General Yuzuru Chat

[rockstaryuzu]

1 hour ago, Salior said:

If Rika grew up in a more "open" environment, I'm sure she'll be more outspoken than she is now. 

On the other hand, look at what she does on the ice. 3A, and training quads? Ambitious programs with great choreography and music that got better every time she did them? Does Rika really need to verbally express her determination to win? Her actions speak for themselves. Don't forget that doing something, as opposed to talking about doing something, is also a Japanese value. If she really were meek and mild, she probably wouldn't be skating at this level in the first place. 

 

 

 

 

 

[SuzyQ]

To me, Yuzuru and Rika are common in their decisive nature.  It's true that Japanese are not so outspoken, but it does not necessarily mean meek.

Honestly speaking, Japanese women are tougher than generally evaluated in the world    Never underestimate 

 

[KatjaThera]

Oh, I know all of these. I guess Yuzu has just spoiled me, because he's always very open about how decisive he is, even putting it in words - without ever becoming arrogant. So I kind of expect someone with a similar attitude on the ice to have a similar attitude off the ice as well lol Hence, the gap I mentioned. For all that we sometimes joke about the gap between Yuzu whose glare could kill, before competitions and Yuzu the cutsey kitten rolling around on the ice, in all of his 'incarnations' Yuzu is very open and unapologetic about being very hungry to win - whether against rivals or himself. Maybe I actually appreciate that even more because it's not very in tune with Japanese culture - IMO, it's admirable, daring to be like that, although the hatred he all too often gets for it, is the price to pay, I guess - and that he's actually always been so. It's not like he's now a nation's beloved son, so he can get away with it. He's always been like this. Although I know it is unfair to expect others to be like this, too, especially ladies (given the way women are still expected to behave in Japanese culture).

[monchan]

Look at his speed and flow into and out of the jump!!! If i can choose 1 point only to like about his jumps it must be the unmatched flow thru out ALL kinds of jumps. No one does it better 

 

 

[memae]

9 hours ago, SitTwizzle said:

Yes, I am so grateful to Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson, who have always respected his personality, his needs. A domineering coach may have harmed him much. And a too complying one may not have brought him to the technical mastery he has now? Even with "a bit less" he would be wonderful (he was wonderful in R&J 1 and even before) yet it would be a loss.

 

I think there's a lot to be said about the Cricket Club coaches. They're excellent coaches and they get results from their athletes that their athletes are able to sustain. You can tell that they're respectful coaches who treat their athletes with compassion and a growth mindset. I used to have a swimming coach who would be cold and furious whenever I had a bad race and tell me about how bad it made him look as a coach for me to perform so badly and then give me the silent treatment until I did better. He was my coach at 13. I'm 30 now. I've never gotten over how terrible he could make me feel on a bad day - or even on a good day, if he so chose. I guarantee that TCC coaches never treat their athletes like that and that they not only know how to treat each individual athlete to bring out their best but that they actually do treat them that way. Yuzu is clearly his own biggest critic but he also just loves skating - I'm sure they know how to help him walk out after a rough training session where nothing came together feeling positive. Zhenya had some tough skates this year but it never once seemed like she was down and out over it - Brian knew exactly what to say to her in K&C. Jason had a horrible start to the season - car accident, scary falls - and there he was flying into that quad attempt at Nationals - they've been building his confidence in the right way for him. He's closer and closer to success (with the quad - he's already successful in general). Actually, so many of them had a rough start to the season but have come through now so you can tell that TCC coaches are always making sure their athletes are looking and working forwards rather than holding their bad events over them. That might work with 15-year-old girls and scary Russian coaches but they're not going to be 15 forever and it's easy to lose motivation when no one is helping you see that your worst moments can be steps towards something better. And then there's coaches who get their athletes to the standard of ' good enough', like Raf with Nathan and Eteri with Zagitova (like I doubt she worked on quads when the others started them even though Eteri knew she would need them to stay relevant in a couple of seasons). Will we ever see Nathan Chen truly reach his potential? Take Jason for example - he doesn't need that quad. He could stop trying for it. But he's going for it. He's pushing himself to be better and better and he has a coaching team who is working with him to get there when they could just keep him where he's at because it's 'enough'. It's a sport so skating at a level of 'good enough' for results is what a lot of coaches are going to aim for with individual athletes. It's sad because we will probably never see so many skaters reach their best simply because they're not working with coaches who will get them there. 

 

In short: Thank goodness for the Cricket Club coaches and thank goodness that's where Yuzuru is so he can be the best that he can be. 

