Chapter 33: Unaccustomed to the local environment – This Chinese girl is using her willpower…
Before each season begins, athletes consider whether they should create new programs, which is also closely related to funding.
The two children earned wages from ice shows, and with the national team providing subsidies for choreography and costume production, Xia Yuezi had the idea of changing her program.
Feng Simai's two programs were used for most of her junior years, and according to the rules, she should have changed her program. However, Yang Yiyan's program was only used for one season, so whether or not to change it depends on the skater's decision.
In fact, many contestants change their programs the year before moving up to the adult group, honing their skills in the youth group.
For example, Yumikawa Ria, who was promoted to a higher level this season, chose to use the same two programs she used in the junior group. However, there are also rumors that she has booked two other programs this year and plans to use them alternately throughout the season in preparation for the upcoming Olympic season.
The rumors circulating about figure skating are generally accurate.
Xia Yuezi calculated that if both of them were to change their programs this season, they could present two very mature programs at the Winter Olympics.
However, this "rehashing old material" approach has a significant drawback: judges may get tired of it and thus lower the contestants' scores.
However, preparing four programs like Yumikawa Ria is also very unrealistic given the current budget for the two children.
After returning to China, Xia Yuezi communicated with the children and their parents separately, and finally decided to first choreograph two new programs, and then decide whether to choreograph new programs in advance after the Olympic quota for this season is allocated.
On the provincial team's ice rink, Xia Yuezi held up the bar and pulled hard on Yang Yiyan, who was constantly practicing her jumps.
Meng Xin was warming up on land with another girl in her group. The girl kept glancing at the ice, and the coach caught her before she even realized it.
"Want to train for Triple A like her?"
The girl was startled, her face flushed slightly, and she nodded gently to the coach.
The 3A jump is known as the "King's Jump." Female athletes who can perform this move have at least one A-level tournament championship title. In fact, it can be said that in women's singles, whoever masters the 3A jump has the upper hand.
But precisely because it is difficult, very few female athletes can fully master this jump. Yang Yiyan only got Xia Yuezi to agree to practice this jump after she had stabilized her five types of triple jumps and combination jumps.
Xia Yuezi had thought it through very clearly. Yang Yiyan's growth spurt had gradually been brought under control. Thirteen or fourteen years old was also the best age for women's singles to perform difficult moves. Once she reached fifteen or sixteen, she would focus on losing fat and gaining muscle while simultaneously working on smoothing her skin.
Yang Yiyan was being pulled by the bar, and with each jump she did her best to leap upwards, her hands tightly clasped in front of her chest.
"Take a break." Xia Yuezi lowered the boom and handed her the water from the baffle.
Each time you land a 3A, your legs have to withstand an impact force of five to eight times your own body weight. If you do too many repetitions in one go, it will cause irreparable strain on your leg muscles and joints.
Yang Yiyan took a few sips of water, her eyes somewhat vacant, as she reviewed the jump she had just performed in her mind.
She has already completed her 3A, but she doesn't fall entirely because the bar is holding her up from behind. If she were to jump on her own, the impact of landing would cause her to fall to the ground.
Xia Yuezi was aware of this as well. She quietly walked to Meng Xin's side and asked, "How's Simai's muscle gain going these past few days?"
"4T still can't fall behind, and in most cases it will still be 50 or 60 degrees short."
Feng Simai is a toe-point skater. The first quadruple jump she practiced was the relatively simpler 4T. But even with the 4T, the impact upon landing was eight to ten times her body weight, not to mention the more difficult quadruple jumps.
Therefore, his most important task before the next season is to strengthen his leg muscles and try to get rid of the 4T.
"Xiao Yan needs two more sets of strength training. If necessary, we should allocate some of the time that the two of them spend training on ice to land training."
The two children's current ice training mainly focuses on refining the two newly choreographed programs and getting a feel for their jumps.
Xia Yuezi looked down and flipped through her notebook, which contained a handwritten list of participants for the adult Grand Prix regional competitions.
This quota is different from the youth group. The adult group is by invitation only, and the quota is directly allocated to the contestants according to different conditions. Only the country that hosts a leg of the competition that year will receive three additional host quotas, which can be used to promote their own contestants.
The junior group spots are awarded based on the previous season's World Junior Championships, allocated according to the athletes' national rankings. These spots are directly assigned to each national skating federation and distributed before the start of the season.
my country has few outstanding men's singles players. Apart from Lin Ye and Feng Simai, there is an old player who is plagued by injuries and whose chances of even reaching the Winter Olympics are questionable. Therefore, the competition for spots in domestic tournaments is not fierce.
Thinking back to last season's World Championship qualifiers, the veteran athlete suffered a sudden accident, severing his left Achilles tendon with the ice skate, and ultimately had to substitute 16-year-old Lin Ye as a substitute.
The World Championships were held in Moscow, and it turned out that Russian ice skating was also very magical. In addition to the annual Russian fireworks show, even athletes from other countries could not escape it. Lin Ye was under pressure and performed a quadruple jump with double triples in his free skate, but his performance score was poor, and he ultimately finished in tenth place.
To prevent this from happening again, the higher-ups made two preparations: they approved Feng Simai and Lin Ye's application to move up to the senior group, allowing them to adapt to the senior competition in advance and also preparing for this year's World Championship roster.
In any case, the two starters and one substitute will be chosen from among these three.
Feng Simai performed exceptionally well at the World Junior Championships, earning him a spot in the China leg of the competition. In addition, his overall performance at the Youth Winter Olympics ranked him among the top 24 of the season, which earned him an invitation to the Canadian leg.
However, these two stations have also attracted many wolves and tigers.
Russia's top player, last year's world champion Darwell, chose the Canadian Open. In addition, France's top player Anthony and Canada's top player Wayne are also included.
