The Reason for Establishment of the Kinoshita Academy and Thoughts for the Future
People who Color Figure Skating (Vol.57)
Creation of an Academy and Construction of an Ice Rink
The Kinoshita Group, which has been involved in figure skating support activities, has been a pioneer in supporting athletes in couples competitions, sometimes including singles skaters, and has continued to do so to this day.
In parallel, the company has been involved in figure skating as a sponsor of the Japan Open, Carnival on Ice, and ice shows, and has begun a new form of commitment with the establishment of the "Kinoshita Academy" on April 1, 2020, and the opening of the "Kinoshita Academy Kyoto Ice Arena" on December 15, 2019, in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture. The company's participation in the construction of the Kinoshita Academy Kyoto Ice Arena, which opened in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, on December 15, 2019.
A spokesperson for the company said, "The order of things is that the academy concept first, and then the construction of the rink. Mie Hamada, the teacher of the academy, told us that she wanted to raise children from an early age, like in Russia, and that she would like to create a private-sector version of an elite academy."
Mie Hamada is a long-time instructor who has trained and coached many skaters, including Satoko Miyahara and Rika Kihira. Currently, as general manager of Kinoshita Academy, she is in charge of coaching Mao Shimada, who won the World Junior Championships last season, and other skaters.
"As for the ice arena, Kyoto Prefecture wanted to build a rink in Kyoto, but there were no companies willing to cooperate with them," said Coach Hamada. When they were looking for a company, I was introduced to the Kyoto Prefectural Skating Federation through Coach Hamada.
After coordinating with Kyoto Prefecture, which owns the land, and Patine Leisure, which is responsible for the operation, construction, and management of the rink, the Kinoshita Group decided to join the arena construction project. The academy will use the arena as its training base.
The trainees are selected from those who have contacted Coach Hamada or Kinoshita Academy, in addition to those who have been originally coached by Coach Hamada.
In addition to supporting the trainees in terms of skating-related expenses, the Academy also has a partnership with Seisa Academy, a correspondence school, to provide an environment where trainees can directly observe their studies three times a week at the arena's facilities.
In addition to on-ice and track training, the academy offers various forms of support, including acting lessons with actors, ballet lessons, lessons with K-pop dancers, and opportunities to receive advice from table tennis player Jun Mizutani, who has been an ambassador for the academy since he retired.
The academy has single players such as Shimada, Hana Yoshida, who will make her senior Grand Prix Series debut this season, and Mone Chiba.
I want to nurture athletes in couple competitions in Japan.
On the other hand, there are also some couples athletes who stand out in the academy. In ice dance, they are Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita, who formed in June this year. In Pairs, there are Yuna Nagaoka/ Sumitada Moriguchi and Sakie Shimizu/ Lucas Takeshi Honda, both formed in May this year. The backgrounds of the competitors are different, with some having been involved in couples competitions in the past and others new to the challenge, but each has pledged to make great strides and have made a good start.
"The Kinoshita Academy has a desire to eventually bring up couples athletes in Japan." said Lucas Takeshi Honda, a member of the Academy. "Right now, the environment is not available in Japan, so everyone is going overseas. We want to create a practice environment in Japan, which is why we helped build the rink."
As Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara live and train in Canada, pairs and ice dancers have no choice but to seek a base overseas if they want to compete at the top level, because of the environment in which to practice and to be taught by career instructors. The idea is to break out of this situation.
As for ice dance, Cathy Reed is our main coach. I think there are some areas where we are lacking when it comes to aiming for the world championships, so we are taking the form of training camps abroad several times a year. I am currently in Finland, where I am gaining experience and coming back to be taught by Cathy Also, I had Kaitlyn Weaver (Canada, competed in Sochi and Pyeongchang Olympics) come to Uji the other day, and she will visit us again in the fall.
The two pairs are also practicing in Toronto, Canada, from August to September.
They are aware of the challenges they face in developing athletes for the couples competition.
The instructors," said Mr. Kurokawa. If we can't invite them, they will have to move overseas to practice.
As a key to breaking through the challenges, he mentioned a skater's name.
When Ryuichi Kihara retires someday, I would like him to teach at Uji.
He has been supporting Kihara for many years and has seen him, including his personality, and sees his aptitude as an instructor.
To allow more people to watch skating
While continuing to support couples competitions, we are also trying to further broaden our scope by creating an environment to train singles athletes as well.
One of them is to expand the "Bloom on Ice" show, which has been held as part of the Kinoshita Academy. It is an important opportunity for them to be seen by the audience, and the purpose of the show is for them to absorb various things by inviting guest skaters and skating with their seniors. Eventually, we hope to make it a little bigger.
He also talks about the "Japan Open" and "Carnival on Ice" on October 7, which he has been supporting in various ways, and which he will be hosting this year.
We are not in an environment where we can do 100% of what we want to do this time because we didn't have enough time, but we would like to plan events so that more people can see skating and we would like to make it an opportunity for people who were not familiar with skating before to get to know skating.
As a first step, we will offer 2,000 free tickets to the Japan Open and Carnival on Ice to elementary and junior high school students living in Saitama Prefecture and attending school in Saitama Prefecture, and to elementary and junior high school students living in Tokyo and attending school in Tokyo, respectively, as well as 500 yen for each ticket to skaters registered with the Japan Skating Federation from all over Japan. The tickets will be sold to skaters registered with the Japan Skating Federation for 500 yen each (or 1,000 yen for the combined price). Tickets for Japan Open and Carnival on Ice will be available from 9:30 to 12:45 and from 17:00 to 18:30, respectively, and skaters will be required to present their badge test certificates.
Therein lies his desire for the future of figure skating.
Not only in figure skating, but also in any other sport, the way skaters push themselves and work hard is inspiring, and the artistic and expressive aspect of figure skating is something that no other sport has. However, the situation in which there are many star athletes and ice shows are enough to draw crowds will not last forever. I think it is important for the future of figure skating that we all work together to nurture our athletes.
To play a part in this, he would like to support the couples competition, build a development organization, and contribute through ice shows and other events. That is what I am thinking.
. They could've done video evaluation of Utana/Masaya and Azusa/Shingo, too.
