Mao Asada news | Page 17 | Golden Skate

Mao Asada news

Well, Mr. Nagakubo is not coaching Asada any more. It seems that both Mr. Nagakubo and Mr. Sato have quite similar opinions about her techniques or overall problems. As experienced and levelheaded as they are, they know what is correct or incorrect. But while Mr. Nagakubo's approach was idealistic - he wanted to correct her jumps fundamentally -, Mr. Sato seems to be taking on somewhat realistic ways. Maybe gradual improvement but for now, status quo.

I wondered about the possibility of changing her jump layouts at NHK but she is reiterating 'restoring jumps' here.
http://serviceapi.nmv.naver.com/fla...051667aa86f18f3259bd40aaffab49b5051667aa86f18
So I think she will try basically the same jumps at NHK. Mr. Sato will decide if she need some change after the competition.

If any of you are interested in what the three skaters said,

Asada : Many people of my hometown will see the cometition. I will do my best focusing on restoring my jumps. (NHK will be held in Nagoya)
Takahashi : I want to be on the podium.(lol) I want the audience to enjoy (my performance) as at the ice shows.
Hanyu : My first challenge on the senior level.

I saw Hanyu's gala program : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Adw6FLqFko
 
Nadine said:
Seriously, Kozuka's "Jimmie Hendrix" program reminded me of Jeremy Abbott's "A Day in the Life". :)
Click to expand...
:laugh:

Kozuka's gala this time seriosly reminded me of Jeremy's 'At This Moment.'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jWrQRJ5FqI

Actually, I rooted for Jeremy and Kozuka the most at the olys. I really got disappointed at the result then but they are still my top skaters whom I will keep on watch this season.:cool:
I saw Kozuka and Takahashi's performances at JO. I know Takahashi is great and confident and all but IMO he lacked stamina a little bit at the end of the program. However, Kozuka seems to maintain well some of his energy until the last despite of his somewhat less presence on ice. More power to him!:thumbsup:
 
I like Mao's LP dress at NHK. But the skating itself... :cry: I'm so sad for Mao. She looked miserable even before her program started. Even her fingers looked limp and lacking in confidence in her opening moves. I knew she was in trouble. :no: She is *such* a talent, and I really still believe in her ability to come back. But psychologically she seems really down on herself, while she's reworking all of her jumps. I really hope this was rock bottom and things can only get better from here. It'd be hard for things to get worse...

I'm so sad that my two favorite skaters, Mao and Caroline Z, are both have one hellish start to the new season. :no: :no: :no:
 
I hear you, Feraina. I watched the tape last night, and it was distressing to see her jumps so unsure. I'm sure it's temporary, because this isn't a fifteen-year-old who doesn't know who she is. She's an Olympic medalist who earned every carat of her silver medal by sheer grit, and the two-time and current world champion. Since she's being coached by Nobuo Sato, I hope she gets a visit from his daughter Yuka, who looks to me like the most reassuring person on the face of the earth. And whatever is rocking her boat, I hope she figures out a way to resume smooth sailing.
 
Olympia said:
I hear you, Feraina. I watched the tape last night, and it was distressing to see her jumps so unsure. I'm sure it's temporary, because this isn't a fifteen-year-old who doesn't know who she is. She's an Olympic medalist who earned every carat of her silver medal by sheer grit, and the two-time and current world champion. Since she's being coached by Nobuo Sato, I hope she gets a visit from his daughter Yuka, who looks to me like the most reassuring person on the face of the earth. And whatever is rocking her boat, I hope she figures out a way to resume smooth sailing.
Click to expand...

I just loved your comment about Yuka. :)
If anyone can give Alissa some reassurance it might just be Yuka. :yes:

Keeping my fingers crossed!
 
I think we all knew this would be a tough year for Mao. She took on so many changes over the off-season, including bringing back the lutz and changing all her jumping passes. She has added new spins, working with a new coach and has two new programs. Fixing all her jump issues and getting back to where is will be confident to actually perform the programs and land those triple axels again. Mao's big picture is Sochi. In 3 years nobody will remember or care who won NHK 2010.
 
