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Elena Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Svetlana Sokolovskaya for ria.ru (please click the original link for the paper's counter...)
EV: I know a day after coming back from the nationals your athlete was breaking the new boots. It’s not an easy process.
SS: We didn’t have a choice. Indeed he went straight on the ice. He even skated on December 31st under Maksim Zavozin’s guidance. I left Moscow for 3 days and notified Samarin `Do whatever is needed, but on January 2nd we need to start jumping’
EV: And have you?
SS: Yes. On January 2nd Sasha showed me a 3A.
EV: Were those several days of the boots breaking tough on you?
SS: We didn’t discuss it. What for? Sasha is an adult and he should had had it under control. If there was a chance the boot would break he should had taken actions in advance. I never deal with such things. I only did once when during the summer he was breaking a new pair of boots and hurt his foot. I interfered immediately to avoid a more serious injury. But in my books the blades and the boots are the skater’s responsibility, especially when it’s a guy. It’s like a toothbrush. You don’t expect me to ask daily whether the skater picked his tooth brush and brushed his teeth, right?
When it all happened in St. Petersburg I was so pissed! The good boot can not break all of the sudden. I.e. my athlete did not take care. He was skating an exhibition with a taped boot, but he didn’t do that before the skate. Yes, things happen, but if the person did not have it under control guess he didn’t think it was a big deal? There are no small details to dismiss in the sport. Of course you can blame the coach.
EV: Indeed in figure skating the coaches are trying to taka care of everything possible for their athletes.
SS: If I were coaching a girl perhaps I would do the same. But I coach a man and I want him to have some male features. I love Sasha and as his coach I try to do everything within my power so he could get the top result, but I will not baby him. There are more than enough weak men in life and in our sport as it is.
EV: On of your colleagues once said `the more independent the athlete is the less they are attached to the coach’
SS: Coaching a person does not mean attaching them. What for? In our sport they go on the ice alone and need to know what to do out there and set themselves. What help can he get from out of the border? None. Hence I was so evil towards him after the boot, despite never seeing him so lost in his life. When he left the ice in St. Petersburg he just kept repeating two words `leg, boot… boot.. leg…’. When I made sure the legs were fine I told him all I thought about it and was not sparing his emotions, to get him out of that state, out of the shock. Though frankly, when I’ve seen the boot myself I felt lightheaded.
EV: If am not mistaken, it’s your first time in the national team where the top skaters train together. Is it an additional stress?
SS: First of all it’s very interesting. The guys are checking each others, the coaches are looking at their colleagues work – how they prepare the athletes, how much do they do before the competition. I always try to look around and learn. The conditions in Novogorsk are great, there is as much ice time and music time as you need, just 4 skaters on the ice: 3 main and the substitute Sergey Voronov. Everyone are very professional.
EV: Have you started feeling the pre-competition pressure?
SS: After the competition in St. Petersburg I don’t think anything can scare me or stress me. Samarin has all of his jumps back, he is ready physically and just needs to set up emotionally. Think compared to the nationals it’s only pros: finally we can show the skating and not a constant battle with the obstacles. In St. Petersburg it was not easy because of so many reasons. We decided on a complicated programmes content and Sasha, I know, wanted to show what he learned so badly. To show that he can. Now I can admit: I was so afraid he would burn out from that sheer want. We calmed a bit after the SP. I was calmed by the skater – by his skating. And then boom! The boot.
EV: You must be keeping in mind going to the Olympics will depend on Samarin’s result at the Europeans.
SS: Of course I think about it. But don’t put too much there. Yes, we have a chance. But it’s Sasha who has to grab it. As a coach I could only prepare him. If he grabs it – great! Kudos to us. If not – we’ll keep working. It will not become a catastrophe. Samarin is not going to retire.
It’s a period when we live today: there is a practice, there is a practice plan and we do it. Tomorrow will be a new day and a new job to be done. Perhaps the great coaches have every working day planned for 4 years in advance, but I don’t have it yet.
EV: Have you considered making the programme less complicated if the boot breaking would have taken longer?
SS: I ditched that thought immediately. It’s just the way I am: if there is a problem I start thinking how to solve it, think all the possible options. I understood it’s not what I should be thinking about. Nor my skater. But about recovering completely and doing the best at the Europeans. Hence I didn’t even want to think things might go wrong. Besides, by January 2nd it was obvious the boots breaking went fine.