[memae]

8 hours ago, Crow said:

Yuzu commenting over his SP
 

 Im happy I really wanted this video subbed 

 

He truly is something special. Strategically, he's probably better off switching the 3A and combination but he has them where they are because it feels right to him with the music. He could also do other jumps for more points - he is certainly capable. But he makes choices that a right for him and for his feeling of the performance. He transcends this sport in a way no one else does. Anyone bitching about him repeating Chopin again is losing out because they just don't get what he has done here. 

[shanshani]

35 minutes ago, monchan said:

Look at his speed and flow into and out of the jump!!! If i can choose 1 point only to like about his jumps it must be the unmatched flow thru out ALL kinds of jumps. No one does it better 

 

 

this quad lutz is really perfect. boyang's quad lutz is breathtaking too, as well as a bit more stable than Yuzu's, but when Yuzu hits his perfectly it's really the best in the field because of the outflow and landing position, imo

[KatjaThera]

26 minutes ago, memae said:

 

I think there's a lot to be said about the Cricket Club coaches. They're excellent coaches and they get results from their athletes that their athletes are able to sustain. You can tell that they're respectful coaches who treat their athletes with compassion and a growth mindset. I used to have a swimming coach who would be cold and furious whenever I had a bad race and tell me about how bad it made him look as a coach for me to perform so badly and then give me the silent treatment until I did better. He was my coach at 13. I'm 30 now. I've never gotten over how terrible he could make me feel on a bad day - or even on a good day, if he so chose. I guarantee that TCC coaches never treat their athletes like that and that they not only know how to treat each individual athlete to bring out their best but that they actually do treat them that way. Yuzu is clearly his own biggest critic but he also just loves skating - I'm sure they know how to help him walk out after a rough training session where nothing came together feeling positive. Zhenya had some tough skates this year but it never once seemed like she was down and out over it - Brian knew exactly what to say to her in K&C. Jason had a horrible start to the season - car accident, scary falls - and there he was flying into that quad attempt at Nationals - they've been building his confidence in the right way for him. He's closer and closer to success (with the quad - he's already successful in general). Actually, so many of them had a rough start to the season but have come through now so you can tell that TCC coaches are always making sure their athletes are looking and working forwards rather than holding their bad events over them. That might work with 15-year-old girls and scary Russian coaches but they're not going to be 15 forever and it's easy to lose motivation when no one is helping you see that your worst moments can be steps towards something better. And then there's coaches who get their athletes to the standard of ' good enough', like Raf with Nathan and Eteri with Zagitova (like I doubt she worked on quads when the others started them even though Eteri knew she would need them to stay relevant in a couple of seasons). Will we ever see Nathan Chen truly reach his potential? Take Jason for example - he doesn't need that quad. He could stop trying for it. But he's going for it. He's pushing himself to be better and better and he has a coaching team who is working with him to get there when they could just keep him where he's at because it's 'enough'. It's a sport so skating at a level of 'good enough' for results is what a lot of coaches are going to aim for with individual athletes. It's sad because we will probably never see so many skaters reach their best simply because they're not working with coaches who will get them there. 

 

In short: Thank goodness for the Cricket Club coaches and thank goodness that's where Yuzuru is so he can be the best that he can be. 

I think one of the things that contributes to the Cricket Club's positive attitude towards' skaters' individuality - and individual goals, because not everyone has to be an Olympic Champion - is the fact that they have many skating programs, and not just train elite skaters. There are beginners, there are adults, there are seniors, there are people who just skate for fun or people who started skating later in life and it's unrealistic to expect they would reach the same level as the elite skaters. All of these skaters are coached by the same team that oversees the elite skaters, and they are all given proper attention and treated equally. That I think helps the coaching team better realize and understand how people are different and they have different levels and different standards. But it's not like "oh, you'll never win a gold medal in international competition, why am I wasting my time on you?". TCC is not a club for elite skaters, it's a club where elite skaters also train and I think that makes a huge difference. I'm not sure how many of the other top coaches in FS also train at these other levels (or at least at so many of them).

 

I do sometimes think, though, that Yuzu and Javi have made TCC even better, as all the other skaters have learned from their camaraderie. I wonder if that existed to such an extent at TCC before them... Even if it had, they probably did take it to another level, and now we see Yuzu, Jason and Jun, who almost shared a podium together, being super friendly to each other. The Cricket Club Brothers saga continues, even if some of the characters have changed! (And those Cricket Club pictures at the Saitama Banquet were so incredibly precious!)

