial day is always July 1st and the explanation is easy: figure skating season begins in August and usually ends in April, so setting age eligibility limit on July 1st definitely makes more sense than January 1st, just to give an example.
(A): Yes it’s an appropriate date because it fits the timing of the figure skating season really well.
Then, of course, there are some extreme cases like Sotnikova’s - who was born exactly on July 1st and therefore kind of “lost” a season in seniors.
(M): To close the topic on juniors, predictions on the Final.
In Men’s, I think Erokhov is probably the most consistent, but Krasnozhon might have something more especially if he lands 4Lo.
It’s not really a competition I’m looking forward though, I wouldn’t buy a ticket to see it.
In Ice Dance, I’d go with Carreira/Ponomarenko. They won two events, and even though they’re among the younger ones, they already showed they have some great qualities.
Nevertheless, the gap with other Russian teams isn’t that big.
As for the Pairs, well that’s really unpredictable. The Australians have surely more experience and that will help a lot, there are some interesting Russian pairs too, but it’s really hard to tell. I’d probably still go with the Australians, even if there isn’t a huge gap in terms of points between them and the rest of the competition.
Anyhow, the Junior Ladies’ event will be the real deal, the rest will be more like ‘side dishes.’
(A): I’ll just add that it will be a real pity not to see Kostiukovich/Ialin at the GPF. They were able to perform a quad twist which is absolutely awesome for a junior pair, but unfortunately, they totally bombed the competition in Poland and blew their chance.
Part 2: Senior Grand Prix
Preview of first Event, Rostelecom Cup.
(H): Let’s move on to our next topic: the start of the Grand Prix. The first event will be Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, and it will be a high-level event as there will be two reigning world champions there: Yuzuru Hanyu and Evgenia Medvedeva.
Before we start discussing about that though, I’d take this opportunity to answer one of our listeners who is asking how the GP assignments work, if you agree.
(M): Very complicated topic, I’ll try to be as clear as possible.
The competition that defines the seeded skaters is Worlds, so in our case, last World Championships in Helsinki. Skaters who placed 1 - 6 in each discipline are considered seeded skaters and each one can participate in two events.
Let’s take the Ladies’ as an example: based on last year’s results, Mevedeva is seed #1, Osmond is seed #2, Daleman #3, Chen #4, Mihara #5, and Kostner #6.
Skaters who placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, can’t take part in the same event; same with skaters placed from 4 to 6, they can’t be at the same event. Obviously, this means that there will be two seeded skaters at each event.
The rules say that skaters are assigned at each event by a draw, but this is true only in some cases. What happens in reality is that each federation (through a representative) chooses the skaters for their event.
So, when the ISU Council meets, the representatives will go through the seeded skaters and each federation can choose who to invite to their GP. Whenever there is disagreement or a federation doesn’t have a skater from their country to pick among the seeded skaters, there will be a draw. As you can see, it’s a designation after all, guided by a simple principle: “home athletes” are more likely to attract more people and therefore sell more tickets.
This year though, there was obviously a particular design to have all the world champions competing at NHK - I don’t believe it was a random draw that decided that.
Of course, there is a particular attention with seeded skaters, as they try to avoid back-to-back events in different continents for them.
Let’s go back to Japan for a moment, why didn’t they pick Mihara from the seeded skaters? Very simple, because they can have their National Champion at NHK, Satoko Miyahara, who didn’t take part at last year’s Worlds, but can benefit from the “comeback skater” status and get two assignments.
Moving on, skaters who placed 7 - 12 at the last World Championship are guaranteed two events as well. The criterion here is the same: creating balanced yet strong fields that will guarantee good ticket sales for each federation.
Then, skaters in the top 24 of the ISU World Standings and skaters with the top-24 2016-2017 season’s best scores, who aren’t in the top 24 of the ISU World Standing, are guaranteed one event, in some cases they might get two.
World Junior medallists and winners of the JGPF are usually granted two events as well - in case they decide to take part in the senior Grand Prix of course.
Lastly, we shall highlight that when deciding the entries, there is particular attention to the costs: usually, if a coach has more than one skater, they usually try to schedule them to the same event, so that the ISU and the Organizing Committee can save money, covering the expenses of just one coaching team.
As you can see, it’s a pretty complicated system, but keep in mind that each hosting federation can express their preferences, and the ultimate goal is always the same: selling tickets. So the more well known and stronger the skaters, the higher the chances of a sold-out event.
Of course, the number of entries is limited, and the risk of an extreme entry list is always there - see this year’s Pairs event at Skate Canada for example.
(A): Yes, creating balanced events is always very difficult and each year there are some variables that can really destabilize the system. Let’s remember Virtue/Moir’s case last year: they were “comeback skaters” and they really shook the system. A bit like Miyahara this year.
(M): Exactly. Let’s remember that she’s coming back from an injury, so what was JSF’s reasoning here? They decided to keep a spot for her as a “comeback skater” at NHK, since it’s later in the season and the chances of her being fully recovered in time are higher, and send Mihara, who already had big achievements last season, abroad, hoping she will qualify for GPF. It’s a rightful decision in my opinion.
Alright, let’s move on and talk about the first Grand Prix of the season, the Rostelecom Cup.
This year the GP starts with the Russian event and the competition will be great right from the start since there will be two reigning world champions there: Evgenia Medvedeva, born and raised in Moscow, and Yuzuru Hanyu, who has a particular bond with Russia and this city in particular, since he won his first Grand Prix right in Moscow in 2011. He was still a baby back then, he had to win that event to qualify for the GPF, and he made it.
Obviously, all eyes will be on them. There’s this interesting thing about Hanyu though, he has won 4 Grand Prix Finals back-to-back - something incredible, only Davis/White did better - but you know how many Grand Prix he has won so far? Just four! It’s almost an aberration!
What kind of Hanyu will we see in Moscow, Angelo?
(A): Hard to say. Judging from what we’ve seen so far, I’d say he has no problem on the short program, since he managed to score another World Record with it already.; free program looks more like a work in progress, in my opinion.
