いやー、長い間の冬眠から覚めた熊のようです。
全米選手権ノービス男子で優勝することができました。それを記念して、2年ぶりに、期間限定公開します。
御陰様で、皆様からの暖かい声援を受け、それを糧に、コーチ、親子で、頑張って参りました。
その成果として、ジュビナイル、インターミディエイト、ノービスと、3年連続、全米優勝ができ、
素直にその結果を喜んでおります。
ショートの日に、13歳の誕生日を迎えました。
会場で、選手の親御さんから、「日記を楽しみに見てました。」と数人の日本人の方から声を掛けてもらいました。
又、日本から観戦に来られた、日本人ツアーの方にも声をかけてもらい、今回は、少し成長した知樹を見てもらおうと思いました。
因みに、日本では、「J SPORTS 4チャンネル」 という有料放送が、2月4日月曜日午後6時から8時に、エキシビッションを放映するようです。
米国では、NBC が、2月2日土曜日正午から午後2時（中部時間）に放映します。
知樹もオープニング、ショートプログラム（エキシビッション用を準備していなかった）、エンディングで滑っています。
ショートプログラム
フリープログラム
表彰式
シブタニ兄妹と記念撮影
Tomoki Hiwatashi, 10, took first place
in the juvenile boys division of
the Junior National Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah
on Dec. 18, 2010
今年は、最後に「全米チャンピオン」という花を飾ることが出来、最高の締めくくりが出来ました。これまで、知樹のスケート日記を、パパが知樹になりすまして、つづって来ました。今回のジュビナイル・クラスでの全米優勝を最後に、この日記は終わりに致します。
これから、知樹は、インターミディエイト、ノービス、ジュニア、シニアと挑戦していきます。「子供のお遊び」は、ここまで。これから、本当のフィギュア・スケートを極めていく中で、この日記を続けていくことに、少なからず、不都合なことが出てきます。
将来の思い出、日本の親族への連絡にと始めた、この日記ですが、知樹以外の人の肖像権やプライバシーにも関わってくる問題があります。特に、フィギュア大会の動画や写真で、知樹一人ではすまない状況も出てきています。
子供の成長記録という範疇を超えて、より大きな世界に向かいだした、知樹の成長を、今後も応援してください。
ブログ開設から、1576 日目です。4年と116日の長きに渡り、よく続けてきたなと感慨深いものが有ります。いつかは止めるのだとは思っていましたが、今回の機会は、この日記の最終回を飾り、ハッピーエンドで終わる、絶好の機会だと思います。ばくちで言うと、「勝ち逃げ」です。
これからは、また、違った場所、媒体で会いましょう。
日本のお婆ちゃん、お姉ちゃん、お友達の皆さん。元気でね！！
おいらーはドラマー♪やくざなドラマー♪（石原裕次郎調で）
おいらが、叩けば嵐を呼ぶぜー♪♪
ボクは、現地校で5年生から、パーカッションをやっています。音大ピアノ科卒のお姉ちゃんが使っていたピアノが家に有ります。２番目のお姉ちゃんが使っていた、クラリネットも家に有ります。ギターにも目もくれません。ボクは、ドラマーです。
週に一回、プライベート・レッスンも受けています。インストラクターのクリスによると、ボクは覚えが早く、見込みが有るそうです。「すぐにドラム・セットを買った方がいい。」と言われました。ママも、「見込みが有る。」という言葉にすぐに食いつきます。パパだけが、「それ、店からドラム・セットを買わせる、セールス・トークと違うんか？」と疑心暗鬼です。
ママ：「アメリカでは、勉強も、スポーツもできて、音楽もできな、出世せえへんらしいわ。」
パパ：「一番最初の勉強がでけへんねんから、後は関係ないやん！」
それでも、ボクの誕生日にドラム・セットを買うことになりました。
おいらの財布は、木枯らしが吹くぜー♪（パパが寂しく唄う）
購入したドラムセット
「どこに置くねん！！」と怒りにも似た、嘆きがでます。「知樹のドラマー日記」でも始めようかな～
昨日のクリスマスイブは、夜の9時に急いでベッドに入りました。今朝は、4時20分に起きて、サンタのプレゼントを取りに下の階に行きました。
この日のために、ラスベガスの日程を早めて帰宅したんです。パパは、クリスマスあけまでゆっくりしたかったそうですが、ボクは、サンタが家にしかきてくれないと思ったので、絶対、帰りたいとゴネました。やっぱり、ボクが正しかった。
今年のプレゼントは、「プロ・アクション・リプレイ」です。
18日土曜日にジュニア・ナショナルが終わって、次の日の朝に、ラスベガスに移動しました。3泊4日の旅でした。21日にバスの日帰りツアーでグランド・キャニオンに行きました。あいにくの雨でしたが、到着後の一時間は、すばらしい景色を楽しめました。帰り道にテレビでも紹介された、ルート６６の土産物屋に立ち寄りました。
もうすぐ、クリスマス
トレビの泉？の前で
New York New York の前で
ブルックリン・ブリッジの前で
ルクソール・ホテルの前で
ルクソール・ホテルのタイタニック資料館
Rick Thomas のマジックショー
グランド・キャニオン国立公園の入り口の前で
ルート６６の土産物屋の前で
