You should provide a link where she says “Aliona was a nobody before me, I taught her everything she knows” or else those are empty words.
Anna left out on the street? Come on, Jesus Christ
The rest is just pure nonsense, oh man.
Russian parents DO pay for the sport in Russia up until a certain age. Fed requires certain level to be achieved by the athlete before they can give funding to that athlete, it’s not free for everyone.
YOU should provide a link where I said that "it was free for everyone", or else "those are empty words" (your words, not mine) ! I never said that in Russia it was free for EVERYONE.
Are you completely distorting my statements
on purpose...?
Apparently, I have to start explaining from the beginning.
In Russia, there are commercial groups at many skating clubs where a child can start skating at 2 or 3 or whatever; their parents would have to PAY for that. Once the child reaches a certain age / level - which is NOT the same thing, by the way - he can apply to a state-sponsored sports school. Or, in case he doesn't want to or hasn't reached the required level of skills - he can keep skating at the commercial club and keep paying for that.
Once the young athlete has been accepted to the state-sponsored sports school - he doesn't have to pay for the ice time and coaching at an hourly/monthly rate. Tutberidze's senior national level girls don't pay her for coaching at an hourly rate. Whereas, as we all know very well, the system in the U.S. and Canada, for example, is very different. Brian Orser has openly stated that he gets paid at an hourly rate, including by the Russian skater Medvedeva.
Again, I'm NOT saying that Russian somewhat-accomplished athletes pay for nothing at all out of their own pocket. Inna Goncharenko once said that Elena Radionova's parents always had to pay for ADDITIONAL stuff, which wasn't provided by that state-sponsored school/club. Additional choreography, off-ice training, maybe rehab etc. That's how Goncharenko explained some of the coaching changes - that not every time the athlete is unhappy with the coach in particular and that's why he leaves; he may be looking for better conditions - a school/club where more stuff is available without additional charges. I'm saying that the somewhat-accomplished athletes at state-sponsored sports schools/clubs don't pay for the MAIN part of the training.
...which leads us to the next topic, the infamous "podkatki" (RUS "подкатки"). It's a common practice that young skaters who (/whose parents) feel that they don't have enough ice time at their school/club and/or enough of the coach's attention, they can take additional lessons, possibly at another ice rink, with another coach. Of course, they have to pay for that. In fact, it's rather common that the parents of very young Russian skaters complain on the web about coaches pressuring them into these additional lessons - because for many of them that's a wonderful source of additional income.
And this is where it gets interesting... Does Eteri Tutberidze allow HER skaters to have these "podkatki" - additional lessons with another coach ? She does NOT. NEITHER does she agree to offer more individual attention to this or that skater. In other words, if you skate at Sambo-70 and Tutberidze ignores you - you are screwed ! You can't get more attention out of her, at any cost, NEITHER are you allowed to look for help outside of Sambo-70, in case you need help with the triples or whatever.
... which leads us to - what happened with Trusova & Kostornaia ?! And also with Medvedeva after the Olympics, when she reportedly wanted an outside choreographer. Personally, I don't think that for a 2-time World Champion, Olympic silver medalist who has skated in seniors for 3 seasons - that it's such a scandalous and unacceptable request to make... Sure, Sambo-70 had no obligation to pay for this, but neither did Tutberidze have the right to blow up and reprimand Medvedeva in national media for making such a request.
We don't know yet what exactly happened with Trusova & Kostornaia - they both said that they wanted more INDIVIDUAL attention. We don't know if they meant more attention from Tutberidze in particular or (also) someone from outside Sambo-70. But if they meant simply Tutberidze - apparently it's not possible to get even that... Again, in case Kostornaia as the currently leading ladies skater in the world who needs to prepare for the Olympics in 18 months time - if she asked for a 30 minutes private x 3 times a week (that's a speculation !), would it really be
sooo outrageous and inappropriate ?
Finally, regarding Anna Shcherbakova and kicking her "out on street"... Yes, I'm intentionally being dramatic - because it's ridiculous. Like I explicitly explained above - once a skater has reached a level where she gets accepted to a state-sponsored sports school, her parents shouldn't have to pay for everything-EVERYTHING out of their own pocket anymore. Anna clearly had reached that level - otherwise she wouldn't have been accepted at Sambo-70 to begin with, right ? Then, when all of the coaches at Sambo-70 decide that they don't have the time to deal with her - she should have the option to KEEP SKATING and get the help from someone from the outside who has the time for her (for a certain $$), so she can fix her triples and become interesting for Tutberidze's team again. Or, she should have the option to go to another state-sponsored sports school/club, maybe a bit lower level, where a somewhat less prominent coach would work with her. Wouldn't either one of these options be simply FAIR ??
But here's the problem - she was left stuck, with NEITHER one of these 2 options. Because, like I said, Tutberidze doesn't allow anyone from her group to take additional lessons from outside coaches. If you want to work with someone else, you have to leave completely. No group ice time at Sambo any more, no off-ice training, no nothing. Neither could Anna switch to another school/club because she was kicked out outside of the so-called "transfer window". There was no state-sponsored place for her anywhere, because for regular skaters the transfer window is taken seriously. Her state-sponsored place was left behind her at Sambo until next April 1. Until this date, her only option to skate AT ALL was - for her parents to pay for everything. Which I don't think was fair.
No one worries about them. 
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