how cute satoko was trying to be seen !! its great to see her trying to open up more, she is top of cheerleaders at Team Japan after today's performance
Captain Mura comments after the first day of competition:
„Of course each individual team member had some minor mistakes, but we all tried our best and we will continue our effort for tomorrow”, team captain Mura told the press. “We only had two weeks since the World Championships in Shanghai, and I can say for myself that I suffered an injury and other teammates are not in top condition, but we prepared in full spirit for this event”, he added.
Team Japan kiss and cry were awesome yesterday! I am also very impressed with the energy of Satoko; maybe Kanako's infectious energy is rubbing off on her a little? Time for the boys and dance team to give it a go today!
At this point I'm still surprised Japan has not been able to "get their act together" on the pairs and dance front. I know the logic. Not many rinks and no tradition. But still. Singles is so ridiculously competitive in Japan.
With so many great skaters in Japan, and the push to have synchro in the Olympics, you would think Japan would at least have a top ten synchro team, even if they have to import a Finnish coach to help make it happen.
In the USA skaters often do pairs/dance along side singles to get more practice/experiences/see what fits. Is that not an option for them? You would think if it was you would find a few that are good and click.
Even with synchro, I would almost think it would be a good fit for limited ice space. You can get way more kids involved on less ice.
Is there something culturally perhaps that makes it strange? Maybe pairing up opposite sex partners of kids of certain age differences are not deemed common or acceptable or comfortable. Heck even just mixing ages as they guys are usually older in skating, is that age blending maybe not done? I keep wondering if maybe if they don't get started as kids, it might be part of it. If they wait till older, well that might be part of the problem.
It's interesting to hear that it the possibility of a culturally issue. Chinese skaters are like on the opposite side of the spectrum with great pairs teams, but at the same time I think culturally they are more similar to each other than to other Western teams? It could be that they started being thrown together when they are really young, so there is no problem with the opposite sex/blending in issue.
If there is more successful pairs and ice dance team, would the Japanese media be more willing to include them in coverage?