by LYNN RUTHERFORD Standing behind the boards at competi-


tions, Rafael Arutunian can look intense as he wills Ashley Wagner, Adam Rippon and Nathan Chen to land their jumps, center their spins and deliver their programs with authority. Tere’s no doubt the Southern California coach, a former Soviet national competitor who began his career in his native Armenia in the 1970s, is a strong character. “Where I am today started a year ago, tell-


ing Raf I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Rip- pon said after his winning free skate at the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. “Raf just said, ‘Buddy, you need to figure it out.’” Yet when Arutunian accepted the Pro-


fessional Skaters Association (PSA) Award for Coach of the Year in Minneapolis this May, he was almost speechless. “I worked for that (award) for 40 years,”


Arutunian said. “I’ve never had anything as big as that award before. I think I was the first Russian singles skating coach who got it. “I couldn’t give a big speech (at the event) — that would be hard for anyone, especially me, because I’m basically Russian — but I wanted to talk about our teamwork, my coaching assistants (wife Vera and Nadia Kanaeva), my skaters and how we all work so hard.” Te award puts Arutunian in illustrious


company. Frank Carroll, John Nicks, Igor Shpil- band, Marina Zoueva and Tom Zakrajsek, to name a few, have all been honored in recent years. PSA Executive Director Jimmie Santee


thinks Wagner’s stunning programs at the 2015 U.S. Championships, where she landed her tri- ple-triple combinations and reclaimed the ladies title she won in 2012 and 2013, sealed the deal for Arutunian. “It was wonderful to see Rafael win; he re-


ally, truly honors the award,” Santee said. “Ash- ley’s victory was foremost on everybody’s mind. It was the culmination of a lot of things: where she came from, how they got her to peak at nation- als.”


Rohene Ward, who is based in Monument, Colorado, was honored with the Paul McGrath Choreographer of the Year Award, for his work with U.S. champion Jason Brown. “I was speechless. I still can’t really explain


how it feels,” Ward said. “I feel very blessed. I finally feel like there was a reward for the moun- tain of work I put in for so long.” Te U.S. Figure Skating Coaches Commit-


tee votes on which choreographer, among sever- al nominees, receives the award. Santee thinks


Brown’s electric delivery of his programs at the 2015 U.S. Championships made the difference. “Coaches look at choreography as one of the most important aspects of competition,” Santee said. “It can make or break a skater. Tey felt Rohene’s programs (for Brown) were differ- ence-makers. Te crowd was able to get behind them, as they did the year before, with River- dance.” Ward’s stellar work has not gone unno- ticed. Tis season, he is again choreographing for Brown, as well as U.S. competitors Courtney Hicks, Mariah Bell, Jordan Moeller and Hannah Miller, among many others. “I ask skaters, ‘What direction are you try-


ing to go? Or not go?’” Ward said of his working process. “I give them some options for music I found that I feel suits them and brings out their strengths. Tat’s the number one thing: playing to the skaters’ strengths, versus trying to make them something different.” Te awards banquet was just one highlight of the PSA conference, held annually and attend- ed by many of the working coaches in the U.S. Ben Agosto, Artem Torgashev and, jointly,


Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson were a few of the prominent coaches and choreographers to deliver seminars featuring technical and business aspects of coaching for PSA members to take home to their own rinks. “We want to celebrate the sport, motivate


the coaches, give them great technical and busi- ness knowledge,” Santee said. In conjunction with the conference, PSA


revived the U.S. Open, opening it to professional skaters in all disciplines, as well as specialty per- formers and group acts. “It was a celebration of people who wanted


to share something artistic, exciting or entertain- ing, and the competition was a sidebar to that,” Doug Mattis, who coproduced the event with Santee, said. “Te more outlets we have like this for today’s (competitive) skaters to see, the more interested they will be in entertaining a crowd, as well as scoring a lot of points.” Te judges — who delivered comments live


after each program — included Carroll, Internet celebrity and adult skater Michael Buckley, Miss America 1977 Dorothy Benham, skating and act- ing coach Tim Covington and ice show producer Sylvia Froescher. Ryan Jahnke, the 2003 U.S. bronze medal-


ist, won the Skater’s Skater Award while two-time Canadian pairs bronze medalists Jodeyne Higgins and Sean Rice took Grand Champion honors.


SKATING 15


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84