I’d say the strategy on the free program looks undecided yet, assuming that the one for the short program is the one he showed at Autumn Classic, and most likely it’s not.
So I’d say he is good on the short program already, and even if he makes mistakes sometimes he’s still the man to beat in this segment. Free program might give him a little more trouble at this time of the year.
(M): Here’s something interesting, Angelo. Yuzuru Hanyu has always only won the last GP event so far, apart from the Final of course.
As I was saying, he won the last event in 2011 in Moscow, and he won the NHK Trophy for three times overall. This year, he will compete in the Rostelecom Cup and the NHK Trophy, so they’re both competitions he has already won in his career.
It looks like he won’t go for the same layout as the one shown at Autumn Classic in the short program. So he’ll have 4Lo instead of 4S as the jump preceded by steps or choreographic movement. Let’s explain the difference here, between steps and choreographic movement.”
(A): Basically they’re broadening the choices for skaters, with this new definition.
The old rule used to say “Jump immediately preceded by steps”, so the choice was theoretically limited to steps only. This new rule broadens the concept a little bit, so, for example, you could use a spiral or a spread eagle as an entry to the jump, maybe even mixing it with steps too.
It’s what Hanyu does, since he doesn’t only have a spread eagle into his quads but he has steps too. Also, his entry to the 4Lo in the short program is exactly the same of his 4S in the “old version” of his short, there’s no difference construction wise, and this is surely an advantage.
(M): I was smiling while you were talking about this rule, because I was thinking about Alyona Kostornaya and her entry on the 3Lz in her short program. It’s not just a jump preceded by steps or comparable choreographic movements, it’s a jump preceded by a step sequence!
That’s to say, there are athletes who don’t just put a step in before their jumps and Yuzuru is one of those. Moreover, he also has steps after the jump.”
(A): No doubt. He has a spread eagle even after his 4Lo/4S. The one before the jump is on an outside edge and the one after is on an inside edge, showing he has indeed great mastery of many skating movements.
(M): And this is because you don’t achieve a World Record with your base value only, it’s the GOE that makes the difference, because when you receive unanimous +3 on your jumps in a short program, you get 9 points more on the TES. It’s like having another 3A with a positive GOE!
It’s the quality of the elements that makes the difference, and Hanyu’s skating is precisely designed to get the highest grade of execution on each technical element.
This is why he has steps preceding other jumping passes as well, and they’re arguably even more difficult than the one he puts before his solo quad. Think about the entry to the triple Axel for instance.
(A): That’s the reason why he’s almost untouchable in a short program.
Then of course, he can make mistakes as well, he has bombed short programs in the past, but when he’s clean, his short programs are the most competitive out there.
(M): He should have recovered from a little injury he had to his right knee.
We said that he will probably go for 4Lo as opening jump in the short program, then the rest should be the same as at Autumn Classic: 3A in the second half followed by 4T+3T, which has become pretty solid lately.
In the free program, I’d say he’ll go for the original layout he had planned for Montreal [t/n - that he couldn’t perform due to injury]: 4Lz as opening jump and 4Lo right after.
Very demanding, especially because he has a short setup for both of them and this takes a lot of energy. Clearly, if he manages to land the first two jumps and keep his focus until the end, we may have something outstanding.
Obviously, he has yet to land a 4Lz in competition - he has yet to try one to be precise - but even with mistakes, he’s still the undoubted favorite of the men’s event.
Even if he does have some competition there as the number one rival there is ‘The Lord Of Quads’ Nathan Chen, the only man in the history of figure skating to have landed 5 different quads in international competitions - and 5 it will be, since 4A is impossible for him, he has trouble with the triple Axel already. Nevertheless, hats off to him really.
(A): Oh yes, well to be honest, I think 4A will still be off-limits for everybody for quite some time.
(M): So, clean Nathan Chen is a nasty rival for everyone, Hanyu included. Let’s not forget that he defeated Hanyu once, at last year’s Four Continents Championships, and Hanyu skated a great free program there.
Obviously, clean program vs clean program, it’s Hanyu who still holds an edge over Chen, especially on the GOE. On the other hand, Chen has higher base value in both short and free programs.
(A): Yes of course, since he has 4F and 4Lz both in his short program. I must say the quality on these jumps - on toe pick jumps generally, so Lutz, Flip and Toe Loop - is pretty decent, while his edge jumps are surely a bit more difficult for him.
(M): A lot will depend on what he decides to do in this competition, though. I don’t think he will go for all the quads he planned, even because his second event will be Skate America, the last of the six GPs, so he has a lot of time ahead [t/n - to adjust his condition and bring all the quads he plans in competition].
Let’s have a look at the complete entry list: we have Nam Nguyen, who can jump two types of quads, even in the short program; Moris Kvitelashvili, coached by Tutberidze, with 4T and 4S as well; Daniel Samohin from Israel, who won Junior Worlds thanks to his two different quads - he’s working on the third one to be honest, 4Lo, but I don’t think he’s in the best condition; then we have Denis Ten, who returns to Moscow where he grew as a skater, coached by Tatiana Tarasova at that time…
(H): Sorry to interrupt you Max, but speaking of Denis Ten, we have this question from a friend of ours who is concerned about his fragile ankles and asks, “If you were his coach, how would you build a program that allows him to both receive good scores and preserve his body from injuries?”
(M): We’re talking about a high-profile skater here: he’s a Four Continents Champion, a World and Olympic medalist. But he’s always struggled in the first half of the season, it’s his trademark and then he has some physical issues as well.
What would I do with him? Well this may be his last season, probably he might have considered going on had Almaty been selected to host the Olympic Games in 2022, but since Beijing won, I think this is going to be his last season.
For sure I would try to preserve him physically and try to bring him to the Olympics in a good physical condition. In that case, with two quads and the qualities he has on spins and other elements of skating, he could be in the running for a medal, why not?
(A): Indeed. Honestly, if I were his coach, I’m not sure I’d let him participate in the Grand Prix altogether, since he has always struggled so much in the first half of the season.
Maybe I’d have him participate in less demanding and less “famous” competitions like a Challenger Series event, where he could find his pace with no rush and simplified programs so to build up his condition slowly, in order to arrive at his best by February.
