Chapter 20 A Long and Arduous Road Ahead Even the best athletes have to compromise...
After going through all the procedures, Xia Yuezi took Meng Xin to the ice rink for training so that she could get to know the other children.
For athletes, changes in coaching staff are common, and as long as the head coach is still there, they can feel at ease.
Yang Yiyan put on her protective gear, and Xia Yuezi took her to practice 3T consecutively on ice.
Meng Xin then picked up the boom bar and led Feng Simai in 3A training.
On the first day of the handover, Xia Yuezi told her about the strengths and weaknesses of several children, and they also discussed the details of the training afterwards, especially the men's singles.
Having a background in pairs figure skating, Meng Xin understands the developmental challenges of male athletes better than Xia Yuezi. The two coaches hit it off immediately and devised a muscle-building plan for the two of them.
Yang Yiyan returned to China later than her junior brother. She was startled when she saw his noticeable baby fat on his face, wondering if he had been too indulgent abroad.
As soon as she sat down in the cafeteria, she saw both coaches holding plates with their hands. The amount of beef on the plates left Yang Yiyan speechless for a long time. She reached out her little hand to poke Feng Simai to ask him something, but he had already picked up his chopsticks and started eating as if it were second nature.
Xia Yuezi picked up her phone and filmed Yang Yiyan's gliding adjustment after completing the 3T and then connecting to the 3T again.
Yang Yiyan has been practicing in sections on land for some time. Her toe-ice posture and edge usage are correct. Being able to do a 3lo is enough to prove that she has explosive power. So the only problem left is the rhythm of the transitions.
Adjusting before performing consecutive jumps allows athletes to better feel the rhythm and shift in center of gravity between the two jumps.
Xia Yuezi was in such a hurry to get Yang Yiyan to light up the new consecutive jump, not only because she was worried about Yang's small waist, but also because of a phone call from Yang's mother not long ago.
This girl's midterm exam scores dropped to the middle level of her grade. Although her "National Master Athlete" certificate allowed her to be specially admitted to high school as a sports student, falling too far behind in her academic studies was not a good thing.
After all, many people have the stereotype that athletes are "simple-minded and physically strong."
Yang's mother didn't want her child to be blind, so she had already found a tutoring institution. Once her daughter finished the finals, she would be sent there for intensive training. If the girl's grades didn't improve much by the end of the semester, her training time would be reduced starting from the winter break, and she could get extra training when she improved.
Xia Yuezi herself graduated from a sports university and has forgotten most of her junior high school knowledge. The only thing she can help with is foreign languages. She originally wanted Feng Simai to tutor her, but then she thought that he would be taking the high school entrance exam this year. If the two of them were to sit together to study, Feng's mother would probably cause a scene.
Thinking of the tutoring classes that Feng's mother had arranged for Feng Simai, Xia Yuezi looked at him with a hint of pity. The good mood on the show was probably the result of long-term pent-up emotions.
By the time Yang Yiyan was able to land a 3T+3T set of foot circumference without the support of the grappling hook, tickets for the Huaguo Cup had already gone on sale.
This year's Huaguo Cup is being held in Beijing, and as one of the Grand Prix's regional events, Xia Yuezi will definitely be there to watch.
The competition was on a weekday, and there weren't many spectators in the stands. They were either college students who didn't have classes that day or working people on vacation. Xia Yuezi and Meng Xin quickly found a spot with an excellent view. The competition they were watching was the women's singles free skate.
Xia Yuezi flipped through the brochure she received from a staff member; the first page featured the women's singles champion from the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Glancing at the female singles player out of the corner of her eye, Meng Xin's expression was somewhat complicated: "She's already retired, but the Korean Ice Hockey Association is still dragging her out."
After winning the Vancouver title, Sung Eun-hee almost faded out of figure skating competitions. She retired due to injury shortly afterward, but suddenly announced her comeback this season, aiming for Sochi.
"There's no one else doing it. It's not like only South Korea does it."
Xia Yuezi's calm tone left everyone speechless. Watching the female singles skaters gradually walk onto the ice, Coach Meng turned to look to the future: "Next year's Winter Olympics will be another big show. I heard that Russia applied to the IOC to add a team event to figure skating."
"Russia has a strong presence in winter sports and is the host country, so it's not surprising that they want to win more gold medals for themselves. This also gives other athletes a chance to stand on the podium."
Not all countries have developed all four figure skating disciplines. For example, China excels in pairs but is mediocre in singles, and its ice dance is in a bad state. Japan is incredibly strong in singles, but its pairs and ice dance are still weak. Even some European and American countries that have been developing for many years have some shortcomings in certain disciplines that are difficult to overcome.
The introduction of the Olympic team event gave athletes in limping events hope of reaching the podium, naturally leading them to focus their efforts on the team event.
Even if the medal isn't that prestigious, you can still say you've won an Olympic medal when attending commercial events. After all, it's a niche sport, and nobody's going to bother to investigate it.
Xia Yuezi still remembers that there was a lucky Japanese ice dance pair who performed exceptionally well at the All Japan Championships and secured an Olympic spot. However, they didn't even make it into the free dance event in the individual competition. Instead, they managed to reach the podium in the team event by relying on their performance in the other three events, and then they retired gracefully.
"That's true, but I don't even expect our country to win a medal. It would be great if we could just make it to the second round."
Meng Xin spoke pessimistically, but both of them knew in their hearts that this was the current state of figure skating in China.
"Let's not talk about these things anymore, Shu Yu is coming out."
