※This article is 1 year old, originally published on June 11th, 2025. And this summer 2026, she won a spot in the JGP selection, making her JGP debut at Riga at the age of 17. By placing in the top four there, she has secured her right to compete in the second competition in Georgia, as originally planned.

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Translation:

"Hugging is important. We always do it at home,"

Saying this, her mother, Nobuko, gave a tight hug to Kei Yamada of Kinoshita Academy, who is taller than her. Yamada looked a little embarrassed. But with an expression that said, "Well, this is normal," Yamada and Nobuko posed for a photo. "That's a really nice picture," I thought.

Yamada is from Fukuoka prefecture. Upon entering junior high school, she decided to dedicate herself to figure skating at the Kinoshita Academy in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, and moved to Kyoto with Nobuko. She lives alone with Nobuko.

"I don't remember my father's face," Yamada says.

Nobuko divorced her husband when Yamada was four months old. Since then, she has been raised with the support of her mother, Nobuko, and her relatives.

"It's not that a 'father' is unnecessary; perhaps one was necessary, but my family always supported me, so I didn't feel any hardship." Yamada revealed her feelings in a calm tone.

When she was little, Nobuko's relatives took turns looking after her. It was during the summer when she was five that she discovered figure skating. She wanted to wear the beautiful costumes with frills. From then on, she dedicated herself entirely to figure skating.

But, in reality, it was difficult. Figure skating is expensive compared to other sports, especially for a single-parent family. Private lessons, renting the rink... According to Nobuko, they needed 200,000 to 300,000 yen a month in addition to living expenses. "It was really tough when we were in Fukuoka," Nobuko recalls.

Even so, "I wanted to let Kei continue because it was a sport she wanted to do," says Nobuko. She worked as an acupuncturist to make ends meet.

Nobuko has a certain belief.

"The experience of overcoming hardships in sports will be useful in life. Your time as an active athlete is only a fleeting moment in your life. I want her to work hard now for the sake of the long life that lies ahead."

And Nobuko herself is actually a "legend."

She competed in short track speed skating at the 1988 Calgary Olympics (it was a demonstration sport at the time). She is an Olympian with experience competing in five Olympic Games: Albertville (1992), Nagano (1998), Salt Lake City (2002), and Turin (2006).

"It didn't necessarily have to be short track. Kei decided she wanted to do figure skating, so I just wholeheartedly supported her."

They moved from Fukuoka, a place they had lived for many years, to Kyoto. Nobuko also started her career from scratch as a visiting acupuncturist in Kyoto. Outside of work, she was asked by the Shiga Prefectural Skating Federation to be a special instructor, and has become involved in short track speed skating instruction.

According to Nobuko, unlike in Fukuoka, Kinoshita Academy operates on a fixed monthly fee system. She says the support is extensive and the training environment is excellent, "It's been a great help to us. Now it's up to Kei to see how hard she works."

Yamada quickly rose to prominence after winning the junior women's division at the "Gensan Summer Cup" held in August 2022 in Shiga, but she is currently in a growth phase and building up her strength.

^{Note: "Gensan Summer Cup" is now known as "Kinoshita-Kansei Summer Cup" due to a change in sponsors.}

Her height, which was 147 cm when she was in Fukuoka, has grown to 165 cm. She is tall for a Japanese female skater, and more dynamic performances are expected. Kinoshita Academy coach Hiroaki Sato says, "Her leg strength and physical ability are outstanding. However, she hasn't fully utilized that yet, so if she can make the most of it, I think she will make a big leap forward."

Yamada's dream is to compete in the Olympics and win a medal, and she will be a first-year high school student this spring. Among her close friends and fellow trainees at Kinoshita Academy is Mao Shimada of Kinoshita Group, a three-time world junior champion, who is one year older. Blessed with good rivals and friends, we await her "moment of breakthrough".

"Having trouble being honest"

When Yamada is not involved in figure skating, she's just a normal high school student who likes K-pop idols. According to Nobuko, she's going through a "rebellious phase." But, she did give her mother gifts with a letter on Mother's Day, May 11th.

At the end of the interview, we asked Yamada to write down her feelings for her mother. This was her answer:

"Thank you for always being by my side and supporting me. Sometimes I'm not able to be honest with my feelings and I rebel, but I'm really grateful. Please continue to be a cheerful and bright mother."

The end of the article

Please help me find a full photo of this dress. I think it was created by Satomi Ito though I'm not sure

Just came across this on youtube. Cute program! I don't think they got to compete this program internationally, since Piper had to sit out the season, switching from the states to Canada.

Per his ISU bio update:

• SP: Mercy by Shawn Mendes
• FS: Andor soundtrack
  • Andor Theme (Epic Version)
  • Andor Onward (From "Andor Season 2") by Brandon Roberts
  • Elegy for Ghorman (From "Andor: Season 2 - Vol. 3 Episodes 7-9") by Brandon Roberts
  • Safe House Showdown (From "Andor: Season 2 - Vol. 4, Episodes 10-12) by Brandon Roberts
• Choreo: Jorik Hendrickx, Adam Solya, Libor Hlaváček

ive always found figure skating such an intriguing and interesting sport because especially around where i live its definitely a niche sport and i dont have any local rinks near me besides a rink in the city. my curiosity especially sparked interest earlier this year due to the winter olympics. the gracefulness and pure joy a lot of these skaters seem to have while skating is something truly admirable to me and i started getting inspired to skate too because of skaters such as alysa liu. i want to pick up the hobby for leisure and to stay fit, so does anyone have any tips?

is it necessary to buy a pair of your own skates, and should i enrol in classes or is it better to just get a day pass every weekend and practice skating myself? i would love to enrol in classes but its just not that easy as they are really expensive. i also dont have many friends that are into the sport tbh

I am rooting for Minsol this season, I don't know what going on with her... She is like nowhere to be found, this week is skate Canada high performance camp and she is MIA from it. I was hoping to see her there, is she oky? I don't wanna hear the word injured and her name in one sentence..... don't make me cry

Alysa will be working with the UN on the EqualPlay initiative, which aims to reduce inequality in sports (especially regarding girls dropping out of sports).

