Marin Honda moves to Rafael Arutunian

[hippomoomin]

While I am happy for Marin's move, I also feel it is a little bit of "desperate" (maybe a little too strong). Hamada is not a bad coach in producing results. It is not like Marin has reached her peak under Hamada, and she needs some extra polish to reach the next level with a foreign coach. Her problem is her jumps are getting much worse recently, probably a combination of her growth,lack of motivation and lack of coach's attention. The fact that Mai has very good jumps shows Hamada can teach good jumps. I don't think Rafael can give her much emotional support. The advantages will be 1) away from Japanese media; 2) possibly better jumping techniques. So let's see how it goes next season.

 

[blackey]

So many people mentioned "away from media attention". I think it seems to be a common misunderstanding that Japan has crazy media follow their athletes everywhere. Their skaters might getting biggest media attention on tv and newspaper, but Japan is one of those country that media giving enough respect to their celebrity. They're just fine in Japan, there is no paparazzi or whatever interfere their life...

 

[Sportfan]

So many people mentioned "away from media attention". I think it seems to be a common misunderstanding that Japan has crazy media follow their athletes everywhere. Their skaters might getting biggest media attention on tv and newspaper, but Japan is one of those country that media giving enough respect to their celebrity. They're just fine in Japan, there is no paparazzi or whatever interfere their life...

Um right... they once followed and filmed Yuzuru in the locker room, there are still videos and photos with his naked back going around. They are evem hiring lip readers so they can discuss in their tv shows about what is someone saying. Oh, and i just love their made up story some years back, even with photos, about Yuzuru and a girl that was rumoured to be his GF. I guess they never apologized to that girl and her family. ect.ect.
So much about "respecting their privacy"

 

[Sportfan]

While I am happy for Marin's move, I also feel it is a little bit of "desperate" (maybe a little too strong). Hamada is not a bad coach in producing results. It is not like Marin has reached her peak under Hamada, and she needs some extra polish to reach the next level with a foreign coach. Her problem is her jumps are getting much worse recently, probably a combination of her growth,lack of motivation and lack of coach's attention. The fact that Mai has very good jumps shows Hamada can teach good jumps. I don't think Rafael can give her much emotional support. The advantages will be 1) away from Japanese media; 2) possibly better jumping techniques. So let's see how it goes next season.

Every coaching change is a "desperate" move. There's a reason why skaters leave their coaches. I'm sure Marin realized that she can't progress when things stay as they are. She needs a good jump coach

 

[Barb]

So many people mentioned "away from media attention". I think it seems to be a common misunderstanding that Japan has crazy media follow their athletes everywhere. Their skaters might getting biggest media attention on tv and newspaper, but Japan is one of those country that media giving enough respect to their celebrity. They're just fine in Japan, there is no paparazzi or whatever interfere their life...

Really? I remember some ¨paparazzi¨ photos of Mao apparently with Daisuke (on a date ) and some other guys. And she used to wear hats and face masks to go out to the streets.

 

[blackey]

Um right... they once followed and filmed Yuzuru in the locker room, there are still videos and photos with his naked back going around. They are evem hiring lip readers so they can discuss in their tv shows about what is someone saying. Oh, and i just love their made up story some years back, even with photos, about Yuzuru and a girl that was rumoured to be his GF. I guess they never apologized to that girl and her family. ect.ect.
So much about "respecting their privacy"

none of what you said is going to changed by training away from Japan, that's my point.

 

[combinationspin]

Really? I remember some ¨paparazzi¨ photos of Mao apparently with Daisuke (on a date ) and some other guys. And she used to wear hats and face masks to go out to the streets.

Hm, I haven’t heard about that. I always thought it was amiable how the Japanese media didn’t discuss Mao’s or Dai’s love life despite them being big stars. When Akkiko and Takahito K. got married, the public got informed only a week before the date and no pictures of their partners were published. Oda has huge media presence but the faces of his wife and children are unknown to the public as far as I know. So I tend to agree with blackey.

 

[AshWagsFan]

Marin talked about coaching change to the press today. She said she was training in US for short time in March and would move there entirely in April (now she is in Japan for the ice shows). "My coach is Rafael and the practice is hard. There are many things I can not do, so I've been trying to do my best every day to increase the things that I am able to do." She also says she has been training with Ashley and Nathan in the same rink at the same time so she feels she can absorb many things from them, and she wants to work on her jumps in order to keep up with the top ladies.

https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2018/03/31/0011119885.shtml

Does this mean Ashley will continue competing and training alongside Marin as well?

