Wakaba Higuchi | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Wakaba Higuchi

But seriously I'm a bit worried about puberty, I'm sure she will overcome it as her jumps are so huge. But by the time it's the next Olympic she will be 16.5-17, which means it's the time of puberty. Hopefully she will survive.
 
Meoima said:
But seriously I'm a bit worried about puberty, I'm sure she will overcome it as her jumps are so huge. But by the time it's the next Olympic she will be 16.5-17, which means it's the time of puberty. Hopefully she will survive.
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Eh, Wakaba is the last junior lady I'm worried about; her technique is solid. The Russian girls on the other hand... their jumps look iffy.
 
s_parks said:
Eh, Wakaba is the last junior lady I'm worried about; her technique is solid. The Russian girls on the other hand... their jumps look iffy.
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Well...Wakaba's flip is flawed. She needs to address that but I really don't think it matters what country you're from in regards to puberty so I'll leave that one alone. It even got Liza for a while and her technique was solid. Just think if she had skated her Olympic season like this season. Timing is everything. So it is true that Wakaba will have a similar time frame in terms of age as Liza did if my math is correct. 16-17 in her Olympic season. So I don't think it's unfounded to speculate but everyone matures differently so no one really knows until it happens or hopefully doesn't.

After watching Wakaba's jumps over and over again I really don't think she gets that huge of air as others have said. She rotates really fast. Really fast!! She was blurring up my jumpamatron in fact so much that I left most of the jumps at close to regular speed. She is a power skater not that dissimilar to Liza. Only time will tell but I think she'll be fine. Hopefully she can improve even further and maybe tighten up those spins a bit.
 
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Sam-Skwantch said:
Well...Wakaba's flip is flawed. She needs to address that but I really don't think it matters what country you're from in regards to puberty so I'll leave that one alone. It even got Liza for a while and her technique was solid. Just think if she had skated her Olympic season like this season. Timing is everything. So it is true that Wakaba will have a similar time frame in terms of age as Liza did if my math is correct. 16-17 in her Olympic season. So I don't think it's unfounded to speculate but everyone matures differently so no one really knows until it happens or hopefully doesn't.

After watching Wakaba's jumps over and over again I really don't think she gets that huge of air as others have said. She rotates really fast. Really fast!! She was blurring up my jumpamatron in fact so much that I left most of the jumps at close to regular speed. She is a power skater not that dissimilar to Liza. Only time will tell but I think she'll be fine. Hopefully she can improve even further and maybe tighten up those spins a bit.
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Well yes, I know about her flip, but the way she executes her jumps in general, it's more... stable. I didn't say she won't struggle with puberty, I meant her career won't go down the drain because of it.
 
s_parks said:
Well yes, I know about her flip, but the way she executes her jumps in general, it's more... stable. I didn't say she won't struggle with puberty, I meant her career won't go down the drain because of it.
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Stable is a very good word and I completely agree. I hope she is able to maximize everything she has and continue to grow as a performer. I think she will be the Japanese #1 soon enough.
 
There was a program on Japanese TV the other night showing the gala from World Team Trophy 2013 - I guess they're promoting this year's WTT, it starts in a couple of weeks...

Anyway, I thought I spotted Wakaba skating with the flag for one of the participating countries, during the opening - but I couldn't be sure. But then later on, there she was plain as day after Jeremy Abott's gala performance...
 
YesWay said:
There was a program on Japanese TV the other night showing the gala from World Team Trophy 2013 - I guess they're promoting this year's WTT, it starts in a couple of weeks...

Anyway, I thought I spotted Wakaba skating with the flag for one of the participating countries, during the opening - but I couldn't be sure. But then later on, there she was plain as day after Jeremy Abott's gala performance...
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That's so cute! I saw a gif version of this exhibition and was wondering where it was from :D
 
I like this white dress of Wakababy, because it reminds me of Yuna's red artistry on ice dress.
BTW, wakababy's instagram account is wakaba_baby.:biggrin:
 
s_parks said:
Eh, Wakaba is the last junior lady I'm worried about; her technique is solid. The Russian girls on the other hand... their jumps look iffy.
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Even Liza struggled with puberty. I think all ladies have that phase. I hope by the time next Olympic, Wakaba will have overcome it already.
 