(M): And taking part in a Grand Prix, you can’t afford to water down your content, so the risk of injury is even higher. And this, too, happened to Ten in the past.
Overall, right now there are six male skaters who are highly superior to the rest of the competition: Hanyu, Fernandez, Chan - three multiple world champions - Jin, Uno and Chen.
Healthy Denis Ten could be the dark horse, but he needs another quad other than the Toe Loop. With a second quad, he’d equal Fernandez’s tech content and, at that point, the discussion on who’s the best among the two could be quite animated. Fernandez is maybe more consistent, but clean, healthy Denis Ten can be a nasty rival.
Going back to our entry list, we have Deniss Vasiljevs and we’ll see if and how he has improved his technical content. He has unparalleled flow - reminds me a lot of Patrick Chan in this - he has great difficult spins, he should have made his 3A more consistent, but we have yet to see a quad from him.
(A): With a quad, he could be competitive and he could fight for a medal at the European Championships, for sure. Without a quad, you can’t be competitive, even in a Grand Prix, because there are more coming – you haven’t mentioned all of them.
(M): Indeed, go on with the Russians, please!
(A): Well we have Aliev, Kolyada and Lazukin.
Kolyada will go for 4Lz, let’s hope he can land it, he came close several times already. But he has an awesome 4T and one of the best triple Axels out there.
Aliev has some great qualities as well. He’s young and he’s debuting in the senior Grand Prix, but he has all it takes to do well.
(M): Then we have Lazukin, who is not only Elizaveta Tuktamysheva’s boyfriend, he’s also the best quad jumper among Mishin’s students. He can jump three different quads in training, so let’s not underestimate him.
We talked about Nathan Chen, who is Hanyu’s main rival here. There will be Grant Hochstein from the USA as well, who has always done pretty well in the Grand Prix.
And lastly we have another Moscow native, Misha Ge, someone who always attracts a lot of audience.
(A): Oh yes, he’s well beloved by the audience. He has a bright future ahead as a choreographer, well to be fair, he did choreograph for many skaters this season already.
(M): So, my prediction for the men’s event would be: Hanyu, Chen, Kolyada - if he manages to stay on his feet. His programs are really ambitious, his intention is to go for three different quads.
He’s been trying 4Lz since last season already, even though he fell a lot on it - yet his falls are somewhat gracious, almost -2 GOE worthy, not -3. He has already succeeded in landing 4T, and this jump is of the utmost quality when cleanly executed; the third quad is the Salchow.
Let’s see, if he’s clean, I think he’s the best candidate for bronze, but the battle for bronze might involve almost all the skaters here.”
(A): Yeah, but you have to consider their physical condition as well. Healthy Ten could be in for bronze too, but as we said, he’s rarely in good shape by this time of the year.
Moris Kvitelashvili is a potential candidate for bronze as well; Samohin might be, too, if he lands his jumps.
(M): All those skaters we mentioned have a strong bond with Russia: Kvitelashvili is coached by Tutberidze; Samohin has Russian roots; Denis Ten grew up as a skater in Moscow; Deniss Vasiljevs used to train in Sochi under Urmanov; Misha Ge was born in Moscow; lastly, Yuzuru Hanyu, who won the first Grand Prix of his career in Moscow [t/n: here Max totally forgot that Yuzu won Olys in Sochi lol].
The men’s event will be really interesting, but the ladies will be very intriguing too, as we will see Evgenia Medvedeva, who is going through some changes in her strategies, and Carolina Kostner.
(A): Yeah, for sure, Carolina’s presence will attract many Italian figure skating fans, even though she won’t be in top shape yet, probably.
Nevertheless, it will be a good chance for her to face some of the strongest skaters of the current Ladies’ field.
You mentioned Medvedeva, the undoubted favourite, but it will be interesting to see how Carolina will deal with Radionova as well, not to mention the Japanese ladies we will see here: Higuchi and Sakamoto.
(M): Particularly Higuchi, who came close to beating Zagitova at Lombardia Trophy. They both scored nearly 220 points - keep in mind that only three skaters in history went beyond that barrier: Yuna Kim, Adelina Sotnikova and Evgenia Medvedeva - so it’s a really high score we’re talking about. I have little doubt Zagitova can manage to reach that score in her next event, to be honest.
We’ll see about Higuchi, she’s a talented skater, but her layouts and programs construction often leave us quite speechless, right? Especially for that triple Flip, even though it got a little bit better.
(A): Indeed, she has innate talent and so much quality on every aspect of skating, it’s really sad seeing her struggle because of those questionable layouts.
Sure, sometimes she makes mistake on her own, but when she skates clean, she has almost no rivals.
(M): In my opinion, given the entries, if Kostner skates a clean short, she’ll be behind Medvedeva only.
In the free program, she might struggle a bit more, because there are many skaters who has shown good consistency already: Higuchi, Sakamoto - Kaori Sakamoto comes from juniors, this is her first year in seniors. She didn’t skate her best at her senior debut, but she has great potential. I remember you noticed her while she was still a kid. Right, Angelo?
(A): Yes, in a JGP many years ago… she was so young but you could see she had nice qualities, great flow, and good technique.
(M): Then we have Mirai Nagasu, with planned 3A’s in both the short and the free. Pay attention because she can be a tough rival if she manages to land them.
She’s getting better on that jump, I’ve seen videos from her training sessions and she’s not far from completing the rotations.
Of course, the problem here is always the same: it’s a highly demanding jump, both physically and mentally. If you bomb it and fall, then keeping the focus throughout the rest of your program becomes really difficult.
Just look at Asada, had she left it aside in some moments of her career, she would’ve achieved even bigger results.
(A): Indeed, there were moments in which she really struggled with that jump, and had she given up on it, her skating wouldn’t have suffered for sure.
(M): Moving on, we have Tursynbaeva who skates for Kazakhstan, trains under Brian Orser in Canada, but is in fact Russian and she started her skating career right in Moscow.
She worked with both Tutberidze and Buyanova, and not many skaters have had this opportunity, but it didn’t work out well with either of them so she moved to Toronto.
