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Olga Ermolina's interview with Alexey Erokhov `No one makes you work in Tutberidze's group - you have to figure it yourself' for fsrussia.ru
OE: Lesha, the standard question: why figure skating?
AE: The standard story: I was a sick child, my mom was told I should spend more time on the ice. She took me to hockey first. In front of my eyes one player had his nose broken. I said I didn't want that. Hence figure skating.
OE: You were frightened seeing an injured hockey player?
AE: Yes. I was 4y.o.
OE: Where did you first start skating?
AE: I began in TSKA in Larisa Fomicheva's group. A good coach. I learned all the double jumps and a 2A under her guidance. I trained there for 7 years and left. Things didn't work out. Then I spent a year in Ilya Klimkin's group. I had to move on - I was already 11 and didn't have any triple jumps. Not even nearly. So I thought I must go to Tutberidze.
OE: Why her?
AE: Eteri Georgievna was a well known coach by then. It was prestigious training in her group
OE: I.e. at the age of 11 you decided figure skating was everything? Or was it your mom who was telling `don't give up, you've skated for so long'
AE: Quite the opposite, mom thought the school should come first. Mom used to be a math teacher, now she is a speech therapist. So she told me that if I can combine the studies and the trainings then fine - figure skating. But if I can't - school it is.
OE: You were able to combine?
AE: I attended the school every day. And the practices. I did fine - graduated with no Cs
OE: Did Eteri Georgievna accept you at once?
AE: No. She gave me a trial time - 7 days. I recall the first thing we did is re-learn the salchow. A week later I landed all the triples except for a toeloop. After that she told me to bring my mom to the practice. I was frightened. Didn't know what to think. Usually when the teachers ask to bring the parents it is not a good thing. So I didn't understand whether she'd accept me. But it was allright. Mom came, they talked. I was glad I was accepted.
OE: And started working hard.
AE: Right. But then came a time when nothing worked. I was about 13. I grew about 10cm taller in one year. I was going out on the ice and nothing.
OE: Were you panicking?
AE: Yes, immediately. I didn't understand how is it - whoa, and nothing works. It was so unusual. But the coaches explained it's the puberty and I have to endure and work, that everyone goes through it.
OE: How long were you enduring.
AE: For a while. Perhaps a year or longer. Mentally it was tough.
OE: Did the thought to retire cross your mind?
AE: Once. I spent a month off ice. I was going to school. An then realized I can't go on like that and came back.
OE: What made you come back? You couldn't go on without your friends or you felt you were not yet done with the sport?
AE: On one hand it was clear I was not done. On the other - that's my life and I don't understand how do the other kids do it: so they go to school and then what? Ok, they go out. One day, second. But it gets old and you don't know what to do with yourself.
OE: But things were not smooth for you in the sport. I mean the injuries.
AE: I was about 14-15y.o when I attempted the 3A. At some point I even landed it. Then I had a day off, I came back the day after on the ice and was injured on that jump. Spent 3 weeks in the hospital.
OE: Were you taken to the hospital from the ice?
AE: No, I made it home myself. Waited for mom. We went to the hospital. We were told it's full and I spent a night home. The next day we went to another one and we were told I must be hospitalized immediately.
That happened in May. I was told no stress and no practices till January. But I realized those were the normal doctors, not the sport doctors and they love making things more dramatic than they actually are. I didn't even consider not skating. Eteri Georgievna came to visit me, the guys did.
When I was released from the hospital I couldn't step on my foot. It was thinner and very weak. It's still smaller. I spent 3 weeks lying flat and not getting up. When I got up the first time I almost fell. There was no feeling. And the legs were weak.
OE: And then what?
AE: Then it was difficult walking even using the crutches. We went to a masseur who was recommended by Zhenya Medvedeva's mom and after the first session I walked home. That doctor brought me back and by the middle of June I was back on the ice and 2 weeks later I was jumping again.
OE: The motivation was probably huge. Going through that - the rest probably seems not important.
AE: Indeed there was plenty of motivation. I skated for half a year, participated 2 Russian cups and was going to the Juniors competition, but I was denied because of the heart problems. From the end of January till the beginning of April I was not skating.
OE: What were you doing?
AE: I would undergo the medical tests every month and every month I was told I can not do sports. So I just went to school.
OE: You must have improved your grades.
AE: They were not bad to begin with - my mom always made me study. From the 6th grade till the 10th I was in social science class. In 11th I switched to Sambo70 school. I feel in love with math. The teacher Tatiana Ermak was amazing. But that was later. For a while I was not allowed to train and it was hard. It seemed I was back from the injury and there you go. When my mom didn't look I would play football with the guys. At least that.