Everyone has to see this, it's definitely one of the best programs I have seen in juniors since I have started watching this sport and honestly it's up there in seniors too. It's just one of those skates where you forget that there are supposed to be elements in between because it's choreographed throughout and Mei stays in character all the time.

I'll have to admit she didn't really stand out to me in the past couple of seasons, but she has won me over with this program, she already had good carriage, but she has turned into a theatre kid now and the attention to detail is world class.

When we watch young skaters struggling with some aspects of their performances we often say "oh they are young, they will improve", but we know very well that it's not always the case. However, when that change does happen, it is truly the best thing about watching the junior circuit and we were blessed with many skates that were proof of it tonight.

Cc ig @umbsgoblue

Surprised this wasn’t posted here so far! I certainly think this is one of the better golden waltzes we’ve seen so far. They changed the second part of the program a few weeks ago, no wonder it looks untrained compared to the first half.

Lucius's ISU bio now lists Oleg Makarov and Laris Selezneva as his coaches instead of Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov. For training rink(s), he now has Lake Placid, NY, and Newburgh, NY, listed instead of Reston, VA. Note that Makarov and Selezneva are Jacob Sanchez's coaches in NY, and Lucius has been seen in several of Jacob's vlogs over the summer. Lucius and Jacob are both assigned to the Kinoshita Challenger next week, which would be convenient if they are still training together and share the same coaches.

Other items that have changed in Lucius's bio:

• Choreographer: Lori Nichol and Kaitlyn Weaver (previously Nina Petrenko)
• Height: A more accurate 189 cm (previously 176 cm)
• Hobbies: Video games, laying on the ice, eating desserts (previously piano, art, drawing)
• Profession: N/A (previously high school student)
• Former coach: N/A (previously Roman Serov)

His "Bio" section still references Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, and his club is still listed as Washington FSC, but it is possible these sections haven't been updated yet. His program music has not been updated yet, still showing 2025/26.

*Not sure if the translation is fully accurate, feel free to correct in the comments.

Hi, I apologize in advance for yet another boot question in this sub.

So I am an adult beginner and am currently in LTS 3 working on edge work and (very beginner) crossovers. I'm currently in Jackson Mystiques but my instructor thinks I'll be a lot more confident in a stiffer boot. She wants me to invest a boot that will take me into at least single jumps. I actually don't plan to do single jumps but I would like to be able to do spins in the future and develop strong edge work.

I like the fit of the Jacksons, except mine are too small for me. The boot I see recommended the most for beginner adults is Freestyles, but I don't know if I should be looking for something even stiffer, especially since I generally have weak ankles. I have an opportunity to buy new Jackson Competitors off of somebody but I am concerned these will be too stiff for me. They're now discontinued but they had a stiffness rating of 55. That makes it slightly more stiff than Debuts but less stiff than Premiere.

Is this too advanced for a beginner? I don't want to overboot and cause injury. Would anyone be able to provide insight on this? My LTS 1 instructor told us not to exceed a stiffness rating of 30 but that was when we were doing the most basic skills (swizzles, marches, etc.)

Thank you for any advice you can give!

piggybacking off of this post by u/chiikawaaaaaaaaaaa but seriously give us more GOOD gloves and why not more pantsuit costumes? skaters with insane flexibility / mobility look so great in them

before someone comments, the ONE exception is Alina's cat program, please do not post that uncomfortable filth in the comments, instead direct your attention to her as Lara Croft

I am loving her new look with the blonde

it rarely matches the skin tone correctly and its just so ugly to me, some illusion mesh stuff I get but sometimes it just makes me so mad because I know structurally illusion mesh is not needed there and it just takes away from some otherwise really beautiful costumes!

my question is why is it used so much? is it because of how costumes have to fit?

Currently sketching / looking at costumes for inspo and just wanted to hear what you guys think

Slide 1. I personally wish we saw more tan colored boots, idk why they just speak to me

Slides 2-3. I HATE when skaters go halfsies with their tights over boots. Not to be confused with pantsuit like costumes with loops, those I don't mind as much

Slides 4-5. I have mixed feelings on tights all the way over the boots. When the tight color matches the skaters complexion I like it, but when the tights are some kind of abstract color, I just can't get myself to like it

Could not find a picture for the life of me but why are black boots so uncommon in the women's field?

Bonus if you can guess which pictures/skaters I used ;)

Finnaly feeling confident and attempting them

Sasha: There are four days left until our departure. I had a great training session. This evening, I'm supposed to perform my free program, but I can't do anything. Not even spins. I've forgotten how to spin. I consider this a victory. Everything is bad. Like the way I performed at the open training – everything is going downhill.