The skating club was created in Nanakita Jr. High in accordance with Yuzuru's admission. Yuzuru was the only member in the first year. In the third year, there were about three members including him. In the club competition relay at the sports festival, he formed a team with the students from special support class (the class for the students with disabilities) that I was in charge of. He was a child who interacted with people regardless of disability.
In the award ceremonies, he was always standing with one leg in front like in the ballet. When I asked him the reason, he said, "Figure skating is the sport the athletes are stared at, so I am always conscious (of being like this)." Because he had this attitude on a routine basis, he can perform brilliantly.
When he was in the second and third grade, he tended to be absent from school since he had many expeditions, and I was sorry for him a bit. Whether it was for avoiding the injury, he was observing many times in PE lesson which was his favorite. When I found him being by the side of the playground, I asked him to come to the support class and see my students. The name of the other homeroom teacher in the support class was the same name as Daisuke Takahashi, the Vancouver Olympic bronze medalist. Yuzuru was often joking around saying, "How should I do that step?".
Yuzuru liked figure skating endlessly. In Pyeongchang, I hope he will enjoy skating freely without feeling the pressure for the medal.