Shoma Uno
- Thread starter rabidline
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- Joined
- Sep 12, 2021
That was really niceContinuing from this, Part 3 and Part 4 are up, and they were a good read:
Part 3:
宇野昌磨さん「思い出に残るプログラムはオーボエとボレロ」 | フィギュアスケーターのオアシス♪ KENJIの部屋
news.jsports.co.jp
Continuing the retrospective, this part was about the last 3 years of Shoma's career (2021-2024), they talked about the 2022 Olympic medal and of course the consecutive World titles in 2022 and 2023. Shoma said the Worlds 2022 win was probably the best moment of his skating careerand he talked about Stephane's enthusiasm and happiness too.
The 2 years after 2022 Worlds were pretty tough on Shoma. It wasn't about results or conditions, but continuing was very difficult after he achieved what he did (winning Worlds) with passion. He also likened the feeling of competing without his biggest competitors (Yuzuru and Nathan) as similar to the feeling he felt when the competitions were cancelled during COVID-19. It was like something important was missing from his competitive life. But then of course he found One Piece on Ice (or OPOI found him lol) and he was able to find another side of skating that he can show after retirement.
And he talked about his most memorable programs: Oboe Concerto and Bolero. Bolero was very memorable because at that time, Shoma was in a really passionate state for competition, so he was challenging himself without thinking about the risks of failures, and Bolero became the program with most time spent on it because of that. But Shoma also said he was able to work on Bolero because of Oboe, which was a program he is confident in, and thanked Kenji for his help for that program. Trivia: they worked on Oboe at Tsuruga, Fukui. It seemed that this was during the pandemic so rinks were limited.
Part 4:
宇野昌磨さん「自分のスケート人生は120点」 | フィギュアスケーターのオアシス♪ KENJIの部屋
Shoma talked about 3 things he wants to do in the future:
1. Ice Show - He's hoping to come across a genre of ice show that's different in addition to the ones he already does (like OPOI)
2. Games - He considered his natural temperament and thought it would suit him better than being in public eye, lol. But in order to do that he had to start dipping his feet in it (which he hasn't done. yet lol)
3. Something he's never done before - it can be skating-related but not just skating (in shows or something) but commentary. It can also be non-skating related, like trying other sports. Shoma said he's stayed away from many things while active to avoid injuring himself or use up too many physical strength, so now he wants to try things out. Kenji proposed speed skating and fishing (fishing together with Kenji, lol)
Shoma's not interested in coaching or giving choreography for now. For choreography, he's very confident that he's not able to do it now, lol. For coaching / developing skaters, he first wants to hone himself more as a skater. He's pretty confident competitor but that was all because of jumps (according to Shoma), so now he wants to spend time working on the skater he wants to be even without jumps.
Some advice for younger skaters- as usual he wants them to enjoy skating. It's good that skaters start skating for results but he thought there are ways to enjoy skating, and his favorite is "enjoying without suffering" . Also some good advice regarding jumps- Shoma's a pretty logical person so sometimes when the jumps just don't work, he's quick to go for "well, sometimes it's like this, it can't be helped," and encourage skaters to think about the far future instead of just the immediate future now.
Also Shoma scored his own skating career 120 out of 100 here
"In terms of being a competitor, I didn't expect to be this good. Looking back now, I can't think of a single thing that I wish I had done better. I am grateful to those around me who created an environment that made it easy for me to work hard, and I want to praise myself for practising without any regrets. On top of that, I think I left more than I wanted to, which is why I wrote the figure of 120 points."
Shoma also said he made a lot of mistakes, but he always lived after them. He doesn't think that his many mistakes will end up as mistakes if he works hard in the future, so he has no regrets.
And then there was a section where Shoma looked back to his shy self 9 years ago interviewed by Kenji, lol. It really had been a long time.
Overall I think it really is worth the read, at least, if you can't watch it. I think it explains a lot about where Shoma is right now, and what he thought about his overall competitive career. And I think it really is an incredible career him to have achieved- thinking about how he started as a very talented kid, and then the mourning for his career from fans when it seemed that he can't jump well, and well, the rest is history (literally). I'm not surprised that Shoma is very gracious about his achievements - I think he really did achieve more than what he probably thought he can. And it also explains his consistent line of advice about hoping that young skaters can enjoy skating without suffering.