Tursynbaeva is one of those skaters working on a quad: she has landed 4S several times in practice already. Should she manage to put it in her free, she could become a tough rival for almost everyone but Medvedeva.
(A): Indeed, that could be her weapon to make that final step and be competitive with top skaters. She improved a lot on her skating, that use to be her weakest point. She has nice programs too.
She lacks a bit of quality in her jumps, she can’t make a difference with the GOEs so that’s where she loses to other skaters. But you know, we’re at the beginning of the season and many top skaters might not be in top shape yet, so if she lands her jumps, she can beat those who have more quality than her, in my opinion.
(M): Back to Medvedeva, in recent news, she has decided to ditch the long program that Ilia Averbukh had choreographed for her - it seems he didn’t take it very well - and use her Anna Karenina exhibition program, choreographed by Daniil Gleykhengauz, as her free program for the Olympic season.
Judging from what we’ve seen in the events she took part in so far [t/n Nepela Trophy and Japan Open], I’d say she made the right call.
(A): Absolutely, I liked her Anna Karenina way more too. It’s nobody’s fault, of course, sometimes there are programs and choreographies that just don’t fit you as they should.
Evgenia probably felt that Anna Karenina suited her better and I have to say I totally agree with her. I find it a more interesting program.
(M): A little trivia: in her senior career so far, Evgenia Medvedeva has lost only one competition. Which one? Rostelecom Cup. Where? In Moscow. Who defeated her?
(A): Elena Radionova
(M): Correct, and Radionova will face Medvedeva at Rostelecom Cup this year as well.
Now, the best Radionova we’ve ever seen was able to reach 210 points, but we don’t know what to expect here.
Radionova was affected by physical growth quite a bit, but her biggest flaw was that she wasn’t able to improve her jump quality. She did managed to improve her skating, she got miles better on that. But her jumps still have the same quality (and flaws) they had when she was 12 years old and dominating the field.
She was literally Medvedeva’s worst nightmare as they were both born in 1999 - even though Radionova was born in January and Medvedeva in November - and they competed together in Novice, since in Russia, there are different age eligibility requirements.
In those times, Medvedeva was regularly beaten by Radionova. Then, gradually, things started to change. Radionova managed to win her second Junior World Championship and Medvedeva got third there, but from then on, Evgenia started to improve more and more.
Still, Elena Radionova is the only one, together with Polina Tsurskaya, who defeated Evgenia Medvedeva in the last three years.
(A): She’s almost Evgenia’s nemesis
(M): Well, she was for sure when they were younger, and no one could have predicted Medvedeva’s success back in those years.
Prediction about Ladies competition? First Medvedeva, we’d be nuts to say another name. Higuchi in second place, Kostner or Radionova for third place.
(A): Yes, same. I’d say Kostner or Radionova fighting for the third place, with Tursynbaeva and Nagasu as possible dark horses.
(M): We need to wait and see the technical panel’s meter of judgement. A strict panel may play in favour of Kostner - who never had problems with rotations - while being a risk for Nagasu - who keeps having underrotation issues - but also for Radionova and even Higuchi, at least on her 3Lz3T combo. At Lombardia Trophy, her combos [got no calls], but I think other panels may have marked them under. Medvedeva doesn’t have rotation problems. Tursynbaeva is not always pristine in this regard.
So the meter used to judge rotations may make a difference at Rostelecom Cup.
(A): An athlete like Mariah Bell could be advantaged with a strict panel, too, her rotations being usually full. But she hasn’t shown a consistency on the same level as the other ones.
(M): Mariah Bell who ended at 12th in last year’s Worlds, a skater who has been improving much lately, let’s not forget it. Let’s go to Pairs.
We will have an Italian Pairs competing, Valentina Marchei and Ondrej Hotarek, going after the first podium of their career in a Grand Prix Event.
(A): Looking at the entry list, it could be within their reach, but it won’t be easy.
(M): Tarasova/Morozov can reach 210 even with quite a few mistakes.
(A): And by consequence, they are quite out of reach.
(M): Stolbova/Klimov started the season poorly, but if you go and analyse their programs, you can see how there are some sections skated exceptionally well, mixed with moments in which they lose their ways. I expect them to be in good condition at CoR, and if they are in top condition, they can also score higher than Tarasova/Morozov. But in any case, it’s hard not to predict them to be in one of the first two places.
(A): Yes, those two seem the favourite couples (to win), with T/M a step above, thanks to the difficulties K/S faced in the recent months, otherwise I’d switch the order.
(M): If we look at the last Worlds and at standings for GP, the Italian couple is third.
(A): But it won’t be easy for them. For that third place, I’d put in contention: Canadian Seguin/Bilodeau, who had a very uneven season last year, but they were improving a lot and quickly before it.
(M): One too many injuries for them, and also a not-so-rewarding hunt for elements they never fully managed to own. A hunt that is penalizing them in what used to be their points of strength: clean programs, with many transitions, with a great attention to every detail. Since they started to raise the level on side-by-side jumps, they have started to lose something on everything else and, at same time, those side-by-side jumps didn’t give them the points they had hoped for. So a couple, who seemed close to giving Duhamel/Radford a run for their money, lost itself.
(A): We’ll see if they go back to program content more within their grasp – they can be in contention for a spot on the podium at COR. If they are the same as they were during the last Worlds, then the scenario changes, and a door may open for Valentina and Hotarek.
(M): Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov may be dangerous, too. At the moment they are the fourth pairs couple in Russia, in terms of quality. Russia will only have four pairs in this GPS, because between injuries, retirements, pairs splitting…
(A): It’s not the greatest of times for Russian Pairs skating.
(M): In Senior, they don’t have a huge abundance (of pairs) for their standards. In terms of quality, they have two couples who can aim for a medal at Olympics, but in terms of quantity, it’s not their best moment. Also due to some absurd choices in the juniors... but it’s not always easy to manage many skaters at same time.
