General Yuzuru Chat

[robin]

Just now, Murieleirum said:

 

I was at the complete opposite zone of the rink, so I didn't see the 4S2T combination very well... I saw that he took too much time between jumps, but I didn't see the knee going down very clearly, so I didn't know what the hell happened... 

 

oh i was talking about H&L! 

 

during LGC I was also sitting on the complete opposite side of the rink but I thought he had completely touched down with his knee... so I was one of the few who were not surprised at the scores (i actually thought that was what the deduction was for)

 

but that definitely didn't take away from the performance. after that i collected myself and took it all in and it was amazing

[Murieleirum]

11 minutes ago, liha said:

 

oh i was talking about H&L! 

 

during LGC I was also sitting on the complete opposite side of the rink but I thought he had completely touched down with his knee... so I was one of the few who were not surprised at the scores (i actually thought that was what the deduction was for)

 

but that definitely didn't take away from the performance. after that i collected myself and took it all in and it was amazing

 

Oh, sorry I didn't catch on xD 

 

Fuck yeah that moment in H&L after the 4S3T was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life. Hell, the whole performance was. But I'd say, I was even more excited after the 3 Lz. I was sooo concentrated on that 3 Lutz. I thought 'please please PLEASE PLEASE' like half of the arena. It's nice to know that Yuzuru felt exactly THAT and said it in interviews afterwards. 

[Floria]

hace 8 minutos , Murieleirum said:

 

Oh, sorry I didn't catch on xD 

 

Fuck yeah that moment in H&L after the 4S3T was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life. Hell, the whole performance was. But I'd say, I was even more excited after the 3 Lz. I was sooo concentrated on that 3 Lutz. I thought 'please please PLEASE PLEASE' like half of the arena. It's nice to know that Yuzuru felt exactly THAT and said it in interviews afterwards. 

 

Ha ha, yes, those three days nearly killed me.

 

I remember that seconds before the 4S3T I had a feeling that he would  definitely land it. Probably  the way he approached the combo that day gave me the confidence. He always does series of 3-turns and mohawks before going into 4S and at times you can feel some kind of hesitation at that moment. But that day there were no hesitation at all. His calmness was entrancing. But, yes, I held my breath before 3Lz.

[Murieleirum]

2 minutes ago, Floria said:

 

Ha ha, yes, those three days nearly killed me.

 

I remember that seconds before the 4S3T I had a feeling that he would  definitely land it. Probably  the way he approached the combo that day gave me the confidence. He always does series of 3-turns and mohawks before going into 4S and at times you can feel some kind of hesitation at that moment. But that day there were no hesitation at all. His calmness was entrancing. But, yes, I held my breath before 3Lz.

 

Yes yes yes, I completely agree! Sometimes, live is easier, you can definitely see, through the steps/moves preceeding the jump, whether it's gonna go, or it's gonna be a flop. For example, while I was watching LGC at WTT 2017, I definitely felt he was too heavy, moments before his 4 loop. I think it's a gut feeling. 

Jumps are such a mental strain, it's amazing and terrifying. Mostly terrifying, for me. It makes me think about playing in public and doing concerts. Whenever I do concerts, my hands feel paralysed and I can barely move, so my performances are like 80% worse than reharsals. I can only imagine what it's like to have that same paralisys, throughout your whole body. 

And really, jumps succeed when you have the 'feeling' of them, as Yuzuru says, and to have the feeling you have to feel your body ready and relaxed. To me, it's the hardest thing there is, in figure skating (and performing arts in general).

[wildstrawberry]

I am also hoping that he won't keep LGC,as much as I've enjoyed this program.Of course he kept SPs for more than one season in the past,but the context was different: for PW he was breaking records with it and it was the natural,smart way to do,especially with it being a crowd-pleaser too,and in Chopin's case he was frustrated that he couldn't achieve its full potential due to the injuries he had that season.But the important difference is that the second year he kept Chopin wasn't an Olympic season and if his experiencing with it had led nowhere,that wouldn't have had such huge negative consequences as it would have if he would keep LGC and it would continue to not work(and by 'work' i mean getting 105 or more for it,because i'm sure that's how he sees it).