EV: 4 years ago you were witnessing daily how your colleague Elena Buyanova prepares Adelina Sotnikova to the Olympics. Can your work with Samarin compare?
SS: No. Adelina and Sasha are mentally very different, the only thing they have in common is the ability to work a lot. Sasha is harsh, focused and strict, while Adelina is a girl and it says it all. When Lena was coaching her that’s all she had in her life: the was coaching, inviting the specialists, thinking of every tiny detail, giving all her energy. And in Sochi Adelina was able to use all that unhumanly hard work the team did with her.
Samarin, among other things, never talks. He never tells if he is in pain or does not feel well. Hence I watch closely his first 10 minutes on the ice with Maksim Zavozin. The way Sasha skates I understand what exactly we’ll do at the practice.
EV: Does your athlete work with Zavozin on his gliding daily?
SS: It differs, but in general we do put a lot of stress on that. Maks controls all the steps and watches not only Samarin, but Sotskova and Radionova as well. If he sees a tiniest problem in the rockers, brackets or transitions he signals immediately. Then takes the athlete and works with them. It’s a jeweler-like work.
EV: When Samarin is tired what goes first – the jumps or the steps?
SS: In Samarin’s case – the general looks, the posture. The elements he can do in any state – he has enough of a spirit to land the jumps. But all that influences the second mark – the back, the arms, the emotions… It’s better now though. We once had a practice together with Svinin/Zhuk’s ice dancers and they admitted they never expected Samarin to improve so much in the interpretation. When it comes from the ice dancers it means a lot.
EV: Does Samarin like re-watching his skates?
SS: No, but he always does, no matter whether the skate was good or not. He always watches all the skates after the competitions. And analyzes.
EV: What do you tell Samarin the seconds before he takes the ice?
SS: We don’t talk. All the talking is done before he steps on the ice. From there on it’s under his control only. That’s the way he is used to. There are no words that could help him.
EV: Was he always like that?
SS: Yes. Of course on the junior level you always try to support the athlete, help him. But I just felt during one of our first competitions together I should not be too supportive towards him near the border. Quite the opposite – he needs space to think and concentrate. It works for us.
EV: If there is a problem who will be the first person your athlete will go to?
SS: Well, since I know of all his problems, guess it would be me.
EV: I know a day after coming back from the nationals your athlete was breaking the new boots. It’s not an easy process.
SS: We didn’t have a choice. Indeed he went straight on the ice. He even skated on December 31st under Maksim Zavozin’s guidance. I left Moscow for 3 days and notified Samarin `Do whatever is needed, but on January 2nd we need to start jumping’
EV: And have you?
SS: Yes. On January 2nd Sasha showed me a 3A.
EV: Were those several days of the boots breaking tough on you?
SS: We didn’t discuss it. What for? Sasha is an adult and he should had had it under control. If there was a chance the boot would break he should had taken actions in advance. I never deal with such things. I only did once when during the summer he was breaking a new pair of boots and hurt his foot. I interfered immediately to avoid a more serious injury. But in my books the blades and the boots are the skater’s responsibility, especially when it’s a guy. It’s like a toothbrush. You don’t expect me to ask daily whether the skater picked his tooth brush and brushed his teeth, right?
When it all happened in St. Petersburg I was so pissed! The good boot can not break all of the sudden. I.e. my athlete did not take care. He was skating an exhibition with a taped boot, but he didn’t do that before the skate. Yes, things happen, but if the person did not have it under control guess he didn’t think it was a big deal? There are no small details to dismiss in the sport. Of course you can blame the coach.
EV: Indeed in figure skating the coaches are trying to taka care of everything possible for their athletes.
SS: If I were coaching a girl perhaps I would do the same. But I coach a man and I want him to have some male features. I love Sasha and as his coach I try to do everything within my power so he could get the top result, but I will not baby him. There are more than enough weak men in life and in our sport as it is.
EV: On of your colleagues once said `the more independent the athlete is the less they are attached to the coach’
SS: Coaching a person does not mean attaching them. What for? In our sport they go on the ice alone and need to know what to do out there and set themselves. What help can he get from out of the border? None. Hence I was so evil towards him after the boot, despite never seeing him so lost in his life. When he left the ice in St. Petersburg he just kept repeating two words `leg, boot… boot.. leg…’. When I made sure the legs were fine I told him all I thought about it and was not sparing his emotions, to get him out of that state, out of the shock. Though frankly, when I’ve seen the boot myself I felt lightheaded.
