Mao News - The 2012-2013 Season!

Thank you so much for the tranlating Pochi, you are so kind

I agree with you, the most important thing is Mao has recovered the feeling of joy and happiness when she skates. I'm more confident now about Mr. Sato's methods for coachs his students, I hope it brings a lot of happiness to Mao, she deserves it =) The joy of feel that she is doing things better everyday

Go Mao!

Go Sato sensie

PochinkoPotanko, this is a beautiful article, thanks so much for translating it. Indeed, it looks like the changes in Mao's own expectations are due to coach Sato's influence. I really like how you summarized his philosophy "to never forget the joy of being able to do something which you couldn't do at first". I hope after Mao rediscovered this feeling she won't lose it again.

The facts in this article just remind me how little we know about skaters' life. This summer we were dying to have some news or practice clips of Mao and now we know the reason that there weren't any. Not because coach Sato is keeping Mao away from the media, but because she didn't train with him at all.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

I think the bottom line is...Sato wants his pupils to have a long career in competing, plus he thinks that the most important thing in sport is to never forget the joy of being able to do something which you couldn't do at first. I too think this latter policy of his is the origin of any sport, and although I would love it more if Mao can raise her motivations for Sochi gold later on, after all she's been through both public and private last season, what she needed most was to be able to truely feel the happiness of skating once again. Since we can see from this article that she's got that feeling back, she'll be able to skate more without too much restraint to win. At least for JO and COC, that seems to be working for her in a good way. The judges liked her skating like that and she won at COC, which certainly must've added alot to her confidence and the joy of skating, which I believe will highten her motivations towards Sochi gradually. And even if she wins or loses in Sochi, as long as she can enjoy skating in competitons, I think she'll want to go on without retiring afterwards too. As long as she can find pleasure in hard practice, I assume she'll go on competing until she's fully satisfied that her reformings have completed and she can feel that she's delivered the most prefect perfomance of her life. I'd prefer it if she decides to retire then, not right after Sochi is over however the results may be for her.

She's surely not going to change coaches before Sochi is the impression I got from this article. So even if we're still unsure about whether Sato's methods are the best for Mao, I think we might as well support her decision to go on teaming with him. If Mao melts down or does terribly bad in any other way in Sochi, that's when we should start doubting Sato, not now IMO.

Yeah. You're right. Right now, it's finally working for Mao. She now understand what coach Sato is trying to do and she now realizes even the little things she keeps on improving. What's important the most is she seems to have regained back her love for skating after the disappointment we saw in the last few seasons. That's already a major accomplishment.

Now that I've read your opinion after reading that bit about his coaching style I feel it's for the best for Mao in this reforming time. I remembered stubborn Mao who keeps on trying for the 3As even if not ready and look where it got her recently. This change is for the better. I don't think Mao will let go of her 3As totally but I think she's getting more mature in the idea that 3A is not everything. If coach Sato doesn't plan or set a goal for his skaters like most coaches do, I think Mao herself will start to make goals again once she gets a better grip on her reformed techniques.

Can't wait for NHK!

PonchinkoPotanko, you are so great for taking your time to translate various articles and videos. that is one long article and it must take a lot of time. also, it must be a pain to find an accurate word to translate from japanese into english sometimes. what would we do without you on this forum?

babayaga you're right that we don't know mao as well as we think we do. though, i kind of like it that way. it gives her this space of privacy.

Thanks so much for the translation Pochi! It's so nice to have a good thorough update. We haven't had one for a long time, so we've been throwing around a lot of opinions, theories, doubts, worries, guesses, and questions. I know I've had some of those things going on in my mind, and then when I came on here and read all of your thoughts too, it would raise even more of these thoughts and questions in my mind. I think this should clear up a lot of those. I know it does for me, and I have a better feeling after reading this. Mao has been doing better so far from the two times we've seen her compete this season, but we still didn't have a very good idea of what was going on in her training and life. I have a much better picture now – and it's a good picture

I don't know why, but this quote made me laugh: "I think it's tough for them to practice, because both their jumps and skating skills are still far from what I consider to be good" said Sato. They may not be perfect in these areas, but as two of the best skaters in the world, are they really far from good?! I guess he can say that cause he's their coach and he's looking at all the things they have to improve on, but that's a little harsh I'd say. Lol.