 

I don't even want to think about the level frustration and the mental blocks that would appear in that case,on top of not getting the desired/necessary scores - he really doesn't need such things next season as he will have enough mountains to climb without that.Starting fresh with a new SP is the best idea,especially with how the judging is going these days when the room for error in Yuzu's case is becoming smaller and smaller,same as the gap between him and his rivals.I hope he sees all this himself,and if he somehow doesn't,at least people around him see that and try to influence him accordingly - yes,I know how stubborn he is,but I also know that he really wants that OGM.

 

Re: other programs scoring close to Chopin aka probably the best SP of all time,why are people surprised,isn't it well known by now that the inflation of PCS in particular and scores in general has been crazy for some of Yuzu's competitors in 2017?Personally,I expect worse in the next season.

[randomanon]

13 minutes ago, Murieleirum said:

 

Yes yes yes, I completely agree! Sometimes, live is easier, you can definitely see, through the steps/moves preceeding the jump, whether it's gonna go, or it's gonna be a flop. For example, while I was watching LGC at WTT 2017, I definitely felt he was too heavy, moments before his 4 loop. I think it's a gut feeling. 

Jumps are such a mental strain, it's amazing and terrifying. Mostly terrifying, for me. It makes me think about playing in public and doing concerts. Whenever I do concerts, my hands feel paralysed and I can barely move, so my performances are like 80% worse than reharsals. I can only imagine what it's like to have that same paralisys, throughout your whole body. 

And really, jumps succeed when you have the 'feeling' of them, as Yuzuru says, and to have the feeling you have to feel your body ready and relaxed. To me, it's the hardest thing there is, in figure skating (and performing arts in general).

 

I've never watched it live so I don't know but I think I can also sometimes tell how a jump is going to do as soon as the skater goes up into the air  sometimes it's because of the axis but sometimes it's just a feeling ? 

Omg yess...  my heart rate spikes up everytime I know the skater's about to jump [heart rate is proportional to emotional investment so basically it goes through the roof with yuzu lol]

 

I can't imagine the immense pressure performers in general and skaters must feel, with an entire stadium/concert hall/viewers around the world staring at every movement...

[Floria]

hace 5 minutos , randomanon said:

 

I've never watched it live so I don't know but I think I can also sometimes tell how a jump is going to do as soon as the skater goes up into the air  sometimes it's because of the axis but sometimes it's just a feeling ? 

Omg yess...  my heart rate spikes up everytime I know the skater's about to jump [heart rate is proportional to emotional investment so basically it goes through the roof with yuzu lol]

 

I can't imagine the immense pressure performers in general and skaters must feel, with an entire stadium/concert hall/viewers around the world staring at every movement...

I usually notice tilted axis only in slow motion repeats and it depends on the camera angle when watching on TV.  

It is more about the preceding steps to predict how a jump will go, but it is just my personal experience.

I always try to read skater's faces during warmup o before program starts because facial expressions and body language reveal many things. But with Yuzu it is difficult to predict how he will do, because he always has that intense, almost scary expression on his face before competitions.

  

[Yoa]

The  LGC talk kind of inspired me. How many of his goals did he achieve last season? What did he learn?

I don't remember all his goals but some of them:

• stabilize 4Lo and get positive GOE - check
• 2 quads in the second half - check
• improve his stamina and quality of the elements even when he is tired - check
• connection to the audience - check
• new style of SP - check

Not planned things:

• 3 quads in the second half
• 3A as last jump
• 4T-1/2Lo-3S landed in competition
• ability to improvise

Other things:

• He improved his biellmann spin,
• He started to take care of his health and body.
• He tried various entries into his 3A: ina bauer, twizzles, hydroblade.
• He learnt that he can survive without quad battles at galas 
• Maybe it's just me but I think his relationship with Brian got better. Like Brian started to understand Yuzu more.
• He could observe his rivals at Worlds and WTT. I am pretty sure he learnt something from watching ladies at WTT as well
• He realized he only has 30 seconds of preparation before a skate...  I am glad it happened this season. It could be Olympics...
• He landed 4Lz at gala practice. The landing was but the rest was perfect

What did I miss? 

[Murieleirum]

I don't know if this is too specific for this thread, but part of me thinks that part of the frustration he felt towards Short Programs this season is because with that 110.93 from Chopin, he basically obtained close to the Max score available, Tech and PCS wise. With a clean/perfect LGC he could have gotten to 112, even 113, but that's it. And I think it's frustrating for him to think of not being able to be better than himself, because of how the Score System works. This Score System has limits, especially in terms of PCS, while Yuzuru has not. 