According to the quota allocation, the top six World Championships will be selected in six events first, and the top three and bottom three cannot overlap.
Perhaps it's because it's the Olympic season, but there seem to be a lot of unexpected events. The third and fifth ranked athletes in the World Championships both chose to participate in the China leg of the competition, but one of them was involved in a car accident and the other suffered an injury. This doesn't even include athletes who chose other legs of the competition. The most discussed topic is the car accident caused by paparazzi chasing Aya Yumikawa.
This indirectly resulted in the absence of top senior skaters at this year's China leg. However, the Skating Association also invited many junior skaters who had just been promoted to the senior level, such as Kevin from the United States and Kim Do-woo from South Korea.
In addition to their own sites, Yoshino Fujiwara and Andre were both invited to the US site, where they will directly face off against America's number one player, Albert.
To put it bluntly, given the current level of difficulty these three children face, it's hard to say whether they'll even meet in the first half of the season.
Standing behind Xia Yuezi, Meng Xin saw her worried face and couldn't help but say, "Xia Xia, all your worries are useless. You should worry about the youth group next month."
Similar to the senior group, the junior group also saw the entry of a number of new players, the most outstanding of whom was Canadian women's singles player Vivian, who won the gold medal at the Canadian Championships.
It's just that this girl was born in an unlucky year, and she was directly blocked from the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Xia Yuezi raised her head, rubbing her temples wearily, and deeply understood the pain of being a coach.
Why are there so many things happening right before the season starts?
In late September, a pair of Asian women at an Italian airport attracted a lot of attention.
As usual, Xia Yuezi carried the drowsy Yang Yiyan on her back and entrusted the luggage to the accompanying staff.
There weren't many top skaters at the previous event, but Yang Yiyan managed to squeeze in a 3LZ+3LO in both her short program and free skate, securing a gold medal in the event with a slight lead.
But at this stop, she will meet Vivian and Polina. After a season of reflection, Polina's success rate with 3A has reached 60%, no longer relying solely on luck as before.
Yang Yiyan can only land on the ice; if it were part of the program's choreography, her legs would probably go numb from the shock and she wouldn't be able to do the subsequent jumps.
Xia Yuezi carried Yang Yiyan to the hotel and let her continue sleeping, thinking that this time, like before, she would be fine after a good night's sleep. However, when she woke her up the next day, Yang Yiyan vomited right there in the bathroom.
Xia Yuezi was quite frightened and went to the other end of the corridor to call the team doctor over.
After examining the patient, the team doctor helplessly spread his hands: "This is due to acclimatization issues. I can't prescribe any of the medicines I brought."
Xia Yuezi frowned. It was troublesome to be unaccustomed to the environment, but Yang Yiyan had never had this problem when she went out to compete before. She subconsciously categorized the girl as someone with good immunity. She didn't expect that something would happen now.
"Would it be better if I cooked her some millet porridge?"
The team doctor nodded: "A light diet is definitely beneficial, but I'm worried that she might experience diarrhea and abdominal pain later on."
Xia Yuezi pursed her lips, looked at the little girl who was still pale after falling asleep on the bed, ran to the supermarket in Chinatown to buy some millet, and borrowed the kitchen after explaining the situation to the hotel.
The hotel chef was very hospitable and provided some vegetables that athletes could eat for free, so she made a cold dish.
Actually, Xia Yuezi wasn't very good at taking care of people. It was only after returning from South Korea that she looked up recipes online to improve her cooking skills so that her children could eat better.
Yang Yiyan sat in the chair, slowly eating the congee and side dishes that the coach had cooked, her complexion still not good.
Xia Yuezi sat to the side, rapidly adjusting the arrangement of the two programs in her mind. If Yang Yiyan continued in this state until the start of the short program, the difficulty of her program would have to be reduced, and even the addition of 3LZ+3LO would have to be reconsidered.
But Yang Yiyan obviously didn't have this in mind; during the sixth rehearsal of the short program, even 3LZ almost fell.
The Russian delegation was staying on the floor below the Chinese delegation, and Polina had heard about Yang Yiyan's illness.
Not only during the sixth training session, but also during yesterday's music rehearsal, she noticed that Yang Yiyan was not in good condition, and her coach even stopped the training in advance.
At that time, Polina was worried that the player who came today might be a substitute player from China.
Yang Yiyan was the first to go on stage in the last group, and Xia Yuezi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the number.
Although the referee might lower the score for the first player to go on the court, given Yang Yiyan's current form, it would be more appropriate to end the match sooner.
Yang Yiyan appeared on stage wearing a blue and white striped dress, with her hair tied up with a blue hair tie. To make her look better, Xia Yuezi chose darker colors for her makeup than before.
Her short program this season is "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," a classic Chinese film.
The music in the short program is very grand and has a martial arts feel to it. In terms of program arrangement, it not only retains the rebelliousness and wildness of the original song, but also adds the forbearance and melancholy deep in the hearts of women.
However, given Yang Yiyan's current condition, she certainly cannot demonstrate such tension.
Xia Yuezi stood outside the barrier, watching the girl on the ice with concern. Compared to the previous stop, her movements seemed much more strenuous now.
The music grew increasingly passionate, with traditional Chinese instruments blending together to create a brand-new symphony. In this movement, Yang Yiyan's condition miraculously improved.
She took a deep breath, quickly tightened her body, and almost gritted her teeth to complete the 3lz+3lo. When she landed on the ice, her body swayed precariously, her thigh muscles bulged, but she managed to keep steady.
Polina stood aside, listening to the Chinese coach's almost out-of-control shouts, and sincerely applauded her, her eyes revealing admiration.
This young Chinese woman is using her willpower to fight tenaciously against this body.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
