#distraught musings of a coach of a genius

[wherespacepooh]

Brian Orser on Yuzuru’s 4Lo and the discussion after Skate Canada (excerpts from Team Brian 2)

(Picture is of Yuzuru at the medal ceremony in Helsinki. It didn’t come from Team Brian 2, but I always wondered what and how much it took the team to get there.)

There is actually a lot to marvel about, in terms of how Yuzuru's season came together so beautifully in the end. As we look forward to the next season, let’s review how the last season began with three excerpts from Team Brian 2. 

From Brian’s perspective, we can see the concerns and worries over Yuzuru's health, his at-the-time troubling 4T (in contrast to its 3A-toppling status now :o), the immense belief and strength (and stubbornness) it took for Yuzuru to persevere with the 4Lo, as well as the discussion post-Skate Canada that lead to mutual understanding and ultimately, a successful season overcoming those difficult challenges. Cheers and kudos, Team Yuzu! 

(Conclusion: Brian gains 15kg from the last six months of 2016 and loses 1kg in hair.)

Translated by gladi. Feel free to repost in entirety with credits.

Three excerpts from Chapter 5 of Team Brian 2 「チーム・ブライアン：３００点伝説」第五章 より

Yuzuru's 4Lo is first and foremost rehabilitation for his injury ユズルの４回転ループはまず怪我のリハビリとして

Yuzuru had been absent from practice for 2 months due to the Lisfranc injury in his left foot after the 2016 World Championship. He didn’t participate in ice shows, and as it was better not to walk, he really took a rest.　Instead of returning to Japan, he did muscle training to the extent possible in Toronto. By early spring, he was looking healthy and we looked forward to resuming practice in June. However, although he started at the end of June, his left foot wasn’t yet fit to bear weight. In restarting his training for quads, we decided to take things step by step. 

The 4Lo was the best in terms of not burdening the left foot. The loop takes off on the right foot and lands with the right foot. Although Yuzuru had successfully landed them in practice, no one had landed one in competition. Tackling a difficult jump while injured might have seemed like an illogical approach, but I deemed it the safest option for the current situation. 

Since the quad salchow uses the left foot, although Yuzuru had landed that many times last season, it took a while for the success rate to go up again. Since the 4T, which Yuzuru was very good at, was the jump that caused injuries, he wasn’t able to practice the 4T until just before the Autumn Classic in September. Doing the 4T hurts because he has to hit the ice with his left toe pick on takeoff.

Let's talk about the loop. Scores wise, a 4Lo is one above the 4S and the 4T. 4F and 4Lz have higher base values, but since you take off with both feet, it is easier to get a good height/distance and they were landed in competition before the Loop. Because the Loop takeoff is done with a single foot, getting the timing right is a delicate matter. Depending on the athlete, some may really like it (be good at it), so might hate it (be terrible). 

Actually I was bad at loop jumps. Since I was Mr Triple Axel, I really focused on practicing the axel, and only started practicing the loop late in my competitive career. My first triple was the Salchow, then the toe loop and the lutz, after which I successfully landed the triple axel. I learned the flip and the loop later, but now that I think about it, it was one of the bigger failures in my skating career. Since I started training too late, I only really landed them when I was 25, during the last season of my competitive career. 

There is this saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks.” Jumps are things your body can get a feel for when you are still young. Since I became an old dog, although I understood the theory, in practice I wasn’t able to do a loop jump naturally. 

Both Yuzuru and Javier are able to do the loop jump easily. Especially Yuzuru, who has a natural-born quality. Given how beautiful his triple loop is, you know he has the ability to do the quad. And it's no longer what I should teach. The skater must commit his own unique timing to muscle memory and us coaches are there to correct the skater’s form based on theory. 

Once he actually started practicing, Yuzuru became obsessed with the 4Lo. That was natural since he would be the first to land that jump in competition if he succeeded. Because he was too focused on the quad loop, he got into a state where he wasn’t able to concentrate during practice sessions of his programs and in skating class. I began to think, “Hey, that’s not what we said before?” I just thought the quad loop was good for the rehabilitation process. I didn’t suggest to train only the quad loop. As for whether or not there really was a need to put it into competition, we were going to decide after we checked the level of completeness. 

Essentially, during off season, it is important to practice techniques for skating, spins, steps and so forth, and the scores won’t increase without training the program in its entirety. As it is, successfully landing the quad loop alone––the scores won’t go up. I thought this had become a situation like a youngster who didn’t understand how scoring worked, crushingly defeated even though he’d landed quads. As a coach, I felt like I had a lot I wanted to say. On the other hand, when I saw Yuzuru do a really beautiful quad loop, I was unable to negate [his efforts] either. Such speed, and a beautiful curve––a natural jump. It is a truly fantastic thing to behold when he [lands it] cleanly. The success rate has also gone up to around 70%, which was more stable than both the salchow and the toe loop. 

Why was Yuzuru focused on succeeding with the 4Lo ４回転ループ成功にこだわるのはなぜなのか

Yuzuru, having acquired the 4Lo during the summer, naturally suggested to bring the 4Lo into competition beginning with the first competition in September. Based on the success rate and high level of quality, my opinion as a coach was “GO.” But I also felt the possibility that [we might be] losing sight of the direction built up from last season if we were to simply say “Yes, let’s do a 4Lo.” So I pointed out the conditions to Yuzuru. 

It is great to put in the 4Lo, but also do the other jumps properly and pay attention to both the performance and the skating. If [you were to] perfect the program as a total package, then there is meaning in bringing the 4Lo. 