 

That's also why, whenever I end up liking a new skater, I find myself wishing they would move to TCC I wouldn't mind if one day, TCC would oversee the coaching of all skaters... just imagine the quality of skating we'd get, too! (Although there are apparently skaters who aren't very compatible with the TCC attitude... I half wanted to buy Adam's book just because I was curious to see what - if anything - he had to say about TCC...)

[CaroSkate]

9小時前, Crow說:

Yuzu commenting over his SP
 

 Im happy I really wanted this video subbed 

 

If Yuzu becomes a commentator in the future, there will be fans (including myself) watching all the competitions just to hear his comments. And we will hope that the commentator can talk more instead of staying quiet.

 

[Henni147]

10 hours ago, glilikoi said:

I was thankfully able to watch Music with Wings in its entirety today, and I was really impressed! The performers were first class and it was very well presented. 

Standouts for me were White Legend and Seimei, I really appreciated how Western and Japanese instruments were so seamlessly used together in these arrangements. 

I also really liked NDP, and hearing new renditions of Requiem, Ballade No. 1 & Etude was great.

 

The weakest links for me were PW - but I've never particularly liked that song anyway - and Otonal. While I don't mind Otonal, hearing it side by side with Chopin's and Scriabin's arrangements makes it kind of obvious that it's just not on the same level musically. It has a pretty melody, but a full orchestra arrangement kind of emphasises that it lacks the rich nuance/complexity that the other arrangements have. But this is obviously not the orchestra's fault, they were perfect. My point is that I could listen to Chopin forever and Otonal is just not on that level.  

 

Unpopular opinion: I really liked Otonal and Origin from the beginning, because I'm a fan of the easy music genre in general. Easy, soothing and memorable. On the other hand I had very bad experiences with Ballade No. 1 in the past. I tried to listen to it in my car and nearly crashed into a dumpster during the crescendo. From that day Ballade was cancelled for me (sorry Frederic)

 

However, Music with Wings turned everything upside down. While the interpretations of Otonal and Origin were a bit underwhelming for me, Ballade No. 1 gave me goosebumps from head to feet. It was my absolute favorite performance of the entire concert and I'm listening to it in 24 hours loop now. Thank you, Kotaro Fukuma-sama! 

[shanshani]

9 minutes ago, CaroSkate said:

 

If Yuzu becomes a commentator in the future, there will be fans (including myself) watching all the competitions just to hear his comments. And we will hope that the commentator can talk more instead of staying quiet.

 

Yuzu already watches all notable competitions, and I'm sure he has thoughts on them. I would kill to know what they are lol, especially the spicier ones. We already know he found the ice dance competition at Euros to be a little suspicious

 

tbh if Yuzu started commentating the less popular disciplines/events their viewership would shoot up dramatically

[Henni147]

20 minutes ago, shanshani said:

Yuzu already watches all notable competitions, and I'm sure he has thoughts on them. I would kill to know what they are lol, especially the spicier ones. We already know he found the ice dance competition at Euros to be a little suspicious

 

tbh if Yuzu started commentating the less popular disciplines/events their viewership would shoot up dramatically

 

I can picture every skater shivering from Yuzuru Hanyu's honest and ruthless commentary:

"Ouch. That 5T had no exit curve at all. The landing foot hit the ice like a meteor. Someone has to check and fix the hole."

[SitTwizzle]

1 hour ago, KatjaThera said:

I think one of the things that contributes to the Cricket Club's positive attitude towards' skaters' individuality - and individual goals, because not everyone has to be an Olympic Champion - is the fact that they have many skating programs, and not just train elite skaters. There are beginners, there are adults, there are seniors, there are people who just skate for fun or people who started skating later in life and it's unrealistic to expect they would reach the same level as the elite skaters. All of these skaters are coached by the same team that oversees the elite skaters, and they are all given proper attention and treated equally. That I think helps the coaching team better realize and understand how people are different and they have different levels and different standards. But it's not like "oh, you'll never win a gold medal in international competition, why am I wasting my time on you?". TCC is not a club for elite skaters, it's a club where elite skaters also train and I think that makes a huge difference. I'm not sure how many of the other top coaches in FS also train at these other levels (or at least at so many of them).

 

I do sometimes think, though, that Yuzu and Javi have made TCC even better, as all the other skaters have learned from their camaraderie. I wonder if that existed to such an extent at TCC before them... Even if it had, they probably did take it to another level, and now we see Yuzu, Jason and Jun, who almost shared a podium together, being super friendly to each other. The Cricket Club Brothers saga continues, even if some of the characters have changed! (And those Cricket Club pictures at the Saitama Banquet were so incredibly precious!)

