Chapter 132 Let her experience coaching first.
After winning the women's singles gold medal at the China Open, Yang Yiyan won gold again at the French Open, securing a ticket to the finals with the highest overall ranking.
After winning the gold medal, Feng Simai's margin for error in the second leg of the competition increased significantly. He also secured a ticket to the finals, becoming the only Chinese men's singles player to reach the finals.
The Russian leg was so badly dominated by a group of jumpers that Lin Ye was knocked off the podium. In the end, the champion was surprisingly the newly promoted French men's singles player, Augustin, who was lucky enough to get a ticket to the finals in his first year in the senior division.
In addition, there is also good news from the youth group.
In the summer group, a 13-year-old girl won a gold and a silver medal, securing a ticket to the youth group finals. She also released a 3A satellite before the finals even started.
Another 14-year-old girl singles player, with one silver and one bronze medal, was placed as the substitute number one in the finals. Before the start of the finals, a Canadian girl singles player withdrew from the competition, and the girl successfully secured her ticket.
If nothing unexpected happens, they will become a new force in the Beijing cycle.
Xia Yuezi watched the youth group's competition video for a long time, and her frustration grew with each passing moment.
"American technology is truly a complete mess."
Currently, the top-ranked junior skater is the American woman, who is already able to land 3A+3T jumps in the main competition, but this set of jumps has been criticized by many technically-minded figure skating fans.
Before her 3A jump, she had already spun almost halfway around the ice, taking off entirely on her skates. The second half of this combination was even more amazing; before taking off, the skates spun almost halfway around the ice, and she used the Axel jump takeoff method to complete the 3T.
The worst part is that the judges recognized this series of jumps and gave it a goe of 1.03.
If it were any Asian women's singles player, this group would be caught so badly that even their own mother wouldn't recognize them. A 3T would be enough to get them relegated to a lower group, and a high GOOE would be out of the question.
Meng Xin sighed, "I wonder where this technology came from."
Xia Yuezi continued, "It's probably the men's singles."
After all, the men's singles quadruple jumps also have many technical flaws. They have accompanied Feng Simai in so many competitions over the years, and they believe they have collected all the patterns of the men's singles' vicious quadruple jumps.
Xia Yuezi looked at the figure frozen on the screen and slowly tapped her fingers on the table: "First, let's stabilize the child's 3A. She is still young, and there is still a long time for the youth group to lay a foundation for her. There is no need to rush."
………
The Grand Prix Final was held in Japan on December 7th.
Not long after arriving at the hotel, Yang Yiyan and Feng Simai were taken out shopping by the host team members. They were enthusiastically introduced to the local customs and culture, and even organized a gathering to strengthen their bond with the youth team members.
Xia Yuezi also went out for a trip with the other coaches, and only settled down before the music rehearsal. She took two girls from her group to the venue, with their parents accompanying them.
There are plenty of problems with parents who are obsessed with their children, especially those who are particularly controlling.
Even though each group has rules to prevent parents from interfering too much with the coach's training arrangements, some self-righteous parents still argue with the coaching team on public platforms.
Xia Yuezi has always been lucky in this regard. Her parents are quite respectful of the coaches, and even if they have their own agendas and contact short-term training programs, they will discuss the timing with the coaching team.
After the rise of the ice performance market in China, they would also subtly express their hope that their children could also have the opportunity to appear in public and broaden their horizons by going out with their senior classmates.
Xia Yuezi will make arrangements for the children who achieve good results at home and abroad. After all, ice performances are money, and figure skating is expensive. It is a good thing for the athletes to be able to reduce the financial burden on their families.
On the day of the competition, the youth pairs figure skating event was the first to begin.
Since suffering losses in the Sochi cycle, the Chinese figure skating association has begun to focus on the development of its talent pool. While the number of outstanding pairs skaters is not large, they have not missed the Grand Prix Final for junior skaters since the PyeongChang cycle, and have also brought back more than two spots at the World Junior Championships.
If this trend can be maintained, Chinese pairs figure skating will not fall out of the top international level for at least the next two cycles.
After Xia Yuezi finished discussing the follow-up competition matters with the team leader, she had just returned backstage when Meng Xin, who was standing behind the wall, grabbed her.
"What are you doing? The junior women's singles competition is about to start."
Meng Xin pointed ahead, and Coach Xia, looking puzzled, craned his neck to look around the corner.
Yang Yiyan was standing in front of her two junior teammates, seemingly explaining the competition to them and making encouraging gestures. The parents standing beside her were carrying their daughters' bags and looking at the scene with incredibly kind eyes.
Xia Yuezi felt that this scene looked very familiar.
Whether in training or competition, this girl is now completely independent. Sometimes she takes on the responsibility of being the senior sister, using her experience to give advice to her junior sisters, and even training with them to correct some of their flaws in movement.
If we take the mentorship system in China as an example, it would be like having a junior mentor or teaching assistant in the group.
"Wow, Xiaoyan's got some presence. Her opponents must be tough enough on their own."
