Vincent Zhou | Page 59 | Golden Skate

Vincent Zhou

A fan's wonderful interpretation of the cute moment from the medal winners at Worlds - Vincent trying to figure out if the microphone was on or not, Yuzu being helpful, while Nathan staring at the microphone as if it's the most fascinating thing, LOL

Original photo by @rophotography - https://twitter.com/rophotography_/status/1145243707886620673

Fan's drawing: https://twitter.com/nei3_f/status/1148591742897332224
The drawing of the hairs are all very realistic, but Vincent's face looks like an anime character :laugh:
 
Commenting to say that I'm a Brown student!! Hopefully I run into him in the fall :love: Any messages from his fans? :laugh:

Wow! Thank you so much for posting! Hope you run into Vincent and take a picture with him to share with us. :thumbsup:
Of course, we just wish him the best with his first semester and hope he can balance schoolwork and training without overworking! Tell him to stay healthy and know his fans fully support him! :pray:
 
just read Lynn Rutherford’s article, informative and inspiring.:luv17::love: The only things we Vincent fans need to do is to TRUST him. it seems:biggrin:

just wanna point out two small errors:biggrin:, first Mie’s student is Rika Kihira not Rika Hongo, second, The Ice is not Mao Asada’s show, it is an IMG ice show, just headlined by Mao Asada for quite a long time but not anymore, now it is headlined by a group of elite skaters including Nathan, Boyang, Shoma etc. and the recent addition Vincent.

I will contribute more, when I have more energy. yes, constructive suggestions, little thesis and all.:biggrin::biggrin:

Thank you @Zenchio63 once again for keeping Vincent FF active and Vincent fan’s informed.:thumbsup:
 
A Japanese fan sent me an interview that Vincent did right after WTT. She attempted to translate the interview, bless her heart. Not surprisingly, her translations need quite a bit of editing, tweaking and guessing. :laugh: I'll work on the translation and post it this weekend, when I have more time.

P.S. If there are any Japanese fans out there who are willing to translate, please PM me. It would be much appreciated! :pray:
 
just read Lynn Rutherford’s article, informative and inspiring.:luv17::love: The only things we Vincent fans need to do is to TRUST him. it seems:biggrin:

just wanna point out two small errors:biggrin:, first Mie’s student is Rika Kihira not Rika Hongo, second, The Ice is not Mao Asada’s show, it is an IMG ice show, just headlined by Mao Asada for quite a long time but not anymore, now it is headlined by a group of elite skaters including Nathan, Boyang, Shoma etc. and the recently addition Vincent.

I will contribute more, when I have more energy. yes, constructive suggestion, little thesis and all.:biggrin::biggrin:

Thanks, yyyskate. I noticed the mistakes but didn't have the energy to point them out as I am still very upset from reading all the garbage on Twitter....

Also have some stuff I wanted to point out from the ISU article, aside from some grammatical errors and strange "immature" sentence structures that are not typical of Vincent's eloquent style of expression. Will save that for this weekend.
 
Thanks, yyyskate. I noticed the mistakes but didn't have the energy to point them out as I am still very upset from reading all the garbage on Twitter....

Also have some stuff I wanted to point out from the ISU article, aside from some grammatical errors and strange "immature" sentence structures that are not typical of Vincent's eloquent style of expression. Will save that for this weekend.

I just read the ISU article, it is also a pleasant read. I felt connected to Vincent in figure skating while reading it once again (no surprise):biggrin: I am not sure of grammatical errors or “immature” sentence structures, but in terms of content, I do believe the quotes are coming from Vincent himself in the article. About the “garbage” on Twitter, I did NOT read comments (do not have the energy:biggrin:).
but content wise, both ISU article and Lynn Rutherford’s articles are great.
 
there are some fan feedback.
1, some fans are worried about Vincent’s tech coach, Can coach Hamada teach quad lutz/flip/loop? which are needed for Vincent to be competitive for the very top during this Olympic cycle. basically, will Coach TomZ still be involved in Vincent’s future training, my two cents regarding this is that, even if Vincent will leave Coach TomZ, I hope it will end on a friendly term. After all, it was Coach TomZ who helped Vincent in the past 4 years to learn from 3A to all his quads (which is how Vincent became competitive in the first place).