So, Marchei/Hotarek have a chance to conquer that podium. For Hotarek, it wouldn’t be a first: he’s already won a GP event, with his former partner, Stefania Berton, at Skate Canada some years ago. For Marchei, it would be a nice first. If they are in top condition, they can get it done. Against the best S/B, they’d pay something on the PCS side, but they can recover the gap on TES.
The third Russian couple seem to be behind on both sides of scoring, but it’s obvious that, in the end, it the quality of execution on every element will be very important.
(A): The battle will be fought first and foremost on that aspect. Valentina and Ondrej skated amazingly well at Worlds, at the end of last season, but the goal [now] is not this GP, obviously. The goal is the Olympic Games and they have to build their season to reach that appointment at their best. This is a nice chance to get on the podium [en route to the Olympics], a result that would also give them a big boost in morale.
(M): Let’s go to Ice Dance. The Ice Dance competition promises to be high quality. We will have an Italian couple there, Guignard/Fabbri. They are trying to get their first GP medal, too, but it won’t be easy at all, considering the average level of the other participants. Top seed, the Shibutanis. We haven’t seen them yet, this season. According to some, that may have been playing it too safe. We’ll see, but my impression is that they have something big to show. We already spoke about Marina Zueva’s (political) weight. The Zueva who goes with Shibutanis at Pyeongchang is more powerful than the Zueva who went with Virtue/Moir and Davis/White both at Sochi. Because in their group, there are more couples - of course not as competitive as V/M or D/W, and to have more couples means to have more judges, we already spoken about it in a previous podcast. Shibutanis are excellent skaters, and I do believe they will have all the chances to express themselves at their best.
(A): They had a great debut in Seniors, years ago, and after some years in which they struggled more, they have finally found their own style.
[t/n: Unfortunately, due to technical issues, Angelo and Max weren’t recorded for a few minutes after this point]
(M): [...] even if Gilles/Poirer may be able to Bobrova/Soloviev a run for their money, what do you think?
(A): Potentially, yes. But they aren’t known for their consistency (in reaching levels 4) and we need to see in what condition they will be there. Personally, I find the best Gilles/Poirer superior to Bobrova/Soloviev, who aren’t one of my favourite ice dance couples, I have to be honest. They can skate at a high level, though. And having the first Grand Prix at home, I’d expect their scores to be high. We’ll see. As I said, for my personal taste, I prefer Gilles/Poirer more.
(M): Regarding Guignard/Fabbri, we need to highlight how often they defeated Stepanova/Bukin. And theoretically, getting over Stepanova/Bukin would mean fourth place. But what we expect from them [at the Rostelecom Cup] is an improvement tout-court. They have already shown good things at Lombardia, points lost for a missing element which we can consider as par for course aside. It won’t be easy to get on the podium, but they have an outside chance.
Focus also on Paersons, who have shown [t/n in juniors] to be a technically excellent couple, especially on Short Dance requirements.
(A): A very, very young couple, but we have been following them for many seasons already, so there’s a lot of curiosity in their first Senior GP. The USA keeps producing high-level Ice Dance couples, we spoke at length about the Junior Grand Prix, where the frontrunner is, again, an American couple.
(M): Pay attention also to Betina Popova and Sergey Mogzov, one of the two couples coached by Ksenia Rumiantseva - we will see the other one, [Loboda/Drodz], next week. In Russia ,they have great hopes for those couples. They only have two spots for Olympics, the impression is there will be three couples fighting for them: Bobrova/Soloviev, Stepanova/Bukin and Sinitsina/Katsalapov. But don’t discount those two younger couples, who may not remain with their current coaching team for much longer. They both showed something good in their first competition of the season.
It’s obvious they still lack experience in Seniors, Popova/Mogzov is a relatively recent partnership [t/n they started in 2016], but they had great results in Junior. Especially Sergey Mogzov, who won everything there is to win in Juniors. Let’s see. They are one of Russia’s hope for Ice Dance, a discipline they used to lead, once upon a time, but where they now have quite a big gap to cover compared to other nations.
Part 3: Questions & Answers
(H): Let’s get to the questions from our listeners. You have already partially answered some of them during this podcast. The first one is about Gracie Gold.
(M): We’ve already said something, but we can go a bit deeper into our comments. Gracie Gold is a skater of great talent, no doubt about it. High-level skating skills, pristine Lutz, quality spins. Gold lacked nothing to succeed, if not a better competition strategy perhaps, and that’s one of the reasons I would never send anyone to Carroll. I’m one of those who, several years ago, strongly disapproved of Kostner going to train with him, even if not many agreed with me back then and called me an idiot just to change their minds after a while – but this is the past. Back to Gold: an athlete who was in the wrong place at the wrong moment. An athlete who kept presenting programs that hindered her, because a Flip shouldn’t even exist in her short programs: go with a Rittberger, instead, which is a way more solid jump. 0.2 point of difference in BV don’t make a difference, but no one seemed to understand it and what has Gracie won in her career? Next to nothing.
That said, she has been dominant in Boston’s World Championships SP. Then, she lost herself in the Free and something broke down.
The life of a skater is full of sacrifice. Sacrifice not only in terms of training. It means to have less free time for friends, hobbies, and also to be under a certain dietary regime, let’s not hide it. Something inside Gold broke. The Gracie I saw this summer was at least 15kg overweight [for being a competitive skater] – an athlete unable to complete doubles. I don’t know if she can come back. I’d love for her to be able to, because she is a pure talent who had the misfortune to be in the wrong place in her best moments.
I think that had Gold been coached by someone else, her results would have been very different. Then, for some, Frank Carroll is a guru, and I don’t question his results as a coach in the past, with skaters who varied a lot between them, like Goebel and Lysacek, for example, and kudos to him for that - but that was another era. The management of Gold has been senseless in the last few seasons, in my opinion.
(A): No doubt there have been many mistakes. What is sad now is to see not only the athlete, but also the person, in great difficulty. She clearly said she was not well, and not only could she not participate in GP, she couldn’t even properly train. She needs a break to regroup. She mentioned the main problems: stress first and then anxiety, but also issues linked to nutrition. You mentioned her shift in weight, and sadly nutrition problems are quite common in our discipline. Weight has its importance in skaters’ – especially female skaters’ – performance, and often the fine line between a sane sporting dietary and a nutritional pathology is quite easy to cross.
