Life is short. Let's move forward!
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RE: About Mrs. Utako Nagamitsu, a figure skating coach
Sources: Nikkei shimbun
Dates: May 24-26, 2010
Writer: Masako Hara
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Remarks:
English words/expressions may be added/replaced in order to make more sense and/or for easier reading in English. Please allow me as usual for grammatical mistakes if any.
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<3>
The boy had only two triples which were toe loop and Salchow. To her surprise, however, he showed a sense of artistry that she had never seen from any boys at his age. Nagamitsu herself much enjoyed, too, for doing his choreo, so that it ended up to be one very elaborate and interesting program. To her surprise again, less than a week, he not only memorized each movements and every choreos, but also did skate it till the end with great sensitivity and intricacy. "Without doubt, this boy soon gets out of this place and will compete on the international top stage." Nagamitsu believed so watching him skate. This was how the long journey of Nagamitsu and Takahashi got started.
"Nobody but men must dance!", is one of her strong beliefs. "Do you get to see bellet? If so, you can see male dancers do have physical strength and more stamina quite naturally, right? That means they have more room for performing and for better articulate/delicate presentation skill." Top male skaters have more or less the same technical contents including hardest jumps. It does not differ much in order to determine a winner. Then what does at the end of the day? The deciding factor should be 'the ability to perform'. That has been her strong conviction from a long time ago.
"What's on your mind to let boy skaters dance in a showy way to attract audience attention???" Teased about her preference by her colleague male coaches, she never changed her conviciton and carried it through over the years.
When Takahashi returned to competitive skating after injury on the knee and its surgery, his TES remained 'unstable' for a while. But what saved him at Vancouver was his ability to dance; which reflected in his very high PCS.
In Nagamitsu's plan for the Olympics, she wanted a foreign coach who has high profile, is influetial to and favored by judges, to sit by Takahashi's side in the Kiss & Cry waiting for its score to come up at Vancouver. He stubbornly rejected her idea. When they had to part ways with Nikolai Morozov, she advised him to go to Brian Orser, YuNa Kim's coach back then. His answer, 'No'. She suggested at least Pasquale Camerlengo his choreographer to sit with her and Takahashi in the K&C in Vancouver. Again, 'No'.
"I wanted nobody but coach Nagamitsu by my side in the K&C. I simply followed my instinct. Through all my days with her (fighting against my injury and my opponents), as my placement at the Olympics proves itself, I once again realized how great a coach she is for me."
Looking at him now, she says with a laugh, "Dai is still a mere boy to me, I thought, but he often surprises me with his maturity these days!"
Tuning in very well to each other, Nagamitsu and Takahashi brought the very first Olympic medal of men's figure skating to Japan.
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(cont'd)
i want to see dai skate to as many interesting pieces of music as possible, so as long as he's not so busy that he's not maintaining his health, i'd be happy to see him have additional programs in his repertoire as well. ^^
!!!
the whole Saturday! 
(Hey! Kenji, I need you to help Dai to prepare for that secretly without getting caught by Utako sensei's attention!)
here on this. 
), proves what a bigwig our boy has become of himself!" 