2, costumes. the costumes wore during “I will wait” DOI performance, received mixed receptions. it obviously is a new style for Vincent, the seen-thru mash stuff (sexy appeal:biggrin:? ). also fans are not sure if this one will be the costume for I will wait in competition or just for DOI ice show. My 2 cents/intuition is that this costume design idea is actually coming from Vincent himself. Many fans including myself suspected that Vincent may try out new costume designers (maybe, Japan based) in the future. Thus there will be style change. Also the costumes suggested on this FF are all great suggestions, IMHO, I don’t mind Vincent try different styles be it minimalism or bling-bling. As long as it is Vincent’s own idea, I hope and like to see Vincent’s thought reflected in his costumes like before, only one suggestion is that I hope the cut/tailor of the costumes can compensate/correct Vincent’s posture visually, that is making his posture more squared visually.
Also, I had a crazy idea about Vincent’s free program costume. now since Vincent is rich:biggrin:, if he will have 6 outings this season, he can make 6 costumes of 6 different colors (Hamada’s student like Satoko often change costumes in one season:biggrin:), cos there are 6 stories in the movie………. Okay just my crazy idea.:biggrin:

3, other concerns like commuting as a new driver in East coast etc. Vincent addressed those issues pretty clearly in recently articles, We can always trust Vincent.

ETA. Vincent will train in Boston area, it is really a bit far away, but the figure skating resource there is very good at Vincent mentioned in the articles and could be great input for Vincent’s skating.

ETA. the 6 color crazy idea, can end with a White colored costumes, because all colors mixed together will be white (or black) and I kr many fans love Vincent wearing white.:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
I watched TSL, because they used Vincent’s name as click bait:biggrin: combine with all those nasty comments on twitter.
Just wanna say that, it seems a same bunch of people on social media is pushing certain agenda against Vincent.
Hope Vincent can use his figure skating to speak for himself.:luv17::love:

ETA,also, in my humble opinion, I never thought Vincent is deliberately following Nathan, I think, Nathan is focused on balancing school and skating, but Vincent truly loves figure skating and determined to put all his effort to be the best he can be in figure skating. They have different approaches and mindset.

ETA, Vincent seeks input in figure skating from many resources, whilst Nathan so far is not.
 
just read Lynn Rutherford’s article, informative and inspiring.:luv17::love: The only things we Vincent fans need to do is to TRUST him. it seems:biggrin:

just wanna point out two small errors:biggrin:, first Mie’s student is Rika Kihira not Rika Hongo, second, The Ice is not Mao Asada’s show, it is an IMG ice show, just headlined by Mao Asada for quite a long time but not anymore, now it is headlined by a group of elite skaters including Nathan, Boyang, Shoma etc. and the recent addition Vincent.

I will contribute more, when I have more energy. yes, constructive suggestions, little thesis and all.:biggrin::biggrin:

Thank you @Zenchio63 once again for keeping Vincent FF active and Vincent fan’s informed.:thumbsup:

Sorry I didn't respond in detail last time (I was too tired and upset). You are so very welcome and thank you also for your support of Vincent.

Another "error" I noticed was this quote from Tammy:

When he was four or five, he was always skating around as fast as he could to show off for me, watching the big boys at the rink and doing what they were doing. It's always, 'I can do that' and pushing himself to do more."

Vincent began skating at 5 (5 1/2) and didn't go to Tammy until he was 9, so how could he have "showed off" his skating to Tammy at the age of 4 or 5?
 
there are some fan feedback.
1, some fans are worried about Vincent’s tech coach, Can coach Hamada teach quad lutz/flip/loop? which are needed for Vincent to be competitive for the very top during this Olympic cycle. basically, will Coach TomZ still be involved in Vincent’s future training, my two cents regarding this is that, even if Vincent will leave Coach TomZ, I hope it will end on a friendly term. After all, it was Coach TomZ who helped Vincent in the past 4 years to learn from 3A to all his quads (which is how Vincent became competitive in the first place).

It's clear that Vincent wants to focus on improving his jump techniques and skating skills this season, under Hamada, while he goes to school. I am sure he will connect with TomZ again or seek out another jump specialist in the future (if Tom is not available). Vincent is very smart and self-aware. He knows what he needs to succeed. Fans should not jump to conclusions and start worrying when it hasn't been officially announced on whether he parted ways with Tom or not. And yeah, Vincent wouldn't be where he is without Tom, the same way Nathan wouldn't be the skater he is without Raf.