(M): In any case, success and sacrifice are closely linked and it may happen that at one point your body tells you, “STOP”.
(A): It’s true, and you need to be able to listen to your body in those moments.
(H): You talked about Frank Carroll, and here we have a question about three great schools of figure skating. Brian Orser’s, Eteri Tutberidze’s and Mie Hamada’s. If you could pick one, to which would you send a hypothetical “Kiss & Cry” young skater?
(M): [laughing] If it were a girl, I’d say to Tutberidze. A boy to Orser. Highest respect for Mie Hamada, but she hasn’t won anything big yet, junior world championship aside. And a slightly peculiar Junior World Champion title, with Tsurskaya and Fedichkina both injured during the competition. Marin Honda did skate in an amazing way and did win deservedly, of course, but it was a really weird event. And how could you not send a girl to Tutberidze, if you had the chance?
(A): If she accepts to train her, but that’s another topic.
(M): And we are back to one of our points. Tutberidze’s scouts cover all competitions in Russia. Then they send skaters’ curricula, videos, everything there is to know. They can’t pick everybody and usually they favour athletes they can start training in-house from very young. But those aren’t always the best athletes all around, in which case, they also import already-formed athletes. This season, two new entries joined their ranks: Tarakanova and Kostornaia, both JGP Finalists… we can’t say they did badly.
Orser did win an Olympic Title with Yuna Kim. But he did amazing things with male skaters: how many World Championships did he bring home? Four? Two for Hanyu, and two for Fernandez. So a boy can go there, no doubt.
Then, if we speak about Japan, Hamada is probably the best school there, now. For quality of skating and everything that is PCS, but also for technique.
(A): What is curious is how Japanese schools have little attractive power. They produce (great skaters), but they don’t attract any to them. They produce and then may send them abroad.
(M): Historically, it has always been so. When has Japan (skating) ever imported something? It’s a very different culture.
(A): Indeed. Instead, they always exported a lot. Athletes already formed, because if you look at Hanyu, for example, he learnt much under Orser, but he already had a huge basis upon which to build when he left Japan. But I’d pick Orser too, probably for a girl, too. It depends on many factors. It must be said that Russian schools don’t import much either, but in that case, it’s more a choice on their part.
(M): I have to stress on something. The two Japanese Olympic Champions, Arakawa and Hanyu, trained abroad before their Olympic success, but what else do they have in common? Their provenance. Sendai.
Japan is a nation with a great tradition and culture of winter sports, and not only in the Hokkaido prefecture, Japan’s northern island and mountains area. In winter sports, Japan got great results with athletes coming from all its main islands, Okinawa aside. But Japan won very few Olympic titles and there’s a very interesting stat. In individual sports, the first gold medal coming from a place X is followed by another gold medal from the same place X.
It happened in Figure Skating, with Arakawa in 2006 and Hanyu 2014 both from Sendai, it happened also with Ski Jumping, which is the main winter sport discipline alongside figure skating there. Third one is speed skating - with Yukio Kasaya and Kazuyoshi Funaki both from Yoichi.
And again, it’s not by chance that Arakawa and Hanyu both went abroad. And it’s not by chance that the Olympic Gold hadn’t been won by Midori Ito, who always remained in Japan, instead.
(H): A listener asks you, “Why do Papadakis and Cizeron’s lifts receive +3 on GOE even if their lifts are more conservative, while other ice dancers who risk more and are more original on lifts receive +2”?
(M): First of all, what does matter [in GOE] is the quality of execution. Originality is important, but it’s not something that judges really look at. If a lift is well executed and it has the necessary bullets and is level 4, +3 is almost automatic. We can spend a long time discussing about technically difficulty of various lifts, but top dancers create their lifts for level 4 and +3.
(A): I agree with you, what’s important is first and foremost the quality of execution. Then, I’d like to stress on how Papadakis and Cizeron’s lifts have always been done with particular care and accordance to music nuances, and this is a detail especially well rewarded in Ice Dance. Even if the change of position or the choreographic movements with hands or heads are easy, if they are done underscoring musical accents, well, that’s something judges can easily pick up and reward with GOE. And we can’t forget the flow and the speed they maintain during those lifts.
(M): This (the flow and speed) is not only typical of their lifts, but of all their skating. It’s their main characteristic. There are other athletes with different weapons in their repertoire, but – and you don’t need us to tell you about it – Papadakis/Cizeron and Virtue/Moir will be the top contenders for Olympic Title. They have different ways to interpret and skate Ice Dance; even if they are now coached by the same staff, we can say they represent almost two completely different schools. May the best couple win.
(H): You already spoke about the new FP for Medvedeva. What do you think about Karen Chen changing her FP, instead?
(M): This is last-minute news. Karen Chen is another athlete who decided to drop the chosen FP - a Carmen, in her case. I’m more intrigued about what brought the decision to pick “Carmen” as the Olympic program in the first place, though. Karen’s mother liked Carmen and decided it was the right program and so, with the agreement from her coaching team, Carmen it was. A coaching team that is led by Tammy Gambill, one of the most underrated USA coaches, and a coach who is doing a good job with skaters from the USA and, not only from there – see Brendan Kerry, for example. Anyway, Karen Chen did have very little freedom of choice with her previous FP. But then she realized it wasn’t a music she was able to skate well enough and – probably convincing her mother too – she decided to switch to a new one in the last few days. There isn’t much time to prepare a new FP – she will be a Skate Canada, right?
(A): Yes, at Regina for Skate Canada.
(M): It would be an interesting topic to look into: how a piece of music is chosen, who has more influence over it, different scenarios depending on different skaters and couples.
(H): Another question: “Chances to see Ivan Righini in his best shape again?”
(A): I don’t think we are the right people who can answer this question. We’d need to hear what his coaching team has to say.
(M): We’d need the chance to watch him in practice. He is training in the same rink alongside other skilled skaters. One of his training mates is Samarin, for example, who executes three differents quads, including the Lutz. Lutz which, as all toe jumps are, has always been one of Righini’s strengths. He often did Rippon-Lutz and Rippon-Flip.
