Chapter 122 The Growing Pains of Girls
Closed.
A process that an athlete can never avoid in their career.
If possible, Xia Yuezi hoped that these children in her care would never have to deal with this medicine for the rest of their lives, but she also knew that this was impossible.
Before departing for the World Championships, Xia Yuezi thought it over again and again, but still held onto a one percent hope and did not call the guardians of her two children.
She recalled a time when she went out for a competition and Feng Simai accidentally twisted her ankle during the sixth practice session of her free skate, but she didn't dare let the team doctor take off her shoes to examine her.
Perhaps athletes become like doctors through long-term illness, and he himself had a premonition that the sprain was very serious. He might take off his skates now, but after the examination, he might not be able to put them back on.
At that time, Feng Simai was not yet an adult. Xia Yuezi listened to the team doctor's advice and followed the procedure to call Feng's mother and the team to report. Although she did not need the nerve block injection in the end and relied on painkillers to get through it, she still remembers Feng's mother's suppressed crying.
I'm afraid that if I raise my voice, my child will sense that I'm not in a good mood, so I don't dare let Feng Simai answer the phone.
Xia Yuezi could even imagine that late at night in China, Feng's mother was alone, or sitting with Feng's father around a small computer screen. Feng Simai jumped around for four and a half minutes, and they sat in front of the screen, trembling with fear for four and a half minutes, or even longer.
Everyone says athletes are great, but the parents who silently bear everything for them are just as great.
On March 28, the contestants in each group performed a short pre-competition musical number inside the venue.
The draw was conducted by first grouping the six players together according to their world rankings, and then drawing lots within each group.
Yan Rui's ranking wasn't high enough, so she had to perform in the second group, but she had good luck in the draw and drew fifth place.
Yang Yiyan and Feng Simai both made it into the last group, one appearing second and the other third.
Even in 2017, some of the athletes participating in the World Championships only had the triple jump combination as a reserve. At least in Yan Rui's group, no athlete has yet been seen who can surpass her in difficulty.
In Xia Yuezi's opinion, Yan Rui's mentality is not fluctuating much at the moment. He can wait for his senior sister to arrive and watch the contestants who can jump 3A show off their skills to each other.
Yan Rui, holding his thermos, stood beside the two coaches, watching Yang Yiyan lift her foot to perform a 3A, then her right leg buckled and she fell onto the ice.
She brushed the ice shards off her training clothes, stood up seemingly unaffected, and then did a 3lo.
"Mengchuan's 3A has already been established."
The two coaches had already figured out all the female singles players who could jump the triple A in the World Championships roster, and stood by, observing the players who were on the watchlist.
From Meng Xin's perspective, Meng Chuanli's 3A was basically flawless, but her landing seemed shaky. On the other hand, Polina next to her had clean and crisp take-offs and landings, but her 3A success rate was not as good as before.
Xia Yuezi wasn't surprised: "The players from the same batch as Xiaoyan are all getting older. With accumulated injuries, it's normal for their stability to decline. We'll have to see how she performs on the field."
Perhaps because there are so many petite female singles athletes who are also very young when they achieve results, many ice skating fans still remember them as being around fourteen or fifteen years old.
Even though these three well-known female singles players have all come of age and become famous athletes in the eyes of many commentators, many figure skating fans still refer to them as "little sisters".
The most typical examples are the top two sisters in China.
Ice skating fans call Zhang Mengyi "Sister Yi," and even the athletes call her that in private, but no one has ever called Yang Yiyan "Sister Yan." This may be largely due to Yang Yiyan's public image.
After skating for a while, Yang Yiyan returned to her coach's side, took out a tissue to blow her nose, and looked a little dejected.
"Does your leg hurt?" Xia Yuezi asked.
Yang Yiyan shook her head: "It doesn't hurt, it's just a little numb."
"Don't practice 3A later. Let the physiotherapist take another look when we get back."
From the moment Yang Yiyan began playing the chorus, Xia Yuezi's brows never relaxed, and her expression remained unchanged until the men's singles chorus ended.
Just as she expected, the last group of contestants not only had sets three and four, but also set five and four of Fujiwara Yoshino.
After Yoshino Fujiwara completed the 4LZ on the ice, the other skaters and coaches looked at him with a hint of apprehension. No one knew when he had mastered the fourth type of quadruple jump.
The other two Chinese players also looked grim. Song Ziqi was stunned, while Lin Ye felt as if he had been doused with cold water from head to toe.
However, how much of the difficulty these athletes can actually achieve on paper remains to be seen, depending on their performance tomorrow.
The organizers scheduled the men's and women's singles short programs for the same day, with the women's singles athletes starting first.
