Team Russia

[Paskud]

A propos CSKA, does anybody know who is finally Muravieva's coach?

[rockstaryuzu]

2 hours ago, Fay said:

Along with Rukhin, they say a young star Adelia Petrosyan went over to CSKA. 
Something’s rotten in that realm... 

Yeah, seems like a mass exodus is starting? Strange. 

[Fay]

Ok, for now Kolesnikov has denied he’s leaving. And as for Adelia, it’s not quite clear where she’s going to end up. 
Rukhin has been injured most of the season, so I guess he’s not considered to be a great loss for the team? Yet another youngster with a back problem.... 

[rockstaryuzu]

3 minutes ago, Fay said:

Yet another youngster with a back problem.... 

I mean, if this kind of injury showing up across multiple skaters at a young age doesn't give the coaches pause, something's very very wrong. 

[SitTwizzle]

I don't think CSKA will recruit underhand a Tutberidze coach to lure her pupils into going to a school which have failed to deliver until now, while being still Team Tutberidze employee.

I suppose parents and/or pupils chose to meet coaches they think they would prefer, the usual (and wholesome) way.

Every year many pupils move from one school to another.

[sallycinnamon]

Interview with Plushy 

 

https://rsport.ria.ru/20200512/1571294491.html

 

He says Trusova and her parents called him and he didn’t persuade anyone. The decision was made quite a while ago, they're now preparing official documents which can be finalised by 15 May.

He wants Trusova to become an all-around skater with good technique, spins, step sequences and charisma, and to achieve that, they plan to invite several Russian and foreign choreographers and specialists to work with her. 

 

There are two groups at Plushenko's Academy now, a joint one that consist of Plushenko, Rozanov and Mikhailov and the other one is Alexander Volkov’s group. 

 

He mentions Yuzu:

 

Quote

I wanted to ask about your vision of Trusova. Do you think that her previous programs were unsuccessful?

- Why? Her programs were very good. She skated with dignity. But today there is no all-round competitior in the world of ladies single skating who would be 100% developed both in the technical component and in charisma and skating. There are no such generalists. Each one is weaker than the other. If we take Yuzuru Hanyu, he is developed in all respects and strong in all positions. Of course, I would like to make Sasha Trusova an all-round skater.

He promises more big news this off-season.

[FlyingCamel]

1 minute ago, sallycinnamon said:

Interview with Plushy 

 

https://rsport.ria.ru/20200512/1571294491.html

 

He says Trusova and her parents called him and he didn’t persuade anyone. The decision was made quite a while ago, they're now preparing official documents which can be finalised by 15 May.

He wants Trusova to become an all-around skater with good technique, spins, step sequences and charisma, and to achieve that, they plan to invite several Russian and foreign choreographers and specialists to work with her. 

 

There are two groups at Plushenko's Academy now, a joint one that consist of Plushenko, Rozanov and Mikhailov and the other one is Alexander Volkov’s group. 

 

He mentions Yuzu:

 

He promises more big news this off-season.

I agree with him actually that there are no complete all-rounders in the ladies field of today... but some skaters like Kamila Valieva have the potential to become one!! Sasha is also developing artistically throughout the season IMO so she definitely has the potential as well!

[SparkleSalad]

I'm not sure any skaters from Sambo could ever truly be all-rounders with the cheated jump technique they teach there. Then again, ISU can just keep changing the rules to accommodate it so who knows. 

 

My sodium levels are through the roof today.

[WinForPooh]

26 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

I'm not sure any skaters from Sambo could ever truly be all-rounders with the cheated jump technique they teach there. Then again, ISU can just keep changing the rules to accommodate it so who knows. 

 

My sodium levels are through the roof today.

 

My, my, sparkle, you are in fine form, aren't you! I've been missing out, mining for salt in ISUngard when apparently you've found it all and have been flinging it around with wild abandon!

[Lunna]

1 час назад, sallycinnamon сказал:

Interview with Plushy 

 

https://rsport.ria.ru/20200512/1571294491.html

Good interview, not a lot of information but I like how he says that they must work on their weak points and doesn't badmouth any opponents. Hope all these words will not stay only on paper.

[SparkleSalad]

55 minutes ago, WinForPooh said:

 

My, my, sparkle, you are in fine form, aren't you! I've been missing out, mining for salt in ISUngard when apparently you've found it all and have been flinging it around with wild abandon!

...yes?

[WinForPooh]

8 minutes ago, SparkleSalad said:

...yes?

 

Good job. Just pickly enough for crunching now.

[sallycinnamon]

Rafael Arutunyan gave a long interview to Elena Vaytsekhovskaya

https://russian.rt.com/sport/article/745674-arutyunyan-trusova-plyuschenko-tutberidze

 

I'll post the bits about Chen in the Team USA thread, but here's the rest, mainly about Trusova and Russian skating.

