ENTREVISTA A A NAM NGUYEN
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It can be very obvious, but we usually begin
our interviews asking about your beginnings. How did you start skating and when
did you decide that you wanted to do it as something more than a hobby?
“I started skating at the age of five years old, but I only
started playing hockey first like any other Canadian boys across Canada. It
wasn't until a few months in that my parents put me into figure skating classes
to improve my skating skills for hockey and then, when I won my first national
title at eight years old, that's kind of when I decided to just continue with
figure skating because at that point I wasn't interested in getting hit or
chasing the puck at all and I was more
into jumping spinning and giving the audience a performance that they can
remember. In terms of when did I see this as more than a hobby, I think it was around 10 or 11 years old. I
can't exactly remember. but I think it was when I started getting all my triple
jumps that's it it turned more into a career than a hobby”
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Since
you started in the senior category in 2014, surprising the skating scene and
considering your progression (with your best and worst stages). What's left of
the 16-year-old Nam in Nam now? If you could give advice to your self then,
what would it be?
“It is true that I moved to the
senior ranks at a very young age and I think with that it just came with a lot of excitement and so I
was able to kind of put out good skates at every competition that I went to and this was all before I started going
through the growth spurt and
all those kinds of struggles.
You know,
and I don't think there's any left of that 16 year old me in the current
version of myself now....so you
know it's a there's been a lot of questions about that and my answer is always been the same and it's that I want
to keep improving myself every day and just only look forward and not look back in the past what I did, You
know at that age when I first moved to
the senior ranks was was great for sure but at the same time I don't want to be
remembered for that I want to be
remembered for what I do every day and that's something that I've been striving to work on.
And you
know if there's any advice that I could give to the past version of myself I
would say you have to trust yourself
and trust the team around you especially going through that growth growth spurt because things can
get really challenging and if you don't trust your teammates around you then you can go nowhere and I went
through that hard time I went through
so many issues that could have been fixed easily if I relied on the help of my teammates, but instead I went the other way
and that didn't really work out too well for me. So
yeah.
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Your
sport career can be divided into several clear stages,witch match with your
changes of coach and training place/base. Now you are with Robert Burke, seeing
the current results was a great choice but at the time what made you choose
him?
“It is true that in my career so far that I've bounced
around with a lot of coaches and switch to a number of training places in the
past, but now I found a coach who was perfect for me and that's Robert Burke.
He's helped me through so much and he's been there for me through thick and
thin and everything in between. You know, he's the guy that understands me more
better than I can understand myself. So, you know, he really has that magic
touch in which you know if I come in and you know I'm not feeling too well He
can look at me in the eye and you know change everything around for me. So yeah,
it's true that since working with him we've put out some pretty decent results
but you know I think it's more of the day to day where we work together and
that's more that's more of a gift to me than than the results we accomplish
together, I think the journey and the processes is way more important than
anything else and so far in our two years we've been doing very well and. Yeah
he's a great guy for sure.”
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After
your fifth place in the Rostelecom Cup GP, your second assignment for the
season, and your silver in the Skate Canada GP you have accumulated 20 points.
It looks improbable - maybe almost impossible
- that you go on to the GPF, and thus the season seems to be over for
you. What are your impressions about this GP Series? What changes are you
planning to implement for the nationals and the rest of the season? What are
your goals?
“So at the time of answering this question I had already
found out that I just missed the Grand Prix final and I am first alternate for
it so you know in a way I think it's pretty cool that I got this close to the
final but also at the same time it is a little it kind of sucks a little
because I'm so close to it but you know what it's also like a great experience
for sure. And I think looking back on to the Grand Prix series I think I did
well especially esky Canada, the energy was great at both events and my team
and I just stuck with the plan and and executed the job out there minus the one
mistake I did at Russia and the free program but other than that I'm really
happy with how the Grand Prix season went and now it's time to look forward to
the second half of the season and that's starting with Nationals and I think
that is the most important competition of the year. So we have a plan and set
and you know and now we just have to follow up with it every day. So Yeah
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What
do you think about quads at ladies category? Are you in favor of being allowed
to do quads also in the short program?
“So we're at a point now in our sport where the progression
that everybody's making is so rapid and we're at a point now where we're
watching ladies do quads and they're in their programs and it's so amazing to
see but also at the same time I'm a little worried for them, just because you
know what if they fall you know and they hurt themselves really bad and that could
be the end of their career. You know and and that's that's a worry I have for
both the men and ladies I think you know it's you know when you try to use
thes...these elements there's a risks to it. So obviously there's nothing to
take away from what they're doing. but you know, I know that they've worked so
hard and they're incredibly talented and they're naturally gifted in the air
and they know where they are and what to do with the technique but at the same
time you know I think there's a point where, personally I think, we should be a
little bit wary of how much we do with these jumps because you can only do so
much in and out, You know you get that unlucky chance of of you know taking off
of a mistimed takeoff for a quad and you end up hurting yourself so yes, I
think it's really cool to see that the ladies are doing quads but at the same
time I'm a little little worried that you know they could be injury prone and
when they do injure themselves it could be career ending for that.”
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Seeing more and more ladies try to do quads, do you
think a mixed competition would be possible in the near future? Is this the
future that figure skating is evolving?
“Somebody asked me this question in the past and my answer
is that if there is a time that we have to compete against the ladies I think
that's when I'll retire, just because I'm not going to lie I'm a little bit
intimidated by....by what the ladies are doing right now and it's so incredible
to see but I'm glad that we have our own discipline and they have their own
discipline but if we ever have to compete against each other well then I think
that's the end for me, because at that point for me is just too scary to
compete.”
