Mao News - Off-Season 2011!

That's the same article I believe, only in English:

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104220248.html

She doesn't seem to be nervous about the outcome, that's good!

Ah you guys, I was thinking the same thing when I was reading how Tat may make adjustments to her dresses! No! Tat needs to just leave Mao's dresses alone. The LP one is beautiful just the way it is. The SP one is not one of my favorite dresses, but I don't hate it either. It's just fine. Sorry, but I really don't care for any of Tats dress ideas, and I hope she stays away from Mao's dresses this time!...

From what the article says it sounded like it's just the SP dress TAT wants to alter (let's hope so, anyway!). Personally, I like the 4CC SP dress...but I know a lot of people don't. Would it be too much to hope that TAT's alterations involve removing the dreaded rose-bra from the Nats dress? Somehow, I'm not too optimistic.

aoi88 wrote:

Thank you linglang for the translations!

Our dear Kumaneko has posted up a translation of the entire article.
http://kumaneko037.blog103.fc2.com/

Thank you linglang! Thank you aoi88 and babayaga for the link!

Mao's mother seems to be retreating her 'influence' in Mao's skating career, allowing Mao the room to make a lot of the decisions about her training by herself as she turns 20.

I never really thought of who had actually been exerting a parental control over Mao's career!
As soon as she entered the senior circuit! She started appearing so mature...
It would have appeared almost insane if you'd told me the girl skating in 2007 worlds was just 16...

Well - since we are all in worlds mood...
I've been lurking YT for news - But nothing great!
I found some links - (I don't know if they've been posted here) - But here:

One where the user compare her old jumps with the one she improved!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SZIZw-vFEI&feature=related
I'd def say - the big change is the 3Lz!

and a second one with three of her SP aligned in a single vid - TEB - Nationals - 4CC!
Then her FP - Jopen - Nationals - 4CC!...(so much Mao in a single video )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSdvk3snURY&feature=related

A last one with Mao's skating to Danse Macabre! (I love the music)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtsbPab8i9s&feature=related


Hehehe did anyone notice?
We are at our 70th page!!! Hardcore Mao fans lol

The one thing that becomes clear when watching jumps from last year compared to this year, is that she is much straighter in the air, and can therefor control her landings better. Last year, many of her landings had wider, more swingy free-legs, causing Mao to lose speed and overall polish of the jump that was actually OK. This also gave the affect of the jump being under-rotated, even if it wasn't. I'm glad she has fixed this so she can now get the credit she deserves.

maofan93 wrote:

The one thing that becomes clear when watching jumps from last year compared to this year, is that she is much straighter in the air, and can therefor control her landings better. Last year, many of her landings had wider, more swingy free-legs, causing Mao to lose speed and overall polish of the jump that was actually OK. This also gave the affect of the jump being under-rotated, even if it wasn't. I'm glad she has fixed this so she can now get the credit she deserves.

I am seriously infected by the 1st video!
I totally agree with you about the overall polish of her jumps - Improved transitions!
Before - when she used to go into her jump, her pauses were longer!
After the jump - the coming-after was not smooth - It was like a jump - and then she halts - then engages back in her program...(which def gives a kind of hanged-unfinished feel to her pros) -

Now its different! She skates with the music and along the moment - her movements are more refined!
and her jumps are so SOFT!
The jumps at 2010 worlds seems like scratching the ice and unusually stiff and heavy! Now it seems more Mao-Like!
Those soft fairy-like jumps!!

so i ran across this twitter accost of this lady who is watching the practices at worlds.... says YUNA's sp is awesome and DAISUKE and MIKI are looking good

http://twitter.com/#!/Tatjana21

KariDebate wrote:

so i ran across this twitter accost of this lady who is watching the practices at worlds.... says YUNA's sp is awesome and DAISUKE and MIKI are looking good

http://twitter.com/#!/Tatjana21

Thanks for the link! Hmm.. so I am guessing her SP is more along the veins of Danse Macabre than a classic ballet. I'm glad everyone's practices are going well. Now if we can just have Mao there too!