Regarding the costume ideas, you should apply to be Vincent's costume consultant, LOL. Hopefully, the black mesh top for the new SP will be further tailored to be more "snug", with better lines.
 
Biomechanics

There are 15 questions & answers from the Japanese article that a fan sent me, taken from Figure Skating Life Vol. 18.

Instead of waiting for someone to verify & edit the translations, I will just post them one by one. Fans should be smart enough to figure out the grammatical errors & incorrect sentence structures, LOL.

I will start from question 5 as it reveals further details on how Hamada is helping Vincent with his jumps, as pointed out in the Fanzone article by Lynn Rutherford:

"It's basically using very simple biomechanical principles and applying them to my skating and, in turn, using that good alignment on basic skating to help with the jumps," Zhou said of Hamada's training drills. "It's the way I stack myself for a jump, the way I take off and land."

Q: Could you tell me more about biomechanics?

A: In short, I have a little strange knees. The knees tend to invert making it difficult to turn them out. When I bend my knee, I roll over. The hips and ankles do not line up straight. Misalignment with the waist. So sometimes it affects the lower back. Hamada-sensei is teaching me. How can I get my hips straight on my knees? So the basic edge work is better. In addition the axis can be straightened and the alignment can be used for jumping. In other words, it's extremely useful to be able to maximize efficiency from the storage to the decision of the direction of the jump.

This would explain why Vincent's style is not "aesthetically pleasing", in his own words. Coach Hamada is a true blessing!
 
I am reading all these serious stuff, but of course what catches my eye is more talk about costuming. I feel shallow. :) I actually like white on him, it suits him.
 
@Zenchio63 Thank you so much for the Biomechanics post. it is very informative!:love: I always felt alignment issue while I am skating too. However the answer from my coach is always this is a very complicated issue and difficult to solve……
Glad that Coach Hamada’s input and drills is helpful to Vincent’s alignment issue. I also believe and agree that Vincent is extremely intelligent and self-aware in term of kinesthetics, truly an innate talent/gift that can’t be gained just through hard work.

As for “aesthetically pleasing” jumps, IMHO, Yuna Queen, Yuzuru and perhaps Nathan have the most aesthetically pleasing jumps. The common thing aesthetically is that they all have very tight and straight air-rotation. As Vincent said “axis can be straightened” but it is so difficult to achieve… I think Vincent’s 3A, 4S, 4T and 4LZ tech are all improved last season. My fav Vincent jump is his 3A for now. I also hope Vincent can train 4loop (A fan can dream:biggrin: and 3A-4T:biggrin:)

As for costume suggestions, I don’t need to be Vincent’s costume consultant because I know Vincent took feedback from fans, therefore, Vincent fans don’t be shy and don’t hesitate to post ideas/suggestions/feedbacks about costumes, music, programs etc. Vincent may not take all your suggestions, but he will definitely read and consider them, if it is posted in English. If it is posted in Chinese, Vincent’s family will help him.

ETA, like I said before “Vincent seeks input in figure skating from many resources” and that includes fans’ input:love::biggrin: I really hope to see more and more discussions of Vincent’s figure skating in the future.

ETA, respond to TSL “too many cooks in the kitchen” “concern”:biggrin: regarding Vincent’s figure skating training, yes, Vincent took inputs from many many resources and he is always very humble and truly listens to those input, but there is one and only authority here that is Vincent himself.:biggrin:
 
Photographer Maria Kateshova uploaded 29 photos of Vincent's SP from Worlds:
http://mariakateshova.com/vincent-zhou-short-program-2019-world-championships/

The first photo: Tammy to Vincent: "Bend those knees, boy!" while Hamada looks on with a smile on her face, silently thinking: "Biomechanics, baby!" :biggrin:

5th photo: Vincent looks like he has a leg cramp in this shot, lol

the first photo (deep knee bending by the board) is a Vincent ritual before he starts a program. it is a very similar to a ritual Yuzuru does, every time Vincent does that before a program it reminds me of Yuzuru:biggrin:
the fifth photo, in stead of leg cramp, perhaps it is “poor alignment”:biggrin:
 
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