Transcript of Japan Skates’ interview with Yuka Sato, Skate Canada, Kitchener, Ontario, November 21, 2009

Posted on December 5th, 2009 by admin

One of the nice things of having access to the media room at Grand Prix events is being able to conduct impromptu interviews with various skaters and coaches.  At Skate Canada, I attended the Ladies free skate press conference at which Alissa Czisny was on the panel, having won the silver medal at the event.  Yuka Sato is part of Alissa’s coaching team and was on hand for the conference.  I hoped that she’d have some time for us afterwards.

 

Japan Skates had met Yuka personally for the first time back in July of 2006 when we interviewed Yukari at Skate Detroit.  Yuka was acting as Yukari’s coach and chaperone at that competition.  She was very kind to assist us then, and was again gracious to give us her time at this year’s Skate Canada.

 

Yuka is now a full-time coach and choreographer.  Her students at Skate Canada had had a very successful competition, with her main skater Jeremy Abbott winning the men’s gold medal and her part-time protégée Alissa taking the silver.  Japan Skates talked to Yuka about her experiences coaching Jeremy and Alissa, and if these experiences had changed her perspective on skating.

 

JS:  Japan Skates

YS:  Yuka Sato

 

JS:  Congratulations, Yuka, on Jeremy’s performance.  You’ve been coaching him since the spring.  Is he the first high-profile student that you’ve had?

 

YS:  Yes, as a head coach, Jeremy is my first major student who is at this level.

JS:  How many students currently do you have?

 

YS:  I can’t really count, but Jeremy is my main student right now, that I’m occupied full-time with.  And Alissa Czisny I help part-time on a regular basis.

 

JS:  Do you have any sort of agreement with Jeremy or with Alissa formally as to how long you’re going to be doing this?

 

YS:  I think it’s wait and see at this time.  We’re seeing one season at a time, one day at a time.

 

JS:  They say to teach is to learn twice.  Are you learning and growing as a result of your relationship with Jeremy and other students?

 

YS:  I think no matter how experienced you are as a coach, you would always learn by taking on new students and start and to take a step together.  With any student… it could be a six year-old to a 24 year-old.

 

(Listen to Yuka)

 

JS:  You were coached by your father.  Do you inherit anything from him in terms of coaching style or ways that you deal with your own students?

 

YS:  Absolutely!  What I’ve learned over the course of the years with my parents, and also I’ve worked with Peter Dunfield who is a former coach of Liz Manley, and what I have learned over the years by them is just remarkable.  I’ve always thought that I had good guidance around me, but now today I really realize how wonderful they were and what they’ve taught me today I’m able to use what I know, what I’ve experienced.

 

JS:  I’ve met your father several times.  Do you emote a little more when you’re out there or are you pretty much the same way?

 

YS:  Ah… we have a very similar style.  We’re not…we’re pretty quiet… we have a pretty quiet approach, but we have to be firm in what we want.  When you’re in lead and trying to guide somebody through, you have to know what you want.  And I’m learning!

 

(Listen to Yuka)

 

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Skate America 2009 Practice Report 11-13-2009

Posted on November 13th, 2009 by admin

The headboards of our hotel beds fell off the wall so the hotel upgraded us to a two-room suite! We now have four beds (for my family of three), two bathrooms and two TVs. Now I know why they call it “suite”!

Gonna make this a short entry. Went to ladies practice again today at 12:45. Fumie’s practice today was the opposite of yesterday. A bit more laid back, while the other ladies kicked it up a notch. But this time Fumie went right into her jumps before her official practice session.

I will post my jump notes as I did yesterday but want to mention one thing I saw today. Fumie’s triple lutz is absolutely awesome. I saw her do one today where she lifted so high she actually had a subsecond pause before starting her spin. It reminded me of Michael Jordan where he would jump, go up, and then he went another five inches!! She looks really really really strong.

I remember when I interviewed Fumie she mentioned she went to Morozov to work on jumps. Perhaps that did not work out. But I believe she is getting the jump training now that she has been looking for. She needs to bring it to the competitons.

Ok here’s the synopsis of the practice today.

