Interesting interview by FFKKR's press representative Olga with ISU technical specialist Aleksandr Kuznetsov about the results of Junior Test Skates, the advances internet brought to skating worldwide, the path to the future for Russia's figure skating, the challenges for the boys now advancing.
Here is my take on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH86FCYmlLo:
"Today we have finished the junior figure skating team test skates.
These are the traditional pre-seasonal skates, today we had the free program, yesterday the short
What do the final results tell us?
First, overall impression.
The general impression is that our juniors began to skate with more quality, maturity, and in relation to previous seasons' comments which we gave them.
These all related to immature skating and skating for children and youths.
Now we see that most athletes have crossed this barrier of children's skating and are now showing mature skating, good skating skills. And generally many athletes showed a level of skating which is sometimes not even available to adult athletes.
This also applies to elements, this also applies to connecting elements between jumping elements, spins.
That is, there are several athletes who show this mature skating level.
First and foremost this concerns those girls who paid attention to every gesture, every movement, completed-ness of their elements and this is a very good sign for the future.
Because we are very often talking about the fact that adult athletes are incomparably better skating in relation to juniors, while juniors incomparably better do their elements, especially jumps.
Now, I cannot talk that way, because the juniors also displayed mature skating, most of them.
I don't agree on the position that young children cannot skate like the adults, some kids skate better than adults!
if we are to look back at some previous cycles, then 10-15 years ago most adult skaters didn’t skate like that.
When it comes to single skating for youths, boy and girls separately, to me for example, the skating level of the girls impressed me very much, and sometimes I perceived the skating of some girls as 'the skating of dreams'
Being a coach a long time ago, to me it seemed like such a level of technical and choreographic preparation was unattainable, and now I see it live, this is astounding, this is a dream come true, here and now. I want to note the efforts of choreographers and trainers.
On the other hand, probably now with the tendencies of the modern world, information becomes more available, it becomes easier to disassemble the elements into micro-elements and certainly we can achieve some wonderful complex technical stuff at lower cost because achievements of modern contemporary computerisation are such that we can easily just break down the element frame by frame in slow motion. It all affects techniques for the execution of elements. Amazing choice of music, amazing choice of every kind of choreographic movements.
It seems to me that the girls, junior ladies are displaying skating of the future now, setting the trend in a world figure skating for the next 4 or 8 years.
Our girls who skated here, unfortunately there were only a small number of girls, but they showed the whole gamut of beauty, namely ladies figure skating beauty, and fantastic elements and all of it flavoured with great artistic mastery.
This, for me is very, very nice to see that the common efforts by professionals and judges and coaches weren't in vain but resulted in such skating, today I saw the skating of our dreams.
Speaking of, I think of course that not all of these children will grow into adult sportspersons, because of reasons beyond their control.
But there is hope that a certain number of these children will be in the same positions in which our adult skaters (mostly ladies) are in this very moment.
This concerns not only the gorgeous Kamila Valiyeva, it concerns another 3 or 4 wonderful girls. And it is pleasing they represent different coaching schools even if it seems to me they work in different directions but this is all gorgeous skating, mature and grown up.
(continued from the 6:35 mark)
As for mens, or rather not mens skating, youths skating, boys: here also appeared completely new athletes who we haven't seen yet in their junior age, this is their first season of skating in the juniors. This is a completely new generation of boys who have no authority, who boldly go doing heroics, boldly go into very complex elements, and I have the impression that they will succeed.
Concerning, again we won’t give names, we all know the winner of the Russian championship among juniors ....
On the other hand, they are in a slightly more difficult situation than the girls, there are fewer of them, they have more, probably psychological pressure on them, because they are used to being constantly blamed, scolded, and told that they’re not delivering. But it seems to me that this is untrue.
What's happening now for these little guys is: they look at the world surrounding them and since I think that they already have some kind of 'vantage point', they have their own opinion on figure skating, some styles are already forming and they have no prejudices against the complexity of some elements, especially jumps.
We see sets, even sometimes 3, 4 or 5, from a variety of quadruple jumps in training so far, and I'm sure that as adults they realize their dreams.
Concerning quadruple jumps, I think that one of them will already begin to jump the quad Aksel
I don’t know, I have a positive outlook. Looking with a fresh look at the skating runs with the juniors this season shows that trainers consider the rules, athletes are also interested in certain trends.
We now have an unconditionally open world and all kinds of information are available. Internet: you can browse and see any directions in choreography, you can listen to various music, dance and fulfil your dreams a lot easier it seems to me. A simple way, compared to how it was thirty, forty, fifty years ago when we only had rumours to go by: 'this has been said, that , this one did this element or another'. We right there this moment can see for certain now (nodding in the direction of the rink).
If we were just talking about the skating, and for sure thousands of people watched skating of boys and girls' free programs, now.
Of course, there are limitations, but we’ll fix them all the same and best at this age.
Certainly these (test) skates are important because all the specialists who watch the skates are set up to communicate with athletes, with trainers, with choreographers. Certainly we find understanding, I don’t see the slightest negative attitude towards those specialists who comment on the skates, I see only positivity in terms of what conclusions are being drawn.
Even now we have been in training for two or three days, we see a positive trend in terms of the fact that they listen to us, offer their own alternatives which we also comment on and take notion of. This is the common way forward, I would say.
We all know the junior team seems to me like never before more united and purposeful. This gives us hope that when our young athletes grow up, they will set a wonderful example of representing our country in the international arena and at an adult level.
It pleases me very much in saying we are at the stage of mutual understanding."
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Still, a very difficult interpretation, trying to stay true to the Russian original.
Thanks to the poster for pointing out errors
