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| 2005.2.3 Conditioning trainer, Toshinori Kaneda |
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| I started working as Akira Sasaki’s conditioning trainer at the beginning of this season, and have come halfway through this year. I become aware of the difficulties of competing against the world, and Akira’s ability to keep being one of the best in the world every time his race ends. Here, from the point of view of me who’s watched Akira in various World Cup races, I would like to introduce 3 points that I think Akira is superior in. |
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| The first point is his “sense”. Akira is very sensitive when it comes to making his body. He hardly ever does anything to care for his body. He only does so when his muscles are too tired and cannot do anything to cure it by himself. Why is that? It’s because Akira knows what to do when he is tired. For example, say his lower back starts to hurt. In this instance, Akira does a number of sit-ups to relax the tension on his back, takes time stretching his muscles around the hip joints and finishes the body conditioning himself without any advice. Even when he comes to me for support, he would first say “I think my body is in this kind of condition, can you see if I’m right?” and then the conditioning would start. These kinds of senses are cultivated only when you are constantly conscious of your body. |
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| The second point is his “concentration”. Akira almost always finishes the course inspection faster than anyone else. After this inspection, he spends time in a restaurant until the starting time. When his start time becomes near, Mr. Ito, the service staff, heads for the start house first, followed by myself, then Akira. After I leave, Akira is left alone and gradually heightens his concentration. When he appears at the starting line, the look on his face is totally different. From there, before entering the starting house, he does some stretching in order to move his body, but at the same time talks to coaches and skiers from other teams as well as communicate with the spectators. But I have never seen him lose his concentration. He is tough enough to maintain his concentration until he cuts the finish line. This is so even when his starting time is disarranged due to course maintenance. This motivation is probably one of the important elements of him being at the top. |
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| The third point is his “balance”. The most surpassed part about Akira is his body balance. This sense of balance can be acquired through training, but he has a sense he was born with. He is absolutely superb in using his body balance in skiing motion. When I first saw Akira ski, the first thing I noticed was his use of the body core. I didn’t know of any other Japanese that knows how to use the core balance as well as he does. Even if his waist falls behind, he uses his body core to push his upper body forward. The way he did that was just shocking. I still cannot for get that first impression. |
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| Akira goes out to ski on his days off as well. Not alpine though, but he does some trick skiing, which he enjoys doing. He really seems to enjoy the fun of skiing backwards, sliding on pipes, and jumping. He’s probably number one in the world when it comes skiing fun! He’s just like a child. But in reality, this kind of skiing relates to the improvement of his balance senses and is also a good training. His airs are really, really high! As a trainer, I’m always a bit worried for injuries but on the other hand, am always awed by his airs!! |
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| Currently, Akira has reset his motivation and is making his best efforts for the World Championships. Not only Akira but us staff went through much regret at Kitzbuehel and Schladming. From this day on, we believe Akira will only advance forward aiming for the big games. Keep your expectations high, and please be of his support!! |
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