　

Today Fumie practiced her short program. As most of the athletes do, she did not do the entire program start to finsh. This is what I saw her do:

  • layback spin
  • double axel
  • popped a triple lutz, but I think it was on purpose. She’s nailed every lutz in practice so far.
  • Straight line footwork. The whole thing.
  • sit spin
  • time of program 2:52

Jump list

  • triple lutz, double toe, doube toe. As good as any skater on the planet.
  • perfect double axel
  • perfect double axel
  • blocked by
  • popped triple lutz
  • 2 footed/popped lutz
  • Triple lutz, double toe, double toe. popped second double toe.
  • spin seqence
  • another perfect triple lutz. I think she hit the ceiling this time!
  • Took a bow and left the ice. Yesterday she was the last one on the ice but not today.

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Skate America 2009 Practice Report 11-12-2009

Posted on November 13th, 2009 by admin

Hi folks.  This is Gregg  and I, with Mark, run Japanskates.com.  This is my first attempt at a blog so bear with me!  I’m running a bit behind so I’ll get to the pleasantries later.  I’m here in Lake Placid attending Skate America 2009.  I’d like to begin with my practice report from yesterday’s practice.    I scribbled some notes on the back of the schedule.  These were my observations watching Fumie Suguri practice.

Fumie began the practice with her straight line footwork.   I think she has increased her flexibilty and her moves looked very quick and rather dramatic. She performed them twice then went into her layback spins.  Her coach Alexei Mishkin often called out instructions  to her as she skated.  Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before.  He looks tough.

Fumie skated her free skate at practice.  Again she focused on the program component elements.   I think her footwork section looked very aggressive but with lots of emotion; very “Fumie like”.  She even did a move where she goes up on her tippy toes and chops up the ice.  Excellent!

After the free skate practice it was jumping time.  I’m going to  list what I saw as I typed it in my notes:

  • Perfect triple lutz
  • Stepped out of a triple salchow
  • Blocked by Yu-Na on her second attempt at the salchow.
  • Perfect double axel
  • Perfect tripe jump combo.  I think it was triple lutz, double toe, double toe.
  • Another popped triple salchow.  (I thought those were easy jumps?)
  • Next try on triple sal perfect
  • Again a triple salchow but two footed landing.

Now at end of practice she puts on a jump show to take advantage of the remaining minutes.

  • Triple lutz at each end of rink
  • Double axel, step, double axel combo
  • Doubles a triple flip attempt.

She then took a bow, to much applause I might add, and left the rink. 

Overall this was a very aggressive practice.  I think she took the most advantage of the session compared to all the other ladies.  I am anticpating seeing her free skate in competition.

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Transcript of Japan Skates’ exclusive interview with Yuki Nishino

Posted on August 25th, 2009 by admin

Visit our website  www.japanskates.com.

 

Figure Skating Boutique Summer Skate is my “home event” and I look forward to it every year.  It’s a good opportunity to meet some of Japan’s up-and-coming young skaters in a relatively relaxed environment.  Yuki Nishino, one of Japan’s top junior skaters, is living in Toronto and is training at the Granite Club, and was on the roster in the Junior Ladies event.  She and her agents agreed to an interview, and we scheduled it for Friday afternoon, right after her short program.  Her coach here in Toronto, Shin Amano, is an old friend of Japan Skates and acted as her interpreter.  I have put Shin’s translations into the first person.  Enjoy!

JS:  Japan Skates
YN:  Yuki Nishino

JS:  Good afternoon Yuki.  How do you feel about your short program today?  (Yuki had finished first in her group with a score of 44.60, landing a triple Lutz, triple flip and a single Axel).

[Read more →]

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Skate Canada interview with Fumie Suguri, 11/2/2008, Ottawa, Ontario

Posted on December 22nd, 2008 by admin

As soon as Gregg, Gigi and I arrived in Ottawa for Skate Canada, we set up shop in the well-appointed Media Room and prepared for the event.  With Gregg and Gigi tasked with getting the best photos possible during the event, it fell to me to set up the interviews with the Japanese team.  This time, Japan was represented by men’s competitor Yasuharu Nanri, whom we had not previously met, and two ladies we know quite well, Fumie and Nana.  Also present was Yuko Kawaguchi, who is the Russian national champion in pairs with her partner Alexander Smirnov.  The Japanese delegation chief graciously accepted our interview requests with Yasuharu, Fumie and Nana, while coach Tamara Moskvina approved our request for Yuko. 

Japan Skates had met Fumie back in July, when Gregg traveled to her training facility in New Jersey, Ice House, to conduct what proved to be our most popular interview to date.  Fumie candidly spoke of her change of countries and coaches, her new outlook for 2010, and what makes her the sensitive artist that she is.  Incredibly, I had never seen Fumie in person before, despite having followed her career since the 1990s.  However, I felt comfortable speaking to her since Gregg already knew her, and was standing right beside us in the media room. 