Local Figure Skaters Land in top 10 for National Competition
Tomoki Hiwatashi, 10, placed first overall, and Eric Stinehart, 12, took 8th place.
Local figure skaters Tomoki Hiwatashi, 10, and Eric Stinehart, 12, placed in the top 10 for the U.S. Junior Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah last week.
Hiwatashi trumped the competition with a 56.22 standing, winning the finals with almost a six-point gap between first and second place. Meanwhile Stinehart earned 46.64 points, missing 7th place by nearly one-fifth of a point.
"Eric ended up 8th, but skated his best program ever ... even better than the qualifying rounds." Cydèle Fadeyev, one of the boys' coaches, told Patch in an email interview, "We are very happy that they performed so well and that our two boys ended up in the top 10 at this national championship."
Stinehart and Hiwatashi practice at the Wilmette Park District's Centennial Ice Rink, under Cydèle and her husband Alexander Fadeyev, who is the 1985 men's world champion.
Stay tuned to Patch for comment from the boys and more on the event.
http://wilmette.patch.com/articles/local-figure-skaters-land-in-top-10-for-national-competition
何とか優勝することができました。苦節3年で、やっと、武士の本懐を遂げることができました。
予選の得点が 57.98 だったので、決勝では 60.00 越えを目指したんですが、予選のときに取りこぼした、スピンのレベル4を確実にするため、少し回転数が多すぎたり、ステップも慎重になりすぎて、逆に、全体的にスピードが遅くなり、音楽と合わない演技になりました。このため、技術構成点は、0.40 上がったんですが、演技構成点が予選のときより 2.16 低くなり、結果的に、合計点が、1.76 下がってしまいました。これは、反省点です。もっと、技術点を確実に取り、スピードとキレの有る演技をしたかった。
後で、パパから聞いた話ですが、表彰式でボクが表彰台に上がったときに、ママが目に涙を一杯にしてうるうるしていたそうです。毎日、毎日、朝1時間、午後2時間、オン・アイス練習をしてきました。他にオフ・アイス、バレエの練習も有ります。サーシャのいるリンクは、車で50分かかるので、放課後、車の中で食べる軽食を用意してもらったり、夜寝る前に、足をマッサージしてもらったり、母子二人三脚でやってきました。ボクは、ママと一緒に、表彰台に上ったと思っています。
首からいつも下げていたタッグ
演技の動画です。
表彰式の動画です。
表彰式の後に、恒例のパーティーが有りました。
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Tomoki Hiwatashi won gold in juvenile boys at Junior Championships. |
Hiwatashi, whose pre-skate ritual includes dancing to preceding competitor's music to calm his nerves, was credited with 56.22 points, about 1.5 less than he scored in Thursday's qualifying competition. His performance included double Axel-double toe to start the "Whammer Jammer" free skate before adding a double Lutz-double loop and Level 4 flying combination spin.
"I could have done better," Hiwatashi said. "But I was happy that I hit all of my jumps."
