Chapter 89 Retraining Coach, Will You Help Me?
Figure skating is highly unpredictable; even jumps considered "rock plates" can be missed during a competition.
Every time the forum predicts the podium lineup, even though every figure skating fan has their own opinion, they all end with the phrase "barring any surprises" as their safety net.
In other words, if something unexpected happens, the list of winners on the podium may have to be completely changed from beginning to end.
The men's singles final was a disaster from start to finish. Not a single skater's scoreboard was without a red light. Fans who watched the competition in the early hours of the morning were pinching their philtrum in disbelief. The later updated scoreboards were even more disconcerting, with each one covered in a bunch of fancy symbols.
The fans of several skaters were so heartbroken that they couldn't even get into a fight, which was somewhat similar to the atmosphere backstage after the competition.
When Xia Yuezi took Feng Simai to get a drug test, she ran into Fujiwara Yoshino in the corridor. He was sitting on the ground with his ankle brace, which he had just taken off, next to him. His feet were covered in bruises.
Like Yang Yiyan, Fujiwara Yoshino suffered a ligament strain before the finals, but his injury was not as severe as Yang Yiyan's. It was only a grade one strain, far from requiring surgery, and he could recover with rest.
As Japan's top skater, he also carries significant expectations. If, like China, two skaters reach the finals, he might be able to step down and rest. However, with only him competing, the Japan Skating Association will definitely not let him go.
If no one can step up for them at this year's All Japan Championships, they might not even be able to retire from the Four Continents Championships.
He looked up and greeted Xia Yuezi and the others, looking somewhat dejected.
Indeed, he suffered a major fall in the free skate due to injury, handing over the medal to someone else. Anyone would feel bad about that.
Feng Simai, who had just won the bronze medal, touched his nose, squatted down, and spoke to him in English: "Are you alright with your injury?"
Fujiwara Yoshino shook his head, propped himself up on the ground, and Feng Simai reached out to help him up.
"Fortunately, it's not as serious as the outside world is saying."
According to Feng Simai's own experience, patients often feel that their illness is not serious, especially athletes. They think that if the sky falls, they can hold it up, let alone when facing their opponents. Even close friends often keep things from them.
However, Feng Simai still kindly reminded you: "Playing with an injury may worsen your condition, so remember to get checked out when you get back."
Xia Yuezi stood to the side without saying anything, only watching Fujiwara Yoshino leave. She herself didn't have many friends during her active career, but she wouldn't stop her students from making friends with other players.
Thinking about it carefully, perhaps she has seen too many filthy things and carried too much pressure, so she takes medals and gains and losses too seriously, not even giving herself a chance to have a drink with others.
Looking at it from an outsider's perspective now, it's even more evident how precious the genuine friendship on the field is; she has no reason to be the bad guy.
However, once she maintained this mindset for a long time, it became difficult for her to change it when dealing with people of the same identity.
For example, at the post-match gatherings, besides advertisers, many coaches and athletes also approached her. After going around in circles, they all ended up contacting Yang Yiyan.
Whether they came to inquire about the situation or to offer their sincere wishes, Xia Yuezi always maintained a smile and simply said a few words. If anyone asked her when she would return to the competition, she would always dismiss them with "It's hard to say." After returning to China, she only asked a few people who were close to Yang Yiyan to help pass on the message.
After the finals, Yang Yiyan gradually reduced her body fat through land training and regained her center of gravity and axis. By the time of the Lunar New Year, she was able to start doing a full jump on the ice, but the training videos were not released.
Unaware of the inside story, figure skating fans thought that without Yang Yiyan in the summer group, she would have no chance of reaching the podium at the National Championships. Unexpectedly, most of the skaters who were good at triple jumps did not participate, leaving only Zhang Mengyi, Yan Rui, and another summer group skater, Li Shiyu.
Yan Rui changed her setup for the free skate at the last minute, seemingly as a test run for the World Junior Championships. However, she still couldn't hold her 3lo, and there was also a problem with uneven energy distribution at the end. In addition, the judges were strict with the newcomers, so she didn't make it to the podium. Zhang Mengyi and Li Shiyu won the gold and silver medals respectively.
However, she is only a youth team athlete, and her goal is simply to qualify for the World Youth Championships at the National Championships.
Logically, the National Championships are the settlement stage for the allocation of quotas in the second half of the season. But what's strange is that this competition only determined the four continental quotas and one World Championship quota for the women's singles event. However, the World Championships list will be announced about a month in advance. The International Skating Union is in a hurry, so the selected athletes are still reported based on the National Championships rankings.
After the Four Continents Championships, Xia Yuezi was called to a meeting by the Skating Association. They saw Yang Yiyan's recovery progress and, still harboring ulterior motives, wanted to have her compete against another skater before the World Championships, with the winner going to compete in the World Championships.
Xia Yuezi's forehead twitched, and she almost blurted out a curse, thinking to herself, "You guys really ask for too much."