As the mainstay of China's senior women's singles team, Jiang Shuyu naturally had to stand guard at home. Her performance was still unremarkable, with fans only applauding when she completed a jump.
Since they are our own athletes, the applause at the end will be more enthusiastic than that for athletes from other countries.
Zhang Mengyi performed well in the short program and appeared after Jiang Shuyu.
Xia Yuezi gazed at the girl standing on the ice rink from afar. Her figure on the ice overlapped with her memory, except that the girl's face still had a childish look and her figure was much thinner.
Zhang Mengyi has long limbs, making her movements exceptionally graceful. Her first jump was a 3LZ+3T, a very light touch with almost no ice splashes around her, but the height deficiency was also quite obvious.
Meng Xin stared at Zhang Mengyi's slender legs, her eyebrows furrowed so much they looked like they could crush an insect: "I heard from other coaches that Mengyi has only been eating one apple a night for the past few months, managing to reduce her weight to 45 kilograms."
Zhang Mengyi is 165 cm tall, and her weight is considered thin for an average person, let alone an athlete. There is almost no fat left to convert into muscle.
Although Meng Xin supports dieting as a way to lose weight, looking at the girl in front of her who was all bones and had little muscle, she also expressed some disapproval of Wang Can's approach.
"Xiaxia, do you think Mengyi can pull through?"
Xia Yuezi didn't speak. Of course, she knew that Zhang Mengyi's development was not easy to overcome, otherwise she wouldn't have disappeared from the sight of figure skating fans so quickly after putting on her two best programs in Sochi.
In an effort to climb out of the lake, Zhang Mengyi even went abroad at her own expense to find a famous coach. Unfortunately, her foundation was damaged too much, and coupled with her age, she ultimately failed to secure a spot in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and resigned herself to retirement, becoming the unforgettable white moonlight for Chinese ice hockey fans for over a decade.
“The team has poured the best resources into her, and Wang Can won’t just sit idly by.”
Xia Yuezi could only offer words of comfort.
She watched Zhang Mengyi run towards Wang Can after she finished skating, then lowered her eyes, her mind filled with the image of Zhang Mengyi struggling in the developmental stage.
If she could, she would certainly want to help Zhang Mengyi, but Wang Can wouldn't let her go. Back then, when Zhang Mengyi went abroad to change teams, she openly broke ties with him, and her treatment in China plummeted.
The last to perform was Sung Eun-hee, and the cheers in the arena reached their peak. The Olympic champion chose her program from the Vancouver Winter Olympics for her comeback performance, although the difficulty was obviously not as high as before.
"Her program only included a 3LZ + 3T, which wasn't difficult enough to compete with."
Not to mention the kids who just got promoted, even her old rival Shirai Nanako wouldn't be enough.
Xia Yuezi used a common argument used by figure skating fans to defend older female singles players: "She is already 22 years old, and she has only just resumed training. It is already very good that she can put together such a lineup."
That's not wrong.
Meng Xin sniffed, pulled her coat tighter, and the topic shifted back to Shirai Nanako.
"Did you see Shirai's performance at the first stop?"
Xia Yuezi thought for a moment and asked, "Do you mean her 3A or Japanese media?"
Nanako Shirai is currently in the twilight of her career, and the quality of her 3A skills has clearly declined. There isn't even a 3A skill in the lineup released this season.
But the Japanese media obviously wouldn't let go of this prodigy who has been in the spotlight since childhood. Before the start of the Japanese leg, their headlines all used 3A, and they even congratulated her in advance on winning the gold medal.
After Shirai's retirement, Japanese media successively bestowed the title of "genius girl" upon many female singles players, calling them "the second Shirai," and without exception, all of these girls ended up drowning.
Therefore, the overly praising reports by Japanese media have become one of the curses in the skating world in the eyes of many figure skating fans.
"I think so, but I think it's not that she doesn't want to, but that she can't."
Meng Xin doesn't go abroad to compete often, but every time she goes, she always runs into Shirai Nanako sitting alone in the backstage dressing room, radiating loneliness and exhaustion.
Xia Yuezi's lips curled up slightly, but a bitter feeling welled up in her heart as her words brought back many memories.
Even in their twilight years, heroes still cherish lofty ideals, but even the most outstanding athletes will eventually have to compromise and face helplessness.
Sung Eun-hee cleaned up her comeback debut, standing on the podium again after a two-year absence. She raised her medal and waved to the fans in the audience.
As the award presenter for the sub-station competition, Li Tan smiled so much that wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes as he looked at Zhang Mengyi and Jiang Shuyu standing on the podium.
When they shook hands, even Cheng Enxi felt the warmth of this Chinese man, and her smile widened even more.
When they took a group photo after coming off the podium, Zhang Mengyi and Jiang Shuyu took the initiative to put the medal around his neck. Meng Xin stood in the corner of the stands, looking at the middle-aged man who was smiling like he didn't care about anything, and clicked her tongue in amazement: "Look, is that still our team's head coach?"
Xia Yuezi leaned on the railing of the stands, her voice tinged with helplessness: "It's been so many years since the Beijing team has achieved this kind of result, let him be happy."
"Do you think Coach Li would be even happier if Xiaoyan brought back the medal?"
To date, China does not have a single title for the Grand Prix Final singles figure skating event.
Xia Yuezi glanced at her and said in a harsher tone, "You can say that to me, but don't say it in front of the children."
Meng Xin realized she had said the wrong thing, and looked seriously at the two athletes who were being interviewed, feeling the heavy burden on her shoulders.
China's figure skating program still has a long way to go.
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