I've been trying to put myself in the shoes (or skates) of the high-level figure skaters that have recently changed coaches. Just seven months away from the 2010 Olympics, a fair number of top skaters have put their futures into the hands of new coaches.
In some cases, it seems like a newly acquired title may have caused the skater to believe he or she needed a coaching change. Jeremy Abbott, who won the U.S. men's title in Cleveland in January, walked away from the coach he's trained with since 1999. And while I have great admiration for his new coach, Yuka Sato, I can't help thinking, "Why change now?" The other guy did get you to the podium.
Maybe some of the skaters had been thinking about changing coaches for a while, and the upcoming Olympics provided a reason to do something about it. It's also possible that a long-coveted spot opened up on a coach's schedule, and it just happened to occur half a year away from the biggest competition in a figure skater's life.
When the skating season kicks off in a few months, we'll find out if these coaching changes were smart moves or risky ones.
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