Thereupon, Yuzuru then proposed such a jump layout. For the short program, 4Lo and 4S. For the free skate, 4Lo, two 4S, one 4T––four in total. Compared to the last season, not only adding a new type with the 4Lo, but also increasing the number of quads in the free skate. 

If it were according to my strategy, to accomplish “2 in short, 4 in free,” I would begin with mastering the program [choreography] in its entirety. Skating, transitions, steps…I would perfect the elements outside of jumps first. That way, instead of banking on jumping quad after quad, [we] focus on executing quads that are high in quality and increase the number of quads––2, 3, and 4––throughout the season. This way is actually quicker. 

To explain this training method in greater detail, it’s like this: Jumps vary in timing and the way force is applied, depending on the type. Therefore, when we add a new jump to the program, we are inserting an element that differs from the present rhythm. If we prioritize and only consider the rhythm of the 4Lo, the rhythm of all the rest of the jumps would collapse. In other words, in addition to the technique of the [new] jump itself, the technique of making all these jumps with different rhythms coexist within a single piece of music is necessary in order to achieve the perfect performance. 

Therefore, in order to challenge a new jump within the program, we must work in the newcomer while maintaining the rhythm that was in place. This is a difficult world that is hard to understand without experiencing it. Youngsters who’d abruptly added many quads in 2016 have yet to experience the “difficulty of adjusting the rhythm” when putting in three or four types simultaneously. Successfully landing each one in practice and weaving everything together with the music are completely different techniques. 

Both Yuzuru and Javier had experience from last season in that respect. The body remembers the rhythm combining “three quads.” I wanted Yuzuru to leverage this. To fit in the 4Lo within the balance of the program rather than letting the rhythm of the 4Lo affect everything else. 

However, Yuzuru is the type who always wants to bring the maximum of what he is capable of. A young one who wants to challenge the impossible––that is also Yuzuru. As much as possible, he prioritized acquiring the 4Lo and tried to do that while practicing his program in his spare time. Then, during run-through, when he failed to land the 4Lo, he ended up losing motivation for the rest of the program. On the contrary, when he nailed the 4Lo, he was satisfied and the rest became sloppy. That was the same way as a junior kid. Even when Javier danced through the best program or landed a second half quad in front of him, he didn’t look stimulated at all. 

At times, I had even doubted Yuzuru’s motivation as to why he was so fixated on succeeding with the 4Lo. [I wondered if], instead of “challenging his own limits,” it was because “other skaters are jumping 4F and 4Lz.” If so, he had lost sight of the sense of purpose. But Yuzuru has a very stubborn personality. Until he succeeded with the 4Lo for the first time [in competition], I thought he would probably just turn a deaf ear to whatever I said. The title of “world’s first” was right before his eyes and he also had the physical ability––as an athlete, that was a natural thing [to want]. Although this was a completely different course of action from my strategy, [which was rooted in] my hope for Yuzuru to smile happily at Pyeongchang Olympics, I decided anyway to let Yuzuru do as he wished until [he landed 4Lo for the first time in competition]. 

Discussion and understanding 話し合い、そして理解

This happened sometime after Skate Canada ended. Yuzuru and I had a meeting. Tracy was with us as well. 

“It’s time you listen to the advice of your coach. There is no need to jump the quad loop every day, and you should also practice your programs. Succeeding on the quad loop at Autumn Classic was wonderful, but the performance was sloppy. You didn’t have the stamina to skate the program in its entirety, did you?  Doing it this way, you won’t complete the program with all the quads in it, however long you take." 

It was not just about scoring. I was worried about Yuzuru's injury as well. 

“What dangers do you think arise when you skate your program without enough stamina? Recklessly attempting jumps like the quad salchow and the toe loop in the second half of the performance when you are tired? And when you do that, you land [poorly] and create burden for your foot with a possibility of severely injuring yourself. Rather than focusing solely on the quad loop at the start, this is the time when you should be practicing to bring the whole performance together as a total package, and training for stamina to skate with full energy until the very end." 

Then, Yuzuru who has thus far silently trained the quad loop without speaking a word of his own opinion at all, looking like he’d made up his mind, opened his mouth. 

“Up until Skate Canada, it is true that I’ve been practicing the quad loop a lot. But that was because, to me, the quad loop is an [integral] part of the performance. To me, a program without the jumps landed is not a total package." 

That was unprecedented. This was the first time that Yuzuru had put his opinions clearly into words to such an extent. He wasn’t merely stubbornly focused on the quad loop––indeed, Yuzuru had Yuzuru’s own theory. Upon expressing our opinions to each other, [we realized] the goal we were aiming for was the same. 

“Succeed on all the quads and, on top of that, produce a sublime performance.” 

It was just that Yuzuru gave more weight to the importance of jumps. Because that didn’t align with my opinion, he had kept quiet about his own. But this time, Yuzuru insisted with resolve and an understanding that it might turn into an argument, “Jumps are not a part of technique, but a part of performance.” He told me that, with this train of thought in mind, he’d started from practicing jumps in order to hone his performance. 

By getting down to our real intentions, we made our purpose clear, and I also felt mentally refreshed. It has been the fifth year since we formed a team with Yuzuru. I knew he trusted me and I also saw Yuzuru as the best partner from the bottom of my heart. There are many things in a relationship between the coach and the athlete––misunderstanding each other, disagreeing in opinions, and then going hand in hand once more. In this kind of relationship, we learn from each other. 

As our meeting came to a close, I said this. 

“All right. Aren’t we joining in this quad race too? I am not going to play safe. Instead, we go the strategic route. We will add the quad loop, and three types of quads––to a total number of four––in the free skate. We will be attentive to the performance and skating. Only never lose awareness of the total package."