General Yuzuru Chat

[Forcefield]

I cannot watch that documentary especially since its old footage from before the happenings. I'll revisit it once this season is over. Reading discussions and translations about it is one thing, but actually seeing him and hearing his voice for some reason won't water my cacti but may actually uproot it.

 

About gloomy predictions for Yuzu, although I'm not the most positive person about it, I do think his circumstances and laying low and people underestimating him may be better in general. He's still getting media coverage and being talked about without so much pressure if he was present. Because anything else isn't better looking at his competitors.

 

The pressure is on for Nathan as the frontrunner & hype. Shoma still ends up in both Yuzu and Nathan's shadow going to the Olys despite being a medal contender himself and 4CC is his chance to pull himself up and especially get the media outside Japan talking about him vs Nathan when the narrative focus has been more Nathan vs Yuzu.

 

In hindsight, despite this season's injuries and his competitors having so many chances over him to build their own momentum, time will will tell if Yuzu's position isn't exactly the shortest end of the stick.

[WinForPooh]

54 minutes ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

You know, I've been seeing quite a number of people saying how they don't think he'll be able to manage a second gold (though I didn't come across anyone outright declaring he's no longer a contender for it) based on the current circumstances surrounding him, which, tbf, is a logically sound assumption. Despite that though, the first thing I'd have thought I'd feel seeing these opinions would be a sense of defensiveness but turns out, instead of feeling indignant, I actually feel more comforted. Before this injury, whenever I see people saying the same thing based on, well, nothing (unless superstition counts for something), I'd feel annoyed. Now though, I actually welcome it as much as I welcome the sentiments that believe he can perform some kind of miracle. Like for some reason, the more of an underdoge (heh) he is, the better I feel about what the outcome may be. Strange, huh?

 

I imagine his mindset going into PC may turn out to possibly be one of these two: 

 

1) Icandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothis

icandothis

I! CAN! DO! DISSSS!!!1!

 

Or,

 

2) F*CK THIs SHIT! DoN'T Y'ALL F*CK wIT ME!!1!11 IMMA SHOW Y'ALL!!1

 

It could also be

 

3)F*ck everything imma just enjoy this. 

 

Though the last one is what I personally hope for, I doubt it would ever be something he can convince himself to do in his lifetime, lol. 

I might eat my words, but I also kind of expect this season's results to not be all that relevant. Like... Well, you know which players are in form going into a football World Cup, but other than two or three who always, ALWAYS play their hearts out and who are confident enough in their abilities that not doing well is simply not a thing, for many in-form athletes, the atmosphere is just so different from everything else that form can just go out the window. Ones who were crap all season suddenly have the nights of their lives, ones who played great for months suddenly get bloodrush and get sent off or miss sitters. _{Then we sign those players who had those incredible World Cup games and they go back to their usual form, but that's another story.}

 

Doing really well at other regular skating competitions might help with confidence, but I don't expect it to be as big a factor as a lot of people say. The difference between those stages they're used to and the Olympics is huge. The pressure is so different.

 

At the Olympics, it will come down to those who can either channel that adrenaline into focused energy, or those who can shut it out completely and skate like they're at their familiar rink. Yuzu has managed to do both. If he's hitting clean runthroughs by then, he can do it if he finds that zone. He's felt that pressure before, so he has the advantage there, if anything. And now that pressure is not solely focused on him, which might turn out to be a good thing. Unless you're talking about somebody with Plushenko or Zhenya level of consistency, other competitions leading up to the Olympics is just one factor.

 

I hope Yuzu has been working with a sports psychologist, too, because he needs to get in that zone and trust his training. If he can do that, nothing else will matter.

[Hydroblade]

6 hours ago, JobsCK said:

 

[Hydroblade]

Lol it seems I'm the only one who thinks herself able to watch the docu...

[Floria]

hace 15 minutos , Hydroblade said:

Lol it seems I'm the only one who thinks herself able to watch the docu...

Actually I can't wait to see it. The draught was too long.  

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

29 分, WinForPoohさんが言いました:

Doing really well at other regular skating competitions might help with confidence, but I don't expect it to be as big a factor as a lot of people say. The difference between those stages they're used to and the Olympics is huge. The pressure is so different.

 

At the Olympics, it will come down to those who can either channel that adrenaline into focused energy, or those who can shut it out completely and skate like they're at their familiar rink. Yuzu has managed to do both. If he's hitting clean runthroughs by then, he can do it if he finds that zone. He's felt that pressure before, so he has the advantage there, if anything. And now that pressure is not solely focused on him, which might turn out to be a good thing. Unless you're talking about somebody with Plushenko or Zhenya level of consistency, other competitions leading up to the Olympics is just one factor.