EV: If am not mistaken, it’s your first time in the national team where the top skaters train together. Is it an additional stress?
SS: First of all it’s very interesting. The guys are checking each others, the coaches are looking at their colleagues work – how they prepare the athletes, how much do they do before the competition. I always try to look around and learn. The conditions in Novogorsk are great, there is as much ice time and music time as you need, just 4 skaters on the ice: 3 main and the substitute Sergey Voronov. Everyone are very professional.
EV: Have you started feeling the pre-competition pressure?
SS: After the competition in St. Petersburg I don’t think anything can scare me or stress me. Samarin has all of his jumps back, he is ready physically and just needs to set up emotionally. Think compared to the nationals it’s only pros: finally we can show the skating and not a constant battle with the obstacles. In St. Petersburg it was not easy because of so many reasons. We decided on a complicated programmes content and Sasha, I know, wanted to show what he learned so badly. To show that he can. Now I can admit: I was so afraid he would burn out from that sheer want. We calmed a bit after the SP. I was calmed by the skater – by his skating. And then boom! The boot.
EV: You must be keeping in mind going to the Olympics will depend on Samarin’s result at the Europeans.
SS: Of course I think about it. But don’t put too much there. Yes, we have a chance. But it’s Sasha who has to grab it. As a coach I could only prepare him. If he grabs it – great! Kudos to us. If not – we’ll keep working. It will not become a catastrophe. Samarin is not going to retire.
It’s a period when we live today: there is a practice, there is a practice plan and we do it. Tomorrow will be a new day and a new job to be done. Perhaps the great coaches have every working day planned for 4 years in advance, but I don’t have it yet.
EV: Have you considered making the programme less complicated if the boot breaking would have taken longer?
SS: I ditched that thought immediately. It’s just the way I am: if there is a problem I start thinking how to solve it, think all the possible options. I understood it’s not what I should be thinking about. Nor my skater. But about recovering completely and doing the best at the Europeans. Hence I didn’t even want to think things might go wrong. Besides, by January 2nd it was obvious the boots breaking went fine.
EV: 4 years ago you were witnessing daily how your colleague Elena Buyanova prepares Adelina Sotnikova to the Olympics. Can your work with Samarin compare?
SS: No. Adelina and Sasha are mentally very different, the only thing they have in common is the ability to work a lot. Sasha is harsh, focused and strict, while Adelina is a girl and it says it all. When Lena was coaching her that’s all she had in her life: the was coaching, inviting the specialists, thinking of every tiny detail, giving all her energy. And in Sochi Adelina was able to use all that unhumanly hard work the team did with her.
Samarin, among other things, never talks. He never tells if he is in pain or does not feel well. Hence I watch closely his first 10 minutes on the ice with Maksim Zavozin. The way Sasha skates I understand what exactly we’ll do at the practice.
EV: Does your athlete work with Zavozin on his gliding daily?
SS: It differs, but in general we do put a lot of stress on that. Maks controls all the steps and watches not only Samarin, but Sotskova and Radionova as well. If he sees a tiniest problem in the rockers, brackets or transitions he signals immediately. Then takes the athlete and works with them. It’s a jeweler-like work.
EV: When Samarin is tired what goes first – the jumps or the steps?
SS: In Samarin’s case – the general looks, the posture. The elements he can do in any state – he has enough of a spirit to land the jumps. But all that influences the second mark – the back, the arms, the emotions… It’s better now though. We once had a practice together with Svinin/Zhuk’s ice dancers and they admitted they never expected Samarin to improve so much in the interpretation. When it comes from the ice dancers it means a lot.
EV: Does Samarin like re-watching his skates?
SS: No, but he always does, no matter whether the skate was good or not. He always watches all the skates after the competitions. And analyzes.
EV: What do you tell Samarin the seconds before he takes the ice?
SS: We don’t talk. All the talking is done before he steps on the ice. From there on it’s under his control only. That’s the way he is used to. There are no words that could help him.
EV: Was he always like that?
SS: Yes. Of course on the junior level you always try to support the athlete, help him. But I just felt during one of our first competitions together I should not be too supportive towards him near the border. Quite the opposite – he needs space to think and concentrate. It works for us.
EV: If there is a problem who will be the first person your athlete will go to?
SS: Well, since I know of all his problems, guess it would be me.
