Pianistliz

Yessssss

My stream froze in the middle and is still stuck. But the first 3 jumps looked awesome! Now I can relax

And suddenly I’m nervous

Proud of Yuzu and so grateful that he is skating here for us From his post-SP interview it sounds like he's in a mature place mentally. Hoping for an inspired free skate with an improved 4A. I know he'll give it everything he has!

He attempted it once so far, at Japanese Nationals in December It was called downgraded but he stood up on it and it was much improved from earlier attempts. A less strict tech panel might have judged it simply under rotated. And of course being Yuzu, he attempted it from steps with very little prep time!

I'm going to be flying across the country while the Men's FS is airing live. I debated so hard whether I should just look up the results when I land and then watch the competition knowing how it turns out. I'm gonna be brave, stay off social media during the travel day, and then sit down once I get to my destination and watch the comp as if it's live, but it was such a temptation to not put myself through that.

My go-to is chocolate sunbutter cups and dried mango. And really good decaf coffee. It's like liquid courage for me without the jitters a few minutes later

This might sound like I'm not invested enough or am not praying for Yuzu to win, which I totally am lol But just like world-class artists and athletes focus on what they can control and embrace the process rather than fixate on the outcome, I'm telling myself that my job as a spectator is to enjoy the process of watching (hopefully) many inspired skates by those who are competing, and to not think about the medals while I'm enjoying these skaters lay everything on Olympic ice. Along with that, I'm reminding myself that competitions are really a means to an end. They are more of a tool to help athletes rise to the occasion and push themselves to the limit, finding and surpassing their potential while sharing that magical moment with the audience. I'm also reminding myself that ice is slippery and anything can happen. While I'm certainly not dwelling on the possibility of falls or anything bad happening to any of the skaters, part of the "fun" of competitions is that you never know how it's gonna turn out, and you have to accept that and be ok with wherever the chips fall. And finally, if judging is too biased towards skaters like Yuzu and it costs him a placement, I'm reminding myself that he'll still have more Olympic golds than any of the other men, and he is fully aware of the judging situation, while also fully aware that he has a giant fanbase who values him as the best, so I think he'd be able to bounce back and stay focused. He seems to be skating more for his fans and himself nowadays rather than ISU or JSF. ....I say all this and believe it, BUT I should add it's infinitely harder for me to watch other people perform than myself. I'd be less nervous performing something that's not yet ready in front of 5000 people than watching someone else perform something prepared for 100. The control freak in me hates watching others perform in real time. If (when) I tense up and get second-hand performance anxiety, I'll keep reminding myself of what I wrote above to re-ground myself, but I fully expect at some point during the Men's SP and FS to forget to breathe and watch everything through my fingers.

As a musician, I'm a huge performance psychology geek and I read in one book (Beyond Grit, I think) that instead of fearing the possibility of failure that can come with pressure, we need to view pressure as a privilege and embrace it, grateful for the opportunity to be influential in our field. It has helped my performance mindset (and general anxiety) significantly! I've also learned to not fear nerves. You're so right, often people start to feel nervous butterflies before a big performance/event and get worried that those nerves will sabotage everything or that it means they aren't prepared enough, and it spirals into uncontrolled anxiety, but the best thing to do is understand that nerves are normal and we should expect to feel nerves and be ok existing with them. Then we're free to keep our focus on the main thing we're there to do.

¡Muchas gracias!

I'm also autistic, and figure skating is one of my main special interests (along with music and anime) as well

Hola, Soy Americano pero espero practicar Español aquí. ¡Yuzuru Hanyu es mi patinador favorito en el mundo! Por favor, dime si ustedes se da cuenta errores. ¡Gracias!

Visiting my in-laws this week and my sister-in-law knew I'd woken up at 5am to watch Yuzuru Hanyu. She asked a bunch of questions about who he is and about how figure skating works, and she wants me to send her some videos of him. I'm trying to think of a Top 5 Best of Yuzu list for a beginner. Here's what I'm thinking: 1. Masquerade 2. Rondo 3. 2014 Olympics SP 4. NHK Seimei (it was a toss-up between NHK and Olympics idk) 5. Let Me Entertain You (Worlds) Thoughts? There are sooooooo many favorites I didn't list (Notte Stellata, Heaven and Earth, Hope and Legacy, R and J 1, all the Chopins, 2018 Rostelecom SP, etc) but I wanted to narrow it down to five and give her as much variety as possible

Couldn't have said any of this better myself. I'm in even more of awe of Yuzu now (while fully supporting Simone's and Naomi's decisions this year).