Chapter 3 Level Examination: Free Skating Level 8
"Thump—"
The sound of a heavy object falling came from the other end of the room. Yang Yiyan was imitating the Lo-jumping motion as she jumped down from a 40-centimeter-high box, her thigh muscles tensing the moment she landed.
A set of 3lo was just the beginning of today's land training. The most important thing is to get F and lz's blades back on track, otherwise it will become more and more troublesome later.
"Xiao Yan, have you never sprained your ankle before? When you do a jump hook, you press the blade outwards. Are you trying to shovel ice shards into the referee's eyes so they can't see your mis-blade?" Xia Yuezi demonstrated while sternly reprimanding her.
Yang Yiyan's face fell, and her voice weakened: "I can't suppress it."
"Then how did you manage to adjust and suppress it?"
"I jump smoothly to the inside point, and I can get in with just one turn. Also, many of my footwork techniques are based on the inside edge."
Both take-off and blade press require muscle, but it depends more on the athlete's personal habits.
Xia Yuezi was speechless after being rebuked: "Fine, you come down, let's do some free spins under the ice."
Yang Yiyan responded by raising her arms one in front of the other, forming a 90-degree angle with her body, and then jumped to the left.
Ice spins are usually practiced in both directions, which helps athletes maintain better balance and prevents scoliosis caused by excessive muscle mass on one side of the body.
She can now do three and a half rotations on the ground, but as an adjustment training, the number of rotations can be reduced appropriately.
Xia Yuezi watched the little girl constantly adjusting her takeoff with triple jumps and couldn't help but feel a little frustrated.
Yang Yiyan is already 12 years old, and her birthday falls in June. According to the International Skating Union's age requirements, she will be able to compete in the junior group next season.
Zhang Mengyi ranked ninth in the previous World Junior Championships and fifth in the national rankings, earning her two World Junior Championships slots and seven slots in the Youth Grand Prix preliminary rounds. However, she injured her leg, so she will not be included in the entry list for this World Junior Championships.
The level of domestic female singles skaters of the appropriate age is limited. If, in an extreme situation, neither of them makes it into the free skate, the competition for spots next season will only become more intense.
Based on Xia Yuezi's understanding of the figure skating leadership, if there hadn't been any outstanding women's singles athletes in the junior group at that time, it wouldn't have been impossible for Zhang Mengyi to compete in both the junior and senior groups. In that case, it would have been even more difficult for Yang Yiyan to reach the international stage.
Whether it's achieving good results or creating challenging content, the best period for women's singles is during the youth group stage, after which they will face a developmental hurdle.
Xia Yuezi felt her head hurt even more.
Most women's singles players release more difficult challenges before reaching the development stage, and then recover after the development stage. Very few women's singles players can release new difficult challenges after the development stage, and even if they can, they are usually power-type challenges.
We can't expect such a miracle to happen to Yang Yiyan, who has a high rotation speed. It's already difficult for her to get through puberty, and with the school season approaching, her time on the ice will be shortened. She also needs time to practice new programs. To achieve the expected goals, she has to spend her time wisely.
They need to master all five three-week techniques by the start of next season to be competitive on the field.
In the cafeteria, Xia Yuezi returned to her seat with a full plate in one hand and a regular plate in the other. Looking at the slightly chubby girl in front of her, she couldn't help but remind her, "School starts soon, so you should be careful about what you eat when you're out."
Yang Yiyan swallowed the food in her mouth and said, "I know, my lunch at school is prepared and delivered by my nanny according to my request."
Families that can afford to send their children to learn figure skating are generally well-off. Xia Yuezi said, "Okay, I will discuss the subsequent training schedule with your parents. Focus on your studies at school and don't think too much."
Yang Yiyan nodded obediently and agreed to everything.
………………
October, Beijing Sports Center.
"Little Goose, hurry up."
"We're here," Yang Yiyan replied sullenly, following behind the coach who was carrying the ice skate bag.
The location of the figure skating grading exams changes every year, and many athletes' families complain that they have to travel all over the country for the exams. This time, the fifth stop of the grading exams happens to be Beijing.
The exam results will be available in a few days. Yang Yiyan successfully passed the Level 7 free skate and Level 10 footwork exams. After confirming that her physical fitness was up to par, she took the fifth free skate exam.
