Spun Silver
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Oh, I was looking for this thread and couldn't find it. I wanted to post this comment by Tomoki Hiwatashi, the very talented young junior skater who's been named to the US team for Jr Worlds. He had a bad SP at Nats and then came back with a great long. He was inspired by Mao:
That bungee jump looks terrifying! Go Mao!! I did one once (nowhere near that high but still pretty tall) when I was on an overnight "wilderness" retreat with kids from Big Brothers Big Sisters. I had to set an example for the little ones so I just closed my eyes and jumped as fast as I could without looking down so I wouldn't have time to get scared. (It was still scary but not for too long.) I will never forget the little girl who stood up there for about 15 minutes with everyone calling to her, Come on! You can do it!... then climbed down without jumping. Poor thing. Mao reminded me of her a little bit.
"Before the short program, I really felt ready. I went on the ice and I thought I could do everything,” Hiwatashi wrote. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned and I messed up all my jumps and skated terrible which led me to getting 15th. I was very disappointed with myself but I knew I had to get myself to do better for the long.
“Before the long program, I watched Mao Asada’s long program. In Sochi, she also did a terrible short and did the best long program in the world,” Hiwatashi continued. “By watching her video, I gained my confidence and told myself that I should try to attack everything in the long without being scared of mistakes. I was disappointed about my quad toe getting an under-rotation and popping the triple axel but overall I think I did good."
That bungee jump looks terrifying! Go Mao!! I did one once (nowhere near that high but still pretty tall) when I was on an overnight "wilderness" retreat with kids from Big Brothers Big Sisters. I had to set an example for the little ones so I just closed my eyes and jumped as fast as I could without looking down so I wouldn't have time to get scared. (It was still scary but not for too long.) I will never forget the little girl who stood up there for about 15 minutes with everyone calling to her, Come on! You can do it!... then climbed down without jumping. Poor thing. Mao reminded me of her a little bit.