[Removed][Translation] Brian Orser on Yuzuru’s 4Lo and their discussion after Skate Canada (Excerpts from Team Brian 2)

[ymy]

Thanks for the translation! It's great to know what and how the thought process of training yuzu was done last year. I had to read the piece twice to really understand the flow of events. And I rewatched the Canada broadcast of yuzu fs in share Canada and Tracy commented about his 4 quads and timing as well. And how for the quad loop, he has to connect the timing, his knees and core and the ice. Does timing means making sure he has enough stamina for all the quads and also his entire program? Or timing means jumping technique timing? I'm guessing Brian is the kind of coach that has a 2-way relationship with his students. He discuss on initial plan, lets the student executes until he feels something is off then he will correct / guide to where he feels is the best way. I guess this is the best for yuzu? 

 

Ok im rambling... haha... 

[gladi]

On 6/25/2017 at 5:59 AM, ymy said:

Thanks for the translation! It's great to know what and how the thought process of training yuzu was done last year. I had to read the piece twice to really understand the flow of events. And I rewatched the Canada broadcast of yuzu fs in share Canada and Tracy commented about his 4 quads and timing as well. And how for the quad loop, he has to connect the timing, his knees and core and the ice. Does timing means making sure he has enough stamina for all the quads and also his entire program? Or timing means jumping technique timing? I'm guessing Brian is the kind of coach that has a 2-way relationship with his students. He discuss on initial plan, lets the student executes until he feels something is off then he will correct / guide to where he feels is the best way. I guess this is the best for yuzu? 

 

Ok im rambling... haha... 

Re: timing, closer to the latter. Since Yuzuru is the type to really try and match the timing of the jump (takeoff, landing) to moments in the music. And there are many ways he fiddles with that, an extra step step, a different step, adjusting the curve of the entry, et cetera

[Maya]

Thanks for translating this article, which I just read today. In fact, I wasn't aware of Yuzuru until just before the Olympics this year. Since then, I've not been able to do much else other than catching up. I've also gotten quite interested in Brian's coaching and coaching in general.

 

I like Brian's sensitivity and seeing Yuzu as he is. Instead of trying to fit Yuzu into a certain mold, Brian listens and observes and tries to find an approach that's best for Yuzu at any given time. That's what good coaches do. 

 

Peter Jensen, a sports psychologist working with the Canadian Olympic team back when Brian was competing, writes about coaching athletes and leaders. He talks about a major job of coaches is facilitating the development of the person and keeping this end goal as the big picture. With Yuzu, I think what sets him apart is that he fully owns his development as a skater and a person. So, the former is not an issue. However, when it comes to the latter, he sometimes seems to lose sight of it with somewhat of a tunnel vision and gets hyper worked up. Several interviews he's given suggest he's aware of at least the intensity part of this tendency and is trying to find a way to tackle it.

 

I'm hopeful because of the calmer Yuzu we saw in the 2017 Worlds. I'm also hopeful because Brian was able to convince him that it's totally doable for Yuzu to win his 2nd Olympic gold with one set of strategy given his physical condition prior to the event, but such strategy is not designed for him to break another world record. Or, rather than convincing him, Brian helped Yuzu see the path to his 2nd gold medal. Knowing how tempting it probably was for Yuzu to do more than "just" winning a 2nd gold metal, I think Brian is spot on in using "victory" to describe what Yuzu achieved in the interview Brian gave to the Olympic channel recently.

 

Just like honing his control over foundational skating helped taking Yuzu's figure skating to a new level back when he first started training in Toronto, I firmly believe when Yuzu's awareness and control over his mental state is better developed, it will be his biggest "weapon" (to use his own word) and he'll blossom beyond what we've seen. When was it when he said he had reached only 20% of his potential? I believe it. 

[asiacheetah]

Thanks for the translation!

 

 

I'm wondering if it's been discussed regarding what Brian said about scolding Yuzu and Javi and differences. I read an excerpt on Tumblr via twitter via GS(?) about the interactions there which sounded cute with Javi arguing back and crying and making Brian cry.  While scolding Yuzu would result in a stressed out Yuzu so they have talks instead.

 

I thought there's also some bit about Yuzu being so self sufficient that Brian is almost a little too hands off, which resulted in the Boston fiasco. I don't know it's all second hand.