A Mass Exodus from Eteri's Group

Tutto · Mar 9, 2016

Quite a few skaters left the group of Eteri Tutberidze this season - Serafima, Yulia, Adian and now Sergei Voronov (the latter though not confirmed officially but certain enough).

What's going on? Is it a coincidence and the skaters each left for the reasons of their own, or there is the underlying cause uniting all the departures? Is a tough, goal oriented style of coaching Eteri is known for to blame and the skaters are looking for more caring environment?

Interestingly both skaters who went to work with Zueva last spring - Yulia & Adian left Eteri. Yulia if I remember correctly was surprised how different their coaching methods were. Was it beginning of the end for her & Eteri?
What do you think?

Sorrento · Mar 9, 2016

Tutto said:
Was it beginning of the end for Eteri?
What do you think?

Her group is still big and has a top winning athlete of the season. I don't think that if a few athletes have decided to find the new coaches and methods of traing then it's an issue. People move on with their life, it's the way life is.
Where did Serafima go?

sneakers · Mar 9, 2016

so we are now purging on Tuberidze ?

c'mon she still has her star pupils Evgenia and Polina
and younger skaters like Skirda

I do notice though most of her skaters leave as they get older

Tutto · Mar 9, 2016

Sorrento said:
Her group is still big and has a top winning athlete of the season. I don't think that if a few athletes have decided to find the new coaches and methods of traing then it's an issue. People move on with their life, it's the way life is.
Where did Serafima go?

I said the beginning of the end for Yulia & Eteri if you read it correctly. My post does not imply in any way that Eteri is done & gone but rather invites to discuss the possible reasons for what happened

mrrice · Mar 9, 2016

Tutto said:
I said the beginning of the end for Yulia & Eteri if you read it correctly. My post does not imply in any way that Eteri is done & gone but rather invites to discuss the possible reasons for what happened

Well, I think it's natural that as a performer gets older, they may need to hear a different opinion. They may also need to be pushed ( For their own good ) in a new direction. Like skating, dancers can get bored after hearing the same advice over and over. I have certainly had dancers move on to other activities like Cheerleading. Here's the thing. I'd rather have a talented student move on to someone else, than lose interest and quit the sport altogether.

silverfoxes · Mar 9, 2016

I don't think the alarmist thread title was necessary. All of these cases are different and Eteri is still acquiring new skaters. She has about 2 dozen in total. Do you know any other high level coach with that many?

Serafima has always maintained she went back to SPB for family reasons. I see no reason to doubt her.

Yulia was dealing with newfound fame and attention after the Olympics, and it was probably very hard to find motivation for her. On top of that - puberty. I can see why she needed a change.

Adian, from the little I know about his switch...probably was attracted to CSKA by the better conditions they offer. I think almost every skater at some point desires a change of scenery, or has learned all they could from their current coach & want to try something new, and he's been with Eteri since he was very young. If he was going to switch, better to do it now than one season before the Olympics.

Sergei...what is the source of this info and where is he going? If it's true, then I would suppose that maybe he sees that Eteri & co. have taken him as far as they could (and they did help him quite a lot). It's probably not easy to be 28 and surrounded by dozens of young kids every day. He must know he doesn't have all the time in the world and if he's going to try to advance any further, maybe he has decided to look elsewhere. But where??

Tutto · Mar 9, 2016

^
Titles are to grab the attention

According to Russian forums Sergei moved to TSKA.

Sorrento · Mar 9, 2016

Tutto said:
I said the beginning of the end for Yulia & Eteri if you read it correctly.

The end of their fruitful relationship happenned long before she went to Marina actually. Lots of discussions on that was on Russian forums during last season. They split. Both happily go on with their careers. Good luck to both of them.

mrrice · Mar 9, 2016

I'm going to add one more comment on this subject. If you're from the US, you have probably seen the show "Dance Mom's" Obviously, I don't know the dynamics of their personal relationships. However, sometimes Parents can really get in the way of a coach and their student. Jennifer Capriati and Jelena Dokic both had Parents who would constantly interfere in the their child's training.

Jelena is actually from Serbia and she ended up moving to Australia because her Father didn't think she was receiving enough attention from the Serbian Foundation. In Jennifer's case. She was a teenage "Phenom" and just wanted a normal life. She even quit the sport for a while before coming back and achieving her greatest success. She always said it was due to the fact that she came back "On Her Own Terms"

The skater has to want it or it won't matter who their coach is.

drivingmissdaisy · Mar 9, 2016

I think it's understandable if the skater feels they aren't getting enough attention and focus. In Julia's case, she went from being the star pupil to Evgenia's understudy so it was probably a difficult situation (especially because Julia's success was largely responsible for Eteri's rise in prominence as an elite coach). For Eteri, choosing between a very good skater and one who many believe could be the greatest of all time is an easy decision. She clearly wants to spend most of her time nurturing Evgenia's extreme talent.

