A new interesting interview. Nikolai Moroshkin is a young skating skills coach at Moskvina school, working with her pairs and Daineko's boys. The text is long, so I am posting a link and the translation of the beginning and the pair-related part here. You can find the rest with the men-related part on the Russian Men thread.
Николай Морошкин — о Бойковой/Козловском и Мишиной/Галлямове, талантах петербургских одиночников и важности правильно кататься с детства.
matchtv.ru
WHY DO SINGLE SKATERS NEED TO GLIDE IF THEY CAN JUMP, AND HOW SHOULD YOU PROPERLY LACE UP YOUR SKATES? WE TALKED TO A COACH IN TAMARA MOSKVINA CLUB
Anastasia Panina
January 16, 16: 35
Photo: © RIA Novosti / Alexander Wilf, instagram of Nikolai Moroshkin
Nikolay Moroshkin about Boykova/Kozlovsky and Mishina/Gallyamov, the talents of St. Petersburg single skaters and the importance of proper skating since childhood.
27-year-old Nikolay Moroshkin, who was previously an ice dancer with Evgenia Kosygina, has become an integral part of Tamara Moskvina's club — he works not only with her leading and Junior pairs, but also participates in the training of singles of Veronika Daineko's group.
It is always interesting to talk to young coaches in top teams: a young specialist needs to be professional, confident and charismatic in order to impress an experienced coach who has trained more than one champion, and to be hired. The responsibility for a young coach in this regard is no less than for the athletes.
The Match TV correspondent spoke with Nikolai Moroshkin shortly after the resumption of training during the new year holidays. It turned out to be a dynamic sensible interview - in fact about work, but at the same time about a dream.
Why do single skaters need to learn to glide?
Whose program staged by Moroshkin we could see this season
What do ice dancing and pair skating have in common?
How to make students mind you when they are only a few years younger than you
What makes single skaters from St. Petersburg stand out?
Weak or strong — how to properly lace up your shoes. The opinion of the skating skills coach
Change a skater's wrong technique — is it possible?
Tamara Moskvina, Nikolai Moroshkin and Artur Minchuk in the championship of Russia / Photo: © Dmitry Calepin / Match TV
«SINGLE SKATERS ARE FOCUSED ON JUMPING, AND MANY OF THEM DON'T PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO ANYTHING ELSE AT ALL. MY GOAL IS TO HELP ATHLETES LOVE SKATING SKILLS»
— How would you explain to someone who is far from figure skating what your job is? What does cooperation with a skating skills coach do for single skaters, for example?
— This is a very good question, I would like to get an answer to it myself. (He laughs.) In addition to working with them on choreography, I try to teach the athlete to love figure skating through skating itself. Single skaters are focused on jumping, while many people don't pay much attention to anything else — choreography, gliding, and spinning. My main task is to help the athlete love gliding. Show that it can be fun, can be easily obtained through technical methods, and can look cool.
Athletes and I try to be unusual in terms of movements during training, try difficult turns in the step sequences, head and body movements. My main achievement so far in the Department of single skating (I'm talking about Veronika Daineko's group at Tamara Moskvina's school. - "Match TV") during the time of my work is that athletes have fallen in love with skating skills. They can glide for an hour, they have a large set of technical skills, they are happy to demonstrate it. They try something and experiment on their own.
If the athlete doesn't give rein to imagination, he will not show his personality on the ice.
Veronica Daineko, Pyotr Gumennik and Nikolai Moroshkin at the national Championships 2021 / Photo: © Dmitry Calepin / Match TV
— Do you also work on competition programs?
— I staged a short program for Nikolai Ugozhaev this season. It is impossible not to mention the wonderful choreo of Nikita Mikhailov, whom we invite — he staged a short program for Pyotr Gumennik, both programs for Andrey Kutovoy, and a free program for Kolya Ugozhaev.
I work closely with all the guys on the step sequences in the programs.
The audience needs to understand that the composition is a template that is set by the choreographer and finalized by the coach. I would compare this to the fact that a choreographer sows a seed - an idea, and our task is to grow it. Over time, many transitions change, and more convenient steps are sought. Step sequences are adjusted from such a point of view that they can be clearly read by the technical team. In other words, as a skating skills coach, I have the right to intervene and change something, but we try to do it carefully, because Nikita Mikhailov works very well.
— Is there a specificity in work with pairs? Pair skating is closer to you in its meaning, because there is interaction between partners, as in dancing?
— It's really more like dancing, because skating between a boy and a girl is always about relationships and interaction. My work consists in the following: I choreograph programs for our juniors who have qualified for the championship, and I also work with our new couple Evgenia Tumanova/Georgy Kunitsa — a boy who moved to us from Tutberidze - I try to find new images for them. It's still a little easier for me to work with them than with singles, because I've been doing dancing all my life — transitions, step sequences, some kind of signature moves. It's great fun.
Photo: © Denis Gladkov / Match TV
— If you take our two leading pairs Boykova-Kozlovsky and Mishina-Gallyamov, working with them I take part in program transitions. I suggest something, work it out, add it, but I don't stage it myself without the approval of Artur Minchuk and Tamara Moskvina. I also choreograph step sequences, and also work with them while they practice: I perform my dancing duties, in general. So that each step is executed synchronously and is technically correct.
— What are they like at work? I mean Anastasia and Alexander and Alexandra and Dmitry. So young, but already loved by the audience, with international awards. Boykova and Kozlovsky are actually reigning European Champions. Tell us about each pair, what is special about them.
- Nastya Mishina and Sasha Gallyamov joined us in the spring. Working with them is productive — you can see that the guys are hungry, want to win, and listen very carefully. They don't just listen to the comments of their coaches but use their intelligence and try to fix everything. In this regard, they are making a big leap forward, they are doing great.
Sasha Boykova and Dima Kozlovsky skate powerfully, train hard. When they perform elements, it's wow. And not only in competitions, but also in training, they do everything in a way we call "expensive". Their big plus is that they are already stately, synchronous, brought to a certain high level by Tamara Nikolaevna and Artur Minchuk. Together they are bright representatives of the St. Petersburg school of pair figure skating.
- Alexandra and Dmitry, in my opinion, even from the outside look like natural born Petersburgers — intelligence and dignity to a high degree.
- Exactly. So I think their short program is very suitable for them (to the music of Isaac Schwartz. - Match TV). When it is brought to perfection — and it will be - it will impress even more. But they also convey emotions well in the free. They have passion and fire.
Alexandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky / Photo: © Oleg Bukharev / Match TV
— You have a very small age difference with your students. Does this cause any difficulties? How do you manage to make them mind you?
— I can say that I never even thought about it. We must pay tribute to the guys — thanks to them, we do not have such problems. They may not think that we have a small age difference, or they may just trust me as a specialist. They listen, do not allow themselves any unnecessary statements or bad behavior. They behave with dignity.
