The new coach of Mao Asada became Nobuo Sato

[Akira Andrea]

Thank you, yhhhr for posting the journal.
It is interesting. My memory is quite vague, but didn't Machiko Yamada say something like she wants to grow a nice person in a skater, rather than a strong competitor? Because, she said, if a skater grows into a nice person, happiness will visit her wherever she goes even after she has retired from figure skating, or was it something like she often tells to her skaters, " Become a nice person first before becoming a strong skater, and your life, both on and off the ice, will be blessed." ?

I feel that your memory may not fit right in words and phrases of this article but is very near by the outline of Machiko Yamada's speakings.

[sweetsparky]

I´m late to the party but: Wheee! great news!

[galaxy]

I feel that your memory may not fit right in words and phrases of this article but is very near by the outline of Machiko Yamada's speakings.

Hi, Akira.

The memory of mine is from a newpaper article about Machiko Yamada that was written pretty recently.
I remember it because it was a kind of surprise to me that she wants to grow a nice person in a skater first, rather than a strong competitor. As a coach who brought up Midori Ito, Yukari Nakano, Mao Asada and Kanako Murakami, I'd thought she must have been a very strict coach who focused only on bringing up strong skaters.

A part of the article really impressed me that she often says to her students something like, "Become a nice person, and you can be happy off the ice as well and your life will be nice too."