During this period, Yang Yiyan mastered three single jumps: 3T, 3S, and 3LO, and her accuracy rate with LZ blades also reached over 50%.
"Let's go register first. Mom is already waiting for us at the gymnasium."
Yang Yiyan's father works in foreign trade and spends most of his time abroad. Her mother, a design major, owns a handmade clothing store and has created her own clothing brand. She not only has time to accompany her daughter's training but also handles the production of the costumes.
Backstage, Xia Yuezi led Yang Yiyan in warm-up exercises, while Yang's mother watched quietly from the side.
She was an elegant and intellectual woman with half-curled hair tied back loosely with a hair tie. Her eyes were upturned at the corners, and her smile was kind yet slightly aloof. She wore a large trench coat over a shirt, carried a small bag on her arm, and seemed to be wearing perfume, which had a faint fragrance when you got close.
Xia Yuezi met with Yang's mother very few times, and they mostly communicated by phone. Her concern for her daughter was evident in their conversations.
There weren't many people registered for the fifth stop; coaches, parents, and other participants stood by the railing.
A boy was in front of Yang Yiyan in line. He didn't tighten his grip properly when jumping 2A and fell.
The child first looked up at the other side of the barrier, then stood up shakily and continued gliding. Her gliding and rhythm were out of sync, not to mention the finishing crouch turn, which was so slow that she thought she was going to fall.
Xia Yuezi's eyelids twitched as she watched; the fall had completely shattered the child's composure.
She was about to say a few words to comfort her child when she turned around and saw the little girl standing behind Yang's mother, pounding her thigh muscles with her head down, completely unaware of what had just happened.
Xia Yuezi silently swallowed her words again.
When Yang Yiyan entered the ice, the boy who had just fallen on the ice was right next to her at the entrance. He had tears in his eyes, and the man next to him with a dark expression was probably his coach.
Xia Yuezi was all too familiar with this scene; she had been scolded like this when she was a child.
Thinking of this, she patted Yang Yiyan, who was already standing on the ice, and instructed her, "Don't be nervous, just skate like before."
Yang Yiyan grasped Xia Yuezi's hand in return, indicating that she was alright, then pursed her lips and turned to look at the center of the ice rink.
Xia Yuezi watched the girl glide away, took a few steps back, and stood next to Yang's mother. Yang's mother held her bag tightly in both hands, her eyes following the people on the field.
Yang Yiyan, dressed in a black training uniform, stood in the middle of the ice rink, taking a deep breath and gently patting her chest with one hand.
She glanced at the barrier, then let out a breath and knelt on the ice with her left leg in a ready position.
The melodious violin music echoed across the empty ice rink. Yang Yiyan slowly got up, skating backward with her hands. As she approached the judges' table, she raised her right leg and jumped with her back to the judges, completing a 2A.
Yang Yiyan took advantage of the gliding to do a small jump, then raised her right hand and spun around on the ice a few times before entering the first spin of the assessment with a twist step.
The left leg is raised back, almost level with the girl's body. The arms are spread out, forming a swallow pose. Then the right hand pulls the lower leg back, and the left hand is stretched down and placed next to the right leg, forming a donut shape.
After stretching out, switch legs and squat down in one smooth motion. After turning around a certain number of times, pull the left leg up and bend the right leg slightly to form a "Y" shape.
The coach standing next to Xia Yuezi couldn't help but exclaim in surprise: "This girl spins really fast, and she looks quite petite."
“Yes, the difficulty level isn’t very high,” another coach quickly chimed in.
Figure skating is a niche sport in China, with a small circle of people. Athletes and coaches from different provinces are connected, and it's impossible to keep a team's promising talents a secret; news travels quickly and accurately.
Xia Yuezi paid no attention to the group of coaches, her gaze remaining fixed on the ice rink.
The violin music gradually became more intense. Yang Yiyan touched the ice with her left foot, quickly tightened her body, and slid in a clear arc on the ice as she landed.
Seeing the 3T land, Xia Yuezi's heart finally settled down a little. She was worried that the little girl would be nervous and affect her jumps.
