rockstaryuzu

This. This would be EVERYTHING!!!

1. If she'd been on the ball as regards motivating skaters, chances are he wouldn't have fallen into the funk that made him leave in the first place. 2. The words themselves make it sound like she had given up on him, too. 3. In a situation like that, "whatever makes you happy" actually sounds like she wasn't all that invested in his success. 'I understand' would have made more sense. It's not about her words for me, but the attitude behind them. A coach should care passionately about providing everything an athlete needs for their success. Zoueva's words there tell me that she had stopped caring.

before I comment, please bear in mind that everything I say is based only on observations I've made from what is publicly in the media, since I absolutely don't know the people involved on a personal level, but: I suspect that Zoueva can be a very soft and comforting kind of a person, and for a certain type of athlete that's really appealing (certainly for someone with the kind of challenges Gracie Gold is having, it would be). But it can backfire. There's a quote in one of the articles published right around the time Patrick made his move last year from Zoueva to Walia, where Patrick says there's no ill feelings between him and her, that she told him "'Patrick, whatever makes you happy, I'm happy you've found a place where you could regain that energy,'", and I read that, and I thought "What the heck kind of a coach even says that to an athlete of theirs?!!" It's so laissez-faire and just downright lazy. Especially at elite levels of sport, it's part of the coach's job to help their athletes stay motivated and win the mental game, and that comment of hers just shows how little she understands that side of the job.

Couple of very interesting names on that list of the historical Canadian men's singles winners that folks here might not know about: Lloyd Eisler, the novice winner in 1980, went on to be one of Canada's top pairs skaters of the early 90's, winning 2 Olympic Bronzes and the 1993 World Champs, and Gary Beacom, who never won any big titles, but was a huge innovator artistically for Canadian skating - his style was very 'avant garde' and he helped break the mold a bit, paving the way for other innovators, like Kurt and Elvis.

If you're referring to training under Zoueva, thank God Yuzu didn't go there. Not because of Patrick, but because she just doesn't seem to be able to push her skaters in the right way when they're suffering from the mental strain. IMO Zoueva was a big part of the reason why Patrick struggled so much going into the Olympic year, and lo and behold I was right, for as soon as he switched to Walia as his coach suddenly things were way better. Yuzu under Zoueva...I dunno man. let's be thankful it didn't happen.

I think it's way too soon for him to be thinking about that, and he knows it.

But guys, don't forget, Javi probably would have had an Olympic medal in Sochi if he hadn't made the error of doing one too many 4S (was it 4S? I can't recall, but whichever one it was). If not for that rules infraction, his skate was one of the few decent ones in the general splatfests that was the Sochi men's free skate. I really think that Yuzu's general brilliance has blinded everyone to how great the men's field has been overall in the last couple years. Look at the final group of 6 to skate in PC. Of them, any one of them could have podiumed IMO. During Patrick's heyday, that wasn't the case at all.

No, you don't understand, we used to wrench on those laces. Think corset, but for ankles. It wasn't tight enough until there were dents in our calves from the skate tops. Yuzu is lacing very securely but there's still space between the two rows of eyelets on the boots, by the standards I was taught, that's loose. Although I'm sure pro skate boots are a completely different matter anyway. But still, my childhood would have been so much more painless if...

What interview is this from? Is there video?

He has his laces tied faster than I can pick mine up to start tying them. Also, it doesn't seem like he does his skates up all that tightly. Canadians among the satellites will I'm sure understand...all those long cold moments wasted sitting in the rink bleachers as a child, cutting the sides of your hands on your skate laces from pulling them RE-AL-LY tight so that your ankles would have enough support...I see this, and, well, kuyashii...you mean I never had to do that? Oy.

I honestly think a big part of the issue is that there's resistance to the idea that an objective standard can be determined for the moves. After all, if you're a sports and arts person (which is basically the FS world), the idea that someone can come along and use measurement and science to quantify whether, say, a camel spin is good or bad, would be counter-intuitive, to say the least. But I call BS, and here's why: figure skating has always had objectively measure-able standards: what do you think school figures were? Skaters were scored on how perfect their circles were, as measured with a compass!!!. So I say you could easily develop a system of objective standards that have to be met before awarding each level of GOE. And these days, you can use computer analysis of skater's movements to do it. For example, you can easily see the trajectory of a jump when it's captured frame-by-frame. However, the question then becomes, how much machine precision is fair to use when scoring people in a competition?

No, leggings are like these: Cross-country skiing: Men in tights outside in the cold Scroll down to the picture of the three winners at the bottom. I guarantee you they're not embarassed.

But last year, didn't he break out the 4Lz at Rostelecom? My thinking is that he'll bring it as soon as it's ready, but he might not want to do something that risky at GPF without trying it somewhere else first.

If they are a fanyu, they already know it happens. But seriously, it's the Olympic Channel, not Hanyu Central. There are other athletes and other sports in the world. It's getting a bit ridiculous...

If Yuzu likes Yuna's skating but feels he can't say so, the reason may be more personal than any Japan-Korea rivalry. After all, Yuzu's coaches are the very same ones that Yuna fired after she heard the rumor that they might be considering coaching Mao as well . Yuzuru might be trying to be sensitive of whatever sore feelings there may be, and trying to avoid accidentally opening a can of worms with an innocent but misjudged comment.

My thinking as well. He told Kenji Miyamoto that he watches his competitors 'like a hawk'. IMO Yuzu likes to create and innovate with his skating, and you can't do that without watching a lot of all kinds of skating so you have tons of raw material for inspiration. I wouldn't be surprised if he even checks out the freestyle skating videos on YouTube from time to time.

Silver will not happen. Boy hates silver in all it's forms.

I used to be a lifeguard and swim instructor. There's a lot more to floating than body composition, and a lot more to swimming than being able to float. IMO, if Yuzu doesn't know how to swim, he'd be well advised to stick to very shallow water where he can easily touch bottom, or not at all. Swimming is not a matter of athletic ability or instinct, it's a matter of understanding the physics of the human body in water and not panicking even while doing things that run counter to your instincts. That being said, Yuzu's Japanese, I'm sure he's been to an onsen, he probably has mastered floating with his head supported by the side of the pool or bath. It's a start.

But he always performs best when it counts the most. Honestly, I'm not at all worried about his scores this year, mainly because I get the impression from his media day interview that he's not worried about them either. He'll do his best and that will be that.

Perhaps, but I'm skeptical that it will be Nathan, this year. He's going to Yale, on the other side of the country from his coach. My guess is, he won't be able to train as intensively as he needs to in order to be a consistent winner this year. Instead, I am expecting Shoma and Boyang to give Yuzu a run for his money, maybe some of the others. But at the end of the day, after his 2 Olympic Golds, everything Yuzu does now is bonus extra, so it literally does not matter the results, as long as he is satisfied with his efforts.

It's not just your opinion, it was objectively not good, and mentally speaking, Patrick gave up before the season even began. That was always the problem with Patrick. He never really had the right mental game. Yuzu, on the other hand, is like a textbook example of having a good mental game.

I found this on YouTube this morning: Every 20180831 Don't think it's new but it's longer than anything I've seen so far.

What a lovely productive way to spend the day! I approve.

@ruruzest Thanks!

So, satellites, now that media day has sprung, I have a problem: all I wanna do is sit and look at Zu. All day long, every day...I'm supposed to be adulting here. I mean, I have a life, and a job, and...and...all I wanna do is watch HIM! Any advice? Tips? Ways to put my life on auto-pilot so I can free up my time for more Yuzu? or am I too far gone?