OE: Do you like football?
AE: I do. Of course I don't play now - afraid of the injuries. I watch it on the TV and root for Liverpool. When I watched the football for the first time together with my grandfather Liverpool were playing and I fell for them.
OE: Sorry for disrupting the story.
AE: It's ok. So I was in the school in a class, the doctor who worked with me calls. I went out and redialed. She said `that's it, Lesha, you can go back on the ice'.
Mom and I did an expensive test to find out whether the condition I had was inherited or just an age thing. It turned out to be an age. So I brought the result to the doctor and was allowed to skate again.
OE: Did you have to recall everything once back on the ice?
AE: No. On the first practice all I was able to land came back. The motivation was huge. But I was only landing triples than. When I came back from the hospital I never tried the 3A again. When the season began I started working on that jump and by December it worked. I didn't make it to the Nationals, but Vlad Tarasenko withdrew and I got his spot. I was unable to skate really well there. So I started preparing to the Moscow cup which was a qualifier for Spartakiada. A couple of days before the competition I learned the 4S. We decided to integrate it into the programme. I did quite well the SP, but in the LP where I landed my first ever clean quad the hook on my boot went off. I was unable to re-tie my boot so it would hold it. I was out of music and got 6 deductions! But the SP gap was enough to remain top 6 and I made it to the Russian cup. I became 3rd in Spartakiada. Then I skated well in the Cup and made it to the Russian team, so the next season we started thinking of the junior GP.
OE: Well done. What do you like about figure skating?
AE: It's the life style. I can't imagine my life without the sports. I know the sports career is not for the whole life, but I can stay in figure skating after. I got accepted to the professional institute of sports, will study to become a coach.
OE: What do you like about your coaches -Tutberidze, Dudakov, Gleykhengause?
AE: They are a great team. No one makes you work. Everyone has to understand it's you who needs it. You have to be hard working. Come every day and work. If the coaches see you don't feel like working they will not make you. You're free to go.
OE: Tough. What do you think you do well?
AE: I have a will to work. There is no such thing to land some jumps at the beginning of the practice and then that's it, am tired, no more. I try to work the hardest through the whole practice. Otherwise - what is it all for? It's not for me just to come of the V.
OE: Lesha, the standard question: why figure skating?
AE: The standard story: I was a sick child, my mom was told I should spend more time on the ice. She took me to hockey first. In front of my eyes one player had his nose broken. I said I didn't want that. Hence figure skating.
OE: You were frightened seeing an injured hockey player?
AE: Yes. I was 4y.o.
OE: Where did you first start skating?
AE: I began in TSKA in Larisa Fomicheva's group. A good coach. I learned all the double jumps and a 2A under her guidance. I trained there for 7 years and left. Things didn't work out. Then I spent a year in Ilya Klimkin's group. I had to move on - I was already 11 and didn't have any triple jumps. Not even nearly. So I thought I must go to Tutberidze.
OE: Why her?
AE: Eteri Georgievna was a well known coach by then. It was prestigious training in her group
OE: I.e. at the age of 11 you decided figure skating was everything? Or was it your mom who was telling `don't give up, you've skated for so long'
AE: Quite the opposite, mom thought the school should come first. Mom used to be a math teacher, now she is a speech therapist. So she told me that if I can combine the studies and the trainings then fine - figure skating. But if I can't - school it is.
OE: You were able to combine?
AE: I attended the school every day. And the practices. I did fine - graduated with no Cs
OE: Did Eteri Georgievna accept you at once?
AE: No. She gave me a trial time - 7 days. I recall the first thing we did is re-learn the salchow. A week later I landed all the triples except for a toeloop. After that she told me to bring my mom to the practice. I was frightened. Didn't know what to think. Usually when the teachers ask to bring the parents it is not a good thing. So I didn't understand whether she'd accept me. But it was allright. Mom came, they talked. I was glad I was accepted.
OE: And started working hard.
AE: Right. But then came a time when nothing worked. I was about 13. I grew about 10cm taller in one year. I was going out on the ice and nothing.
OE: Were you panicking?
AE: Yes, immediately. I didn't understand how is it - whoa, and nothing works. It was so unusual. But the coaches explained it's the puberty and I have to endure and work, that everyone goes through it.
OE: How long were you enduring.
AE: For a while. Perhaps a year or longer. Mentally it was tough.
OE: Did the thought to retire cross your mind?
