Mao Asada
- Thread starter tulosai
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2014
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2014
Happy birthday Mao! 
Oh, tears come to my eyes… How lovely she is.. Her pure smile.. Thousands of words. I just love her.
Wow! gorgeous..
Oh, tears come to my eyes… How lovely she is.. Her pure smile.. Thousands of words. I just love her.
Wow! gorgeous..
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- Joined
- Apr 11, 2014
Happy birthday Mao-chan!!!
Wishing you all the best and happiness, on and off of ice. You deserve it
Wishing you all the best and happiness, on and off of ice. You deserve it
One of her sponsors, Sumitomo Life Insurance, celebrated her birthday.
Mao looks so happy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ejLfB4oJ8
Thank you! I loved the video. The best part is when she's opening the present!
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
One of her sponsors, Sumitomo Life Insurance, celebrated her birthday.
Mao looks so happy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ejLfB4oJ8
Thanks for the video link urara. It seemed to come out before Mao's birthday. My favorite part is her surprised expression when she opens the door.
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- Joined
- Apr 22, 2014
Mao does not pre-rotate. A small (up to 1/4) skid is considered normal and most of the male skaters do it as well. Some (like Javier or Stephane) had/have even bigger "skids". From Wikipedia:
Pre-rotating happens when the skater's body starts to rotate before the blade leaves the ice (the blade 'skids' for more than 1/4 revolution, or the toepick is used as a 'pivot'). This often happens when the skater is swinging the free leg and right arm around (i.e. they stick out to the sides) while pivoting around the left foot (for a CCW skater). Visually, it looks as if the skater was jumping butt-first, tucking in before the blade leaves the ice. In a correctly executed Axel, the first half rotation should take place while the skater is in an open position, with a bit 'delayed' rotation.
I watched an old-ish (back from 2006 or so) ISU training video which showed (digitally drawn) ice tracings from "ideal" Axel, a common 3A, and a 3A with a big skid. The commentary was similar to the Wikipedia entry.
Here's Javi's 3A: http://imgur.com/SUHlGos
His skid is significantly bigger than Mao's - almost half a revolution.
Here's Plushy's 3A: http://imgur.com/BzbAqv9
His skid is 1/4 - the same as Mao (there was even a video comparison somewhere on YT, but I can't find it). Because he skated with great speed and power, the cloud of ice shavings and the ice tracing of the skid is very visible.
Here's 2A by Matthew Kessinger: http://www.dit.upm.es/~jantonio/personal/patinaje/images/dax3.avi
This was listed on a coach's website as "an excellent example of how you're supposed to step up into the jump". 1/4 skid. Amazing height. (Ironically enough, with the recent rules, I can actually see more 2As with no or minimal skid, because the speed out of jump is more valued than the height (as it's easier to tack on a 3T this way)).
Here's a comparison between Mao's 3A and one that was actually pre-rotated (pivoting on the blade + jump butt-first): http://imgur.com/c9wznzD
(In Evan's defense, he did fix his 3A somewhat for the 2010 Olympics, but even then it had a skid that was over 1/4 revolution).
It's not impossible to do a 3A with less tha 1/4 skid - but it's quite rare. Ilia Klimkin and Nobunari Oda (later in his career) had great ones. Sadly, they never got properly appreciated by the judges.
I think it's kind of unfair to expect Mao to jump better than men in order to have her 3A ratified.
ETA: I agree that her jumps in the recent clips aren't at her 100% yet, but they are in better form than at the same point in the pre-season in her recent competitive years. In 2013-14 season Sochi was the first time she even attempted 3-3 in her program, and 3A was somewhat unstable in the mid-season due to back pain.
None of the veteran ladies seem to be in 100% form yet, as is expected. They'll probably aim to peak towards the end of the season.
Thank you. I just found it.
Thanks for translating, mikaboo! 
It's really interesting getting more insight from Sato-sensei on Mao and her training. It's good to get confirmation from him that Mao's coming back is really from her own wishes... that she's more open now and the maturity he is speaking of is very promising. I am liking the look I am seeing from Mao ever since they posted updates on her training in Canada. She looks more relaxed, happy and outgoing than she's been the past few years.
The training schedule bothers me a bit, also. But if she is learning from this and is ok with it and it also hopefully keeps her from getting overworked from training too much like in previous seasons then I will just have to trust Sato sensei's training for Mao. One more week and we finally get our first glimpse of Ciocio chan. I'm gonna call her Ciocio-chan for now... will call her Ciocio-san when she gets to skate it really well. hehe.
It's really interesting getting more insight from Sato-sensei on Mao and her training. It's good to get confirmation from him that Mao's coming back is really from her own wishes... that she's more open now and the maturity he is speaking of is very promising. I am liking the look I am seeing from Mao ever since they posted updates on her training in Canada. She looks more relaxed, happy and outgoing than she's been the past few years.
The training schedule bothers me a bit, also. But if she is learning from this and is ok with it and it also hopefully keeps her from getting overworked from training too much like in previous seasons then I will just have to trust Sato sensei's training for Mao. One more week and we finally get our first glimpse of Ciocio chan. I'm gonna call her Ciocio-chan for now... will call her Ciocio-san when she gets to skate it really well. hehe.
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
Thank you very much for the translation mikaboo. I hope Mao's training schedule goes well in preparation for the new season.
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- Joined
- Feb 25, 2014
Maybe it's kind of like with Volosozhar/Trankov where their coach(es) are kind of in just an "advisory" role/supervision. The coach can help technically and comment on that but really, at this point, she [they] know how to train. Plus she's talented and driven so she can push herself.
She probably knows her jumps better than anyone by now, so Sato steps in and gives some tips and an objective look. Otherwise she's likely given time on her own to train and get in competition form.