 

That's also why, whenever I end up liking a new skater, I find myself wishing they would move to TCC I wouldn't mind if one day, TCC would oversee the coaching of all skaters... just imagine the quality of skating we'd get, too! (Although there are apparently skaters who aren't very compatible with the TCC attitude... I half wanted to buy Adam's book just because I was curious to see what - if anything - he had to say about TCC...)

I think this is relevant too.

Team Tutberidze is a public school. Their teaching is secondary (with some pupils elementary age) and they are accountable to the Russian State of the training they provide. This is why for instance, Shoma Uno could not train there permanently (but I feel he has now found the right coach, and for Deniss Vasiljevs it seems wonderful too, as a motivation). This is why too, when results dwindle, pupils may go to "the junior group" or even switch to other teams or drop out (which in no way happened to Alina Zagitova, Eteri Tutberidze didn't seem glad of her decision but still supports her and I am 100% sure she is welcome whenever she wants, and I sincerely hope she will because she has fabulous skating skills, great performance etc). And there definitely ARE affection and humour. TCC's training is more the university stage, where you are taught but you take what you want — and you pay for it, so there is no accountability to Canadian government or anybody else (except if a federation is paying it). This is why, in my opinion, Evgenia Medvedeva, who had probably long felt uneasy with secondary level style of teaching, and longed for university-like freedom, plus a coming-of-age crisis, plus the silver medal (where she was quite unfair in her "you let her win" but I can so much understand her feelings at the moment), found such a relief at TCC, she really needed it, she had more than a bad year and I believe, from what Brian Orser hinted and not only from her first results, that at first she may have "abused" this freedom by not listening to everything, but Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson understood it and let her a bit, before retaking everything and now we start seeing the results. I have never liked her skating until this season, I confess, while I like so much Alina Zagitova's, Alena Kostornaia's, Anna Scherbakova's (who keeps getting better skating skills, her flaw, plus adjusting to her growth spurt last summer of course; such a balletic skater), even Alexandra Trusova's fierceness. I was very glad Brian Orser made her write a public expression of gratitude towards Team Tutberidze, I didn't know him before (as a coach; I was still watching a bit of skating on my mother's shoulder when he competed and I liked him) and it gave me a very good opinion of him.

Daniil Gleichengauz has already expressed as openly as could be what a dream it would be for them to choreograph something for Yuzuru Hanyu, I am sure they conceive many choreos for him in their dreams. I am sure too, they would in now way be so directive towards such a legitimately independant mind as they are towards the pupils they make progress, rather the opposite; and they may very well show his way of working as an example to their pupils, as he is to TCC trainees.

 

As to Rika Kihira, I found she already had grace, poise, elegance, though smallish jumps (which I read to be technically perfect, I am not able yet to see jump technique) with little flow and not so much expression for "the post-Yuzuru generation". But the way she improved this season, in height, length of jumps, in skating skills and in expressiveness, I found astoundishing and they show a strong character. I hope, now she seems to have recovered from her injury, she will be rewarded as she deserves at Worlds. But Eteri girls may have recovered from their growth-related underrotations, so competition will be fierce.

 

And thank you Crow, for your explanation!

[shanshani]

3 hours ago, Henni147 said:

 

I can picture every skater shivering from Yuzuru Hanyu's honest and ruthless commentary:

"Ouch. That 5T had no exit curve at all. The landing foot hit the ice like a meteor. Someone has to check and fix the hole."

Yuzu look like a cinnamon roll on the outside most of the time, but inside he's stone cold ruthless. Who can forget his shade at Nathan last worlds, when he said you had to win Olys to be a real champion? Or him making fun of Kenji's axel takeoff during the Kenji no heya interview, and also calling him old and pointing out that his anecdote landed like a rock?

 

tbh commentator Yuzu would probably be a more technical and detail-oriented version of Ted Barton (minus Russian stanning? not actually sure about that) 95% of the time, but the other 5% of the time would be epic, charmingly-delivered shade

[Crow]

3 hours ago, Henni147 said:

 

Unpopular opinion: I really liked Otonal and Origin from the beginning, because I'm a fan of the easy music genre in general. Easy, soothing and memorable.

I actually love Otonal and Origin and I think they are super beautiful. And now, even if Yuzu has renegaded from them  I think they were him, they were him in a tumultuous time, a time where he was trying to find something, he had said he wanted to find himself and go back to his roots with it, going back to what inspired him as a kid. And it may have turned out too difficult to take them all the way over to the finished state, perhaps even impossible for him since he said in his head the inspiration pieces were too perfect to reach, but they served him well and they took him where he is now and I think in its chaos Origin was well damn beautiful and it showcased a lot of his power and determination.