 

Quote

 

When it became known that Alexandra Trusova decided to leave the group of Eteri Tutberidze, you said that the Russian skaters are very dependent on the conditions created for them and any step taken by them in one direction or another is regarded as an escape. Please explain what you had in mind.

 

- You just need to understand that all Russian athletes (and it's not just about Trusova here) did not grow on their own. They invested their work, their finances, certain organizations and people, so any transitions and cares in Russia are perceived so painfully. It seems to me that foreign coaches do not always realize this. They think: an athlete from Russia came to them, they can take it and continue to work in the same way as they work with any other skater. Although I have been living in the United States for many years and am considered an American coach, I understand this specificity very well. I believe that any transitions of Russian figure skaters should first of all be thoroughly coordinated with former coaches, and even more so with the leadership of the national figure skating federation.

 

That is, you can’t just tear yourself away from your previous life and leave for a new one?

 

- This is just unreal. This is not a situation where an athlete paid for himself for many years, chose a coach, at the same time hired other specialists at his discretion, who also somehow participated in the training process, and then suddenly decided to change everything. And he changed: he hired new people for his money. In Russia, this cannot be. Until now, much rests on the principles and concepts laid down in Soviet times. That's when our athletes start to pay for everything themselves, then they will do what they want, you know? Although the same Eteri Tutberidze, as it seemed to me, is already reacting to the withdrawals of her athletes not as sharply as it was before.

 

Russian figure skater Aleksandra Trusova decided to terminate cooperation with Eteri Tutberidze after four years of joint ... Controversial statement. One of the group’s choreographers recently gave an interview in which he called Trusova’s transition to Evgeni Plushenko a betrayal, comparing this to a stab in the back. And he remarked: "When a man betrays, he ceases to exist for us.

 

- I cannot understand this at all. Why, then, none of the coaches said that Trusova committed treason when she left Tutberidze from her previous mentor, Alexander Volkov? It turns out that all those who come to the group from other specialists are never traitors, but become so when they leave? This is even funny. In my opinion, this is impossible. Take the athlete to yourself - say thanks to the one who prepared it for you. Leaving from you - wish good luck.

 

- As soon as in Russia some talented single skaters leaves the trainer, your name immediately sounds as a likely mentor. Did the story of the transition of Trusova somehow concern you?

 

- Similar stories almost always concern me.” Athletes apply often enough, including Russian athletes. But taking into account all that I have already said, I try to disown some offers right away, because I don’t want to get involved. When I start working with a skater, I am interested in everything: how and where the child grew up, what he aspires to, how he is used to training. But if I am a foreign skater, I understand quite well in this regard, then I don’t imagine very well how to constantly work with a Russian athlete, with his parents. Because they grew up in other conditions, where they were provided with ice for free, where there was a group of trainers who fiddled with them from morning to evening, as I myself did when I lived in Russia. And now, with the same Nathan Chen, I work on an equal footing, we are more likely partners with him.

 

- But you had a period of quite serious confrontation with the family of this skater, if I am not mistaken.

 

- It was. At the same time, strangely enough, I always perfectly understood the position of Nathan's mother. She at one time put a lot of effort into making her son a real skater. In the West there is no centralized training of athletes, and its absence, you see, must be compensated by something else. It is being replaced. In the case of Nathan, it turned out to be mom, in the case of Michelle Kwan - dad, and so on. Therefore, I always tried to respect the fact that Chen’s mother has her own view on the preparation of the child, even if she takes steps that I, as a trainer, do not like. The time has come, and Chen’s mother herself said to me: “You did for him what no one else could do.”

 

- So, it’s all about coaching patience?

 

- You could say that. I just endured some things, and now an adult, adult guy listens to me, catches every word, fulfills all my requirements. But this is not blind submission, but relations at some completely different level of trust and respect for each other.

 

[...]

 

I want to return to the Trusova theme, because with her fantastic desire for complexity, she strongly reminds me of your student. After her transition to Evgeni Plushenko, several experts immediately expressed the opinion that, despite owning four different quadruple jumps, Sasha has a huge number of minuses: slipping is lame, rotation technique ...

 

- Remind me, what was Trusova's result at the senior Grand Prix finals?

 

Third.

 

- That is, I understand correctly: we are now talking about the fact that the girl became the third in the Grand Prix finals, and then, when she decided to change her coach, she suddenly started to limp?

 

Agree, when the skater has so many quads in the program (and this is not Nathan Chen), the program turns into skating from jump to jump. After all, you yourself have repeatedly said that when the production is oversaturated with jumps, there is simply no time left for everything else.

 

-This is so, but let's reason logically: you created a certain value system, paid for it, the athlete fulfilled all your requirements, became the third, and now we are starting to say that he is somehow riding wrong? Well then, make a change to your existing system. But I do not understand when someone undertakes to criticize an athlete for playing according to the rules that are proposed to him.