AE: Once. I spent a month off ice. I was going to school. An then realized I can't go on like that and came back.
OE: What made you come back? You couldn't go on without your friends or you felt you were not yet done with the sport?
AE: On one hand it was clear I was not done. On the other - that's my life and I don't understand how do the other kids do it: so they go to school and then what? Ok, they go out. One day, second. But it gets old and you don't know what to do with yourself.
OE: But things were not smooth for you in the sport. I mean the injuries.
AE: I was about 14-15y.o when I attempted the 3A. At some point I even landed it. Then I had a day off, I came back the day after on the ice and was injured on that jump. Spent 3 weeks in the hospital.
OE: Were you taken to the hospital from the ice?
AE: No, I made it home myself. Waited for mom. We went to the hospital. We were told it's full and I spent a night home. The next day we went to another one and we were told I must be hospitalized immediately.
That happened in May. I was told no stress and no practices till January. But I realized those were the normal doctors, not the sport doctors and they love making things more dramatic than they actually are. I didn't even consider not skating. Eteri Georgievna came to visit me, the guys did.
When I was released from the hospital I couldn't step on my foot. It was thinner and very weak. It's still smaller. I spent 3 weeks lying flat and not getting up. When I got up the first time I almost fell. There was no feeling. And the legs were weak.
OE: And then what?
AE: Then it was difficult walking even using the crutches. We went to a masseur who was recommended by Zhenya Medvedeva's mom and after the first session I walked home. That doctor brought me back and by the middle of June I was back on the ice and 2 weeks later I was jumping again.
OE: The motivation was probably huge. Going through that - the rest probably seems not important.
AE: Indeed there was plenty of motivation. I skated for half a year, participated 2 Russian cups and was going to the Juniors competition, but I was denied because of the heart problems. From the end of January till the beginning of April I was not skating.
OE: What were you doing?
AE: I would undergo the medical tests every month and every month I was told I can not do sports. So I just went to school.
OE: You must have improved your grades.
AE: They were not bad to begin with - my mom always made me study. From the 6th grade till the 10th I was in social science class. In 11th I switched to Sambo70 school. I feel in love with math. The teacher Tatiana Ermak was amazing. But that was later. For a while I was not allowed to train and it was hard. It seemed I was back from the injury and there you go. When my mom didn't look I would play football with the guys. At least that.
OE: Do you like football?
AE: I do. Of course I don't play now - afraid of the injuries. I watch it on the TV and root for Liverpool. When I watched the football for the first time together with my grandfather Liverpool were playing and I fell for them.
OE: Sorry for disrupting the story.
AE: It's ok. So I was in the school in a class, the doctor who worked with me calls. I went out and redialed. She said `that's it, Lesha, you can go back on the ice'.
Mom and I did an expensive test to find out whether the condition I had was inherited or just an age thing. It turned out to be an age. So I brought the result to the doctor and was allowed to skate again.
OE: Did you have to recall everything once back on the ice?
AE: No. On the first practice all I was able to land came back. The motivation was huge. But I was only landing triples than. When I came back from the hospital I never tried the 3A again. When the season began I started working on that jump and by December it worked. I didn't make it to the Nationals, but Vlad Tarasenko withdrew and I got his spot. I was unable to skate really well there. So I started preparing to the Moscow cup which was a qualifier for Spartakiada. A couple of days before the competition I learned the 4S. We decided to integrate it into the programme. I did quite well the SP, but in the LP where I landed my first ever clean quad the hook on my boot went off. I was unable to re-tie my boot so it would hold it. I was out of music and got 6 deductions! But the SP gap was enough to remain top 6 and I made it to the Russian cup. I became 3rd in Spartakiada. Then I skated well in the Cup and made it to the Russian team, so the next season we started thinking of the junior GP.
OE: Well done. What do you like about figure skating?
AE: It's the life style. I can't imagine my life without the sports. I know the sports career is not for the whole life, but I can stay in figure skating after. I got accepted to the professional institute of sports, will study to become a coach.
OE: What do you like about your coaches -Tutberidze, Dudakov, Gleykhengause?
AE: They are a great team. No one makes you work. Everyone has to understand it's you who needs it. You have to be hard working. Come every day and work. If the coaches see you don't feel like working they will not make you. You're free to go.
OE: Tough. What do you think you do well?
AE: I have a will to work. There is no such thing to land some jumps at the beginning of the practice and then that's it, am tired, no more. I try to work the hardest through the whole practice. Otherwise - what is it all for? It's not for me just to come of the V.