Meoima said:
Even Liza struggled with puberty. I think all ladies have that phase. I hope by the time next Olympic, Wakaba will have overcome it already.
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I feel like Mao and Yuna had a relatively easy time with puberty? Especially Yuna, even when she was undergoing it at 17 in 2008 Worlds, she still managed to get skate very, very well. So it doesn't have to be a big factor at this level of jumping skill.
 
I found some more information about the competition and new SP Wakaba debuted!

According to this news article, Wakaba recently debuted her new SP to some kind of latin/mambo music at the Spring Trophy, a local competition in Tokyo.

All 3 of her SP jumping passes are in the second half of the program, and she would like to do two different 3-3 combos in her free skate and possibly add a 3A later next season (she stated in an interview that she is about a quarter of a rotation short). I haven't read anything saying how successful she performed her new SP, but hopefully there will be videos or something up soon.

There's also some pictures of her new SP dress which is very bright pink and black and frilly with some weird sleeve/arm/wrist bracelet things going on that I'm not a huge fan of, but she can still change it before the official season begins :) (PICTURES: X . X . X)
 
pyri_mids said:
I found some more information about the competition and new SP Wakaba debuted!

According to this news article, Wakaba recently debuted her new SP to some kind of latin/mambo music at the Spring Trophy, a local competition in Tokyo.

All 3 of her SP jumping passes are in the second half of the program, and she would like to do two different 3-3 combos in her free skate and possibly add a 3A later next season (she stated in an interview that she is about a quarter of a rotation short). I haven't read anything saying how successful she performed her new SP, but hopefully there will be videos or something up soon.

There's also some pictures of her new SP dress which is very bright pink and black and frilly with some weird sleeve/arm/wrist bracelet things going on that I'm not a huge fan of, but she can still change it before the official season begins :) (PICTURES: X . X . X)
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When I first read "pink and bright and frilly" I had a vision of one of Mao's dresses and got a bit scared. But then I saw the picture and it's actually not that bad. It fits her age, I guess, although I am not sure about the pink. It's super cute though. :biggrin: Hopefully her FS dress compensates in the maturity department.

Also, thank you for the info on the news article and the planned jumps! She seems to have endless energy, but I hope she doesn't overexert herself too much. Hopefully she manages to incorporate some of that beautiful artistry we saw in her exhibition.
 
Miss Ice said:
When I first read "pink and bright and frilly" I had a vision of one of Mao's dresses and got a bit scared. But then I saw the picture and it's actually not that bad. It fits her age, I guess, although I am not sure about the pink. It's super cute though. :biggrin: Hopefully her FS dress compensates in the maturity department.

Also, thank you for the info on the news article and the planned jumps! She seems to have endless energy, but I hope she doesn't overexert herself too much. Hopefully she manages to incorporate some of that beautiful artistry we saw in her exhibition.
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Haha her costume is not that bad when I lok at it again :) (well... Compared to some other ones I have seen!). Otis pretty cute and I can see it fitting the theme of the Latin music :)

I also hope she doesn't over exert herself too. She has plenty of time to expand her jump layouts and grow!
 
Miss Ice said:
Dat edgework though.
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Actually, it is pretty amazing when you watch Wakaba skate - she has such solid SS and edge work and covers a huge portion of ice at great speed with good control. She skates big and fast. I think her SS should be really high and her basic SS is certainly superior to the Russian Tano twins. She just needs more polish in her CH/IN and work on solid transitions which is her weaker component. I think its possible because she has good flow out of her jumps.
 
Miss Ice said:
I feel like Mao and Yuna had a relatively easy time with puberty? Especially Yuna, even when she was undergoing it at 17 in 2008 Worlds, she still managed to get skate very, very well. So it doesn't have to be a big factor at this level of jumping skill.
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Yeah, Yuna still did quite well with puberty. Hopefully Wakaba will be the same.
 
Globetrotter said:
Actually, it is pretty amazing when you watch Wakaba skate - she has such solid SS and edge work and covers a huge portion of ice at great speed with good control. She skates big and fast. I think her SS should be really high and her basic SS is certainly superior to the Russian Tano twins. She just needs more polish in her CH/IN and work on solid transitions which is her weaker component. I think its possible because she has good flow out of her jumps.
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I totally agree! Her SS and edges are of the best quality. It is, I believe, the best out of the Junior ladies, and certainly in top 10 in Senior ladies, too. However, interpretation needs lots of work, but I am confident that she'll get there! :yay:
 
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