"I will work on triple triples and other triples after Worlds" - Mao Asada

[hikki]

Again,she said she would want to skate something slow and to make her relax music next season in another interview. I can't wait to see charming Mao back!
Besides she wants to be a stable skater. She is sure that she could attend 3-3s and other jumps(I don't know what jumps combined or what are the other jumps though) SO she is going to practice them after worlds.
That's all. But it is very importnt information,I think.

I thought this interview that ayayukituka must have been talking about in the "going for quad" thread deserves attention.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20...525-sanspo-spo

• I'm happy to see people congratulating me on my silver
• I take this as a step to Sochi
• I want to work on 3/3s and other triples (I guess she means lutz and salcow?)
• Whether Yu-Na retires or not, I'd like to work towards setting a new record.

So she's not as 'quad-blind' as some of us thought!

[Tinymavy15]

Good job Mao. I think she is very smart in realizing that she needs a change and willing to work on it. Her determination and drive is amazing. Already she is thinking "SOCHI"

[janetfan]

Good job Mao. I think she is very smart in realizing that she needs a change and willing to work on it. Her determination and drive is amazing. Already she is thinking "SOCHI"

Equally amazing is that Tat and Mao never thouight to do this two years ago to prepare for Vancouver.

[enlight78]

I believe they tried put felt it was two late; having 2 years to fix someone's technique vs 4 years is a hugh difference

[lavender]

Great for Mao. Not sure why she took the 3/3 out and I'm also not sure why she stop doing the them before the Olympics. She could have done one triple axel and one 3/3 combo because what she had plan wasn't matching what Yu na was doing in points.

[miki88]

Great for Mao. Not sure why she took the 3/3 out and I'm also not sure why she stop doing the them before the Olympics. She could have done one triple axel and one 3/3 combo because what she had plan wasn't matching what Yu na was doing in points.

In her recent interview, she said it was hard for her to do a program with 2 3A and one 3/3. If she brings it back, I think she has to leave out one 3A .

[Nadia01]

In her recent interview, she said it was hard for her to do a program with 2 3A and one 3/3. If she brings it back, I think she has to leave out one 3A .

Miki --

Lavender said Mao could've done 1 3A & 1 3/3, not that she should do 2 3As and 1 3/3. :-)

[Nadia01]

I believe they tried put felt it was two late; having 2 years to fix someone's technique vs 4 years is a hugh difference

I'm not that sure about that. Miki fixed her lip problem for the Vancouver Games. It took her like a year, but she did it.

[janetfan]

I believe they tried put felt it was two late; having 2 years to fix someone's technique vs 4 years is a hugh difference

If a coach and/or skater can't fix either a flutz or ur problems on 3x3 in two years it would seem almost certain they will never be fixed.
That said I don't consider Mao just any ordinary skater. I think she is special and very talented.

I can also say I think her coaching situation - or to be more accurtae - her lack of coaching - is what separated Yuna from Mao these past few years.

Polish, and polish more every element and maximize point potential under CoP is what we saw Orser/Wilson do for Yuna.
I saw no such thing from Mao and think she was a better skater a few years ago.

To compete at the elite levels good coaching and strategy is necessary for a skater who wants to be a champion.

Mao will be 20 in a few months and I have to wonder if she has either the will or the understanding of the CoP to know how to maximize her scoring potential. She clearly needs someone running the show for her and telling her what to do.

I can guarantee that Mirai will be coached in a way very similar to Yuna. Every detail will be polished and tech deficiencies will be worked on relentlessly even as the tech difficulty/point potential will be raised.

Reading Orser's comments it is clear that if Yuna continues he recognizes Mirai as a threat to her - maybe more so than Mao.

I am not a fan of CoP but I am getting more used to it. Whether I like it or not doesn't matter. What matters is scoring points. What is meaningless is crying like Plushy or Japanese media about the scores. "Quad jump"....."triple axle".......blah, blah blah......a sign of sheer stupidity and poor sportsmanship IMO.

I thought Yuna won and I thought she won by a fairly large margin.
I thought Evan won too - probably by a bigger margin - since Plushy was still getting too many reputation points for elements that just were not being done.

So Mao has four year now. So does Yuna if she continues. And so does 16 year old Mirai.
I have a feeling we have seen the best from Mao as she just won't let a top coach train her to her potential. I also believe a young, full of himself Patrick Chan will atempt to train himself in a manner similar to Mao. Disappointment and/or disaster will surely follow such egotistical skaters.

Yuna can still get better if she chooses to continue with Orser. Mirai is getting better by the month at an almost scary rate.

I doubt if a sequestered skater living comfortably at home and practicing in solitude on the rink a university built for her will be part of the equation in 2014. JMHO.

[bekalc]

So Mao has four year now. So does Yuna if she continues. And so does 16 year old Mirai.
I have a feeling we have seen the best from Mao as she just won't let a top coach train her to her potential. I also believe a young, full of himself Patrick Chan will atempt to train himself in a manner similar to Mao. Disappointment and/or disaster will surely follow such egotistical skaters.

Yuna can still get better if she chooses to continue with Orser. Mirai is getting better by the month at an almost scary rate.

I doubt if a sequestered skater living comfortably at home and practicing in solitude on the rink a university built for her will be part of the eqaution in 2014. JMHO.

I say wait and see. Mao doesn't completely train in isolation. Kozuka i believe trains at that University too (she could have a private rink I don't know) I think that if Mao gets a coach and trains hard she could be in it. I wouldn't assume that Mao hasn't learned her lesson here.

As for Mirai, there are I think two major questions about her.

1. Will she get a consistent 3/3.
2. Will she have the will to buckle down and work her butt off for four years. Because the thing with Mirai there is that her underrotation issues were an issue for two seasons, and there actually is some talk that Mirai did not train as hard as she should have for the last two years. Work ethic and will to win could be key.