Skating for the DuPage Figure Skating Club under coach Alexandre Fadeev, Hiwatashi has competed at the juvenile level for three seasons (he placed sixth at this event last year) and hopes to now move to intermediate.
予選ラウンドB組を一位で通過し、土曜日の決勝戦に進出を決めました。得点 57.98 は、両組を通して最高得点です。
演技の動画です。
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Tomoki Hiwatashi notched the highest score of the day, coming in at an impressive 57.98 points in juvenile boys group B Stinehart, Hiwatashi win juvenile boys qualifying(12/17/2010) - The top 20 juvenile boys and girls athletes qualified Thursday for the championship round after performing their free skates. Two qualifying groups from both disciplines competed, with the top 10 from each group moving on. The championship round is set for Saturday
Juvenile Boys Qualifying Round Group B |
When Eric Stinehart was four years old, he and his brother attended a
birthday party held at a local rink. When he saw the ice, the Wilmette seventh-grader said this week, he decided he really wanted to skate.
Eight years later, skating has become second nature to him.
Tomoki Hiwatashi of Hoffman Estates is just 10, but he has already spent five years of his life on the ice, ever since his mother treated him to one lesson and he decided it was fun.
Eric and Tomoki are now friendly competitors, learning their art and honing their skills at the Centennial Ice Rink complex in Wilmette under the expert tutelage of coach Alexandre "Sasha" Fadeev and his wife, trainer and choreographer Cydele Fadeeva.
Both boys will be skating next week at the Junior National Championships, which begin Dec. 13 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and both head
into competition with national rankings.
Eric, who represents the Skokie Valley Skating Club, is ranked fifth among the nation's juniors, and Tomoki, representing the DuPage Figure Skating Club, is ranked first.
When they took a quick break from training Tuesday to talk about their Utah trip, the two betrayed no nerves. That equanimity may come from familiarity, since this will be Tomoki's third trip to the nationals and Eric's second. Last year, Tomoki placed 6th, and Eric 14th,out of 50 competitors. They're both aiming even higher this year.
"I feel pretty good" Eric said. "I'm looking forward to it. I think one of my strengths is my consistency. Once I've mastered a move, I'm not going to mess it up, I'm going to get the move right on a regular basis, and that's good to know and build on."
He said he is excited about his increasing competence with, and affection for, the double axel jump. His rotation and spin skills are also exemplary - he can rotate more than three times a second in the sit spin, and has been able do 60 full-sit spin rotations without stopping.
Tomoki said he really enjoys the double axel, effected off a forward-moving skate rather than, as in other jumps, off a backward-moving blade.
"I think jumping is fun, and I love doing them," he said.
That's not an exaggeration; he can do double axel combinations and hopes one day to do a quadruple axel in competition.
Before making the Utah contest, Eric and Tomoki competed in October in the Upper Great Lakes Regional Free Skate Championships, where Tomoki placed first, and Eric second.
Neither boy minds the work or the aches and pains inherent in becoming good skaters. Both train almost daily, usually about three hours a day, with Fadeev and Fadeeva.
The couple -- Fadeev was a seven-time Soviet figure skating champion, two-time Olympian, the 1980 World Junior Men's champion and the 1985 World Men's champion, while Fadeeva won six Gold Test medals by the age of 16 and spent 12 years as a professional ice show skater, producer and director -- have been working with Eric and Tomoki for about a year.
"It's one thing to get one kid with so much talent," Fadeeva said Tuesday, as she watched the boys prepare to go over their programs. "But to have two kids, two boys with such talent and great personalities, in the same category, skating for you, to be able to work with them, and to see them compete with each other and help each other? It's like a little miracle."
Eric, whose interests also include playing violin and piano, splits his practice time into early-morning hours, before he heads to Wilmette Junior High School, and after-school stints. Tomoki and his parents willingly make a two hour commute, one hour each way, from home to practice at Centennial.
"I used to think it was hard (to have so much on his schedule)," Eric said. Now I think it's good that I have so many activities. And when I really need to relax, I can listen to music or watch TV."