 

Well, there's gonna be pressure no matter the kind of competitor you are. It's just a matter of which kind. There's the i'm-an-Olympic-virgin-this-is-my-first-time-please-be-gentle-shit-i-can't-believe-i'm-really-here-and-doing-this-i-had-better-do-well-enough-to-justify-my-presence wow factor kind (doubled if you are regarded widely as a medal contender), there's the not-my-first-rodeo-but-i-didnt-get-the-medal-i-wanted-before-so-i-sure-hope-i-do-this-time kind and the defending champion if-i-repeat-i'd-be-a-legend-if-i-dont-*#%$:Δ?&!x9999999 kind. Whichever kind a competitor is feeling, each has its plusses and minuses, and each is unique, I feel.

[KatjaThera]

I haven't watched the clips yet and I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling the angst when I do. But, to be honest, sometimes reading the posts here you'd think Yuzu broke half the bones in his body and has been bedridden since NHK. I think the cautiousness and JSF and TCC protecting him from the media has led to a general impression that everything is MUCH worse than it probably is. Of course, I could be wrong, but I think we're all feeling a bit too gloomy. (It probably also doesn't help that we're more used to hearing about Yuzu's injuries long after they happen as opposed to real time.)

 

Somewhat OT, I don't know if this made it to the relevant thread and was discussed there, but it made me think a bit about TCC's attitude on this season: Javi said in an interview that his coaches had actually decided ahead of time that he wouldn't do the GPF even if he had qualified. Admittedly, Javi had more competitions and he has Europeans, too, and his situation and attitude are different than Yuzu's, but I think it might show TCC is more focused on training for the Olympics than competing. Which might just make Yuzu's situation somewhat less tragic in their eyes. Of course, training was problematic for him, too, but still. (Personally, I hope they used the off ice time to work on the mental aspects...)

[WinForPooh]

18 minutes ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

 

Well, there's gonna be pressure no matter the kind of competitor you are. It's just a matter of which kind.There's the i'm-an-Olympic-virgin-this-is-my-first-time-please-be-gentle-shit-i-can't-believe-i'm-really-here-and-doing-this-i-had-better-do-well-enough-to-justify-my-presence wow factor kind (doubled if you are regarded widely as a medal contender), there's the not-my-first-rodeo-but-i-didnt-get-the-medal-i-wanted-before-so-i-sure-hope-i-do-this-time kind and the defending champion if-i-repeat-i'd-be-a-legend-if-i-dont-$@^!%@&!x9999999 kind. Whichever kind a competitor is feeling, each has its plusses and minuses, and each is unique, I feel.

I agree. But no GP event or even Worlds can prepare them for any of those kinds of pressures. All the worry about Yuzu's mental state after missing competitions - it's not as relevant as it would be if he were going straight to Milan after missing GP and Nationals. The Olympics is different. It's the weight of your nation's expectations, not just your nation's figure skating community's expectations. I don't think anybody really has an advantage, mentally, going into it because they had a good GP season.

 

ETA: I think Yuzu's real taste of Olympic pressure was in the free skate. And he stumbled under it. He has a better idea of what to expect than many others.

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

15 分, WinForPoohさんが言いました:

I agree. But no GP event or even Worlds can prepare them for any of those kinds of pressures. All the worry about Yuzu's mental state after missing competitions - it's not as relevant as it would be if he were going straight to Milan after missing GP and Nationals. The Olympics is different. It's the weight of your nation's expectations, not just your nation's figure skating community's expectations. I don't think anybody really has an advantage, mentally, going into it because they had a good GP season.

 

My focus was less on the comps before the Olys, it was more on the fact that even though Hanyu has an advantage as a non-first-timer in both participation and winning at the Games, he also faces a very different and rather lonely kind of pressure as the One the World has to Beat, something that not very many others in his sport share with him.

 

Though I guess this may be how my relief in people underestimating him was born. Going in as an underdog would help cushion that pressure because less people would be viewing at him as the One the Others Have to Beat. They'd be too busy wondering if he could make a proper comeback and maybe even surprise us all. Not too overwhelming of a position to be going into the Olympics in, I feel. And just nice enough to fire our guy up since he doesn't like being underestimated, heh.

[WinForPooh]

2 minutes ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

 

My focus was less on the comps before the Olys, it was more on the fact that even though Hanyu has an advantage as not just a non-first-timer in both participation and winning, he also faces a very different and rather lonely kind of pressure as the One the World has to Beat, something that not very many others in his sport share with him.

 

Though I guess this may be how my relief in people underestimating him was born. Going in as an underdog would help cushion that pressure because less people would be viewing at him as the One the Others Have to Beat. They'd be too busy wondering if he could make a proper comeback and maybe even surprise us all. Not too overwhelming of a position to be going into the Olympics in, I feel. And just nice enough to fire our guy up since he doesn't like being underestimated, heh.