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Continuing
with this subject, how do you see the evolution of the male category? Do you
think it is counterproductive to include more and more quads and “forget” in a
some way the artistic part? Don't you think that sometimes it is more
productive to make programs with less difficulty but that they can be skated
cleanly?
“As far as the man goes I think the evolution is it. Yes
it is fast but I think it's also very steady. You know it's uh it's good to see
the men being able to put out insanely difficult technical content but at the
same time they're there it's still able to perform their programs so well and I
know in the past that that has been a subject amongst many whether or not the
men could actually, you know, keep up both aspects and progress in their
programs. But for now it's great because you know there's so many men that can
just keep up with both technical content and artistics which is nice to see and
I think for myself I'm still striving to get there. But yeah, I mean, I don't
really know what else to say but other than the the progression for males
figure skating is is pretty good so far.”
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In
Rostelecom Cup we were surprised that of 10 skaters, 3 took the same song in
your program. Do you think originality should be fostered in any way when
choosing the music of the programs? Are you one of those who get involved in
this election or let trainers and choreographers do? What music would you like to skate and you
still haven't had a chance? Which one would you never skate and can't even
listen?
“Yes. The Grand Prix in Russia, there were three guys
including myself that skate into the same piece of music for the short program
and I think that was pretty funny, but also at the same time it was interesting
to see how we interpret to that music in our own way, I think we all did it
very definitely which was great. The other two boys did it so well and it it's
funny that you know figure skating can be so unique at times but also it can be
similar, I mean, we're all doing the same the same moves the same spins but we
put our own twist to it which I think makes it so unique. I think that
originally originality should be fostered but, you know, there's not really
much you can do, I mean I know a lot of skaters including myself make
announcements during the offseason on what we're going to be skating to and I
know some like to keep it as a surprise. But you know what as long as you're
able to interpret it in your own way then I think we're fine. You know there's
so many pieces of music that I would love to skate to, but you know, obviously
there's only so much that you can do within the season. So they're all on the
backburner and there are some pieces of music that I would never ever skate to
just because that's the nature of it. But yeah.”
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In
this respect,how is the creative process of your programs from the beginning?
“So for me the choreography process starts off with taking
the music. I mean that goes with any other skater too in the world.but I think
everybody has their own process in terms of creating choreography. and that
also depends on who the choreographer is. Everybody has a different approach to
it. For me generally if I have to if I'm making a program up for myself, for
example like a show program or whatever, I usually listen to music and I let
that music create the choreography itself so I don't really think, I just
do.... and more than half the time I forget what I do, which is why I have a
camera on me to kind of help capture that moment. But I think it all just boils
down to.... to who the choreographer is and they and I know that all of them
have a very different approach to to creating a program.”
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A
few weeks ago it was reported Vincent Zhou withdrew from his Grand Prix
assignments to be able to focus on his studies. How do you combine your
personal life with skating?
“So it's always important to maintain some sort of balance
in your life, especially when you're skating full time really. So for me what
my team and I do is we sit down at the beginning of the year and we create a
schedule that is able to meet the demands of my sport but also meets the demands
of school. So you know right now we're being strategic with how many courses I
take per semester. And we also have to take into consideration of the rest and
recovery because that is so important and to be able to kind of function day to
day that's kind of what you really need right is rest and recovery. So I think we did it we did. We've done a
pretty good job at creating a balance. But you know as far as the days go by
,and you know there's a lot of changes happening, so we have we're very
flexible with our schedule but at the end of day we have to make sure that
everything is going well and that I feel good and I'm not too too tired by the
end of the week.”
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Every
time that we see Team Canada together, the atmosphere among you is
companionship and good vibes, not only inside but outside the ice, something
that is not frequent in all team. Do you meet outside the competitions? Is it
difficult to consider friend and partner to someone who is a potential rival on
the ice rink?
“I think what's special about Team Canada is that we're all
friends with each other, and you know, it doesn't matter if we're competitors
or not, we always have each other's backs.The support we have for each other is
unreal and we know we rarely get to see each other outside of competition so
every time we have the same events it's always a treat and we try to hang out
with each other as much as possible. There's no negative feelings towards any
of each other and I think that it's what makes our team so unique in the
world...it is that we we have a love for each other and we want each other to
succeed. For example Keegan and I are best friends and we know what's on the
line for for our career this season but that doesn't really stop us from from
being good friends with each other. You know, I can always call him after a bad
day and and you know he can do that too and we always talk to each other and
and make sure that we're there for each other because at the end of the day
that's what's most important is the friendships that you make in this journey.”
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If
we remember well, this year (2019) you participated for first time in the Stars
On Ice tour. What did it mean to you that you were considered and that you
learned from that experience? (since shows are not the same as the competition).
“So earlier this year I had the
incredible opportunity to perform on the Stars on Ice tour and.... it was just so amazing, for me it was
a dream come true. I got to perform alongside so many icons in Canadian figure
skating. And I think that itself was just so incredible. Even to this day. I
can't stop thinking about it. It was just to be able to tour from the East
Coast all the way to the west coast, It was just a dream for me and I don't
really know what to say about Stars on Ice because I I get speechless every
time I think about it so it definitely was a really it was.... it was a great
experience for sure.”
Translator's note:
Nam has granted us the interview through audios, we wanted to keep the transcript true to the original against grammar correction, so there are several questions with repetitions and phrases that are repeated.