As far as the goals thing goes, that had me a little surprised at first too. Not setting goals goes against every teacher, coach, counselor, motivational speaker, etc. I think I've ever heard. But when I really think about it, I can see his reasoning. For a younger skater who has a long ways to go still, I think I would have to disagree with him on this. But for skaters like Mao and Taka, they are in a whole different league. They are already very accomplished skaters who have been on the top and had their ups and downs. They work hard to be the best they can be because they are determined and self motivated. They want to win everything anyways whether it's labeled as their official “goal” or not. For them, labeling winning a competition as a goal really doesn't mean anything except maybe it will put more pressure on them. As we all know, the mental aspect plays a big role, especially for accomplished skaters. Maybe a skater who already pushes themselves very hard and has high expectations doesn't need to label things as goals any more. For them, things will happen when they happen, and if they never do, it wasn't for lack of effort. They aren't super human. Idk that's just my guess on this.

Star85 wrote:

Thanks so much for the translation Pochi! It's so nice to have a good thorough update. We haven't had one for a long time, so we've been throwing around a lot of opinions, theories, doubts, worries, guesses, and questions. I know I've had some of those things going on in my mind, and then when I came on here and read all of your thoughts too, it would raise even more of these thoughts and questions in my mind. I think this should clear up a lot of those. I know it does for me, and I have a better feeling after reading this. Mao has been doing better so far from the two times we've seen her compete this season, but we still didn't have a very good idea of what was going on in her training and life. I have a much better picture now – and it's a good picture

I don't know why, but this quote made me laugh: "I think it's tough for them to practice, because both their jumps and skating skills are still far from what I consider to be good" said Sato. They may not be perfect in these areas, but as two of the best skaters in the world, are they really far from good?! I guess he can say that cause he's their coach and he's looking at all the things they have to improve on, but that's a little harsh I'd say. Lol.

As far as the goals thing goes, that had me a little surprised at first too. Not setting goals goes against every teacher, coach, counselor, motivational speaker, etc. I think I've ever heard. But when I really think about it, I can see his reasoning. For a younger skater who has a long ways to go still, I think I would have to disagree with him on this. But for skaters like Mao and Taka, they are in a whole different league. They are already very accomplished skaters who have been on the top and had their ups and downs. They work hard to be the best they can be because they are determined and self motivated. They want to win everything anyways whether it's labeled as their official “goal” or not. For them, labeling winning a competition as a goal really doesn't mean anything except maybe it will put more pressure on them. As we all know, the mental aspect plays a big role, especially for accomplished skaters. Maybe a skater who already pushes themselves very hard and has high expectations doesn't need to label things as goals any more. For them, things will happen when they happen, and if they never do, it wasn't for lack of effort. They aren't super human. Idk that's just my guess on this.

You're welcome Star85, but the credit should really go to roma who found the article for us; I didn't notice it until she introduced it to us either. And I think you certainly spoke for all of us that we didn't have any thorough updates or infos until now, and that was raising our doubts and making us worry about Mao alot.

Btw, when I translated Sato's words about Mao and Takahiko's jumps, I was in sort of a hurry so I used the word 'good' but the actual word he said was 'far from what I consider to be ideal'...which might change the nuance a bit, sorry guys! But I was kind of relieved to know that Sato was not in any way satisfied with their jumps yet. I've always thought Takahiko needed more height in his jumps, and although consistency should come first, I felt the same for Mao's jumps. But I can assume Sato is aware of all this now that I read what he said about them, so I'm sure they'll be working on their jumps more and more.

As for the mental aspect playing a big role for accomplished skaters, I never thought about it that way, but Star85's views enlightened me. It really must be very difficult for senior skaters who've accomplished so much already in the past to go on competing with young super talented fearless skaters on their backs. That might be one of the reasons some skaters retire pretty early, even though their fans feel they can still compete. And esp after you pass 20, I'm sure they have to start thinking about their lives on the whole; if they go on competing it means they'll have to sacrifice much more than what they had in their teens...like graduating college and seeking a new career for instance (Yukari decided to choose that path). Knowing you won't be able to win everytime like the past is probabaly more than enough to make a more or less accomplished skater to continue competing. And when you set your goal on Worlds or Olys too much, once you win it's likely you'll have to struggle burnout syndrome like Yuna. I'm guessing she must've been pretty lost after all that and was confused what to do with her life. Maybe her returning to competition is what she realized she really wanted after thinking things over; she did say she'll skate for herself in Sochi if I remember correctly, and I think she was able to say that because maybe just like Mao, she was finally sure that she likes skating afterall. When we hear a skater at her level annoucing she'll go to Olys again, we tend to instantly assume she's aiming for her second gold. But she must know as much as Mao that she's got young and tougher rivals now, that she can't possibly take it for granted that she'll win again. So I was kind of thinking that maybe both Mao and Yuna found their peace with their skating careers, and with the expectations which pressured them so much in the past. Maybe it's the same for Joubert, too. I luv that guy no matter what, but seeing him the past seasons made me wonder sometimes why the heck he's continuing to compete when you can hardly see a chance for him even making the podium. But maybe winning or losing doesn't matter to him much right now. Maybe he's simply continuing because he likes the challenge. And if so, that's good.

