- Joined
- Feb 19, 2014
Interesting to see another side of Alina. That‘s what she‘s gonna be once she‘s stopped skating: A coach! And I bet she‘ll be a great one! A bit softer than Eteri, I believe which isn‘t really a bad thing. Didn‘t she say somewhere that she wants to coach anyway, when her skating career is over?
I have never seen Sabina actually perform. How good is she? I‘m a bit worried for her, though. Having a bigger sister who‘s an OGM can‘t be easy, especially if you‘re in the same sports as she is. I mean, you‘ll always get compared to her, won‘t you? And people might expect great things and medals and stuff from Sabina because Alina got them and everything. I hope she continues to be happy with skating without additional pressure.
Here are some more quotes from the interview where Alina spoke about being a coach. Spoken like a coach's daughter. I'm happy she can see a future for herself after competitive skating. It sounds like she has a good perspective on it -
Zagitova disappeared in the locker room to go out for a few minutes on the ice as a coach. About forty children from the age of 5 to 8 years old - beginning figure skaters of a dozen Izhevsk sections and sports schools - gathered at the master class . Alina was assisted by Natalya Alekseevna Antipina and Larissa Gennadievna Sanina - her first coaches who gave her a strong start, taught her how to work at the limit of her strength, instilled the attitude to victories and defeats necessary for professional athletes.
Alina worked with children calmly and patiently, several times showing an ideal performance of the basic elements of the figure skating. With babies who could not cope with the change of legs, they worked individually. Constantly encouraged, let me believe that they are doing everything right.
- What is the main advice you give to all young athletes - not only those who came to your master class?
- The most important thing is to believe in yourself and love figure skating. It is generally to love one's business and not give up, if something is not right right now. In any success, the main thing is work. So you need to do more, train more. Make an effort, do not be disappointed if the task is not given easily.
- You very confidently held on as a coach.
"I was worried about how it would go." The work of the coach is very difficult (since my dad is a hockey coach, I knew this always). In our lesson, I focused on initial training, because correctly performing the basic movements is the most important for the starting athletes. If they make mistakes in the initial things, then they simply can not go to the next level.
- Do you see yourself as a coach after the completion (hopefully not soon) of a sports career?
- Yes, I want to become a coach in the to give his experience to athletes, to support, to inspire.
- You started the master class with the showing of your greeting from the trainer - an elegant "curtsey" with great, almost ballet, hand gestures. And they asked the children to finish their lesson with the same kind of gratitude and gratitude. For you, is the coach an absolute authority?
- Yes, otherwise there will be no result. The coach sees you from the side, critically marks your weaknesses - those that you will not turn to. The Olympics confirmed for me not only that you need to believe in yourself and continue to do your work.
I was convinced of another important things - you need to trust the coach. Do not argue with him, agree with everything
he offers. All the comments of my coach improved my skating, made the performance stronger.
- And what should be the relationship with the coach? You somehow said that at the beginning of the work with Eteri
Tutberidze they were afraid of her, and then relations became more friendly.
"It's not even fear." A coach can be a friend, a person you completely trust, but there must always be a distance. I spend
more time with the coach than with my relatives, to some extent she is like my mother, but this does not mean that I feel
treat myself with her as equals. This should not be. This is the correct subordination. Whatever success you as an athlete has achieved, the trader continues to educate you, form a champion of you.
But Alina said that she's prepared for the exams, so I trust her and I think she'll receive great marks