Igor Shpilband fired

[berrya]

DW and SS stay in Canton with Marina
http://www.freep.com/article/2012060...Ctext%7CSports

[Serious Business]

I immediately thought of Igor as Bender from Futurama, upon the latter's ejection from the Lunar Theme Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5tZMDBXTRQ

[sillylionlove]

Well that answers what s/s and d/w are doing. Now for v/m!

[iskaterkay]

If Shpiland were to stay in Southeast Michigan, there would be minimal disruption to training for students that are follow him. There is a very dense concentration of rinks within a 45-minute radius of Canton, most of which have great facilities.

[Macassar88]

http://www.freep.com/article/2012060...ws|text|Sports

According to Zueva, Virtue and Moir will remain in Canton as well.

[Olympia]

Oh, whew! A relief.

But what a chaotic to-do. This is my least favorite aspect of skating, when it occurs.

[colleen o'neill]

Serious Business..I have my own dear Bender that sits on my mantel. I can call him Igor during the skating season and feel like I'm an insider . He can have his can of beer and cigar and I can have my wine...

[KKonas]

Well, it's obvious that Marina asked the top three teams if they would stay with her if she split with Igor before she approached management with her request to get rid of Igor, but it was still a crappy way to inform Igor - at 5:30 pm on a Sunday, giving him zero time to make training arrangements at another rink for whatever students that will stay with him. No doubt he will eventually recover and do well, but I have no respect for the rink management with the way this was done or for Marina not being up front with Igor. Hope this works out for the three top teams, but I am not so sure it was the wisest decision.

[SkateFiguring]

So everybody knew what was coming except Shpilband (and his wife)? There was a concerted effort to blindside him so he got thrown to the curb unprepared and in shock. I guess he was unfocused enough to incur dissatisfaction but what else was involved to make him such a persona non grata deserving such treatment? Why was he so clueless? Did he underestimate his negative impact and overestimate his importance? Was the coaching partnership a package deal offered to the skaters without separate billing so a dissatisfied skater could not fire him independently? I wonder if we will ever find out answers to these and other questions.

The skaters make the least disruptive choice and I hope a new organization and routine will be quickly established so these superbly talented young athletes in their prime would not get set back on their route to Sochi Olympics.

[skateluvr]

Zoueva was initially a pairs choreographer? So Igor was the leader in ice dance formation of teams and coaching. I thinks it stinks and it does seem so much cut throat business at the top. I had one other thought earlier in season that perhaps Canton Ice was not big enough anymore for ambitions of D/W and V/M?

Maybe we will see V/M go with Igor. It seems like there will be lots of tension as these two teams battle every comp en route to Sochi. It might be a good thing. Perhaps down the road you will read Voir decides to train with Igor after much thought, yada yada.

I think it is getting more interesting, maybe more competitive for the two teams who r in a battle for Sochi Gold. Now Teams can decide if Igor or Marina style is best for them.

[SkateFiguring]

^^^ So far the rift and tension has seemed to be between Shpilband and everybody else, not between the skating teams. According to Zoueva and O'Neill, V/M will stay where they are.

[Jammers]

Sounds to me like the top teams threw a fit just because Shpilband wasn't going to be spending quite as much time with them as he has in the past because he wanted to also coach some other teams. Marina does not come out of this looking good at all. Still i was hoping D&W would go with Igor. He was the reason why the US has become a power in Ice Dancing.

[dorispulaski]

It sounds to me like Marina did an "either he goes or I go" to the rink after assuring herself that if forced to move, D&W, S&S and V&M would stay with the rink. However, it would be wise if they all found a technical coach as well, particularly for the Yankee Polka and to critique step sequences.

[demarinis5]

Well that is that. It does not suprise me that the top teams are staying put. For me the way this episode unfolded
leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[rallycairn]

I certainly have no insider knowledge, but from all the links provided it does appear at least on the surface that Zoueva has a history of (again, appearing to) plots to get rid of other coaches. Maybe this isn't the way it happened at all, but Zhuk and at least one other coach mentioned in the links upthread? All with these letters to management/federations/clubs/higher-ups.

I just would hope that if one professional has a problem with another professional, that (as long as no one is in danger of physical harm, such as sexual harrassment or something like that) the first professional could go to the other one and try to hash out the problem first rather than reporting things to rinks/management/federations and so forth as a first or primary course of action. Makes Zoueva, if these accounts are at all true, appear unprofessional and not straight dealing.

Maybe she did try to work things out with Shpilband first, although that does not seem to be the case from the information we have. Perhaps we will learn more as the situation continues to unfold.