[janetfan]

I say wait and see. Mao doesn't completely train in isolation. Kozuka i believe trains at that University too (she could have a private rink I don't know) I think that if Mao gets a coach and trains hard she could be in it. I wouldn't assume that Mao hasn't learned her lesson here.

As for Mirai, there are I think two major questions about her.

1. Will she get a consistent 3/3.
2. Will she have the will to buckle down and work her butt off for four years. Because the thing with Mirai there is that her underrotation issues were an issue for two seasons, and there actually is some talk that Mirai did not train as hard as she should have for the last two years. Work ethic and will to win could be key.

To address one point that you have raised - nobody talks much about the hardships Mirai and her family have faced. It just isn't the American way.

The only reason Mirai's parents got to see her skate in Vancouver is because a sponsor - Panasonic to be specific - made it possible.

Mirai will go into next season with A-1 funding from US Skating. She has a major sponsor now. Her family's financial problems will be greatly reduced.

Reading how Mirai's mother is sick - and how she has worn old clothing with holes in it was not made up. Her family has sacrificed everything for her skating.

I think Mirai has learned what the possibilties are for her - and thanks to Evan and Frank Carroll she has learned that hard work can produce - to quote Evan - "a clean skate."

US Skating makes mistakes - but they are not stupid all of the time. They have seen the future and in Ladies skating and it's name is Mirai Nagasu.

[Nadine]

Back to Mao!

I personally have never seen this kind of drive & determination from any skater, except maybe The King, yet not really even him, but I'm not sure.

I'm talking in terms of breaking records, literally trying to be the best of all time, pushing her body to do things that once were thought impossible. It's not enough to win for her, she must win by completing the hardest elements ever done by a female skater, and mayhap being the first lady skater in history to do a man's program ala The King, complete with 7 triples (including two 3axels) & a quad!

She's already on par to breaking Midori Ito's record of landing18 ratified triple axels in competition. Mao has completed 14 thus far, only 5 more to go to break Midori's record.

She's set so many records thus far in her relatively short career, that I totally believe her when she says she plans on breaking Yuna Kim's record at the Olympics. It'll take all she's got, but I can totally see her doing it, complete with a man's program!

This is truly special to see a once-in-a-lifetime skater come round with not only the talent (plenty throughout history have had talent in spades), but also the resolve & determination & mindset to do it! Usually we see a skater with loads of potential, but not the ambition behind it, or else have tons of ambition & drive, but not the talent to make it happen. Here we have an unusual case, a skater that excels in both aspects of skating (i.e. technical & artistic), but MORE than anything else coupled with that rarest of things ~ drive, ambition, the will & determination to be the best ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAO-CHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[janetfan]

Back to Mao!

I personally have never seen this kind of drive & determination from any skater, except maybe The King, yet not really even him, but I'm not sure.

I'm talking in terms of breaking records, literally trying to be the best of all time, pushing her body to do things that once were thought impossible. It's not enough to win for her, she must win by completing the hardest elements ever done by a female skater, and mayhap being the first lady skater in history to do a man's program ala The King, complete with 7 triples (including two 3axels) & a quad!


GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAO-CHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you living in some fantasy world? Mao did four clean triples in her LP in Vancouver. It is one of the reasons Yuna crushed her so badly.
For you to keep saying 7 triples is beyond silly.

Plushy did not do a flip in Vancouver. It is part of why he lost.

Get a grip , OK ?

[bekalc]

To address one point that you have raised - nobody talks much about the hardships Mirai and her family have faced. It just isn't the American way.

The only reason Mirai's parents got to see her skate in Vancouver is because a sponsor - Panasonic to be specific - made it possible.

Mirai will go into next season with A-1 funding from US Skating. She has a major sponsor now. Her family's financial problems will be greatly reduced.

Reading how Mirai's mother is sick - and how she has worn old clothing with holes in it was not made up. Her family has sacrificed everything for her skating.

I think Mirai has learned what the possibilties are for her - and thanks to Evan and Frank Carroll she has learned that hard work can produce - to quote Evan - "a clean skate."

US Skating makes mistakes - but they are not stupid all of the time. They have seen the future and in Ladies skating and it's name is Mirai Nagasu.

All of this is true, but once again what I was mainly wondering was if Mirai were to win let's say a World title, and all of her family's financial problems were done. Would she still have the drive to continue and work incredible hard... That's the main thing with me. The fact that it took her that long to fix such a major issue, and I suspect that she got complacent with her national title. Just makes me wonder. The main question is will she get a consistent 3/3 though.

[silverlake22]

US Skating makes mistakes - but they are not stupid all of the time. They have seen the future and in Ladies skating and it's name is Mirai Nagasu.

I agree . Mirai saying she was "lazy" during the 08-09 season was likely due to a number of different things including: 1.) So many physical changes in such a short period of time 2.) Being at public school (a very good one too) and not being able to get enough sleep most nights because of the workload 3.) Her injury 4.) Loss of trust in her coach, who at the time was Charlene Wong 5.) Being reigning national champion and not having to prove to anyone how good she was. This year, it's a completely different story, Mirai has adjusted to her grown up body, she homeschools now to save time, she's healthy and not injured, she has a new coach who she likes, and she's out to prove that her 5th place finish at nationals last year was a fluke. Mirai has grown up tremendously in this past year, and even since this fall, and I feel like the old Mirai days are over. She knows how much her parents have sacrificed to let her skate, and now after doing so well at the Olympics she knows her hard work has paid off and that she is an incredible skater. Furthermore, she's learned to do things Frank's way and Frank won't let her get away with any bratty nonsense, so she won't pull it. She seems like a lovely girl and I expect great things to continue to come from her. So proud of you Mirai!