Then again, his character is not so easy to read. When he is in good condition, he is a competitive skater, I’m not sure if above Rizzo’s level, but still… it’s hard to judge anything when you can’t see him in practice.
I think Italy did give him a great opportunity. I’m not sure we can say he exploited it at its fullest.
(A): For what I know about the two skaters, I’d say that, today, Matteo Rizzo is more competitive, if nothing else, for the consistency he has shown on the triple Axel, something that Righini never handled well.
(M): Not to mention that Matteo put away so many good scores [t/n for Italian Internal ranking] that it’s going to be prohibitive for anyone else to catch him [t/n for Olympics Team]. And Matteo conquered those points all on his own merits and deservedly so. He did miss one program this season so far. Sadly, it’s that one program that keeps him from being in the Junior Grand Prix Final, but it is still only one program. We’ll see what happens at the Nationals, but I don’t believe that anyone - even if that person won the Italian Championships - could win with such a margin on Matteo to knock him down from first place in the ranking list.
(H): Speaking of Rizzo, “Can he participate in the next Junior World Championships?”
(M): Of course, based on eligibility rules we explained earlier. Then we will see if he does go there, it’s not like he can do everything, poor boy. To be part of important international events is awesome, but Senior World Championships at home, Olympic Games, Junior World Championships in the middle… at some point, he and his team need to make some decisions. Of course, if he is in good health and well prepared, and if he can also add a 4T to his repertoire, he is the one who can go to JWC and also get a medal: a crowning moment for Italian skating, but everything needs to be properly evaluated. Priorities needs to be put down and we must first consider whether Matteo will be able to participate in all the competitions, maintaining a high level of performances. He has a great team around him, just look at his father’s results, his mother’s, his coach does know international skating very well… I think they can decide on the best route to follow.
Let’s not forget, again, that this boy did take part in 4 competitions in a month, and he did miss a program. Even at Lombardia, where he struggled a bit more in SP, he did show good things. Lots of quality, many positive aspects: just let’s not try to do too much overtime work. Let’s not forget WC at home in Milan - he wasn’t born in Milan, because his parents weren’t coaching there at that time, but agonistically speaking, he grew up in Lombardy. Zanica, Sesto, now Bergamo: all important rinks for Italian figure skating and I’d say, once upon a time, for short track, too. I remember I went to Zanica for training when I was a kid, because at those times, it was hard to find ice rinks in Milan. Not for you, you had the Piranesi rink for you, because you were privileged [laughs] (t/n Piranesi was the historical ice rink in Milan. Also known as “Palaghiaccio,” it was where elite figure skaters trained and Milan hockey teams played. It opened in 1923 and shut down in 2002 after many economical troubles). We could only go there for some competitions, otherwise we had the Saini rink [t/n Saini is a multi-sports center, nowadays especially used by Universities], outdoor and with leaves and branches from trees around that fell on ice, or Zanica when weather was bad or ice couldn’t be maintained. [laughs again]. Stories of other times.
(H): Next one: “Best FP/SP of Carolina’s career”
(M): [bursts out laughing] Oh, boy… I do believe we could talk for a whole podcast about this. Especially on the construction of some of those programs. I’ve quite a peculiar relationship speaking about Kostner. “Caro-fans” consider me an enemy who berates Kostner. “Anti-Kostner” consider me an enemy who defends Kostner when she can’t be defended. My position is neither one nor the other. Simply, I don’t get extremely excited over wins, like during Worlds at Nice in 2012, where the technical content was what it was, and I don’t get depressed over defeats where she showed interesting things. It’s a position that seems to dissatisfy everybody, but let it be so.
That said, if we analyse pre-2010 programs, we can see some difficulty - not from Kostner, but from those who designed those programs - in understanding where figure skating was going [t/n: understanding how to make the COP System work in your favour]. Probably many things weren’t understood by many, or only Brian Orser really got them…
(A): They were ambitious programs, probably too much. Maybe they did understand the system, but those programs weren’t suited to the skater and to the best characteristic of that skater. We can’t deny that in some parts of her career, she attempted some very tough technical content.
(M): For sure, but we go back to baby Kostner, a skater who grew up with a different scoring system. And after that, (her team) struggled to understand how to best exploit the COP System for her. In other words: she was a skater who could have aimed for high GOE even in that part of her career from 2007 to 2010, something she never did because her programs were far too demanding.
Look at Worlds in Goteborg (2008). Some say Kostner should have won because Asada fell before a 3A. No, Kostner shouldn’t have won. Because if you go and look at Carolina’s quality on all her jumps, there’s not a single one she managed to complete well. Of course, the technical level reached was high - by Carolina, Asada herself, Kim who got bronze… but if you look at her quality there, it wasn’t on the same level as others’.
And let me tell you more. The difference between Carolina and Kim/Sotnikova in Sochi was again the same. Carolina did complete two Axels and seven triples [in Sochi], but the quality of her second-half jumps was nowhere comparable to what the other two showed. That’s not contestable. So, if we really want to say she should have won the Gold Medal, let’s say so and pat ourselves on the back, but if you go and analyse every jump, you have to point this out.
(A): That said, Sochi’s FP remains one of her best programs of her career.
(M): An exceptional program, for sure.
(A): An exceptional program, regardless of the final result. A bronze she got deservedly and with a great performance.
(M): Even more considering the difficulty of that music, Bolero. Last week, we talked about musics to retire. Bolero for Ice Dance was one of them. And she did manage to skate to the same music with a very high-level program. Probably her best free program tout-court.
I’d say that she had many more good short programs than free programs in her career. In short programs, she always managed to express herself better, for many different reasons.
(A): Shubert’s Ave Maria is very nice.
(M): But also the short program for this season.
(A): Quite good too, indeed. And then Dvorak (Humoresque), too. Among free programs, I’d mention also Memoirs of a Geisha, for the program and the choreo itself, more than any of her performances of it. One of my favourite programs all round choreographed to that music.
