Shadowing Practice: Alysa Liu opens up about her break from skating, her father’s activism, and Team USA journey - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

When I sat back out on ice,

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When I sat back out on ice,

I was like, I can apply all of my interests into this.

I mean, most of it was a blur,

I will say, just because I was so young.

And honestly, sometimes skating can feel like the fast life,

especially when you're at that level.

You got like interviews, you're getting flown out for this and that.

So it all kind of blended together.

Also, my brain wasn't fully developed.

Still not right now, but I was traveling so much

because of it

and I was starting to get sick of it I wanted

to see my friends family like all I wanted to do

was be at home hang out with my friends like

and I don't know enjoy life and I felt like all of this training.

I no longer wanted to do anymore I was never really passionate too passionate when I was younger with I guess

helping with the programs and really being in the process of it all.

And so I kind of just fell out of love with it.

And I was like, after Olympics,

I really want to quit.

And that's exactly what I did.

I mean, I feel like no one really knew I was going to make it.

So they were all kind of shocked.

I wouldn't say they thought it was crazy,

but I think people were confused.

And I still haven't really fully explained the reasoning for why I quit.

But yeah, people were definitely shocked.

And now everyone doesn't mind that I made the decision now that I'm back.

But definitely when I was gone,

I'm sure people were like,

why did she do that?

Well, I kind of went right into it when I quit.

I wasted no time.

I was going to concerts,

which I never could have done before.

I also got my driver's license so I could drive myself around,

drive my siblings, my friends around.

I did a whole year at college and a little bit of the sophomore year as well.

I went on vacation for the first time and I went many more after that.

I went skiing, I went snowboarding.

I got to do so many different things that I never would have done had I stayed in the sport.

and yeah I got to experience like real life during

that time I got to know myself a lot more know

what I like to do kind of what my passion in life is like what my calling is

and I love the arts I love dancing and I love music

and that and I love sports and that's what figure skating is So I kind of realized that as I,

you know, was taking my break,

that I loved all those things.

And then when I stepped back out on the ice,

I was like, I can apply all of my interests into this.

And I never thought of figure skating in that way before.

So I guess my framework, my perspective changed.

I mean, I think, honestly,

the first time I got back out on the ice,

I already felt like I was better.

Also because I was going through puberty at 16 still,

so I wasn't adjusting my body yet because I was still like changing.

And so when I came back,

you know, I'm pretty much,

I'm not growing anymore, you know.

So I just felt stronger,

you know, my balance is a lot better.

And I felt more comfortable just skating at 19 than I did at 16,

funny enough, even though I took two years off.

But yeah, it's really different,

but I really like it.

I went skiing with my friends and my family.

It was a family trip,

and I was skiing, and I really enjoyed it.

And I was like, I want to ski all the time.

I was like, if I could ski every day,

I would ski every day.

But the mountains are far.

It's like a day trip.

You have to really plan it.

And the rink is right there,

you know, 20 minutes from home.

So I was like, skiing felt very similar to skating.

You know, you're exhausted, your legs hurt, you're cold.

That's like everything you feel when you're skating.

And so I thought, well,

if I enjoy skiing so much,

there's no way I don't enjoy skating.

Because I've been telling myself that entire time that I hate skating,

I don't like it.

But I thought it would be contradictory of me to think that skiing was super fun and skating wasn't skating wasn't.

So I went back out on the ice,

decided to try it out,

see if it really was fun,

because if it was, then I could do something that I enjoyed every day,

because the rank is right there,

you know, it's not like the mountains.

So I did enjoy that first session,

and I just kept going back whenever I could.

Yeah, no, because I was also going to school,

so I was like thinking it would have to be the weekends.

Every weekend I would have to try to go skiing,

and I was like, that's still a drive.

And I was thinking only the weekends.

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Like, it's so fun.

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I want to do it more than just the weekends.

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And yeah, skating, I can do it whenever I want in the week.

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I really like Heavenly.

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And I think I like,

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I think it's called Mount Rose too.

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Yeah.

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I've never skied outside of California.

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A lot of people are really nervous because they think of the Olympics as kind of the end,

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like the end of a movie.

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But for me, I know that's not the end of a movie,

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you know what I mean?

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Like, there's things I'm looking forward to after Olympics.

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Like, there's so much more that I am anticipating even after the Olympics.

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Like, that is not the end for me.

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And I already did a cycle.

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Like, I know what it's like on the other side.

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And that, you know, Olympics was such a big dream for so many athletes.

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and so it's kind of like that's what they're all doing it for.

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Like they're doing it for the Olympics.

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But my mindset's a little bit different.

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I'm not really doing all this for the Olympics.

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So if I just get sent to Olympics,

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then that's like what happens.

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It's like a side quest in my journey,

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but it's not the end of it.

