2017 Four Continents Men SP

[JuliaHols]

good for max... but do you wonder where he would be without being in school? jeff was a world champion and olympic medalist.

I think Mango's point is that education in North America is crazy hard and many skaters, like Patrick, don't even have their undergrad. Radford quit in 2nd year and was doing a very time demanding (believe me on this) and difficult music degree... he plans to return to his studies after 2018... he will be over 30 entering 3rd year...

It's quite a sacrifice for skaters who aspire to become WC.

Well I used to live in South East Asia but I've moved to Canada recently and tbh I think why university or undergraduate seems harder to North Americans is because the high school standard isn't as hard compared to Asian countries. My sister who studied in an Asian country for high school found University easy (she's doing a life science undergraduate in University of Toronto, (she also mentioned she saw Patrick once on campus when he was on a break from competition after sochi but yeah that's off topic ) but my other sister who did high school in Canada found uni harder (she's doing chemical engineering in University of Waterloo) so I think the undergraduate standard of education is pretty much the same in most countries, but it's the high school education standards that differ which is why North Americans may find the jump from high school to uni harder as opposed to Asian countries where the ppl have already struggled in elementary/high school due to the harder level of education but don't suffer the huge jump from high school to college or university. Anyways I agree it must be incredibly hard for all skaters to do both and I respect all of them.

 

[alia jackson]

I mentioned course work load and time involved on campus...Online courses were brought up to talk about how they are designed with busy people in mind, how you don't have to commute and spend time on campus.

Even though campus is not involved, the online courses still take up time for online discussions, studying, course works to be submitted and exams. And one has to be very self discipline and good time management in order to make time to self study and complete the course work and submit them on time. It may be less time than campus version but it is still time which takes away from rest, training etc.

My general problem with posts about Yuzuru's education and relating it to other skaters is that not everyone has the opportunities that Yuzuru does. He doesn't have to do a part time job or ice shows for training expenses, worry about travelling here and there for choreography and training, have to worry about running a household, etc. He's also fortunate to be in an educational program that allows him to study and compete. Not everyone has those things available to them. Javier Fernandez is a prime example of that. One size does not fit all, which was my intended point.

This I understand as Yuzu has sponsors. However we could not fault Yuzu and different people have different things to worry about. And depending on the situation/circumstances it can be fortunate and also unfortunate for Yuzu to be born a Japanese.

He started from the bottom as well, where his sister had to give up skating for the family to pay for his training expenses. He worried where he was going to train when Sendai rink closed, he worried whether he can skate again after the earthquake etc.

For him to get all that sponsorship and be where he is now...he has to work/train hard, be super discipline, no slacking and constantly work to maintain in top condition to be noticed in Japan against the field of Takahashi, Oda, Kozuka, Machida, Mura and now Uno.

There are advantages and also disadvantages. Yes he doesn't have to worry about his expenses but with these sponsorship also come obligations and responsibility to satisfy the sponsors, commercials, interviews, ice shows, maintaining competitive position etc. etc. which take up his time and provide him with different type of worry/pressure.

 

[Mango]

Yes, Yuzuru had a tough time in the past. But now that he is in university he doesn't face these adversities. But many top skaters still do. Just have a look at the GoFundMe pages of top athletes. There's a lot of them. Even for some you don't expect. And looking at Yuzuru's schedule, he appears to spend a maximum of 2 weeks (combined) doing things for sponsors. That does not compare to someone working part time the whole year.

 

[gladiolusc]

My general problem with posts about Yuzuru's education and relating it to other skaters is that not everyone has the opportunities that Yuzuru does. He doesn't have to do a part time job or ice shows for training expenses, worry about travelling here and there for choreography and training, have to worry about running a household, etc. He's also fortunate to be in an educational program that allows him to study and compete. Not everyone has those things available to them. Javier Fernandez is a prime example of that. One size does not fit all, which was my intended point.

Like you said, one size doesn't fit all, so it seems weird to imply that Hanyu's hard-earned opportunities were simply handed to him. He landed the ANA sponsorship when he was 18, a full 3 years after he entered the senior circuit. Before then, he had to deal with his rink closing down for financial reasons, followed by the earthquake, which resulted in him doing a staggering 60 shows in one season - both to pay for training expenses and also to use those rinks as training locations. Basically all the things you said he didn't have to worry about. So I'm glad he no longer has to worry about that aspect. And of course, it's tough - just as it was for Hanyu - for a lot of skaters now dealing with those situations.

Even though campus is not involved, the online courses still take up time for online discussions, studying, course works to be submitted and exams. And one has to be very self discipline and good time management in order to make time to self study and complete the course work and submit them on time. It may be less time than campus version but it is still time which takes away from rest, training etc.

But to be fair, Hanyu himself was frank about not being able to keep up with a full course load along with his training, this year at least. May have to do with injuries, not sure. But according to the interview, he is taking less classes right now, but doing well in them, along with keeping up with training. I don't know if he would graduate on time, but I think it's a good approach for him to take.

 

[alia jackson]

Men short starting order http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1617/fc2017/SEG001.HTM

 

[Mango]

Like you said, one size doesn't fit all, so it seems weird to imply that Hanyu's hard-earned opportunities were simply handed to him. He landed the ANA sponsorship when he was 18, a full 3 years after he entered the senior circuit. Before then, he had to deal with his rink closing down for financial reasons, followed by the earthquake, which resulted in him doing a staggering 60 shows in one season - both to pay for training expenses and also to use those rinks as training locations. Basically all the things you said he didn't have to worry about. So I'm glad he no longer has to worry about that aspect. And of course, it's tough - just as it was for Hanyu - for a lot of skaters now dealing with those situations.