Fumie had come off a silver medal performance in Ottawa, in which she completed most of her jumps beautifully, but after which she found herself over 25 points behind the winner, Canada’s Joannie Rochette.  To begin the interview, I have used three questions asked Fumie during the medal winners’ press conference the night before.  [Read more →]

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Interview with Nana Takeda, Skate Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Posted on November 14th, 2008 by admin

 

As soon as Gregg, Gigi and I arrived in Ottawa for Skate Canada, we set up shop in the well-appointed Media Room and prepared for the event.  With Gregg and Gigi tasked with getting the best photos possible during the event, it fell to me to set up the interviews with the Japanese team.  This time, Japan was represented by men’s competitor Yasuharu Nanri, whom we had not previously met, and two ladies we know quite well, Fumie and Nana.  Also present was Yuko Kawaguchi, who is the Russian national champion in pairs with her partner Alexander Smirnov.  The Japanese delegation chief graciously accepted our interview requests with Yasuharu, Fumie and Nana, while coach Tamara Moskvina approved our request for Yuko.

 

We had met Nana exactly one year earlier, at the 2007 Skate Canada event in Quebec City.  Nana was new to the senior Grand Prix series at that point, and had just come off a strong sixth-place finish.  She would go on to a very successful year, winning the bronze medal at the NHK Trophy and finishing, as she had hoped she would, in the top six at the always-competitive All-Japan championship.  Knowing that we were allotted only about ten minutes to speak to her, we pared down the questions to what we thought were the most pertinent.

 

Nana had had an average competition, finishing ninth and downgrading many of her jumps, although her spins and spirals were very high quality.  As she entered the media room for the interview, we caught a glimpse of perhaps why this was the case – her right ankle was wrapped in an ice pack.  Armed with an obvious leading question, we sat down to catch up on Nana’s progress since we last saw her.  Interpreting, as she did for us a year ago, was Akiko Tamura of World of Skating.  I have put Akiko’s translations into the first person.

  [Read more →]

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Interview with Yuko Kawaguchi, 2008 Skate Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Posted on November 9th, 2008 by admin

 

As soon as Gregg, Gigi and I arrived in Ottawa for Skate Canada, we set up shop in the well-appointed Media Room and prepared for the event.  With Gregg and Gigi tasked with getting the best photos possible during the event, it fell to me to set up the interviews with the Japanese team.  This time, Japan was represented by men’s competitor Yasuharu Nanri, whom we had not previously met, and two ladies we know quite well, Fumie and Nana.  Also present was Yuko Kawaguchi, who is the Russian national champion in pairs with her partner Alexander Smirnov.  The Japanese delegation chief graciously accepted our interview requests with Yasuharu, Fumie and Nana, while coach Tamara Moskvina approved our request for Yuko.

Yuko Kawaguchi is a confident 26 year-old skating veteran.  At different points during her long career, she has represented Japan, the United States and Russia internationally.  For the past few years, she has forged a successful partnership with Alexander Smirnov, and last year the team was Russian national champions, adding their names to an impressive list that includes Gordeeva/Grinkov and Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze.  Finishing an impressive fourth at last season’s World Championships, Kawaguchi/Smirnov must be seen as medal contenders at this season’s Worlds and next season’s Olympic games.

Yuko and Alexander won the pairs event in Ottawa, their first-ever Grand Prix championship, displaying great tricks and athleticism.  Our interview with Yuko followed the pairs’ press conference.  At the conference, Yuko and Alexander were asked their feelings following the big win, and Yuko was asked about her collision with American pairs skater Keauna McLaughlin in warm-up, which silenced the crowd and left both ladies on the ice.  I have included the questions from the press conference along with the exclusive interview that followed.  As Yuko has trained and competed for the US in previous years, her English was very good.  See if you can detect a slight Russian accent in the clips!  Enjoy.

[Read more →]

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Japan Skates’ exclusive interview with Gracielle Jeanne Tan – Thornhill Summer Skate, August 16, 2008

Posted on September 18th, 2008 by admin

More photos and videos from the interview can be found HERE!

 

Central Ontario (Thornhill) Summer Skate is a great opportunity to meet skaters trying out their programs early in the season.  Often, skaters from the U.S. and other countries are in Toronto or Barrie to train for a few weeks, and use the Summer Skate as an opportunity to put their training to the test.  One such skater was top Philippines competitor Gracielle Jeanne Tan, of Los Angeles, California.