This is why on one side I want him to do 4Lutz in the short. It would give him new horizons, points-wise. He could reach 115 - and I know he wants to reach that. 

[Floria]

hace 7 minutos , Yoa said:

What did I miss? 

 

Probably WR. I don't know if he planned it .

And learned that he needs backup plans, He can't always improvise them while doing spins.

[surimi]

47 minutes ago, wildstrawberry said:

I am also hoping that he won't keep LGC,as much as I've enjoyed this program.

 

 

Not as a competitive program, but I would love to see it redone as a gala piece. It's so energetic, and I'd love to see what he could do with it if he didn't have to worry about quads and combinations.

[Yoa]

10 minutes ago, Floria said:

 

Probably WR. I don't know if he planned it .

 

Page from Yuzuru's journal

New year's resolutions 2017: 1. A new WR 2. Gold medal at Worlds 3. Confess my love to 3A 4. <Some crazy goal> 5. <Sth even crazier>

 

[kaeryth]

Late to the party but I too, am salty about his Transition scores specially since he only has a small gap to some of the top 6 men.

 

I think, weirdly, one of the issue (besides judges and FS politics) is he makes things look too easy. As Johnny Weir has said before "He's doing the most difficult elements in our sports today and he makes it looks so easy." Or as Carol Lane always says, "Effortless!"

 

Kurt Browning actually said something in PJ Kwong's podcast that caught my ear.. Listen/watch at 7:35 here.

Excerpt:"I don't understand Yuzu's feet... He's just fleet of foot... Scott Hamilton always skitters like a waterbug across the ice; but you can see it happening. I don't know how Yuzu does it. He has a way of gaining speed and momentum and power..."

 

And maybe that's the thing... if someone like Kurt Browning has a hard time discerning how Yuzu moves, how would the judges do it? Although they really should be able to since they are judges - meaning they should be knowledgeable enough to judge said sport.

 

That podcast actually made me rewatch some of his programs just to focus solely at his feet/footwork. And oh boy, I absolutely understand now why Yulena's description of LGC is that it's one huge transition.

[Murieleirum]

26 minutes ago, kaeryth said:

Late to the party but I too, am salty about his Transition scores specially since he only has a small gap to some of the top 6 men.

 

I think, weirdly, one of the issue (besides judges and FS politics) is he makes things look too easy. As Johnny Weir has said before "He's doing the most difficult elements in our sports today and he makes it looks so easy." Or as Carol Lane always says, "Effortless!"

 

Kurt Browning actually said something in PJ Kwong's podcast that caught my ear.. Listen/watch at 7:35 here.

Excerpt:"I don't understand Yuzu's feet... He's just fleet of foot... Scott Hamilton always skitters like a waterbug across the ice; but you can see it happening. I don't know how Yuzu does it. He has a way of gaining speed and momentum and power..."

 

And maybe that's the thing... if someone like Kurt Browning has a hard time discerning how Yuzu moves, how would the judges do it? Although they really should be able to since they are judges - meaning they should be knowledgeable enough to judge said sport.

 

That podcast actually made me rewatch some of his programs just to focus solely at his feet/footwork. And oh boy, I absolutely understand now why Yulena's description of LGC is that it's one huge transition.

 

Thank you for linking that audio! I had never heard it before. 

I agree with your whole post. Yuzuru makes extremely difficult things look to easy on ice, therefore not all judges understand what they're seeing right at the moment. 

[unicorn]

As much as I absolutely love LGC, I don't think he will keep it. Despite being in great condition/health for most of the season, the short program became a mental block, and that's an absolute no-no for the Olympics. PW was different because he was comfortable with it and did it clean multiple times his first season and only when he was derailed by injuries and health issues did it start to become unstable (It returned to consistent by next season with 5 clean SPs in a row!) He needs a SP that he can rely on. Like @surimi said, I would love to see it revisited as a gala! Then he could even bring back LGC White because of the show lights  Although to be honest I love LGC Purple as well 

ETA: Haha, it looks like I mostly repeated what other people like wildstrawberry said, sorry, my fault for not reading properly on mobile!