KariDebate wrote:

so i ran across this twitter accost of this lady who is watching the practices at worlds.... says YUNA's sp is awesome and DAISUKE and MIKI are looking good

http://twitter.com/#!/Tatjana21

Thank you, KariDebate! All practice reports suggests nothing short of an exciting competition.

In this article it mentions that Mao is very vocal about her opinions. Something that was hard for her to express when there was a language barrier with her previous coaches.

Since she began training under Coach Sato and Kumiko-sensei from September, the first thing they focused on was her method of training. Mao was very practice-oriented and did 6 hours of on-ice training. Those long hours of training were not very efficient and posed a greater risk for inury.

Coach Sato offered this advise to Mao, "There are 6 cups of water that are half-full and there are 3 cups of water that are completely full. The amount is the same and we will become the latter with the fewer cups."

There were times before if she would have been told to rest for a week, she'd still secretly practice. Now, she understands the importance of rest. She completes her on-ice practice in three hours. And she doesn't get fatigued in competition like last season where she would do too many jumps in public practices.

http://www.nikkei.com/sports/column/article/g=96958A88889DE0E5E3EBEAE4E1E2E0E0E2E6E0E2E3E3E2E2E2E2E2E2;p=9694E3E0E2EAE0E2E3E2E1E6E6E4

snowdrops24 wrote:

KariDebate wrote:

so i ran across this twitter accost of this lady who is watching the practices at worlds.... says YUNA's sp is awesome and DAISUKE and MIKI are looking good

http://twitter.com/#!/Tatjana21

Thank you, KariDebate! All practice reports suggests nothing short of an exciting competition.

Your welcome

maowataiyo wrote:

In this article it mentions that Mao is very vocal about her opinions. Something that was hard for her to express when there was a language barrier with her previous coaches.

Since she began training under Coach Sato and Kumiko-sensei from September, the first thing they focused on was her method of training. Mao was very practice-oriented and did 6 hours of on-ice training. Those long hours of training were not very efficient and posed a greater risk for inury.

Coach Sato offered this advise to Mao, "There are 6 cups of water that are half-full and there are 3 cups of water that are completely full. The amount is the same and we will become the latter with the fewer cups."

There were times before if she would have been told to rest for a week, she'd still secretly practice. Now, she understands the importance of rest. She completes her on-ice practice in three hours. And she doesn't get fatigued in competition like last season where she would do too many jumps in public practices.

http://www.nikkei.com/sports/column/article/g=96958A88889DE0E5E3EBEAE4E1E2E0E0E2E6E0E2E3E3E2E2E2E2E2E2;p=9694E3E0E2EAE0E2E3E2E1E6E6E4

Thanks so much for the translation maowataiyo
I am also curious of what they say about her jumps on the second page of the article. http://www.nikkei.com/sports/column/article/g=96958A88889DE0E5E3EBEAE4E1E2E0E0E2E6E0E2E3E3E2E2E2E2E2E2;df=2;p=9694E3E0E2EAE0E2E3E2E1E6E6E4

I'll appreciate if you can translate it this part too. Thanks!

No problem aoi!

Mao began reworking her jumps in June. Under Coach Sato's tutelage, she went back to the basics and garnered more speed in her skating. Kumiko-sensei states that in practice her jumps are practically fixed. At the 4CC in Taiwan, Mao's signature 3A returned with it's snap and had better entrance.

She's incorporated the lutz; and a 3T in her combination jumps. With the added variation in her repertoire, there is less need for her to risk three 3As in competition.

In February, Mao displayed confidence when she said, "I'm on the up and up" (The quote, "Gangan agari chooshi desu" is hard to translate because it's a colloquial phrase. "Gangan" means more & more; agari=ascend; chooshi=condition- so it means something like, "steadily improving".)

ETA: The article also writes about how this will be Yuna's first competition since the world championships in March last year at Turin. She split with her coach of four years, Brian Orser in the summer and is now working with Peter Oppegard, the coach of pairs skater Rena Inoue & John Baldwin. She announced in November that she'll skate to "Giselle" for her sp and "Arirang" for her lp. We do not know how the new rules that limit the number of 2A from three to two will affect Yuna.