 

[yude]

Does this mean Ashley will continue competing and training alongside Marin as well?

There isn't new information about Ashley's future plan in this article, hope we'll find out soon

 

[frida80]

Does this mean Ashley will continue competing and training alongside Marin as well?

I think I’m a previous interview, Ashley said she was assisting Raf with coaching.

I’m so nervous for her. Moving to a new country full time is going to be so stressful for her! I hope everyone will support her as much as possible.

Did I hear that her brother was enrolled at Kansai University? Did he graduate? That school is super prestigious and hard to get into. He shouldn’t have any problem getting into a graduate program nearby.

 

[yude]

Marin also changed the high school to another (doesn't say which school).

https://twitter.com/boomsports/status/980265719341375489

I've heard that Rika Kihira will attend "N high school" where the students take online classes (https://www.nikkansports.com/sports...m_medium=social&utm_campaign=nikkansports_ogp), maybe Marin goes there, too? Yuzuru also has been learning at e-school of Waseda, so studying online might be convenient for the skaters train abroad.

 

[Hanmgse]

Brave move! I wish her the best, she has a lot of potential.

 

[Crossover]

Great news! Wishing her all the best in the new environment.

 

[oatmella]

wow, this thread has really diverged from the original topic ...

 

[rnois13]

Marin also changed the high school to another (doesn't say which school).

https://twitter.com/boomsports/status/980265719341375489

I've heard that Rika Kihira will attend "N high school" where the students take online classes (https://www.nikkansports.com/sports...m_medium=social&utm_campaign=nikkansports_ogp), maybe Marin goes there, too? Yuzuru also has been learning at e-school of Waseda, so studying online might be convenient for the skaters train abroad.

Thank you for the translations.

 

[dansams]

Maybe this is why she went to Rafa.
https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/980815843444457473

 

[MRani]

Maybe this is why she went to Rafa.
https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/980815843444457473

I remember at some point Marin said that out of all of her potential rivals, her youngest sister Sara frightens her most lol. And Sara says she considers Marin her role model and rival who she wants to surpass someday. It’s a very cute and sweet sibling rivalry.

 

[combinationspin]

Maybe this is why she went to Rafa.
https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/980815843444457473

The pink dress reminds me of Marin’s For Elise LP when she was a 12-year-old jumping prodigy https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NmX3fWbwPQM
But I’m not sure letting Sara train with Mie Hamada is a good idea if you look at how Marin’s jumps turned out. Now Marin has to go to Rafael to learn proper technique after all.

 

[Sai Bon]

The pink dress reminds me of Marin’s For Elise LP when she was a 12-year-old jumping prodigy https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NmX3fWbwPQM
But I’m not sure letting Sara train with Mie Hamada is a good idea if you look at how Marin’s jumps turned out. Now Marin has to go to Rafael to learn proper technique after all.

People seem to forget that Mie Hamada has a jump coach on her team (Yamato Tamura). And one of her students has the 3A.
Marin's jumps may have suffered from a growth spurt (she is about as tall as Mao now) and her alleged tendency to rely on her natural ability rather than practice.
I think Marin will do well if she really knuckles down and trains hard with Raf. But she's only 16, and no doubt it will be tough for her to be away from her friends and family. Time will tell.

 

[combinationspin]

People seem to forget that Mie Hamada has a jump coach on her team (Yamato Tamura). And one of her students has the 3A.
Marin's jumps may have suffered from a growth spurt (she is about as tall as Mao now) and her alleged tendency to rely on her natural ability rather than practice.
I think Marin will do well if she really knuckles down and trains hard with Raf. But she's only 16, and no doubt it will be tough for her to be away from her friends and family. Time will tell.

I think Rika is very lucky that she learned her jumps from another coach. Mie does a great job at developing and polishing the artistry of her students, though. I don’t know what Yamato can do but as far as I see all girls who learned jumping from Mie have very low jumps that rely on prerotation and are borderline UR after puberty. These kind of jumps don’t get great goe so everything else needs to be perfect. I’m really crossing my fingers that teaming up with Rafael works out great for Marin but it won’t be a piece of cake: IMO Marin’s technique on the 2A, 3F and 3Z needs major work.
By the way Sara’s pink dress might even be the same as Marin’s, she must really look up to her older sister https://mobile.twitter.com/marin_channel/status/980793955330609152/photo/1