Yuzuru Hanyu: 2016-17 Season

[Yuzu Beloved Angel]

I love this cute kid and amazing artistic skater. No matter what, I will always support you. After all he suffered after the injury, I thank God every day for he is skating, happy and healthy. This is my greatest joy. There is a difficult road, but Yuzuru is a fighter. He will do his best to grab this gold. I trust him and I keep sending him positive energies. Ganbatte Yuzu! Go!

 

[PatricksGaze]

Did anyone else notice how he said "ganba!" to Shoma right after his skate? He looked in his direction, smiled, said so and nodded. It was so lovable.

 

[sweetwater]

Did anyone else notice how he said "ganba!" to Shoma right after his skate? He looked in his direction, smiled, said so and nodded. It was so lovable.

You mean this?
Very Yuzuru.

 

[Elaine666]

There is no OP at MR today but two sessions at PR, wonder which one he will be going.

 

[gladiolusc]

And congratulating Shoma on 100+ plus failed high five attempt lol

 

[Nafetaks]

And congratulating Shoma on 100+ plus failed high five attempt lol

That was the best thing about yesterday.

 

[mcq]

Yagudin and National were never meant to be together I remember that (but also remember Tat wasn't in favor of Russian fed for long). Maybe the same as Yuzuru's with SC and 4CC. Maybe they're meant to never be together.

I didn't know Patrick went to sport psychologist? Really?

Why I mentioned it, cause I think Yuzuru doesn't have that cool head like those top ballerina. He is too emotional. He can be analytical when he isn't stressing himself out. But he always put pressure on himself. People love him as he is emotional. But it has a bad side as well.

Before this competition I actually hoped he could develop the cool head mentality like top ballerina. But now I give up. I guess he will never have it.

I really want him to have good memories of Olympic regardless of the result. Don't tell me a clean Yuzuru will definitely win, Yuzuru being clean doesn't mean he can win cause we know how FS has always been. I just hope he can have good memories of a performance to be remembered.

He does. He mentioned it in an interview that he is now working with a sport psychologist in Michigan. Though it does not help him performance-wise, he does seem like a happier skater now regardless of his skate. But I don't follow him that closely so I can't say much

Which is why, Yuzu having this relaxed approach is maybe his and his team's way of preparing him. His last loss at WC affected him greatly, and I think they are trying a way to slowly learning how to lose and swallow that, not just how to mentally prepare to win. Sometimes releasing yourself from expectation and pressure do work from some people. Serena Wlliams was a very fierce competitor (who actually was kind of a not-so-great loser). She used to be so pissed off when losing, but at her last grand slam win, she said in an interview that now she really felt she has nothing to prove and she just play to enjoy every ball and every point. Surprisingly to her, her tennis got better, she play better and she wins more. Ballet is more of an art rather than a sport, so the pressure is a bit different and you are dealing with more subjective critics and audience much like what most artists experience, rather than the feeling of loss and win that athletes experience.

If it really doesn't matter to you if he wins or not, then I don't think how his result is or how he skate should be a problem. How he feel about his performances is the key here. If he really can finally work on feeling a set of accomplishment regardless of a sub-par skate or a loss, I would say I am happy for that rather than only focusing on WIN WIN WIN and being depressed when the outcome is different. He used to scrutinize himself so much, even when he won or break records, like how he would complain about his Stsq level. He does that less now. Maybe it is coping mechanism, or maybe it is him maturing. Maybe he will never have that nerves of steel you wish he had, but if he can walk out of a competition having more sense of achievement and joy more than regret, I think it's more than enough.

 

[sweetwater]

There is no OP at MR today but two sessions at PR, wonder which one he will be going.

He skipped morning session.
Source:https://twitter.com/gototaisuke/status/832776150669684740 (Goto is a reporter of Asahi shinbun.)

 

[mcq]

He skipped morning session.
Source:https://twitter.com/gototaisuke/status/832776150669684740 (Goto is a reporter of Asahi shinbun.)

Thanks for the info sweetwater :luv17:
I have been wondering since yesterday if he would go to both session. So they decided it is better to skip. His practice session will be at the same time with pair's free. I hope someone from the media will report it. Media reports are usually not so detailed like fan's report so too bad we cant have a general idea of his practice.

 

[gladiolusc]

He does that less now. Maybe it is coping mechanism, or maybe it is him maturing. Maybe he will never have that nerves of steel you wish he had, but if he can walk out of a competition having more sense of achievement and joy more than regret, I think it's more than enough.

Although he's maybe consciously looking for good points as well as "homework" to take home these days, at the SP press conference he still said he found himself useless/weak. :sad4: Granted, that was right away so it's normal he'd have those feelings. But.. End of the day, he's still very competitive by nature. It's inconclusive and too early to say at this point, but it may be that a relaxed approach ultimately isn't the best fit for him if he's only relaxed until warm-up time. We simply don't know yet / probably won't ever know for sure.

 

[Elaine666]

Watching Yuzu's sp with NBC. Who were the commentators(definitely not Johnny and Tara)? Interesting to hear the male commentator said Yuzuru is an emotional skater.

 

[Sydney Rose]

I finally watched Yuzu's SP and was surprised at how good he was! Beautiful 4Lo and 3A. Too bad about the 4S but he recovered from it and delivered a performance worthy of the PC scores he received from the judges.