There was much talked about the Mao vs Yuna showdown 4 years ago as well, yet the skater who defeated them both in Tokyo was Miki Ando. Miki recalled that, "I injured my leg before the competition and my focus was not on placements, but the performance itself and I was able to get the gold medal." "This time around, I am more conscientious of medalling and have my sights set out." Although she was 5th at this season's GPF, she has won every other competition and has beaten Mao twice. Her strength has been her consistency in the free program. Rather than bringing out her womanliness like she had done in previous programs, this season her programs have played up Miki's jumping abilitly. 8 of out her 11 jumps come at the halfway mark where the jumps are multiplied 1.1 the base value.

Even with her strong skating style, there have been times where she displayed mental weakness. But Miki is quoted as saying, "I've been able to control my emotions since last season. I don't think about the outside pressure anymore."

Thank you so much maowataiyo!

I really admire how Team Sato is managing Mao's practices and training now. I also like how they're moving away from the three 3A strategy, which did not yield a big payoff as we saw last season. I'm so happy to hear that Mao finally has a stable support team so she no longer has to shoulder all the burdens by herself.

I like that they're moving away from the three 3A strategy too. Not that it's not impressive, but because she now can focus on other jumping passes as well.

Yay! I am glad they have ditched the 3 3A idea - at least for this season. Mao has been competing at the top level since the 05-06 season, which would, essentially, make Sochi 2014 be her 3rd Olympic cycle (even though she could not compete in Turin). It is more important for Mao to sustain and get to 2014 injury free, slowly building up to the master layout with everything in it.

I think her current layout + a 3-3 would be perfect and hard to beat if performed with no mistakes. Two 3As in the LP takes too much from her. They should focus on maximizing her points instead of that. Maybe doing 3-3 in the second half, or maybe trying 5 jumps after 2 min like Miki does. And adding pre and post-elements to her jumps as well. Perhaps an SE-2A-3T?

Her SP needs more changes IMO. I hope she goes for the 3Lz next season, cause there's no reason not do it, since she's only improving it, and deductions for her wrong edge have been minimal. A 3-3 is also welcome. That would be nearly impossible to beat if she skated clean.

Of course, this is for next season.

This is not news but after I saw this, I just had to post it here. This is toooo adorable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihl4BSYDfE

aoi88 wrote:

This is not news but after I saw this, I just had to post it here. This is toooo adorable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihl4BSYDfE

She's just so lovely!

Haha, she looks so happy! What a cutie.

aoi88 wrote:

This is not news but after I saw this, I just had to post it here. This is toooo adorable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihl4BSYDfE

Oh wow! This girl is just so adorable! When she fell on 0:43, it surprisingly matched the music though.

I checked out related vids and look at what I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiB5YjYzxIs&feature=related

It seems Ai has a sister named Mai who is a skater too. And her dress reminds me of one of the Masquerade dresses Mao used. The music is a bit Tango de Roxanne-y though.

aoi88 wrote:

This is not news but after I saw this, I just had to post it here. This is toooo adorable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihl4BSYDfE

It's so cute!!!

Let's guess who was n inspiration for her coach

klarification wrote:

aoi88 wrote:

This is not news but after I saw this, I just had to post it here. This is toooo adorable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihl4BSYDfE

Oh wow! This girl is just so adorable! When she fell on 0:43, it surprisingly matched the music though.

I checked out related vids and look at what I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiB5YjYzxIs&feature=related

It seems Ai has a sister named Mai who is a skater too. And her dress reminds me of one of the Masquerade dresses Mao used. The music is a bit Tango de Roxanne-y though.

Hi five, klarification!
I made exactly the same comment on my facebook wall when I first watched this video some months ago!!! What a lovely mini-Mao who even fell on note! LOL!

And yes, her sister is called Mai. You can add her on facebook too. She's nice.

Men's FP broadcast will start in about 30 min. in Japan.

No news about Mao's practice at an evening news program.

I just found this video. A book about Mao "Stepping higher" is also available in e-book form!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lQbjzm4BDg