(M): A program that, even if you were to compare it with the best Asian skaters, wouldn’t lose in a battle on quality.
I repeat, my doubts on Kostner are on the strategy she followed during the golden years of her career. We can’t forget that Kostner started her Senior Career at the worst possible moment. A no man’s land, during the switch from one system to the other. I’ve said this more than once: 13-years-old Kostner could have left her mark on the figure skating world much more strongly than she did.
(A): I remember this program from 2004, a free program, in which she did complete six triples and one double Axel in the five jumping passes she was allowed to do. Two 3-3 combo plus 2A-Lo-3S. And we are talking about 2004.
(M): Indeed. Back then, Kostner was the equivalent of what young Russian skaters are now. For sure, that skating was less complex if we speak about transitions. Kostner could put down that flow and speed she always had and that would switch things in her favour. Potentially she was a #1. She had, even as a kid, some “black-outs”, losing competitions she had basically already won. I’m recalling a Final of the Junior Grand Prix.
Frankly, there are many beautiful programs by Kostner. If we take strategy into account, I’d say: Bolero, the idea to bring that to Olympics was perfect. Short program, I’m more in doubt, Šostakovič (Allegretto From Piano Trio n.2) was very good, too.
Maybe the problem is that, lately, her choreo tends to be a bit repetitive. It would have been nice to see Kostner working with another choreographer at some point in her career. Just switching it up a bit, especially now that she has reached a great maturity.
(A): Maybe using two different choreographers in the same season, one for the short, the other for the free.
(M): Sooner or later, we will talk in depth of Carolina’s career. Outside of Italy, she remains the most famous (Italian) athlete from a winter sport. You can’t find an athlete with her popularity, even taking in consideration alpine skiing, biathlon, and all other winter sports. Her popularity goes beyond the results she reached.
(A): And probably, rightfully so.
(M): Results that are exceptional for an Italian athlete, good if we speak in absolute terms. Just a pity, because with her talent, she could have won more. And the fault is not hers.
Her management, her strategies, her program layouts… all of these had been mishandled at certain phases of her career.
How many times did we try to understand the rationale behind some of those choices?
I remember once, we were in Helsinki, in the practice rink: the Cave, a jewel. And we asked, “But why is she doing this?” And the answer we got from her staff was: “Because there isn’t a program with a higher BV, you can’t get more points than with that.”
How can’t you get more points than with that?! Go for something easier! Cut down on the mistakes, aim for quality and high GOE, that’s how you get more points. There had been this misinterpretation of the new system that somehow penalized her, not taking Frank Carroll into account, who was the lowest point of her career – but that couldn’t have come out any differently.
(H): Last question for today: "We had three (Italian) junior skaters in Egna and three in Marseille [sic], the latter ones had very promising results, especially considering they were all Novice skaters last season. Their scores have been quite high, too, higher than Gennaro's in Egna. Were those scores in France too high or can we take them seriously?"
(M): Complicated topic. First of all, it wasn't Marseille, but Nice. Coupe de Nice, an event that is always hard to judge, especially for the uneven conditions you can find there. 25 degrees (C) outside, and I remember a Pairs event with huge puddles on ice causing all lifts to be extremely risky. That aside, we talked a bit last week and also earlier today. Lucrezia Gennaro did grow up a lot over the past few months. Unluckily, she also had some physical issue, and now she is going through a difficult moment. We need to wait and see if she will be able to get healthy again. The other one we didn't mention is Piredda, who was in Nice together with Beccari and Tornaghi. At the start of the season, Beccari seemed in better shape, now it's Tornaghi's turn. They both have a good technical repertoire already, and they are cared for by ambitious staff. Let's see what happens in the future. As of today, I'm not able to predict a ranking. There are too many factors to take into account.
(A): It's fair to give some space for all these athletes to grow. Beccari had a stage in JGP; Leccardi is still the one getting highest scores (among them); Tornaghi did very well in Nice. But it's always difficult to compare scores in a Junior GP with other Junior competitions. We can't just look at cold numbers. What needs to be looked at is the many good performances our juniors have had. Everybody will have their chance, but what [the Italian fed] needs to consider more thoroughly is whom they choose to send to the Worlds, because that choice will be very important to determine the next season’s spots for JGP. Leccardi did very well last season at JWC.
(M): Angelo, let's explain what you mean by " consider more thoroughly". Junior competitions are bound to the mandatory solo jump in SP [t/n for juniors competitions, the jump “preceded by steps/comparable movements” is fixed and change every season. This season is Lutz] , so maybe it would be worth it to send the one with the more secure 3Lz among them.
(A): Yes, it's very important to get over the cut-off in the SP at Worlds, and the better the result, the more spots for the following season’s JGP.
(M): Don't forget who we will have there: 3 Russians, 3 Japanese, 2 Koreans, USA skaters are not far... (from ours). Dream results would be to get near top 10.
(A): Hard but not impossible.
(M): Leccardi has very ambitious programs. Let's not forget that she is eligible for Seniors, same as Gennaro. Not the others, who are younger. It's a good group of athletes. We had other good groups in the past. Casella, Tagliapietra, Cristini... some of them lost their way, others had physical issues. Cristini is now back in Seniors, and she’s one of our best in the category. But much can change for girls. Elements you completed at 13 may be out of your reach at 15. Young girls are not always the easiest to take care of. Other nations’ organization and quality [in their management of an athlete] is different, but it's a complex topic.
Let's see. For sure, the Italian Junior Ladies Team is an interesting one.
(A): And this is the most important thing.
[skipping Rostelecom Cup Eurosport coverage information]
And that’s all for Podcast #4!
Thanks and cheers for anyone who reached last line. As usual, we hope you enjoyed!
Cheers,
The-A-Team
#fs translation#podcast: kiss&cry#yuzuru hanyu#evgenia medvedeva#nathan chen#carolina kostner#wakaba higuchi#rika kihira#alyona kostornaia#alexandra trusova#you young#sofia samodurova#matteo rizzo#junior grand prix#senior grand prix#figure skating#marchei/hotarek#mikhail kolyada#and many more
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