Have I come across as implying he was handed these opportunities out of nowhere? He had the talent and dedication to become junior world champion and a force in Japan due to which he was noticed by sponsors. The fact that his mom is healthy, able, and willing to be with him to help him is his good fortune. Yuzuru does not have a family of his own to support like some others (e.g. Luca Lanotte). He chose his university program wisely and he was fortunate he had a program available he could do online with a reasonable enough course load for him to manage. As I have explained with examples that is not an option available to everyone. Yuzuru worked hard to get where he was, but now he doesn't have to continue dealing with similar problems because he has support. He has things available to him. On the other hand you have Olympic and World champions Tessa & Scott who have had to do ice shows and rely on support from organizations like B2ten to train. Tessa managed to get a sponsor in Adidas last year and that's helped them too. Just having talent is not enough to pay the bills for most. You have to have funding opportunities available as well, and in many cases those are lacking.

Countless skaters do coaching, set up donation pages, etc. Yuzuru is fortunate that he is not burdened by these things. Does that clear things up?

 

[gladiolusc]

Have I come across as implying he was handed these opportunities out of nowhere? He had the talent and dedication to become junior world champion and a force in Japan due to which he was noticed by sponsors. The fact that his mom is healthy, able, and willing to be with him to help him is his good fortune. Yuzuru does not have a family of his own to support like some others (e.g. Luca Lanotte). He chose his university program wisely and he was fortunate he had a program available he could do online with a reasonable enough course load for him to manage. As I have explained with examples that is not an option available to everyone. Yuzuru worked hard to get where he was, but now he doesn't have to continue dealing with similar problems because he has support. He has things available to him. On the other hand you have Olympic and World champions Tessa & Scott who have had to do ice shows and rely on support from organizations like B2ten to train. Tessa managed to get a sponsor in Adidas last year and that's helped them too. Just having talent is not enough to pay the bills for most. You have to have funding opportunities available as well, and in many cases those are lacking.

Countless skaters do coaching, set up donation pages, etc. Yuzuru is fortunate that he is not burdened by these things. Does that clear things up?

Yeah it did read like that in the beginning, but I'm glad you cleared that up :thumbsup:

 

[ranran]

Yeah it did read like that in the beginning, but I'm glad you cleared that up :thumbsup:

Yeah unfortunately your wordings makes me read it like that too at first. But I'm sure it wasn't intended to come out that way~

 

[OS]

To increase page count

Speaking of which, men's event better deliver!! The ladies event just ended, rather underwhelmed I must say. 42 pages only.

So many falls, hope we don;t get anything like that here. With these Quads, falls can lead to injuris. Stay healthy men!!

 

[MaiKatze]

I'm more worried about the LP, the SP should be alright. At least I hope so. But then with the increased difficulties the Men have their reasons, while the ladies, just didn't do well...for....reasons.

 

[Warwick360]

Event hasn't started yet and it's already 39 pages.

 

[frida80]

Men short starting order http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1617/fc2017/SEG001.HTM

I wonder if Nathan being in the second to last group will affect his scores. Mai seemed to come out ok in ladies so I hope not.

 

[RiMaXXYuzuMi]

Group 5 is kinda overkill though haha, loving the line-up! Go guys, show them how messed up and unpredictable men's figure skating truly is!!!

 

[NoNameFace]

Men short starting order http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1617/fc2017/SEG001.HTM

Misha second to last , hope it will be confidence boost for him and he'll give us AN EXPERIENCE

I think a good draw for Jason - last group and going first, he'll leave his heart, no doubt

and two Japanese Samurais back to back, if I would be able to watch live, I'd have to prepare for pass out from too much nerves...

 

[da96103]

Anguish Alert:

Qualification rule: The best 24 skaters after Short Program will advance to the next segment.

2 will be cut.

 

[sallycinnamon]

Anguish Alert:

Qualification rule: The best 24 skaters after Short Program will advance to the next segment.

2 will be cut.

Booh. That's just doesn't make sense to me. Why the 2 cut? 0 or 4, or even 6 would be more reasonable.

 

[mrrice]

Well, I certainly hope our Men will be able to hold things together this morning. I am shocked to see how low Karen finished in the SP. It is clear to me that the judges will not be doing her any favors even though she's the reigning US Champion. Hopefully she'll skate better in the LP because if she doesn't even stay in the top 10, I'd have a hard time sending her to Worlds. If we're going to keep 3 spots for the next Olympics, we need to hold on that 3rd spot this year to increase our chances.

 

[frida80]

Well I guess were all tired because this thread has slowed down since yesterday. It looks like we won't make it to 50 after all.

 

[mrrice]

I wonder if Nathan being in the second to last group will affect his scores. Mai seemed to come out ok in ladies so I hope not.

You know who I'm worried about, Kevin Reynolds. He got a horrible draw. I certainly hope the Men have a better outing than the women. Even Kaetlyn had a fall. Very weird. I wonder if the ice is weird. Other than Gabby, it sounds like the ladies were all off their game.

 

[xeyra]

Well I guess were all tired because this thread has slowed down since yesterday. It looks like we won't make it to 50 after all.

I think maybe because now that 4CC has actually begun people have migrated to actual competition threads.