"One of the things that makes it easy is this rink," he added. "Everyone here is friendly, everyone is like family, and that's great."
Then it was back to work for both boys as they perfected their programs, and looked ahead to Salt Lake City.
Two nationally ranked junior figure skaters train in Wilmette
Tuesday at 6:00 a.m
Eric Stinehart of Wilmette, left, and Tomoki Hiwatashi of Hoffman Estates
will compete this week at the Junior Figure Skating Championships in Salt Lake City.
Both are ranked in the top five nationally and train in Wilmette.
(John P. Huston, Tribune reporter)
Perhaps every child on skates dreams of competing in the Olympics, but two boys who train in Wilmette have legitimate reasons to believe those dreams could someday be reality.
Tomoki Hiwatashi, left, demonstrates how to draw a Pokemon character
to his figure skating training partner Eric Stinehart.
(John P. Huston, Tribune reporter)
Tomoki Hiwatashi, 10, is the top-ranked junior boys’ figure skater in the country. He trains alongside Eric Stinehart, 12, who is ranked fifth in the same category.
The two, who spend the majority of their non-school hours on the ice at the Centennial Ice Rinks in Wilmette, are headed to Salt Lake City to compete in the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships, which begin Dec. 16.
To qualify for the Junior National Championships, Hiwatashi placed first in the Upper Great Lakes Regional Free Skate Championships in October. Stinehart placed second.
“I consider it lucky to even get one skater that is talented,” said Cydele Fadeeva, one of the two boys’ coaches. “And here there are two of them – and they compete at the same level.
“It’s quite a little miracle to get two. And boys, no less!”
Hiwatashi and Stinehart share coaches — Fadeeva and her husband, the 1985 World Champion Alexandre “Sasha” Fadeev. But the similarities end there.
Hiwatashi, of Hoffman Estates, stands 4 feet 2 inches off the ground without his skates on and weighs 66 pounds. Stinehart, of Wilmette, towers over his training partner, at 5 feet 2 inches and 100 pounds.
“They both have different personalities on ice,” Fadeeva said. “Tomoki’s younger. He’s just a burst of energy. He’s like fireworks. And Eric is very consistent, very smooth. Almost an elegant, classy thing. A little more mature.”
Off the ice, their different personalities are obvious, too. The two horse around like brothers and sometimes argue. But they don’t root against each other, even though they’re in direct competition on the ice.
“Not at all, actually. We’re friends. May the best man win, as they say,” Stinehart said.
Hiwatashi agreed.
“If it was Eric, I would cheer him a lot, but if it was other kids I’d be like, ‘Fall, fall, fall,’” he said, dropping into a hushed voice at the end.
“I can’t believe you just said that,” Fadeeva said. She’s been trying to teach the two about off-ice etiquette. And, in this case, the power of karma.
Fadeeva, who grew up skating in Canada before joining the Ice Capades after her competitive career was over, and her husband don’t train just anyone.
“It’s quite amazing because Sasha and I let the kids come to us,” Fadeeva said. “We only want kids who know our histories and want to work with us.”
Someday competing in the Olympics is a realistic goal for both the boys, she said.
“There’s nothing stopping them,” Fadeeva said. “They’ve got a great environment to train in. They’re talented. And Sasha’s been in basically every competition you can name.”
Still, there’s a lot of time between now and then. Both boys agree they are at least eight years away, if not 12, from being capable to compete with the world’s best.
“Realistically? It would be when I’m 22,” the 10-year-old Hiwatashi said. “I mean, when I’m 18 I could go, but I don’t know if I could win.”
Stinehart figures he’ll have two chances at the Olympics: when he’s 20 and 24. Between now and then he’s got a simple goal: “Improve everything,” he said, listing jumps, choreography, footwork and other key components.
Neither is nervous about the upcoming World Championships in Salt Lake City. Both have competed in the competition before – Stinehart twice and Hiwatashi three times.
Both are still attending school, but Fadeeva said in a few years, in order to be competitive, they’ll have to get their educations from tutors in order to put more time into training on the ice.
These days, they both skate 2-3 hours per day, six days a week. Sometimes they get an hour in on Sunday, too. Most of those sessions are together, though Stinehart prefers not to skate in the mornings before school.