I always wondered if an athlete retiring right after he/she wins gold in Olys should be considered as a victorious finale to their competing careers. In some cases, I was able to understand they felt they couldn't do much more, so it was unavoidable. But OTOH, I thought they should stay a bit longer and give a chance for their followers to challenge them; that should do alot of good to heighten the level of the sport too. Winning gold in Olys and retiring right afterwards seemed to me sometimes like a 'win and run / victory escape' sort of attitude which I couldn't admire much. I'm not referring to any particular skater but athletes in some other genres. But then you have skaters like Kwan, Irina and Sasha who definitely had all it needed to win Olys gold, never made it, but still kept on competing until they really felt it was their time to say good-bye. I think that's a pretty admirable way to retire (although Kwan never really said she's retiring...I think she wanted to go on challenging, but her injuries and conditions got in her way. And Sasha trying out from Nats for Vancouver must've needed alot of guts, I really admired that).

I think Mao will go on competing even after Sochi as long as she can enjoy the hard work to achieve something new day by day. As much as I'd still want her to win gold in Sochi, I'd be more comfortable knowing she's not competing because she feels she has to, but because she likes to.

Thank you so much for your translation Kayo!!!!! Our girl grew a lot, she really matured after last season. I think this is the most important thing, to love what you're doing. Fans will always be with her, haters gonna hate as usual. This season she looks so happy and confident, no fear in her eyes, she even looked relaxed. She like started from the scratch, from the beginning, she is refreshed now. And considering she was off the training cycle for so long, she looks great! So this UR will go away by the end of season, Mao knows what she has work on, go Mao!!!

at Cup of China

polosatik wrote:

at Cup of China

It's really nice to know they got to eat some Chinese yummies! I assume the photo was taken in one of their hotel rooms since they weren't allowed to go outside at all this time (pity since Mao loves Chinese food alot). I sincerely hope that situations will be different next season.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

polosatik wrote:

at Cup of China

It's really nice to know they got to eat some Chinese yummies! I assume the photo was taken in one of their hotel rooms since they weren't allowed to go outside at all this time (pity since Mao loves Chinese food alot). I sincerely hope that situations will be different next season.

It's a restaurant in Shangai, guys posted a vid in COC thread!

polosatik wrote:

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

polosatik wrote:

at Cup of China

It's really nice to know they got to eat some Chinese yummies! I assume the photo was taken in one of their hotel rooms since they weren't allowed to go outside at all this time (pity since Mao loves Chinese food alot). I sincerely hope that situations will be different next season.

It's a restaurant in Shangai, guys posted a vid in COC thread!

Really! That's even more great! I'm so happy they had a chance to go out!

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Star85 wrote:

Thanks so much for the translation Pochi! It's so nice to have a good thorough update. We haven't had one for a long time, so we've been throwing around a lot of opinions, theories, doubts, worries, guesses, and questions. I know I've had some of those things going on in my mind, and then when I came on here and read all of your thoughts too, it would raise even more of these thoughts and questions in my mind. I think this should clear up a lot of those. I know it does for me, and I have a better feeling after reading this. Mao has been doing better so far from the two times we've seen her compete this season, but we still didn't have a very good idea of what was going on in her training and life. I have a much better picture now – and it's a good picture

I don't know why, but this quote made me laugh: "I think it's tough for them to practice, because both their jumps and skating skills are still far from what I consider to be good" said Sato. They may not be perfect in these areas, but as two of the best skaters in the world, are they really far from good?! I guess he can say that cause he's their coach and he's looking at all the things they have to improve on, but that's a little harsh I'd say. Lol.