I wonder if he'll talk about the Japanese Nationals 2019 someday. I didn't see it until two years later but it was very emotional. I wonder if Shoma would ever give advice to adult competitive skaters who do the sport for fun at local competitions and ice shows (like me for example). I guess Shoma doesn't usually like to be in the public eye does he? Nothing wrong with that. It's good that he can have his privacy.
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2014
Brother Tree is planning a birthday celebration at the Uno1 Cafe on Dec. 17 for Shoma. He is very careful to say that Shoma will NOT be there! LOL. Maybe attendees will get a big surprise and he WILL be there. (LOVE this photo)
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2021
No, I doubt it, it definitely says "Shoma will not be present. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience." (My translation) With an apology like that, it would be totally disingenuous to imply otherwise. Besides, Shoma might be preparing to commentate on JNats at that time...
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2014
@rabidline Thx for all the interesting posts. I was in a place where I couldn't really get WiFi very well for a week, so I'm really appreciating reading everything now.
Several people were commenting on where are his medals. He has a mountain of medals (40+ on the senior level alone). I'd be shocked if he has any of them with him. When there were tv cameras in the Uno house (he was probably 12? years old), he already had all kinds of medals, ribbons, trophies, certificates from his lower level competitions.
Several people were commenting on where are his medals. He has a mountain of medals (40+ on the senior level alone). I'd be shocked if he has any of them with him. When there were tv cameras in the Uno house (he was probably 12? years old), he already had all kinds of medals, ribbons, trophies, certificates from his lower level competitions.
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- Joined
- Jun 2, 2014
One can always dream.
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- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
I agree. It's good that they made it clear from the first place though! There are plenty of fans who do want to travel to Nagoya to go to UNO Cafe (and meet the dogs) so this cafe event is a good way to make the visit special (because it commemorates Shoma's birthday), but not saying anything would make fans hope even just a little, which they really shouldn't since like you said- it is very near Japanese Nationals, and I also think Shoma has his own life and should not be expected to spend his birthday with fans instead of people who he wants to spend his birthday with.
It reminds me of the "banquet" after the Champery show where VIP fans can have dinner and be in the same place where the skaters have their dinner, and Deniss fans were expecting Deniss to attend the banquet on his birthday after the show so they prepared gifts and everything, and were disappointed when Deniss wasn't there (because he was spending his birthday privately with his friends). The show and the ticket never said that all skaters would be at the post-show banquet- but a clearer confirmation from the start would have saved the fans the disappointment.
Shoma is also someone who didn't seem to be too fussy about where his medals are- as long as they are being kept at a safe place, he seems pretty chill about it. He was quick to say after the team Olympic medal ceremony that his medal is not with him anymore, lol.
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- Joined
- Jun 2, 2014
One thing Shoma did with his "big" medals was share them with his coaches. I thought it was so cool that he brought his Oly medal to Chicago and showed it to Alex (and let him wear it!). It was such a wonderful way to thank people who helped him reach his goals and realize his dreams. I was so sorry I wasn't there the day he brought the medal to the rink. I would have loved to have seen it. There was also a photo of him showing the medal to long-time Coach Yamada. It was SO Shoma to acknowledge the efforts of his team.
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- Joined
- Sep 12, 2021
True enough. I’m sure fans could leave gifts for Shoma at the cafe and Itsuki could get them to Shoma unless there is a rule against it. I think I know who he might spend his birthday with
He seems to always be relaxed on his birthday. I didn’t know that about the banquet after the show in Switzerland. I hope Deniss had a nice celebration. I just remember reading Shoma didn’t want to do pictures and autographs one night (or was it both nights) which fans probably were disappointed with but it was his call. He didn’t want to so fans wouldn’t push for it.- Joined
- Sep 12, 2021
Rio Nakata won his second JGP at Wuxi and qualified for JGPF.... Shoma made a cameo in his instagram post's last slide
Just wait that kid is going to do more Shoma moments in the future. I can sense it. Maybe Shoma will say something about it later.
