Brian Orser: "Yuzuru and Javi are different, but help each other"
May 15, 2014
By Veneta Yaneva
Photos c Andriana Andreeva
Brian Orser could without problems earn the “Coach of the year” award after the amazing season of his skaters. Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) won the Olympic and World titles; Javier Fernandez (Spain) defended his European gold and got bronze at Worlds. And young Nam Nguyen (Canada) debuted at senior events with success and won Junior Worlds. In Sofia, Bulgaria, Brian was nice enough to share some thoughts about the season and the differences between his top students.
Mr. Orser, it’s a little unexpected to see you at Junior Worlds…
I always get excited to see my athletes experience Junior Worlds. I have good memories of Junior Worlds because of my other skaters and my own experience in 1978. It was the first time I realized I was at a big event. And after that competition I started focusing on the Olympics and dreaming of big things.
You are coaching 2 girls here. Tell me about them.
It’s their first Junior World Championships because they are age eligible and it’s a good experience for them. I’ve had the South African girl for 3-4 seasons (Michaela Du Toit) and there’s the girl from Kazakhstan (Elizabet Turzynbaeva). She was trying to come last spring but couldn’t get the visa, so it took her 6 month to come to Canada. We are together since about 4 months, she is a little late in her preparation, but we are still learning. She has old habits we have to gradually change?training habits, technique habits, performance habits. We have to work a lot.
How long have you worked with Nam? He has achieved so much at such young age.
I’ve worked with him for exactly 2 years. He was a real superstar when he was young; at 8 years old, 10 years old… He had the cute thing happening; he was cute - young, spinning fast… So when I started working with Nam again, there were many habits that had to be changed. We had to move him away for the cute thing, because the cute thing only lasts for a short time. Now he competes with the big boys and must be like them, with eyes on the senior events, eyes on the big jumps, big speed. Sometimes a skater gets lost at the junior level because it’s slower and then all of a sudden you put him in the senior level and you realize how slow he is. So he had a good opportunity ? the Four Continents. There he realized that these guys are going faster and filling the space. And it’s not that they are doing harder tricks, they are all doing triple Axel, but they fill the space. And when he was at the Four Continents with one of my other coaches, Nam came back and started to fill the space in trainings. He started skating bigger. He also skates every day with Yuzuru Hanyu and Javier Fernandez. He skates with them, but now he will also compete with them. Filling the space and skating faster are things that come when a skater is ready and Nam is ready now.