 

If you were in the place of the current coach Trusova, would you come up with how to save five quadruple jumps in a free program, or would you try to convince the athlete that it is in her interests to make the program simpler?

 

- The fact is that even if Sasha leaves in the program not five quads, but three - this is a lot for the girl, especially when you know that with age all the girls begin to jump less. I am 100% convinced that keeping such a number of quadruples with Sasha will be very difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to engage in skating, improving technology, sliding, spinning and the same mechanics of jumping, even if a person knows how to jump. When you don’t do this every day, your skills begin to go away very quickly. The same Nathan knows how to jump all fours, except for the axel, but he works on them every day.

 

When Trusova became the third in the Grand Prix finals, having previously won both of her stages and then selected for the main starts at the Russian Championship, the mother of one of the athletes of the Tutberidze group told me: “Sasha managed to overcome the enormous psychological barrier, and her coaches, thanks to her , - also. She is the first child who, on her own initiative, took the quad jump only because she really wants it. The quadruples were forbidden for everyone to jump for a long time, because the coaches were afraid of injuries. Trusova, on the other hand, began to jump the first quadruple as a child, and only then, after her, everyone else began to try it. 

 

- This motivation played a role. I don’t know, Sasha herself was so motivated or her parents, but she wanted to do five quadruple jumps in the program and did it. In principle, Nathan once behaved exactly the same: I want - I will! Well, my mother wanted this, and although I tried to somehow contain a completely unjustified risk, I realized that progress is progress and there is nothing to be done. Another question is that we must be able to weigh everything. Nobody has canceled the tactics in our sport, like in football, where everyone somehow knows how to play in different positions, everyone runs well, but not everyone goes on the attack.

If the same Trusova or the same Nathan had been more professional as athletes at one time, they probably would have agreed that tactics should be used in some situations: today two jumps, tomorrow three, and so on. But they are both just super-motivated people who, without looking back, stick forward. And you won’t do anything about it. So, the trainer just needs to stand next and help with all his might.

 

 How much, in your opinion, does the Trusova technique allow her to develop further in the hopping plan?

 

- She, by the way, has a good technique. Not to say that everything is just super, but Sasha is jumping quite normally. It can be seen that you can work with her and she herself is a very demanding person, motivated and wants to jump a lot. This is a very fertile ground for the coach.

 

-As a professional athlete, I understand another thing: if the girls from Khrustalny make 50 jumps in 40 minutes at the official start of the main start, it means that they jump much more during regular training and their muscle memory is much stronger than that of those who jump are not so intense. In such cases, retraining an athlete as he grows up and even just fixing some technical flaws becomes an incredibly difficult task.

 

I agree. I will give simple statistics: 100 jumps in one training session are 200 jumps per day, 1200 jumps per week, almost 5000 per month and about 50 thousand, or even more, per year. And all these girls ride in this mode for five or six years. Then such an athlete comes to you, you start working with her, and rushes from all directions: ome, she’s been riding for six months already, but nothing has changed.

Guys, for six months you can, relatively speaking, only ground the canvas on which you want to write something. Therefore, when I say that I need two years to begin to see at least some changes in my athlete, I do not just call this figure: two years are spent only on laying a new muscle memory. And only then can you start talking about some new technique and stability. 

 

It turns out that Brian Orser performs a feat while working with Evgenia Medvedeva?

 

Of course. He accomplished the feat already when he agreed to train her. I think this is only Orser and could afford.

 

Do you think that if the Canadian knew about the risks that we are talking about, he would have avoided the proposal?

 

- I definitely can’t say that.

 

[SitTwizzle]

1 hour ago, sallycinnamon said:

Rafael Arutunyan gave a long interview to Elena Vaytsekhovskaya

https://russian.rt.com/sport/article/745674-arutyunyan-trusova-plyuschenko-tutberidze

 

I'll post the bits about Chen in the Team USA thread, but here's the rest, mainly about Trusova and Russian skating.

 

 

An extremely interesting interview, showing so much understanding, probably relieving some resentment towards Nathan Chen's mother but nicely worded, and there remains the same thing : he agrees with Plushenko's last words, and probably Team Tutberidze thoughts, but this is probably not what was promised to Alexandra Trusova. Alexandra Trusova knows to read. Doesn't she feel already betrayed? How will it be when she resumes ice training, I mean, when she's back to her pre-confinement level?

[Lunna]

3 минуты назад, SitTwizzle сказал:

How will it be when she resumes ice training, I mean, when she's back to her pre-confinement level?

I don't think anyone can predict when training will resume in Russia/Moscow (official quarantine is at least till May 31 in Moscow and then might be lowered or not step by step, for now no announcements about professional sport), and I guess it's even harder to predict how fast can girls get their quads back after so long off-ice time.