[2017.12.21] Asahi Shimbun - Yutaka Higuchi opened the doors to the prestigious Cricket Club

[yuzurujenn]

*Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

 

2017.12.21

 

Source: https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASKDD6KGVKDDUTQP02C.html?ptoken=01KRQ5GE4CV30656A4AJQ9DBNT (paid)

 

Yutaka Higuchi opened the doors to the prestigious Cricket Club, a renowned figure skating organization.

 

Yuzuru Hanyu (ANA) is aiming for a second consecutive Olympic gold medal in men's figure skating at next year's Pyeongchang Olympics, a feat not achieved in 66 years. With an Olympic champion on the team, Japan has now become a world leader in this sport. At present, there are also many Japanese skaters who go abroad to hone their figure skating skills. The person who helped open up that path was Yutaka Higuchi, a coach at the Meiji Jingu Gaien Figure Skating Club, who has long been involved in developing Japanese skaters.

 

Spoiler

The Cricket Club in Toronto, Canada, where Hanyu made his breakthrough, is a prestigious club where top skaters from Canada and around the world gather, and Higuchi became the first person of color to become a member.

 

After graduating from high school in 1968, he joined the club. “I was called ‘Jap’ in the city, but the athletes and coaches were kind,” he said. The Canadian members also respected Japanese skaters who trained diligently.

 

The Cricket Club has about 4,800 members. In 2013, the admission fee for a couple was about 3 million yen. Kim Yuna (KOR), the women’s gold medalist at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, was also a member. Specialists in skating, jumps, choreography, rules, and physical conditioning support the athletes.

 

Higuchi encouraged his clubmate David Wilson, who was not good at jumps and later became a renowned choreographer. He got to know Doug Leigh at a nearby club, and through him met his student Brian Orser when Orser was 15, becoming friends with him. Choreographer Jeffrey Buttle is also a friend. The three of them now coach and choreograph for Hanyu, supporting him on his way to becoming an Olympic gold medallist.

 

After retiring, Higuchi made use of his network. He connected Japanese skaters with North American coaches who had caught the eye of Noriko Shirota, who was in charge of strengthening the Japan Skating Federation. Examples include Shizuka Arakawa (gold medalist at the 2006 Turin Olympics) and Richard Callaghan, as well as Fumie Suguri and Lori Nichol. Nichol later became well known as Mao Asada’s choreographer.

 

Judges began giving Japanese skaters higher scores, thinking, “If it’s choreography by that choreographer.” Higuchi and Shirota helped shape the period when Japanese skaters began gaining recognition on the world stage.

 

At a celebration for Hanyu held in Japan after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Hanyu, who became Japan's first male figure skater to win an Olympic gold medal, placed the gold medal around Higuchi's neck.

 

 

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Yutaka Higuchi was born in 1949 in Tokyo. Competed in the Olympics twice as an athlete. He became the first non-European member of Canada’s Cricket Club.