Tinymavy15 said:
I think we all knew this would be a tough year for Mao. She took on so many changes over the off-season, including bringing back the lutz and changing all her jumping passes. She has added new spins, working with a new coach and has two new programs. Fixing all her jump issues and getting back to where is will be confident to actually perform the programs and land those triple axels again. Mao's big picture is Sochi. In 3 years nobody will remember or care who won NHK 2010.
Click to expand...

What I also love about Mao is that she has proven herself able of carrying off choreographically complicated programs. I am not really in love with her LP this season, but I think in the long term figure skating fans will really benefit from the artistry in her programs. I think it's fair to say that she has set herself apart and is no longer a generic skater. Even Irina Slutskaya would agree with that.
 
She took an interview from her older sister,Mai. According to herself,she was ready to compete here at 50 percent,then success rate of jumps increased with nice strain at official practice. However,she got big pressure/nervous on her shoulder at her performance. Also said she herself is excited to get them together.
Mao's definitely a slow starter,which means she needs a lot confidence to success jumps and improve as season goes. So we'll see her big improvements at Japan national though how much she gains confidence on performance depends on the way her practice goes.
 
I'm really happy that she's calm about it. She even popped all her triples in the exhibition. I think physically she can definitely regain her triples, and make them even better than before. I'm more worried about her mental fortitude in dealing with the destabilization influence of this overhaul of her jumping technique, the deterioration in her competition results, and the consequent public disappoint/pressure in Japan, which must be immense.

I hope she will stay mentally strong and get through this season or however long it takes to retool her jumps (hopefully not much longer, at least results-wise). So far, it seems the Japanese fans are still firmly behind her. I hope they will be understanding and not turn on her and give her even more pressure.

Go Mao!
 
I just wanted to say Mao hasn't disappointed me whatsoever, falls & all, as I totally expected this because she's working on her technique, and that can take one season at the very least, but most likely two or even three. So as I stated at the beginning of the season I don't expect much from her this season, especially at the beginning, but by the time 4CC & Worlds comes round I think she'll make a decent showing, much better than at the beginning. A top 5 or 10 placement would be more than acceptable.

I'm just glad that she IS working on her technique issues, that says a lot about her character. If she wanted to she could've won everything in sight this year without Yuna on the GP. But what victory is in that, she already has a bunch of titles, wins, an Olympic Silver Medal, et al. Rather, this is the perfect time to work on her issues, forego medalling this season in order to be a better skater in the long run. Otherwise she could be blind-sided again come Sochi in 2014. Better to be prepared for any eventuality. Now's the time to become the perfect skater in every sense of the word, including technique. :)
 
Nadine said:
I just wanted to say Mao hasn't disappointed me whatsoever, falls & all, as I totally expected this because she's working on her technique, and that can take one season at the very least, but most likely two or even three. So as I stated at the beginning of the season I don't expect much from her this season, especially at the beginning, but by the time 4CC & Worlds comes round I think she'll make a decent showing, much better than at the beginning. A top 5 or 10 placement would be more than acceptable.

I'm just glad that she IS working on her technique issues, that says a lot about her character. If she wanted to she could've won everything in sight this year without Yuna on the GP. But what victory is in that, she already has a bunch of titles, wins, an Olympic Silver Medal, et al. Rather, this is the perfect time to work on her issues, forego medalling this season in order to be a better skater in the long run. Otherwise she could be blind-sided again come Sochi in 2014. Better to be prepared for any eventuality. Now's the time to become the perfect skater in every sense of the word, including technique. :)
Click to expand...

I really agree with you on that. Mao already won GPF before and her main goal is probably gold in Sochi, so why not take the four years until Sochi to rework her technique. Mao is a great skater and hopefully everything will work out for her.
 
I hope Mao is able to work through her problems. The crowd in Nagoya looked so stunned after Mao's freeskate. Mao was close to tears. :disapp:
 
Is it true that our WC is working on to rebuild her jumping technique from scratches?