The expectations some of his fans have for him may be well meaning but they're not remotely realistic.

 

[Nafetaks]

pretty good fancam of the SP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exW0EAd59aw

 

[mcq]

Although he's maybe consciously looking for good points as well as "homework" to take home these days, at the SP press conference he still said he found himself useless/weak. :sad4: Granted, that was right away so it's normal he'd have those feelings. But.. End of the day, he's still very competitive by nature. It's inconclusive and too early to say at this point, but it may be that a relaxed approach ultimately isn't the best fit for him if he's only relaxed until warm-up time. We simply don't know yet / probably won't ever know for sure.

Well, that's the thing though. We will never know. There is also a possibility that how his approach is to a competition (relaxed or intense), his skating order etc actually play very little role and it is just that he has his best skates and peak around December, period. It is still depending on the free, but it is not as if he has skated better SP at 4CC in 2013 when he is more "intense" and "stressed" of being the newly crowned Japanese Champion + skating at home. He rarely skated at this time of the year and from his history he rarely skated really well at this period.

If he manages to overcome it, then good for him. But if it doesn't work, then maybe that's just the way things are. He seems to be aware of this and accept that he skates his best mid season, but still trying to work on his 2nd half season competitions by saying he is trying to increase his average performance, which I translate as trying not to implode and unravel the rest of his performances when he makes a mistake. We shall see how the result of his work on that department would be

 

[nekun]

this is the first time I stream a comp live, coz I new to figure skating and that was..oh boy how can I explain it. The nerve is killing me, I'm not the one who skating but my knees feels like jelly, I'm def shaking, trembling and my heartbeat oh my god..istg I have some issue breathing before Yuzu even started to skate. Figure skating is something else, I was barely handle the pressure, imagine Yuzu. I had thankful coz Yuzu still abel to move his Blade after such pressure, lat alone land those jumps. From now on, I'm not expecting too much from him, I just want Yuzu do his best and less stressed.

 

[sweetwater]

Thanks for the info sweetwater :luv17:
I have been wondering since yesterday if he would go to both session. So they decided it is better to skip. His practice session will be at the same time with pair's free. I hope someone from the media will report it. Media reports are usually not so detailed like fan's report so too bad we cant have a general idea of his practice.

Fuji TV aired highlights of men’s & ladies’ SP about an hour ago and they showed a bit of the morning session in PR live at the end of the program. I could see 7 or 8 camera men filming Shoma, the only skater who showed up, while there were ladies practicing in upper rink, so hopefully there will be someone at the afternoon session too. Jian Tong was also in PR, but he will surely be at MR during Pairs event, so full runthrough of this afternoon session won’t be available maybe…

 

[mcq]

Fuji TV aired highlights of men’s & ladies’ SP about an hour ago and they showed a bit of the morning session in PR live at the end of the program. I could see 7 or 8 camera men filming Shoma, the only skater who showed up, while there were ladies practicing in upper rink, so hopefully there will be someone at the afternoon session too. Jian Tong was also in PR, but he will surely be at MR during Pairs event, so full runthrough of this afternoon session won’t be available maybe…

Lol he is the only one who showed up? Means chan, Chen, Jin, Yan also don't? 100% sure Tong Jian would be at the main rink, like on Thursday. So I guess full practice runthrough likely won't be available.

I think general sports journalist tend to not over-report a practice session. So at best we got his general runthrough, that's all. but it's better than nothing

 

[narcissa]

Well, that's the thing though. We will never know. There is also a possibility that how his approach is to a competition (relaxed or intense), his skating order etc actually play very little role and it is just that he has his best skates and peak around December, period. It is still depending on the free, but it is not as if he has skated better SP at 4CC in 2013 when he is more "intense" and "stressed" of being the newly crowned Japanese Champion + skating at home. He rarely skated at this time of the year and from his history he rarely skated really well at this period.

If he manages to overcome it, then good for him. But if it doesn't work, then maybe that's just the way things are. He seems to be aware of this and accept that he skates his best mid season, but still trying to work on his 2nd half season competitions by saying he is trying to increase his average performance, which I translate as trying not to implode and unravel the rest of his performances when he makes a mistake. We shall see how the result of his work on that department would be

How about skip the GP season then?

 

[shayla]

Everybody is so glommy in this thread Here is something to be positive about written by Rozalia Kierc:
Bright side of today's SP:
- the only skater today who didn't receive a single negative GOE from any of the judges
- the only skater who didn't receive a mark below 9 in all components
- the only skater to receive a maximum GOE for a triple axel (3.0) this season (he did it at NHK too) and the only one to receive a perfect GOE for a jumping pass today

 

[mcq]

How about skip the GP season then?

Who knows? He never tried it and I don't think he wants to experiment on it on an olympic season. It is not like it will be a guaranteed success too. From what I see, even people who deals with him on a daily basis (his coaching team) and Yuzuru himself, who knows more about his condition, still find it hard to figure this out. I doubt any of us would know any better. From what I see, at least he tried something different rather than sticking to the same pattern over and over which clearly don't generate good end-result.

This season is also not over yet, so I think it is still too early to judge. He starts this season quite late, really need to look at the whole season to see where his peaking form is.