Santa Monica Pair Goes for New Coach

Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr. of Santa Monica, who won the 2004 U.S. pairs title and finished second this year, reluctantly followed their coach, Jill Watson, when she moved to Arizona a few months ago. Unhappy in their new surroundings, they took the risk of leaving Watson a few weeks before the world championships to train in Lakewood with Peter Oppegard, who had teamed with Watson to win a pairs bronze medal at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

Oppegard is married to Karen Kwan, sister of Michelle Kwan and a coach herself. However, Karen Kwan is not working with Inoue and Baldwin.

A back injury that kept Baldwin off the ice and sent the duo back to Santa Monica triggered their decision to forge a short-term arrangement with Oppegard.

The pair competition begins today in Moscow with the short program.

“I love California and I’m a Californian. My family is here and it’s very inspiring here,” Baldwin said recently. “It gives you balance in your life to have friends and family.

“There, it was just train, train, train, and we didn’t know anyone there. Plus, we’d been with Jill five years and I think we needed a new perspective.”

Oppegard “seemed to be the logical choice,” Baldwin said, adding that the change quickly produced benefits. “It invigorates the soul a little bit,” he said.

Oppegard said he didn’t have time to do much more than “give them fresh ideas on a couple of moves that had been a little weak ... We’re not trying to reinvent things.”