I was finally able to enjoy Mao's performances after finishing my midterm yesterday. I watched the footage in Youtube, and was shocked to see so many errors in the overall ladies competition. Mao was my particular disappointment, though, since I held so much expectation in her.

However, if the rumor that she is rebuilding her jumping technique is correct, there is no surprise in her disastrous performances.

What I do not understand is why would Mao do such a thing? I thought she already had most of the triple jumps under her belts as a teenager :confused:

Hopefully I am wrong, and Mao is working on something valuable; tearing down her skills for naught will be a great loss to this sport.
 
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samsarah said:
Is it true that our WC is working on to rebuild her jumping technique from scratches?

I was finally able to enjoy Mao's performances after finishing my midterm yesterday. I watched the footage in Youtube, and was shocked to see so many errors in the overall ladies competition. Mao was my particular disappointment, though, since I held so much expectation in her.

However, if the rumor that she is rebuilding her jumping technique is correct, there is no surprise in her disastrous performances.

What I do not understand is why would Mao do such a thing? I thought she already had most of the triple jumps under her belts as a teenager :confused:

Hopefully I am wrong, and Mao is working on something valuable; tearing down her skills for naught will be a great loss to this sport.
Click to expand...

She has some technique issues. It was okay when she was younger but it's harder to maintain her jumps with her old technique, so she made the difficult deciison to reform them and make them better.
 
samsarah said:
What I do not understand is why would Mao do such a thing? I thought she already had most of the triple jumps under her belts as a teenager :confused:
Click to expand...

I think the main problem was with her Lutz jump. Mao learned this jump under the old scoring system, which did not penalize take-offs from the wrong edge very much. When the new scoring system came in, all of a sudden she was losing points on edge calls.

Then trying too hard to hold the proper edge interfered with her timing, until she could hardly do the jump at all. So I think this re-working of the Lutz technique is necessary, however painful, in order to move forward.
 
Four years is a long time in any sport. As much as I like Mao her 3A has nothing to do with why I love watching her skate.
It seems clear that she has major problems keeping her 3A's and the other triple jumps competition ready.

Popping the 3A's and missing the other jumps is not exactly new and Mao has never in her career been able to show a proper lutz with a clean flip topped of by three 3A's. I wish her good luck trying to get it together but doubt that this gets easier as she gets older.

I suspect there will be new girls from juniors who will be the big medal contenders in Sochi. I hope Mao is still around and not only because I love her skating but also because I won't ever count her out.

Just wondering after all these years what will change that will let Mao keep the 3A's
along with having acceptable versions of the other triples and/or a 3x3.

I don't know the answer and have faith that she is in good hands now with Mr Sato. But he is a coach and not a miracle worker - and it looks like this may take some time or just continue the way it has been for years now.
 
I think with good technique, she can keep her 3A's until Sochi. Didn't Midori still have her 3A's well into her 20s? I remember she continued to land them in pro competitions. (the few times Kristi actually felt threatened :biggrin: during her pro career).
 
miki88 said:
I think with good technique, she can keep her 3A's until Sochi. Didn't Midori still have her 3A's well into her 20s? I remember she continued to land them in pro competitions. (the few times Kristi actually felt threatened :biggrin: during her pro career).
Click to expand...

I have never thought of Mao's 3A the way i think of Midori's.......which exploded of the ice and were about alot more than just spinning super fast in the air.

For that matter Tonya's 3A - even though we never saw so many of them - was a monster compared to Mao.

I think in this era it is about coaching strategy. Yuna had a heck of a good team working for her - and Mao had her mom and a part time assistant coach.

Of course Mr Sato needs time - but I wonder if the Asada's will let him take charge. He did not look happy at NHK - and if we think back Tat did not look happy at Rostel either and I think she began to professionaly distance herself from Mao and the JSF after that for various reasons. Remember Tat did not want to do the back to back to back competitions last season but was overruled.

Of course I have no idea how this is working out - but I think if I was Mao's coach we would only be doing one 3A in the LP this season until she proved she could handle the other jumps a little more respectably.
 
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