After completing a set of alternating leg squats and turns, Yang Yiyan crossed her legs, lifted her body into the air, and completed a 2lo. At the moment of landing, she tightened her body again and completed another 2lo.
The lo jump is a blade jump, which is difficult to gain leverage from and can only be achieved by relying on the strength of the waist to get higher. This makes many people feel that the lo jump is more difficult than the lz jump.
Yang Yiyan doesn't belong to this group. Her 2lo was released earlier than her 2T, which attracted Wang Can's attention and led to her being recruited into the Beijing team, but that was the end of her career.
Because the more difficult 2F and 2lz took a long time to develop, they still have the aftereffects of "difficult birth", such as misaligned axes and misaligned edges.
Furthermore, since the Level 8 assessment did not specify a particular two-two consecutive jump, Xia Yuezi tailored this configuration specifically for her.
As the music softened, Yang Yiyan lifted her skates overhead with both hands, executing a Biellmann spin as her final move.
After Yang Yiyan finished her assessment, applause rang out from the sidelines. Yang's mother rushed to the entrance and gave her daughter a hug as she stepped off the ice.
Xia Yuezi handed the knife sheath to Yang Yiyan, took out a towel she had prepared beforehand, patted her head, and smiled slightly: "You did a great job, thank you for your hard work."
Yang Yiyan's face, flushed from the rotation and lack of oxygen, was now filled with joy. She had been criticized a lot during the training, but now that she heard the coach's praise, she immediately raised her head proudly.
With a hand on her daughter's shoulder, Yang's mother said with joy and love, "Coach Xia is a good teacher. Please continue to take good care of our Xiaoyan."
Seeing the three of them preparing to walk backstage, a coach called out to Xia Yuezi. She turned her head and found that it was another familiar face.
"Coach Song, it's been a long time."
Song Qiao is the head coach of the Heilongjiang Provincial Team. He was not only the original owner's coach, but also Xia Yuezi's coach when she went to Northeast China for training in her previous life.
Seeing this, Yang's mother greeted the two of them and left with Yang Yiyan.
“At first I was worried about whether you could adapt to being a coach, but now it seems that I was overthinking it.”
He glanced in the direction Yang Yiyan had left, then looked at Xia Yuezi with satisfaction. He had seen the little girl's performance; she was flawless in every aspect, and her movements were perfectly in sync with the music.
Xia Yuezi subconsciously avoided Song Qiao's gaze and lowered her head slightly: "No, that child is very naughty."
"Is that so? I thought the apprentice was like the master, so the child you're raising must be quite well-behaved."
Upon hearing this, Xia Yuezi felt a strange emotion welling up inside her. She felt her eyes getting hot and lowered her head, not daring to look at anyone: "Please stop teasing me."
The original owner was shy; if she didn't speak, people would believe she was from the South. But Xia Yuezi was a mischievous monkey; during her training at the sports school in Northeast China, she caused Song Qiao a lot of trouble.
Seemingly to ease the tension, Song Qiao's tone became lighter: "Okay, you've been in Beijing for quite a while now, when are you coming back to visit? Your mother misses you a lot."
The original owner's father passed away early, and his mother's family owned a traditional Chinese medicine physiotherapy clinic, which was opened near their home after the original owner's maternal grandfather retired. After the original owner was selected for the Heilongjiang Provincial Team, his mother also joined the provincial team as a traditional Chinese medicine physiotherapy therapist, simply to be closer to the original owner.
Even without this memory, Xia Yuezi could easily tell that the original owner's family relationships were very good. During this time, she had received many messages and phone calls from her relatives, and Xia Yuezi could only laugh them off each time.
"Isn't the National Championships being held in Qiqihar this year? I might as well go back and take a look."
Xia Yuezi tried to avoid the topic, but she knew she couldn't escape it.
Song Qiao didn't notice anything unusual about Xia Yuezi and was about to say something when she interrupted him: "Coach Song, someone is looking for you."
He turned around and saw a boy of about seven or eight years old, carrying an ice skate bag, standing next to the backstage entrance, looking at Song Qiao.
Xia Yuezi waved to Song Qiao, taking the lead in saying goodbye.
"Then I'll be going now. See you in Quanjin."
A note from the author:
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