Xia Yuezi turned around, her smile looking somewhat sly.
Meng Xin waved her hand, signaling the two of them not to go out yet: "Anyway, Xiao Yan's competition doesn't start until tomorrow. Let her have some coaching fun first, and she can get back into shape in advance."
Xia Yuezi stretched, relaxing for the first time before the competition: "Okay, but we still need to explain things before the sixth practice session."
Carrying the entrustment of their seniors and coaches, the two children in the youth group performed quite well in the short program, one ranking third and the other fourth, less than three points behind the first-place American athlete.
Both girls used their edges very well and their skating was also good. They learned the essence of the Chinese women's singles skating tradition in their spins. As for their performance, the fans and judges have never had high expectations for the junior group kids, so Xia Yuezi can still help them make up for it slowly.
However, compared to technical aspects, Xia Yuezi is more inclined to cultivate their healthy mindset. She doesn't want them to take winning and losing too seriously at this age when they are supposed to achieve results, so that they don't feel too much pressure, make too many mistakes, or develop a psychological shadow on the competition.
Therefore, even if the score difference is not large, Xia Yuezi did not expect them to be able to make a comeback in the free skate and stand on the podium. She just hoped that they could finish the competition steadily and present a complete program in international competitions.
After all, in figure skating, the level of completion is more important than the level of difficulty in most cases.
Once the youth group competitions are over, it will be time for the adult men's singles.
One of the girls was to receive a small medal and be interviewed by the top three, while the other was to be interviewed by a CCTV reporter. Both girls also had drug tests afterward. Meng Xin couldn't manage it all by herself, and the parents were also unclear about the procedures.
“Go follow Xiao Deng; it’s time for you to make a difference.”
Xia Yuezi grabbed Yang Yiyan, who was standing to the side feeling proud of her junior sister, and asked her to take one of the girls to do an interview.
Yang Yiyan was pushed by the coach, shook her head helplessly, and quickly caught up with her junior sister who was about to go to the mixed zone. She familiarly put her arm around her shoulder and kept talking.
"Don't be nervous. CCTV reporters won't ask any tricky questions. Just like having a heart-to-heart talk with the coaches, if there's a question you don't want to answer, just refuse."
Hearing this, Xia Yuezi's lips twitched, and she pressed her temples as she walked toward the warm-up area.
The men's singles players were all acquaintances, so the atmosphere wasn't too tense. The only one who couldn't smile was Augustin, who stood next to his senior teammate with little expression on his face.
This caused the young man to fall during his quadruple jump in the short program, and the director very astutely switched the video to Anthony's face.
The handsome Frenchman simply placed his hand on his forehead, looking utterly speechless. But after his junior teammate left the field, he spoke amiably with the coach, analyzing his performance.
Xia Yuezi didn't see this scene; she was holding the athlete's jacket and paying attention to everything on the ice rink.
Feng Simai's leg problems have worsened, and before going on stage for this short program, she even drank a medicine mixed with painkiller powder.
She has already discussed it with the team leader and reported it to the domestic leaders. If Feng Simai cannot complete this program, he will not be forced to play the free skate with pain-relieving injections. Instead, he will withdraw from the competition and return to China for treatment. Everything is for the sake of the Olympics.
The crisp sound of the ice touches the ground rang out, and he switched his first jump back to 4T+3T. However, the moment he landed on the 4T, his right foot stumbled, and he only managed to avoid falling thanks to his body's balance.
Xia Yuezi looked at Feng Simai's flushed face and thought he was going to force a series of jumps. Fortunately, he still had experience and connected the 3T to the last 3LZ. There were no major problems in the second half.
In addition, her performance skills were still there, and the final score was not too bad, reaching 91.02, ultimately ranking fourth in the short program.
The Chinese team members didn't have time to care about the rankings. As soon as they left the waiting area, they called the team doctor over to check on Feng Simai and confirmed that there were no major problems with his ankle and knee.
"Are you sure you still want to go on the free skate?" Xia Yuezi frowned. "You're a veteran now, you should know what's more important."
Feng Simai placed an ice pack on her ankle, where the bone was deformed and the bright red scars made it look particularly frightening.
He shook his head silently, his eyes filled with stubbornness, and the lounge fell silent for a moment.
Xia Yuezi leaned against the wall, patiently waiting for him to finish what he was doing, and it was quite a while before she heard him speak.
"I said I wanted to do the free skate, but I didn't say I wanted to do a quadruple jump. Anyway, making it to the Grand Prix Final is already proof of my excellence in the first half of the season, so it's okay for me to do a triple jump in the free skate, right?"
Feng Simai's thinking was simple: there were only six spots in the finals, and the worst he could get was sixth place. Anyway, he wasn't a favorite to stand on the podium, so if he didn't get a medal, the remaining rankings wouldn't matter to him.
Xia Yuezi was taken aback by these words, concealing the conflict and complexity in her eyes, and coughed: "Okay, just don't put too much pressure on yourself because of this."
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