Yan Rui, as the first Chinese athlete to compete, never relaxed the muscles in his shoulders.
Meng Xin was backstage with the other contestants and also had to take care of Feng Simai, who was going to perform later. Only Xia Yuezi was guarding the barrier.
The two broke their usual forehead-to-forehead contact, and Xia Yuezi turned her around and gently patted her biceps.
Watching Yan Rui's figure gradually disappear into the distance, she silently said to herself, "Go, child. If you want to go to the Olympics, go and earn your own spot."
Yan Rui's two song choices this season are very different in style, in order to fit the two performance styles customized for her by the group.
The short program is based on the song "Let it be me" from the movie "Flipped".
As the song played, the movie reached its ending. The two of them planted a sycamore tree on the lawn of Julie's house. Finally, the camera pulled back, leaving the audience with a blank space.
Xia Yuezi looked up at the girl on the big screen, still tense. The light shone on her, making the pink cosplay her thoughts like Julie's.
As the gentle prelude flowed out, the tension in Yan Rui's eyes eased somewhat, but even with just a turn of her head, Xia Yuezi still felt her body was very tense.
Since it was her first season in the new group, her scores were already low, so the impression she left on the judges became very important. The coaching staff and choreographers advised her not to include high-difficulty moves in the second half of the performance, so that if something went wrong, it would be difficult to make up for it.
Therefore, Yan Rui's first move was 3F+3T.
This jump accompanied Yan Rui in the youth group competitions for two years, with almost no mistakes. Even in the adult group competitions, there were no major flaws.
Xia Yuezi breathed a slight sigh of relief. Even though the jump wasn't perfect, she had still managed to clean them up.
As the vocals in the song gradually emerged, Yan Rui began her swallow spin. Her basic spins were excellent, almost at level four, and her goe was not dry, rarely allowing the judges to find fault.
After completing two sets of movements, Yan Rui's body gradually relaxed, and he gradually entered the state of a storyteller.
"Flipped" is a film that unfolds from a dual perspective, and Yan Rui's choice of the role is clearly that of the female lead, Julie.
Julie is a passionate girl who dares to pursue what she wants, but Yan Rui is not. He has trained in land dance several times, but he still can't satisfy the choreographer.
The reason this movie is so popular is not only because of the relationship between the two children, but also because of the growing maturity and clashes in their values.
Even if this song depicts the beauty of love, love is based on dignity. As performers, we must also consider whether this love is worthwhile.
So Xia Yuezi had her perform from a different angle, using the blank space at the end of the film and Julie's father's words, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," to have her portray an independent and growing girl.
The awkwardness of youth, the growing pains, the confusion of trial and error, and the fear of being scolded by parents all combine to form Yan Rui's current state of mind.
But what's even more unforgettable is the psychological change during puberty. Few parents notice their daughters' emotions during this time. At school, other girls who are starting puberty may make inappropriate jokes about them, gradually undermining their self-confidence.
This is how girls in China grow up, and Yan Rui is in the same period, or even worse, since she not only develops later than her peers, but is also shorter.
Her gliding was tense, but this tension matched the theme of caution. The choreographer added a lot of hand and shoulder movements, like an ignorant child touching those subtle changes.
Xia Yuezi watched from the side, nodding frequently. The tension in her heart was gradually replaced by relief, but she also felt a little sad.
It was clearly a very typical love song selection, but in the end, this theme was chosen, and it still seems so fitting for a Chinese girl.
As the music gradually entered its second half, the emotions rose along with the melody, and Yan Rui's skating speed increased accordingly.
Her expression was no longer one of complete tension, but rather one of focus and engagement. During the live filming on the big screen, viewers made eye contact with her countless times, and many thought of Julie's unique stubbornness in the film.
This program places the combination jumps in the first half and the remaining two single jumps in the second half.
After landing on the last 2A jump, Xia Yuezi saw Yan Rui smile for the first time in the middle of the competition, which was quite rare. He just turned around and his expression returned to normal, so quickly that Xia Yuezi thought she was seeing things.
The final movement is a set of footwork, choreographed to match the rhythmic changes, no longer as heavy as most of the music, but with a touch of lightness.
The girls finally understood, broke free from their inner constraints, and walked resolutely forward.
Yan Rui performed a kneeling slide, stopping just as the music ended. His upper body leaned back, his hands braced on either side, and he looked upside down at the audience, his chest heaving violently. He subconsciously looked in the direction of his coach.
Xia Yuezi smiled with relief, clapped her hands vigorously, and joined the audience in applauding.
Yan Rui saved his best short program of the season for the most important match.
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Author's note: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone! [heart emoji]
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