General Yuzuru Chat

[Murieleirum]

I would like to give out my 2 cents regarding 'pressure' and the ability to perform under pressure.

Every skater has some sort of anxiety before skating at a major competition. Just like (in my life experience), for example, every musician has anxiety before performing a musical piece at a concert. It will happen all the time, to everyone.

 

The crucial difference between some musicians and some others, or some skaters and some others, is the following: when you give yourself fully, to the performance and the spectators, when the performance reflects not only what you've done but who you are, when every time you perform you are naked and vulnerable in front of everyone - then it goes without saying that the anxiety is gonna be way more, the pressure is going to be way more. Personally, I am 100% sure that this is the main difference between Yuzuru's relationship with his anxiety, and other skater's anxieties.

 

I don't feel that Nathan Chen gives himself completely, naked, to the audience every time he skates. I don't feel that with Shoma, either. I felt it with Patrick Chan when I watched him live. Because being vulnerable and giving yourself completely through your performance is what makes you a mature skater or not.

 

Of course, I do see room of improvement for Yuzuru and his relationship with his worries and anxieties. I think he is able to be vulnerable, weak, fragile, to give himself completely, and still keep that confidence in himself that can make him perform miracles on ice. It's not something that he manages to do all the time, but when he does, he is unbeatable.

[mcq]

Actually Javi called him very consistent.

 

I am referring to a different interview. It is published by new york times and I quote here https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/01/sports/dazzling-free-skate-lifts-yuzuru-hanyu-to-world-title.html?_r=0

 

“If he skates a clean short and a clean long, I might think he might be unbeatable,” Fernández said of Hanyu.

 

Also yes: In the spectrum of men's skating I would consider Yuzu as pretty consistent.

 

P.S : Also, about nathan, I am not surprised at all. People who actually follow him knows he peak at around Nats and always perform sub-par by the time of worlds (or in his case junior worlds). So please don't listen to goldfish-memory commentators and experts/bloggers. HOWEVER, he has a very convenient peaking time for olympics. And if nothing changes, I expect him to peak around Nats/Olympics again.

[タケキ]

Wowwwwwww!!! This place is fantastic!!!!!

[HoneyGoldLev]

mcq said:

 

Well I agree. I don't think I consider any of the top men as consistent as in Zhenya's type of consistent. But then again, she is not doing 3A and quads, who knows maybe if Yuzu only did 4S and 4T we would have seen a more consistent version of him, but everybody knows that is not going to happen due to the direction of the sport is going (this is the man who keeps upgrading something each season), so you are going to expect to see some splat here and there. I actually don't mind the "inconsistency" of the top men, because that means they are pushing themselves and getting out of their comfort zone. Because hey, If you are clean all the time, maybe your layout is too easy for you?

But I think the sentiment among general skating fans that if Yuzuru is clean he is unbeatable is still very strong (whether the judges is going to go with it or not is another story). Even Javier himself said it recently, if Yuzuru is clean, he is unbeatable, and this man is his biggest rival for the past years.

 

This I wholeheartedly agree.

Quoting Kurt Browning during WC LP broadcast, "He gave the judges... NO excuse, not to throoow the book (meaning: give all the high points) out at him" 

[cherry]

タケキ said:

Wowwwwwww!!! This place is fantastic!!!!!

 

Welcome to the Planet Hanyu! I hope you enjoy your stay here ^^

 

[Katt]

My first impression when I checked his sp score at wtt is " thank god i didnt happen at worlds". Skaters can have bad day even when they're in best shape. If he had a great Sp at wtt people will be "if he do it at worlds" ( see the reaction for Mai and Wakaba). So as long as he deliver at the right time, I'm fine with him bomb early in season.

 

All the men are doing very risky layouts, its unrealistic to ask for an Evgenia's consistency. And for Yuzuru, the pressure he get is unbelieveable. Imagine you enter a comps with thousands of people and medias follow your every single moves, good practise can make they freak out as well as bad practise. To be able to deliver many good m performance with that kind of expectations is outstanding

 

The thing that make me happy about this season is he really care about his health and put it in the first priority. It took him a bit long to get that mindset, it will works well for him in the long term.

[meoima]

Actually, Yuzuru never does exceptional well at any commercial competition (sorry Japanese fans but WTT is that kind of event). Did he do very well at WTT 2015? Well no, it was just so so. It is the same with WTT 2017. I don't think he did badly there, it's just so so as well.

 

I would rather see him does so so at fake competitions and does well at actual competitions. As long as he wins GPF, WC and Olympic, who cares about WTT (and who cares about Skate Canada or even 4CC lol)

 

I like Wakaba and Mai, but frankly I do not even think their scores at WTT say much. Yes, they did well at WTT, good for them. But I would rather see them do that at WC, not WTT. Remember, Japanese ladies lost 3 spots for Olympic so...

[xeyra]

Katt said:

My first impression when I checked his sp score at wtt is " thank god i didnt happen at worlds". Skaters can have bad day even when they're in best shape. If he had a great Sp at wtt people will be "if he do it at worlds" ( see the reaction for Mai and Wakaba). So as long as he deliver at the right time, I'm fine with him bomb early in season.