I didn't mean to imply that that's what you said! I meant to agree with what you said earlier and then say what I thought about the run-up to Olympics that has more people writing off his chances - the feeling that coming back after missing half the season to the Olympics means Yuzu no longer has the advantage.

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

10 分, WinForPoohさんが言いました:

I didn't mean to imply that that's what you said! I meant to agree with what you said earlier and then say what I thought about the run-up to Olympics that has more people writing off his chances - the feeling that coming back after missing half the season to the Olympics means Yuzu no longer has the advantage.

 

Oh, okay then. Wasn't able to tell since I seemed to have missed any indications there may have been ^^;

 

You basically echo Sano-sensei, I think, and I do think there's a lot of truth in it. But I guess it's not unreasonable for people to think that way either as we can only gauge from the things that we can see. Comp-seasoned Hanyu is enough of a wild card as it is, a comp-withdrawal one would be the gun in Russian roulette.

[Xen]

1 hour ago, Hydroblade said:

Lol it seems I'm the only one who thinks herself able to watch the docu...

Well if timing works, I might join you guys. When is it anyways? 

And yeah...sometimes I feel we are overly dramatic. Has there ever been an injury that was part of his plans? And he's usually bounced back from those issues quite well. 

There is a certain purity to his skating that kind of...gives you a lot more hope than you think should be reasonable. 

 

[freeyafanfan]

2 hours ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

You know, I've been seeing quite a number of people saying how they don't think he'll be able to manage a second gold (though I didn't come across anyone outright declaring he's no longer a contender for it) based on the current circumstances surrounding him, which, tbf, is a logically sound assumption. Despite that though, the first thing I'd have thought I'd feel seeing these opinions would be a sense of defensiveness but turns out, instead of feeling indignant, I actually feel more comforted. Before this injury, whenever I see people saying the same thing based on, well, nothing (unless superstition counts for something), I'd feel annoyed. Now though, I actually welcome it as much as I welcome the sentiments that believe he can perform some kind of miracle. Like for some reason, the more of an underdoge (heh) he is, the better I feel about what the outcome may be. Strange, huh?

 

I imagine his mindset going into PC may turn out to possibly be one of these two: 

 

1) Icandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothisicandothis

icandothis

I! CAN! DO! DISSSS!!!1!

 

Or,

 

2) F*CK THIs SHIT! DoN'T Y'ALL F*CK wIT ME!!1!11 IMMA SHOW Y'ALL!!1

 

It could also be

 

3)F*ck everything imma just enjoy this. 

 

Though the last one is what I personally hope for, I doubt it would ever be something he can convince himself to do in his lifetime, lol. 

oh it's gonna be 2 for sure  I believed in him after that worlds' SP that goes below expectations that he can broke a WR and won, and he did just that. I'm sure he have more surprises to come, so I'm not that worried about him going to PC or maybe I'm just too carefree? naah

 

1 hour ago, Hydroblade said:

Lol it seems I'm the only one who thinks herself able to watch the docu...

Oh I'm gonna watch that, I watched the clip with that fall that got repeated like 1000000x over these past 2 months  well if anything happens we'll be dead cacti together so it's not that bad lol

[monchan]

I think whether he does well in practice shouldn't be the indication of anything... We all know Yuzu's outcome has mostly been depending less on his physical state and more on if he got the right "feel" when competing (except if he's severely injured at the moment, but I suppose it's not the case here as he might have sufficient recovery by the competition). That's why it's been so common for Yuzu to skate like he's drunk one day and perform like genius just the next day. And in what condition he can get that right feeling? God knows lol. Yuzu said about his outstanding FS in Worlds 2017: both his mentality and physique were in extreme fatigue, but they were in harmony that happened to generate good result. So it's not necessary everything must be in best state for things to work for him, nevertheless, even if his mind or body is in very good condition now, it still might not work if the other doesn't catch up, balance of mind AND body during the game is probably the right remedy for him.

[WinForPooh]

25 minutes ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

 

Oh, okay then. Wasn't able to tell since I seemed to have missed any indications there may have been ^^;

 

You basically echo Sano-sensei, I think, and I do think there's a lot of truth in it. But I guess it's not unreasonable for people to think that way either as we can only gauge from the things that we can see. Comp-seasoned Hanyu is enough of a wild card as it is, a comp-withdrawal one would be the gun in Russian roulette.

I'm sure my rambling was just unclear lol

 

Yeah, we all want to feel like things follow a plan. Besides, media need updates and speculation. 'It's all fucking random and nobody knows what the hell is going to happen, they can all fall all over the place or Yuzu can go sublime like he did at Helsinki, or the least worst one can get the gold' is hardly compelling copy or expert talk.