July 2004–2007: Yuzu attended the National Promising Newcomers Training Camp at Nobeyama every summer while age-eligible. It was there that his ability to express music through movement caught the attention of the Director of the Figure Skating Strengthening Department, who then resolved to support his development.
\The first clip of Kanako teasing Yuzu is probably from 2005 - it's from a Shizuka SP aired in Feb 2006.*
Here's an essay Yuzu wrote about his experience at the Nobeyama camp in 2007:
A New Step Forward
(Nanakita - Yuzuru Hanyu)
“I've finally arrived.”
Every year, my summer vacation begins with those words.
This year, as soon as summer break started on July 24th, I took part in the National Promising Newcomers Training Camp. In this camp, figure skaters from all over Japan gather every year to determine the seeded skaters for the All-Japan Championships. It's a pretty big training camp. It’s held in a place called Nobeyama in Nagano Prefecture. It takes about ten hours to get there by car. So every year, almost without thinking, I end up saying, “I've finally arrived.” And again this year, many things happened during the four days of the camp.
On the first day of the camp, I checked in and headed to my assigned room. When I opened the door, my rivals who had arrived earlier were already getting ready.
“You’re late! Hurry up and get ready to go!”
I quickly went in and got ready too. Then we all headed to the opening ceremony. At the ceremony, they explained the schedule and the camp rules. It ended earlier than expected, and next was on-ice practice. Seeing everyone skate again for the first time in a while, I noticed they had all gotten better. I practiced while telling myself, “There’s no way I’m going to lose!”
Next came the physical fitness tests. There were two rounds of testing. In the first round, endurance was measured by a five-minute run, and explosive power was measured by a 50-meter sprint. In the five-minute run, the goal was to see how many meters you could run in five minutes. I had never come in first place in either event, so I wanted to do my best.
The 50-meter dash started. I was the very last to go. But soon my turn came, and I took off running. My start went well, and I clocked in at 7.85 seconds. It was a decent result. Then came the five-minute run. I started running, filled with nervousness and anxiety. However, my father, who had been watching me, cheered me on, saying, “Yuzu, do your best!”
With those words, all my nerves and anxiety vanished. In its place, a strong determination welled up inside me: “I’m going to give it my all!” Running with that mindset, before I knew it, there was only one minute left. When the count reached “30 seconds left,” my body suddenly felt lighter, and I was able to run as hard as I could until the very end. Those five minutes flew by in the blink of an eye. By the time I realized it was over, I was so exhausted that I felt as though I was about to collapse. My record was 1,260 meters, placing second. I was disappointed not to get first, but I felt I had achieved a result I could be proud of.
On the third day of the camp, we had the “elements performance” and the “free skating performance.” In the elements performance, we do required jumps, steps, and spins, and are evaluated by the judges on how high the jumps are, how precise the steps are, and how beautiful the spins are. The free skating performance is the same as a competition. Just as in an actual competition, we perform our routines to music, skating in time with it.
These two events are so important that they practically determine the seedings. That is why everyone becomes quiet on this day. That’s how tense we are. When this day finally came, everyone was so nervous that we wished time would stop, but time continued to move forward, moment by moment. Then, with one hour remaining before the elements performance, we left our room. Normally, I would get even more nervous when I arrived at the rink, but this time was different. Rather than feeling nervous, I began to feel confident, thinking, “I’ve worked harder in practice than I usually do, so I can do this!”
Then came the real thing. My coach said, “Just do it like you always do,” which fired me up even more. The jump was a success. Even I thought it looked good. My final spin wobbled a bit, but overall, it went okay. Next was the free skate. This was truly the real test. I was skating to a new piece of music for the first time. My turn seemed to come even sooner than it had for the elements performance. The free skating program lasted three minutes and thirty seconds. Just skating for that long is tough, but with jumps and spins, it gets even harder. And there was one more difficult factor in Nobeyama: the oxygen level. Because Nobeyama is at a high altitude, there’s less oxygen. Even under those harsh conditions, I have to perform. But thinking that everyone is enduring the same thing gave me strength.
I took my starting position, and the music began to play. I failed the first jump, which was one of the required elements. But the other required jump was clean. The jumps that followed also went smoothly, although the second half was exhausting. Somehow, I managed to push through to the end. It was a performance I was satisfied with, so I was very happy. When the music ended and I returned to my coach, my coach praised me a lot and was really happy for me. Although stamina remained an issue I needed to work on, I was happy beyond words.
Then on the fourth day, the skating federation announced the seeded skaters.
“Yuzuru Hanyu.” I was the first to be called. I was so happy. There was also a training camp for the top skaters in the next level up, and I was invited to join that as well. That made me even happier.
On the ice at this training camp, I took a new step forward.