 

All the men are doing very risky layouts, its unrealistic to ask for an Evgenia's consistency. And for Yuzuru, the pressure he get is unbelieveable. Imagine you enter a comps with thousands of people and medias follow your every single moves, good practise can make they freak out as well as bad practise. To be able to deliver many good m performance with that kind of expectations is outstanding  

 

The thing that make me happy about this season is he really care about his health and put it in the first priority. It took him a bit long to get that mindset, it will works well for him in the long term.

To be honest, not even the ladies have Evgenia's consistency.

 

@ Murieleirum. Agreed!

[CupidsBow]

To be honest, it would be boring if Yuzu had Evgenia's (freakish) consistency (It's enough that there is one person dominating ladies, singles would be a snooze if Yuzu dominated in the same way) and part of the reason he doesn't is because he's constantly upgrading and improving and trying more and more difficult programs. Even if next season he isn't adding the 4lz you know he'll be packing his programs with ever more difficult transitions and stuff. If he was doing just what he was comfortable with and just enough to get level 4s on everything, then he likely would be way more consistent, but his style is to go above and beyond

[cherry]

Consistency also means that a skater is within his/her comfort zone.

Inconsistency isn't a bad thing, when you are less inconsistent than your competitors.

 

This is also why I enjoy while having a nervous breakdown male FS events so much.

[Altie]

I would like to give out my 2 cents regarding 'pressure' and the ability to perform under pressure.

Every skater has some sort of anxiety before skating at a major competition. Just like (in my life experience), for example, every musician has anxiety before performing a musical piece at a concert. It will happen all the time, to everyone.

 

The crucial difference between some musicians and some others, or some skaters and some others, is the following: when you give yourself fully, to the performance and the spectators, when the performance reflects not only what you've done but who you are, when every time you perform you are naked and vulnerable in front of everyone - then it goes without saying that the anxiety is gonna be way more, the pressure is going to be way more. Personally, I am 100% sure that this is the main difference between Yuzuru's relationship with his anxiety, and other skater's anxieties.

 

I don't feel that Nathan Chen gives himself completely, naked, to the audience every time he skates. I don't feel that with Shoma, either. I felt it with Patrick Chan when I watched him live. Because being vulnerable and giving yourself completely through your performance is what makes you a mature skater or not.

 

Of course, I do see room of improvement for Yuzuru and his relationship with his worries and anxieties. I think he is able to be vulnerable, weak, fragile, to give himself completely, and still keep that confidence in himself that can make him perform miracles on ice. It's not something that he manages to do all the time, but when he does, he is unbeatable.

 

 

Yes exactly.

It is not wrong to say Yuzu is sensitive to pressure. He skates with his heart on his sleeves, and his performances reflect that.

He has mental blocks, we all know of them - this year, the 4S3T and skating second.

He has mental pushes thanks to his "hate to lose" mentality - when he did "bad" in the SP (worlds 2017), when another skater adds another quad (Boyang nhk 2015), or every time he earns a silver medal instead of a gold.

That one of the reasons I'm so anxious everytime he skates : because I know it could be heaven or it could be hell (well, for anybody being silver medalist wouldn't be hell, but for Yuzu it is :) ).

He IS intense and emotional.

And I think that's part of what drive so people toward him.

[Sombreuil]

I know what you mean about the thread and agree re Max, but Xeyras right -sky high expectations because of Nov/Dec 2015

So true. Every time that the man skates remotely clean or not so clean you can hear every comentator from every TV post saying: "Well, is not a WR this time, but ..." Come on, ppl! Give this guy a break, he's human, and he really don't need to break the WR every time he skates. But that's the pressure he's on at every competition, and, sometime it get to him like it was at WTT. This is media from our times and it's not valid only in FS, in all the sports is the same.

 

I wish I was sufficiently tech savvy to link that video of him after winning OG wandering at the side of the rink hemmed in by photographers with their lenses literally in his face!

[Floria]

Sorry for off topic, but I have just seen this tweet:

[tweet]860095542826643456[/tweet] Is it about 4A?

[ralucutzagy]

Sombreuil said:

ralucutzagy said:

Sombreuil said:

I know what you mean about the thread and agree re Max, but Xeyras right -sky high expectations because of Nov/Dec 2015

So true. Every time that the man skates remotely clean or not so clean you can hear every comentator from every TV post saying: "Well, is not a WR this time, but ..." Come on, ppl! Give this guy a break, he's human, and he really don't need to break the WR every time he skates. But that's the pressure he's on at every competition, and, sometime it get to him like it was at WTT. This is media from our times and it's not valid only in FS, in all the sports is the same.

 

I wish I was sufficiently tech savvy to link that video of him after winning OG wandering at the side of the rink hemmed in by photographers with their lenses literally in his face!

I think you mean this one! Yes, they literally took his air! They were so close! I mean, did they really need to be that close? You can see cleary that the kid was disturbed by them.

[xeyra]

Floria said:

Sorry for off topic, but I have just seen this tweet:

[tweet]860095542826643456[/tweet] Is it about 4A?

 

OT: Boyang posted a 4A? video. Here it is https://twitter.com/shoma_skating/status/860104707628347392