You know who I like to watch during the competitions? The skaters of course, but also, their coaches. It's amazing to me that 15, 16-year-olds like Mirai Nagasu, Caroline Zhang, Rachael Flatt and others, are in this pressure-cooker of a sport and yet are expected to sometimes remain a kid and other times, criticized for not being mature like their older counterparts from other countries. And whenever I see them sitting with their coaches in the Kiss and Cry area, I often wonder what kind of person the coach is. The "business" of skating must weigh heavily on the coach's mind as nowadays, they deal with the team of agents, managers, sports psychologists, trainers, parents, goodness knows who else, whose job it is to maximize a skater's potential while the small window of opportunity is open to get THE title.
So I caught up with Charlene Wong, coach for 2008 U.S. national champion Mirai Nagasu (see above, Charlene and Mirai at 2008 Nationals), to get some insights into her personality as well as her thoughts on the current state of skating. Charlene, now 42, was a four-time silver medalist at the Canadian
Figure Skating Championships (1983, 1988-1990) and also competed in the
1988 Winter Olympics. After turning professional in 1990, she won the 1990 U.S. Open Professional Figure Skating
Championships and also toured extensively with Torvill and Dean. She currently lives in Hermosa Beach,
California.
1. What do you think of the new judging system? Do you sometimes wish for the days of 6.0s?
There is one thing we can always count on and that is change. I remember when I was very little and they introduced the short program. With each year that passed, changes were made in how scores were calculated, how many times we went around our school figures, how many figures we had to practice, etc etc. Embracing the changes in our sport while honoring the talent and skill of those who succeeded when different criteria needed to be met is what I choose to do. I feel this is the best way to support both the forward evolution of our sport, educate and entertain audiences, and respect our skating heritage.
2. As a former competitive skater, and now coach/sometimes psychologist/de facto business person for skaters, is there something you wished you knew back then and have learned in recent years, that made you think, "Gosh, I wish I had known this back then."
I am not the type of person who thinks in terms of "if only" or "could have, would have, should have". It is what it is and everything happens for a reason. When a person thinks "if only I would have known such and such " it shows a certain amount of fear or lack of trust that everything is as it should be. I try to always do my best and if I look back and think I didn't do my best, then that is the only thing I acknowledge and then try to change. One of my favorite expressions is, "Everything is okay in the end and if it's not okay, it's not the end." If anything when I look back over what were my experiences as a competitive figure skater I think "ah ha" something, somewhere knew I would be here and that is why such and such happened the way it did. It was preparing me for what I am going through now, only I didn't know it then.
3. Other than Mirai Nagasu, who are some of your other students?
At any given time, I am training and working with up to 40 clients/students and offering a myriad of different services related to ice skating. I find myself to be quite different from many of the other coaches who choose to train several high level skaters in that I choose not to train more than a handful of elite or high level competitive ice skaters. I love working with the high profile skaters but I also love working with my baby skaters and test skaters, my regional competitors and of course my adult students. I coach because I like helping people enjoy their skating experience.
4. You are a vegetarian. Were you a vegetarian from a young age or was this something that developed later on in life?
Although I am not as strict a vegetarian as I once was, I do continue to choose to eat more like a vegetarian than not. I would call myself a "conscious eater". It all started with my desire to be as lean and healthy as possible as a teenager around 17-years-old. With more education, as well as trial and error, it also turned into an expression of my attempt to show compassion for all living things. Mostly, I try not to be a fanatic or push my ideas about this on other people, especially my students because everyone is on their personal journey regarding such things. I am far from flawless in my eating because now I am back to drinking diet soda...sigh... this will be my first day "off" of it ...again. I have gone as long as eight years no diet soda :) After speaking with one of my like-minded colleagues as Pacific Coasts I may very well be off it for good this time :)
5. What is a typical day like for you?
Usually I get up between 3:50 and 4:30 a.m. and try to get
some yoga in before caring for my five dogs. Then it's off to work. I will
either work a short "shift" and return home to do things - return e-mails, calls, do planning, music, etc - at my desk, or I will teach at the
rink all morning and grab lunch on the run :) I usually have another
"shift " from 3 to 7 p.m. I will hope to miss traffic
on the way home, but usually end up in it and find myself making my final calls
for the day. I get home, walk the dogs (this takes about 90 minutes), connect with
friends, etc. and then it's bed and the whole thing starts again :)
6. If you could invite three people over for dinner (dead or alive, fictional or nonfictional), who would they be and why?
It's hard to narrow it down to three, especially if I were to
include people who aren't alive. Honestly I would probably change these
three people if you asked me tomorrow but right now the following people
come to mind: I would invite CNN's Anderson Cooper because he is intelligent, well-spoken and charismatic, basketball coach John Wooden because I admire his coaching and life philosophy, and the actor Scott Speedman just because
;)
7. If we looked in your i-Pod/CD player right now, what would we find?
I don't have an i-Pod and I just played Christina Aguilera's new cd which I put on after listening to a Japanese language learning cd.
8. What is your guilty pleasure?
Getting a Thai Yoga Massage.
9. Which skaters do you admire because they have led a well-balanced life and lead by example?
I love the skaters from my generation, Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, Brian Orser and Randy Gardner.
10. Can you update us on the Charlene Wong Ice Skate Foundation, which is a program you wanted to start to give underprivileged children access to figure skating?
Sadly, I have no news to report. I have been so busy with coaching
that despite some very kind and knowledgeable people coming to my aid in trying to get things going, all starts have been
delayed. Looking at what I have in front of me I don't think there
will be any forward movement before spring or summer 2009.
(
Photo below, Charlene Wong and Mirai Nagasu at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Mirai went on to win the bronze medal.)
How to have an unhealthy relationship with your child, spouse and the rest of your family. I'm looking at you Mrs. Kim! [NYT]
"I'd go to the rink and I'd hear people talking about me because I wasn't able to do the jumps anymore. It was the worst feeling of my life." [Slam.canoe]