 Some readers from Japan had asked Japan Skates back in the spring if we could feature some Asian-Canadian or American skaters, those who compete for Canada or the U.S. but also for Asian countries.  In April, we interviewed Canadian champion Patrick Chan and the interview received much positive response.  Interviewing an American who competes for the Philippines sounded like an exciting idea that would be a popular feature.  I was familiar with Gracielle from seeing her name on the Worlds and 4CC competitor lists, and I hoped that she would agree to an interview.  Fortunately for us, she agreed and we met following the ladies short program.

 We at Japan Skates hope that you enjoy meeting this friendly and talented university student who travels the world representing her family’s homeland in her chosen sport.

  [Read more →]

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Japan Skates’ exclusive interview with Eri Nishimura – Thornhill Summer Skate, August 17, 2008

Posted on August 26th, 2008 by admin

Thornhill Summer Skate is my “home event” and I look forward to it every year.  Usually, Japan brings many of their senior skaters to test their programs before the season gets under way, often in conjunction with summer training in Toronto or Barrie.  I had heard that this year, Japan would not be bringing a team.  So it was to my surprise when I noticed that there was a junior competitor listed in the program, representing Japan.  It turns out that this competitor was Eri Nishimura, a thirteen-year old elementary school student from Tokyo who trains most of the year in Barrie at the Mariposa club.


Eri was interested in interviewing, so we set Sunday afternoon following her free skate as the time to meet.  She had just succeeded in winning the bronze medal in the junior division at the competition.  As she has lived in Canada for a couple of years now, her English was excellent.  I hope that you enjoy meeting this enthusiastic skater and student.  We hope to meet more young up-and-coming Japanese skaters.  One day, you may say to yourself “I first heard about her at Japan Skates!!!” [Read more →]

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Transcript of Japan Skates’ interview with Japan’s Ryo Shibata, August 11, 2008.

Posted on August 19th, 2008 by admin

More photos and videos from the interview can be found HERE!

 

In late July, I received an e-mail from Yukina Ota saying that she would be returning to Toronto for ten days in early August.  She said she’d have a busy schedule during that time, but hoped that we could meet for lunch or dinner at some point.  I was happy to hear from her after she arrived and we set up Monday, August 11 as the day to meet.  I had such a great time meeting Yukina when she trained in Toronto last year and looked forward to seeing her again.  She brought along Japanese men’s competitor Ryo Shibata, who had been training in Toronto as well.

 

Over dinner (at the same Korean restaurant we enjoyed last year), we discussed their progress.  Both Yukina and Ryo were at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club.  Yukina was concentrating on choreography with David Wilson, who was “refreshing” her programs from last year, which she plans to use again this season.  Ryo was working on technique as well as choreography.  I asked Yukina about her future plans in skating, and she replied that she would try her best this season and see how the Zen Nihon (Japan Nationals) championships goes before making decisions about next season.  As dinner was winding down, I suggested we move to a coffee shop (Yukina requested Tim Horton’s!) and Ryo eagerly agreed to an interview so Japan Skates’ readers could get to know him better.  After I talked to Ryo, I asked Yukina a few questions as well.

 

From her time in Colorado Springs, New York and Toronto, Yukina speaks English well, so she served as Ryo’s interpreter, as well as interjecting some humour into the interview.  I’ve kept Yukina’s words as they were spoken, rather than rephrasing Ryo’s words into the first person.  Please keep in mind that this was a fun and informal interview, with questions asked as I thought of them.  Our goal was more to enjoy our coffee, tea and conversation than anything else!  We at Japan Skates hope you enjoy getting to know Ryo a little better. [Read more →]

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Interview with Fumie Suguri, July 15 2008 at the Ice House, Hackensack, NJ

Posted on July 26th, 2008 by admin

<<Hear Fumie pronounce her name>>

Japanskates: Let’s talk about the practice, the format of the practice and what brings you here to NJ?

Fumie Suguri: I was in Russia last year for one year but first time my agent suggested to me to have Nikolai do choreography. But, first time I never thought that way. But last year I didn’t get very good result so my agent suggested why don’t I take lessons from Nikolai cause Nikolai had made a lot of champions and he knows how to do things. So then one month I really thought about it.  Every time I decided for myself the choreographer and coaches,  that something sometimes I thought not working very well. So maybe sometimes I need to follow things that other people suggested. And then I decided I ‘ll try this one.

[Read more →]

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