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
Full Japanese transcript of Shoma's Mizuno Talk in Tokyo with Hirokazu Kobayashi and Yoji Nakano, and more photos of the event:
I used machine translation and it's... readable, but will try to summarize it better when I have time!
Also today's Chunichi Shinbun serialization of Machiko Yamada's career has a comment from Shoma about his first coach:
It's paid unfortunately, but the free part had Shoma's first impression of Yamada-sensei
"She had blonde hair and wore sunglasses even indoors, so when I was little she had a bit of a scary image."
ミズノ「宇野昌磨スペシャルトークLIVE2024」宇野さんが明かすスケートを通じた表現の変化「自分で自分のプログラムをプロデュースするようになった」 - SPORTSCORE
9月14日、都内で「宇野昌磨スペシャルトークLIVE2024」が開催された。総合スポーツメーカー・ミズノ主催の
sportscore.jp
I used machine translation and it's... readable, but will try to summarize it better when I have time!
Also today's Chunichi Shinbun serialization of Machiko Yamada's career has a comment from Shoma about his first coach:
It's paid unfortunately, but the free part had Shoma's first impression of Yamada-sensei
"She had blonde hair and wore sunglasses even indoors, so when I was little she had a bit of a scary image."
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
Florentina Tone of Inside Skating takes us back to the nights of the magical L'Apprenti Sorcier with her beautiful writing I have loved her writing and have waited for this, especially since her writing about Ice Legends in 2016 was so wonderful and evocative.
www.insideskating.net
And of course it's not a Florentina Tone piece without her beautiful words for Shoma:
I have loved her writing and have waited for this, especially since her writing about Ice Legends in 2016 was so wonderful and evocative.
L’Apprenti Sorcier in Champéry. Key word: magic. Key word: light
Did this really happen? L’Apprenti Sorcier in Champéry, Switzerland – this thing of magic, at the beginning of August, did it really happen? I have a brochure with the schedule and a badge that says it did, it happened. But why does it feel like a dream though? ...well, because it was indee
www.insideskating.net
And of course it's not a Florentina Tone piece without her beautiful words for Shoma:
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2021
Florentina Tone of Inside Skating takes us back to the nights of the magical L'Apprenti Sorcier with her beautiful writing
L’Apprenti Sorcier in Champéry. Key word: magic. Key word: light
Did this really happen? L’Apprenti Sorcier in Champéry, Switzerland – this thing of magic, at the beginning of August, did it really happen? I have a brochure with the schedule and a badge that says it did, it happened. But why does it feel like a dream though? ...well, because it was indee
And of course it's not a Florentina Tone piece without her beautiful words for Shoma:
Wow! The show was even more magical when she described the story behind each performance. That’s cool that Shoma was a sort of wizard teaching the apprentice how to become great. Fingers crossed that we’ll get to see the performance somehow online in December.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2021
Full Japanese transcript of Shoma's Mizuno Talk in Tokyo with Hirokazu Kobayashi and Yoji Nakano, and more photos of the event:
ミズノ「宇野昌磨スペシャルトークLIVE2024」宇野さんが明かすスケートを通じた表現の変化「自分で自分のプログラムをプロデュースするようになった」 - SPORTSCORE
9月14日、都内で「宇野昌磨スペシャルトークLIVE2024」が開催された。総合スポーツメーカー・ミズノ主催のsportscore.jp
I used machine translation and it's... readable, but will try to summarize it better when I have time!
Also today's Chunichi Shinbun serialization of Machiko Yamada's career has a comment from Shoma about his first coach:
It's paid unfortunately, but the free part had Shoma's first impression of Yamada-sensei
"She had blonde hair and wore sunglasses even indoors, so when I was little she had a bit of a scary image."
Oh my!
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2021
I was missing him a little too when seeing Stephane's skaters as well as when seeing Nozomu Yoshioka's pretty gray and white short program costume... But it seems like a lot of the way in which I loved seeing Shoma at competitions has transferred over into the way I love seeing Kao at competitions. I suppose that's part of the ephemeral nature of this sport; old skaters fade away, new ones rise up. Of course, this doesn't mean that I don't care about Shoma anymore, simply that I care about him in a slightly different way.