As far as the goals thing goes, that had me a little surprised at first too. Not setting goals goes against every teacher, coach, counselor, motivational speaker, etc. I think I've ever heard. But when I really think about it, I can see his reasoning. For a younger skater who has a long ways to go still, I think I would have to disagree with him on this. But for skaters like Mao and Taka, they are in a whole different league. They are already very accomplished skaters who have been on the top and had their ups and downs. They work hard to be the best they can be because they are determined and self motivated. They want to win everything anyways whether it's labeled as their official “goal” or not. For them, labeling winning a competition as a goal really doesn't mean anything except maybe it will put more pressure on them. As we all know, the mental aspect plays a big role, especially for accomplished skaters. Maybe a skater who already pushes themselves very hard and has high expectations doesn't need to label things as goals any more. For them, things will happen when they happen, and if they never do, it wasn't for lack of effort. They aren't super human. Idk that's just my guess on this.

You're welcome Star85, but the credit should really go to roma who found the article for us; I didn't notice it until she introduced it to us either. And I think you certainly spoke for all of us that we didn't have any thorough updates or infos until now, and that was raising our doubts and making us worry about Mao alot.

Btw, when I translated Sato's words about Mao and Takahiko's jumps, I was in sort of a hurry so I used the word 'good' but the actual word he said was 'far from what I consider to be ideal'...which might change the nuance a bit, sorry guys! But I was kind of relieved to know that Sato was not in any way satisfied with their jumps yet. I've always thought Takahiko needed more height in his jumps, and although consistency should come first, I felt the same for Mao's jumps. But I can assume Sato is aware of all this now that I read what he said about them, so I'm sure they'll be working on their jumps more and more.

As for the mental aspect playing a big role for accomplished skaters, I never thought about it that way, but Star85's views enlightened me. It really must be very difficult for senior skaters who've accomplished so much already in the past to go on competing with young super talented fearless skaters on their backs. That might be one of the reasons some skaters retire pretty early, even though their fans feel they can still compete. And esp after you pass 20, I'm sure they have to start thinking about their lives on the whole; if they go on competing it means they'll have to sacrifice much more than what they had in their teens...like graduating college and seeking a new career for instance (Yukari decided to choose that path). Knowing you won't be able to win everytime like the past is probabaly more than enough to make a more or less accomplished skater to continue competing. And when you set your goal on Worlds or Olys too much, once you win it's likely you'll have to struggle burnout syndrome like Yuna. I'm guessing she must've been pretty lost after all that and was confused what to do with her life. Maybe her returning to competition is what she realized she really wanted after thinking things over; she did say she'll skate for herself in Sochi if I remember correctly, and I think she was able to say that because maybe just like Mao, she was finally sure that she likes skating afterall. When we hear a skater at her level annoucing she'll go to Olys again, we tend to instantly assume she's aiming for her second gold. But she must know as much as Mao that she's got young and tougher rivals now, that she can't possibly take it for granted that she'll win again. So I was kind of thinking that maybe both Mao and Yuna found their peace with their skating careers, and with the expectations which pressured them so much in the past. Maybe it's the same for Joubert, too. I luv that guy no matter what, but seeing him the past seasons made me wonder sometimes why the heck he's continuing to compete when you can hardly see a chance for him even making the podium. But maybe winning or losing doesn't matter to him much right now. Maybe he's simply continuing because he likes the challenge. And if so, that's good.

I always wondered if an athlete retiring right after he/she wins gold in Olys should be considered as a victorious finale to their competing careers. In some cases, I was able to understand they felt they couldn't do much more, so it was unavoidable. But OTOH, I thought they should stay a bit longer and give a chance for their followers to challenge them; that should do alot of good to heighten the level of the sport too. Winning gold in Olys and retiring right afterwards seemed to me sometimes like a 'win and run / victory escape' sort of attitude which I couldn't admire much. I'm not referring to any particular skater but athletes in some other genres. But then you have skaters like Kwan, Irina and Sasha who definitely had all it needed to win Olys gold, never made it, but still kept on competing until they really felt it was their time to say good-bye. I think that's a pretty admirable way to retire (although Kwan never really said she's retiring...I think she wanted to go on challenging, but her injuries and conditions got in her way. And Sasha trying out from Nats for Vancouver must've needed alot of guts, I really admired that).

I think Mao will go on competing even after Sochi as long as she can enjoy the hard work to achieve something new day by day. As much as I'd still want her to win gold in Sochi, I'd be more comfortable knowing she's not competing because she feels she has to, but because she likes to.

Oh yes "ideal" makes much more sense than "good". lol

Yes as far as the mental aspect playing a bigger role for the more accomplished skaters, this is just what I have gathered from watching years of figure skating. In general, the younger skaters who have little lose and are eager to prove themselves seem more excited and fearless. Then once a skater has been around for a while, that seems to wear off. You see it all over their faces when they are at competitions. They look more serious, and like they have a lot more on their minds. I'm a performer too, so I guess I can relate.