Sam-Skwantch · Mar 9, 2016

drivingmissdaisy said:
I think it's understandable if the skater feels they aren't getting enough attention and focus. In Julia's case, she went from being the star pupil to Evgenia's understudy so it was probably a difficult situation (especially because Julia's success was largely responsible for Eteri's rise in prominence as an elite coach). For Eteri, choosing between a very good skater and one who many believe could be the greatest of all time is an easy decision. She clearly wants to spend most of her time nurturing Evgenia's extreme talent.

Zhenia is believed to be the greatest of all time.

drivingmissdaisy · Mar 9, 2016

Sam-Skwantch said:
Zhenia is Bieved to be the greatest of all time.

I don't think so, but a lot of people (including commentators) think she is headed in that direction. If she wins worlds she will already have the greatest senior debut season in history.

mrrice · Mar 9, 2016

drivingmissdaisy said:
I don't think so, but a lot of people (including commentators) think she is headed in that direction. If she wins worlds she will already have the greatest senior debut season in history.

Really? Wow. How old is she? I thought she was 17 or 18. I guess skaters are becoming seniors at a later than age they used to. I thought maybe Michelle or Tara were the youngest World Champions.

Tutto · Mar 9, 2016

TBH of all them, Adian leaving was the most surprising to me. If with Yulia it was just a matter of time (and finding where to go) Adian moving to Vodorezova to train alongside Maxim struck me as odd. Yes, the conditions in TSKA could be the best in Russia but it is not like Sambo is poorly funded or supported either.

The latest on Sergei - he is with Goncharenko apparently

Sam-Skwantch · Mar 9, 2016

mrrice said:
Really? Wow. How old is she? I thought she was 17 or 18. I guess skaters are becoming seniors at a later than age they used to.

She is 16

mrrice · Mar 9, 2016

Sam-Skwantch said:
She is 16

16........I couldn't have performed as well as she does when I was that age. I could hit the right notes but, she's like an actress on skates. Bravo!!

Now, I just checked and Tara and Michelle were both younger than Med is now when they won their World Championship Titles. Here's my question. Haven't the rules changed about when a skater can compete as a Senior? I seem to remember hearing something about that.

Jaana · Mar 9, 2016

silverfoxes said:
Sergei...what is the source of this info and where is he going? If it's true, then I would suppose that maybe he sees that Eteri & co. have taken him as far as they could (and they did help him quite a lot). It's probably not easy to be 28 and surrounded by dozens of young kids every day. He must know he doesn't have all the time in the world and if he's going to try to advance any further, maybe he has decided to look elsewhere. But where??

Besides, maybe this just is as far as Voronov is able to go whover the coach might be....

Sam-Skwantch · Mar 9, 2016

Agree!! She has been on fire the last two seasons. The only hiccup I recall was at the Russian Cup finals last year where I think she had two Pogorilaya type falls in her SP. She got up and and nailed her FS. Crisis averted.

silverfoxes · Mar 9, 2016

Jaana said:
Besides, maybe this just is as far as Voronov is able to go whover the coach might be....

And how will he know unless he tries? I'm sure plenty of people already tried to write him off before he had his best season in 2014-15. He is 5 years younger than Menshov and Plushenko.

StitchMonkey · Mar 9, 2016

mrrice said:
Really? Wow. How old is she? I thought she was 17 or 18. I guess skaters are becoming seniors at a later than age they used to. I thought maybe Michelle or Tara were the youngest World Champions.

Well skaters are becoming senior later because they have to reach a minimum age that Tara and Michelle were not subjected to for one thing.

But youngest does not mean greatest senior debut season. Tara was younger when she won her first world title, but she was 15th her first year at senior worlds and did not win till the second. Michelle's debut was 8th, it took her till her third trip to win any medal (gold in this case).

Regardless of if Evgenia is 10, 12, 15, 20 or 25, this is still her first season as a senior and she has manged to win the GPF and Europeans, and frankly I think she will do better than 8th at worlds this year. Even a medal at your first worlds, let alone first worlds during your first year as a senior, is impressive... and she could win the gold.

So yes her senior debut is impressive, but that does no relate to her age, or her long term projections.

A Mass Exodus from Eteri's Group

Tutto

Sorrento

sneakers

Match Penalty

Tutto

mrrice

silverfoxes

Tutto

Sorrento

mrrice

drivingmissdaisy

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”

drivingmissdaisy

mrrice

Tutto

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”

mrrice

Jaana

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”

silverfoxes

StitchMonkey

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