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Honestly, I mean, I am re it because it's the biggest stage that you really get.

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So many people are going to watch my performance and that's exactly what I want honestly,

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that's my goal.

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Because I'm really excited for my programs.

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I think they're very me and you know I put so much work into them.

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Like costumes, choreography and like just vibe of it.

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And I'm just really excited to display my art.

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It's a lot about like designing,

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picking the colors, like the little details,

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and like the style of the dress.

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Yeah, we gotta get it right.

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So my dress designer, Lisa McKinnon,

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she makes my dresses and she also helps with the creative process.

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But I give her like a vision board of what I want and then we just make little tweaks here and there.

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So it's a very collaborative process,

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but she does all the sewing and stuff like that.

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There's a line for your music.

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You can't just go whenever you want.

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Everyone has a job to do on the ice.

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They all want to run their program.

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So you make a line with your phones.

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Yeah, it's first come, first serve basically.

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If you warm up quick enough and you're ready to go with your program and no one else is,

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you get to go.

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I always put my left skate on first.

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I don't know why.

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It's not really a superstition and if I don't put my left skate on first,

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that's fine too, but I always go for my left boot.

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I don't really eat anything in particular, it's always very different.

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I eat a really good meal though,

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because I need energy for competitions.

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And I eat a lot of Chinese food,

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you know, at home that's all we cook.

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So when I'm traveling around I love to try to find Chinese restaurants

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or Asian food in general

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and I'll usually have like a big bowl of like like a rice bowl or something or like noodles.

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So my father was one of the student leaders in the Tiananmen Square protests

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and obviously he had to escape China so he did

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and he came to America

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and he continued to organize protests here in front of like the Chinese embassies

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and stuff like that and so I mean they continued to to go after him

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and when I came and became a figure skater and I was gonna go to the Olympics,

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yeah they had sent like a couple spies to the US,

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not just for my dad and me but like for some others as well.

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Yeah and they were caught so yeah.

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What's wrong with you?

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They didn't want you to skate for China?

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I don't think so.

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They just want to bring you back?

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What would they just give an eye on you?

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I have no idea, actually.

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Probably, no, I really don't know.

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But at least in my dad's case,

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it was so that he wouldn't,

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you know, start organizing protests again,

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maybe speak out against the government.

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It's stuff like that.

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They probably worry you would speak out against the government too,

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as this rising athletic star.

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Yeah, which is funny.

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I mean, I do, but I speak out against, like, our government too.

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So, I mean, yeah.

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I bet you get that from your father.

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Yeah, exactly.

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I think I do.

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I do kind of space out for sure whenever I'm like,

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they're playing the national anthem and I'm on the podium.

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Yeah, I mean, that's only happened like once last year.

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So, I will say, yeah,

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I was definitely spacing out.

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When I think of like what it means to be on Team USA going into the Olympics,

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For me, I really just think about my fellow athletes and kind of the whole team and the people,

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our federation that is behind us,

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that supports us during our journeys.

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And I think of all the people that work behind the scenes.

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And so that's what I think of when I think of Team USA.

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I don't think of like necessarily our government.

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I don't even think U.S figure skating is funded by the government either.

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So I don't think we get any support really necessarily on that half.

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But yeah, when I think Chimiyose,

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I think my fellow skaters,

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the directors that work behind the scenes,

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getting us our skates, getting the camps together,

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our flights, stuff like that.

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I definitely do really care about what our country is doing.

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And I think it is really important also to notice the faults in our own government.

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Yeah, very, very similar to my dad.

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Like, yeah, things are a little rough in our countries,

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but I think every government has its issues.

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There's so many protests that are going on,

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and I've attended, and it's, yeah.

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I mean, coming from a family of immigrants,

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like, I think immigrants deserve rights.

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I think it's a little silly, especially in America.

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If I were to pick another winter sport, it would probably be...

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Honestly, maybe snowboarding.

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Yeah, skiing is really fun too.

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We got some talents and really hard workers in this team.

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There's so many good skaters.

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It sucks that you can only send,

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especially in the women's division,

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you can only send three.

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Like if we could send more that would be really cool

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because I think so many of us are really talented and really close and level like It's gonna be a tough pick.

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I don't know how they're gonna do it.

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Let's see Ilia

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Yeah, I mean

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when I left figure skating The men's were kind of completely

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different actually same with the women's all of the skaters I skated with they kind of left

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so I come back and he's here doing quad axle

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and I think that's I think quad axle is pretty cool

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as long as you don't get injured you know what I'm saying but um

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yeah I think it's really cool that he's doing like things no one else does

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even if it's a little weird I think I think being different is good

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Shadowing Practice: Alysa Liu opens up about her break from skating, her father’s activism, and Team USA journey - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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