Been a while since I visited the forum!! Anyway, small thing. I think Mao should start using boot covers again. It looks SO much better with her costumes, plus it looks good with her spins and spirals (i.e. Biellman, Arabesque). Makes her legs look longer. :>

patknowsbest wrote:

Been a while since I visited the forum!! Anyway, small thing. I think Mao should start using boot covers again. It looks SO much better with her costumes, plus it looks good with her spins and spirals (i.e. Biellman, Arabesque). Makes her legs look longer. :>

Me too...wonder why she stopped doing that in the first place???

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

patknowsbest wrote:

Been a while since I visited the forum!! Anyway, small thing. I think Mao should start using boot covers again. It looks SO much better with her costumes, plus it looks good with her spins and spirals (i.e. Biellman, Arabesque). Makes her legs look longer. :>

Me too...wonder why she stopped doing that in the first place???

I think she looks better without boot covers. It looks older like this! I don't know if this is the reason, but here in canada, it's kind of a trend to wear tight without boot covers!

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

patknowsbest wrote:

Been a while since I visited the forum!! Anyway, small thing. I think Mao should start using boot covers again. It looks SO much better with her costumes, plus it looks good with her spins and spirals (i.e. Biellman, Arabesque). Makes her legs look longer. :>

Me too...wonder why she stopped doing that in the first place???

I think mrs. Sato told (advised) her to stop using "tights over boots".

hmm I think it would look better with tight over the boots, so i hope she will go back to use it again!

zarinaballerina wrote:

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

patknowsbest wrote:

Been a while since I visited the forum!! Anyway, small thing. I think Mao should start using boot covers again. It looks SO much better with her costumes, plus it looks good with her spins and spirals (i.e. Biellman, Arabesque). Makes her legs look longer. :>

Me too...wonder why she stopped doing that in the first place???

I think mrs. Sato told (advised) her to stop using "tights over boots".　

Yeah I think that might've been the reason too, cause I don't recall any of Sato's girls wearing tights over boots when they were his pupils...but what I'd like to know is, if so, why would they advise her not to? Would it harm her skating in any way?

Pochi, I think it was said, that Mrs. Sato simply prefer it this way. I don't think there was anything else behind this decision.

This is just my opinion, but I think skating with no boot covers draws attention to the feet, especially with white boots. Skaters with strong edges and neat feet benefit from it.

It might have nothing to do with it, but Joanie, Carolina K., Laura, Kiira, Michelle K., and many others I can't recall off the top of my head all have very neat feet and never wore boot covers. I've always felt juniors tend to go with over-the-boot tights because there basic stroking and lines aren't completely there and the nude cover kinda blurs it...

Anyway, I think Mao already has plenty of leg... I feel she looks better proportioned with her boots showing than with uber long legs. Lean is good, but I like strong looking skaters as well.

chiyori wrote:

This is just my opinion, but I think skating with no boot covers draws attention to the feet, especially with white boots. Skaters with strong edges and neat feet benefit from it.

It might have nothing to do with it, but Joanie, Carolina K., Laura, Kiira, Michelle K., and many others I can't recall off the top of my head all have very neat feet and never wore boot covers. I've always felt juniors tend to go with over-the-boot tights because there basic stroking and lines aren't completely there and the nude cover kinda blurs it...

Anyway, I think Mao already has plenty of leg... I feel she looks better proportioned with her boots showing than with uber long legs. Lean is good, but I like strong looking skaters as well.

I agree with you about that and we talked about this in Haruka's thread too.
About what Kumiko Sato said is she likes white boots without cover, so ppl said that is the reason Mao changed from beige boots to white boots.
But I don't think Satos asked her to do so, that is part of relationship progress between the team.

and I don't think boots cover can earn you more scores lately. because Caro and miki won world title without that and lots of skaters won't use that.
Unless skaters with short legs...I don't like those lovely girl with long legs wear that..I once said...it looks fat with cover than without it

I think that Mao is lucky she has a nice body and she looks great with cover or not in her skates

Just to add my two cents on the boot cover issue... Personally, I never found them attractive. My problem with the boot covers is that they're supposed to make it look like the skater is not wearing boots, but you can still see the bulge of the boots through them. Not very attractive, IMO; it really messes up the leg line, making it look like the skater has bumpy ankles. When the boots are uncovered, the eye does not expect to see a smooth line, so it's not such a problem.

Just my opinion, guys. I like chiyori's point, as well; I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense.

Am I the only one who doesn't really care either way? lol