Even if the difficulty level of the three female singles players who participated in the Four Continents Championships is not world-class, their consistency is at least up to par. Even if they don't bring back medals, at least two of them made it into the top twelve.
Sending these two there will ensure they qualify for the free skate at the World Championships, but it's uncertain whether there will be two more spots available for the World Championships next season.
Sending Yang Yiyan there would be a huge gamble.
Even though the World Championships are held later this year, there is still only a month and a half until the start of the competition.
Although Yang Yiyan has recovered some of her double jumps, no one can guarantee that she can regain her triple jumps in the remaining time, let alone triple jumps.
But the skating association had already made its decision, and this was just to inform her; they did not accept her objections.
For a while, Xia Yuezi's mood was written all over her face. The coaches in the group didn't dare to talk to her much, let alone the students. They were even speculating in private about who had offended Coach Xia this time.
Yang Yiyan's body fat percentage has gradually returned to the season level. At this moment, she jumped a 2lo on the ice. With her talent points, the 1lo jump is the first one she has recovered among all jumps.
Xia Yuezi knew she couldn't avoid it, so she stood behind the barrier and called the person back, telling her about the Skating Association's decision.
She considered many options, such as going to the Skating Association to argue again, or getting a doctor's certificate to dissuade the Skating Association from this idea, and even thought of finding an excuse to slow down the pace of retraining so that she could not meet the Skating Association's expectations for the time being, but she never thought of breaking the deadlock from the athlete herself.
Because Xia Yuezi couldn't persuade her otherwise, and she was well aware of Yang Yiyan's desire to return to the competition, the opportunity was right in front of her, and she would never give it up voluntarily.
No athlete would willingly give up an opportunity that comes their way.
"Coach, you'll help me, right?"
Yang Yiyan stood opposite, tilting her head slightly, her eyes smiling, her words carrying a hint of playfulness, showing no fear of the future.
Xia Yuezi's thoughts were shattered by those words, and her words of advice were stuck in her throat. She looked at the girl with hopeful eyes, let out a long breath, and had an expression that said, "I knew it would be like this."
She then added seriously, "I won't increase your training volume just because of the tight schedule, but don't even think about sneaking in extra training. I will ask the team doctor to assess your physical condition every day, and stop if there are any signs of overexertion."
Seeing the person in front of her dart around with their eyes, Xia Yuezi emphasized her words and asked, "Can you do it?"
Yang Yiyan's little thoughts vanished instantly, and she nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.
The process was far more difficult than expected. Fortunately, Yang Yiyan was physically fit and had been pushed by her coach to do extra training in physical fitness and endurance before her injury. She managed to get to triple jump by early March.
"Bang--"
The 3lo fell to the ground with a loud bang.
Yang Yiyan's 3Lo jump is very light and graceful. Her 3Lo+3Lo jump in the youth group is a piece that has been repeatedly played. With her flowing skirt, she looks like a blooming flower. It has even been regarded as the textbook for the ISU Lo jump.
No one expected that such a jump would produce a bomb-like sound on land.
The center of gravity of the jump landing was still a bit back. Xia Yuezi looked at the records in her notebook. Her weight that morning was still 48 kilograms and her body fat was around 23%, which was still a distance from before the injury.
Do your knees and ankles hurt?
Yang Yiyan nodded: "It's been a long time since I did the three-week course, and my calves are a little numb from the vibration."
Xia Yuezi then asked, "Do you feel heavy?"
Yang Yiyan tilted her head back and thought for a while: "When I was picking up a week or two, I just felt that I hadn't trained for a long time and my body was unfamiliar with the ice rink. But now that I've reduced my body fat, my body still doesn't obey me."
After confirming that Yang Yiyan's body was fit for triple jump training, Xia Yuezi had her try all five types of jumps on land. She was able to land on only the triple jumps 3S and 3Lo, but fell on all the other jumps.
Subsequent jump training was also ineffective. Apart from the success rate of 3S and 3lo, which was still around 60-70%, the success rate of other jumps was less than 50%, with 3lz being the most difficult to execute, with a success rate of less than 20%.
The increase in weight slowed down Yang Yiyan's rotation speed, which was the main reason why she felt it was difficult. However, Xia Yuezi believed that the success rate of the more demanding blade jump was not low, which proved that her control over her body had not decreased too much. At most, her jumping axis was not good enough.
Therefore, Yang Yiyan felt that her body was not obeying her commands, which was largely due to her weight. There was a discrepancy between her actual physical condition and her muscle memory, which ultimately led her to this misconception.
Xia Yuezi pondered for a moment and said, "Here's what we'll do: add a few sets of planks and weighted push-ups for you. If your body can handle it, you can try resistance bands. These are things you can train at home."
Triple jumps already put a lot of pressure on the knees, and with regular running, there's not much else that can be added to physical training, so Xia Yuezi can only target other parts of her body.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com