Hi Alice, this message has been sitting in my outbox for almost a year, haha, thought I'll try ask :). First and foremost, thank you!! can't say enough how much I love your blog. What do you most look forward to for Yuzu in the new season? For me besides his 4A(!), I'd like to see more variety in his spins and ChSq, especially the latter, as much as I adore his ina bauer and hydroblade, maybe its time to try something new and different? Am I being too greedy?
Hello there, sorry for taking forever to get back to you on this (work is crazy and I just picked up a new video game so like… haha… *whisper* please send help).
So, first, no, I don’t think you’re being greedy. I’d also want to see more variety in Yuzu’s ChSq in particular. I love the flavorful touches he put on his hydroblade this season by linking it with the one-foot Axel in Otonal and switching up the position in Haru yo, Koi - I hope to see more of such creativity next season, with possible application on the layback Ina Bauer as well. In addition, I’d give anything for him to bring back the sit twizzle (no Yuzu I still am not forgiving you for taking it out of Origin)
or any extended twizzle really
choreographed inside Ina Bauer
and even just a simple change edge spread eagle.
The thing is, Yuzu has so many nice, “wow” moves in his arsenal, I’d say it’s just a matter of him figuring out the right music and the right way to incorporate the right selection of moves into his choreography, which brings me to the next thing I very much look forward to, which is new music. I can say with confidence that I wouldn’t have any issue if he chooses to repeat Otonal and Origin next season, but if he decides to construct one or two new programs, I really hope he’d pick something classical, especially so if it’s for his LP. Yuzu hasn’t had a free skate set to classical music since… what… his first season as a senior? A violin concerto, a string quartet, a sonata, any kind of chamber music with a violin in it - I’m game. I think Yuzu and his style have both matured enough that now’s a good time to revisit that most fundamental of combinations: skating and classical music, and I believe he’d do a stellar job given the fitting music.
Secondly, I’ve heard Kurt Browning commentated more than once that he’s amazed how relaxed/“quiet” Yuzu’s upper body was when he jumped, I’d like to ask if you can elaborate that point more, better yet, can you show me how “not-relaxed” other skaters might be when performing a jump?
I actually have touched on this same topic before and miraculously enough I was able to find that old post, here you go.
In that old post I used Patrick, Shoma, Javi, Nathan, Boyang (the 2017 WC top 6) for juxtaposition, but it should be noted that none of those 5 is whom I’d call a “muscled” jumper. Their upper body might not be as totally relaxed as Yuzu, who is absolutely in a league of his own in that regard, but their takeoff postures are all fair enough to look at, and they don’t overuse their upper body to force start the rotation either. If you want to know what a truly “not relaxed” upper body looks like, I, sadly, have to point you to Junhwan (as discussed here in comparison with Javi), and Zhenya, especially back around when she was in junior / first turned senior. See the way she pushed her arms out taut and tensed up her shoulders before both of the jumps?
Now you can compare Zhenya’s 3F3T against this combo of Kaori’s below to see the difference between her takeoff and one with a quiet, relaxed upper body (most of the Japanese ladies are pretty good at that, but I think Kaori is truly the standout example even among her teammates).
Thirdly, in regard to the current rivalry between Yuzu and Nathan, I felt the same as Brian Orser that it kind of reminds me of back in 2013-14, when Yuzu was a teenager rising star chasing Patrick the 3 time worldchampion. And Yuzu was known as a great jumper back then while Patrick was renowned for his skating skills, and it was very excited to see them go against each other. Now Yuzu is so well rounded (pray for his ankle!) and Nathan is developing quickly too, are we gonna see more of that excitement in the next year or two? I hope its good for the sport. Sorry about this long Questions post. :)
Yes, of course, it’s good for the sport to have a lot of variety in (1) the natural baseline abilities of the skaters (2) which areas each skater chooses to focus on and (3) the strategies employed by the skaters, as a result of (1) and (2) combined. It’s also great for the sport to have a new generation developing and competing against the older one(s), whilst both continuously pushing / inspiring each other to move forward. A sport lacking such generational movement, IMO, is as good as dead, and no matter how intense the competition among the existing generation is, when you look at it as a whole, such a competitive landscape would ultimately feel somewhat… bleak (for lack of a better word). I know that feeling very well because that gloom and doom mood just about sums up the prospect of men’s tennis for the last half of the decade. Sure it’s been fun and it still is, mostly, to watch the holy trinity of Roger - Rafa - Novak trying to one-up each other on how many entries they have in the history book, but one can’t help but screaming into the void, from time to time: where are all the darned kids?
So, yeah, you could say that, even though the outcome of their competition might not always be to my liking, I’m glad that a rivalry of sort exists between Yuzu and Nate, I think it does make the men’s competition more scintillating to follow for new and old fans alike, and just as importantly, I believe it’s part of the reasons why Yuzu’s decided to stay with us for at least another season.
Here’s to an exciting 2019-2020 skating season!