Hiwatashi sets his alarm for 5:10 a.m. every morning so he’s at the rink on time. It takes him an hour from Hoffman Estates to Wilmette, Fadeeva said.
Training in tandem is good for the competitive spirit, they said. Besides being friends, they push each other.
“It does make me try harder because if he pulls something off, I’ll try to pull it off, too. Or something harder,” Stinehart said.
Outside of school and training, both are fairly normal pre-teens.
“We’re not really supposed to eat sweets, but sometimes we do anyway,” Stinehart admitted.
“I eat Airheads at least every day,” Hiwatashi said, referring to his favorite taffy-like candy.
That raised the ire of his coach, Fadeeva.
“That’s only going to last so long,” she said, shooting him another disapproving look.
Stinehart also finds time to take violin, piano and Chinese lessons. Hiwatashi takes Japanese lessons and just started playing the drums.
Neither have posters of figure skaters in their bedrooms.
“Posters – I don’t think it’s necessary because I want to be the best,” Eric said.
Instead, these two scour YouTube for videos of other figure skating greats to look at footwork, spins, and jumps.
Neither is interested in hockey, and neither contemplated speed skating.
“Speed skating you just go around in circles,” Stinehart said.
“Yeah, it’s boring,” Hiwatashi added.
Off the ice, the two are not interested in playing sports, because most of them are team-oriented, they said.
“If you win the Olympics, it’d be kind of fun to have all the glory for yourself,” Stinehart said.
That’s his top goal, he said.
Hiwatashi said an Olympic gold medal is his second priority.
“My first is (to pull off) the best jump ever – a quadruple axel,” he said. “No one’s landed it.”
He figures he’ll need about another 10 years of training to do it successfully.
“And if someone does it before then, I want to do whatever’s next,” he said.
ウィルメットの地元新聞社に取材を受けた記事が載りました。
THE WILMETTE BEACON 12/08/2010
ボクの予選グループがB組と決まり、予選と決勝戦の日時が発表されました。
UGL 地区大会の1位、3位、5位、7位がB組になり、2位、4位、6位がA組になりました。予選は、A組、B組の実力差が均等になるよう、4地区大会の奇数順位がA組に、偶数順位がB組になり、他4地区大会の結果が、その逆に振り分けられます。（地区大会は9箇所で行われますが、今年は、ある地区大会でジュビナイル男子の参加者がいなかった。）
14日火曜日正午にシカゴを出発して、午後2時半にパパとソルト・レイク空港で合流します。15日水曜日は、プラクティス・アイス時間に軽い練習をして、翌日の予選に望みます。
12/16/2010 THU
5:45 P.M. Juvenile Boys B - Warm UP (West Rink)
7:35 P.M. Juvenile Boys B - Qualifying Round (East Rink)
12/18/2010 SAT
7:45 - 8:25 A.M. Juvenile Boys - Warm UP (East Rink)
9:00 A.M. Juvenile Boys Final - FS (East Rink)
8:00 P.M. Award Ceremony (East Rink)
8:00 - 11:30 P.M. Party
毎週土曜日、補修校が終わった午後3時半から、ハイランドのダウンタウンのバレエ教室で、スケート仲間の3人で、セミ・プライベート・レッスンを1時間受けています。
先生の名前は、アリエールと言います。フィギュア・スケートも勉強してくれて、どんなものが必要か考えて教えてくれています。特に、ジャンプが高く、キレイに飛べるように工夫してもらっています。
パパの会社で、会議室のホワイトボードに落書きをしました。
しばらく、そのままにしているそうですが、来客の人たちに、「なかなか上手やな。」とお褒めのコメントを貰っています。
過去2回と今年の全米ジュニア選手権の大会ロゴをプリントしたTシャツを作成しました。
2009 Lake Pracid, NY
2010 Cleaveland, OH
2011 Salt Lake City, UT
胸には小さく所属クラブ名、背中にはチーム名を大きくプリントしています。
ジャージにも同じプリントをつけて、アワード・ジャケット風につくっています。
