Anna Shcherbakova
- Thread starter Roman09
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
Conversation between Anna Shcherbakova and Ilya Averbukh at VKFest. The video, unfortunately, is incomplete (it was cut off about 4 minutes before end), but the text is complete:
-Good afternoon! I wish everyone who watches us have a good time. I hope that this time will be useful for all of us, including myself, because for me this is an absolute premiere - this is the first time in my life I'm take an interview. Hundreds of times I myself answered the questions, but now it's the other way around. This is quite exciting, and I really hope that you will support me as an interviewer with your answers.
I thought for a long time which question I should start with, because no matter which question I choose, everything looks somehow trivial. And I decided to start with the question: Anya Shcherbakova - who are you?
-First of all, I also want to greet everyone who is here. Thank you for coming, thank you to all those people who are watching the broadcast. I also hope that our conversation today will be interesting for everyone.
Returning to the first question, I can say that this is a very global issue. In different periods of his life, a person can answer this question in different ways. And if I had been asked this question literally six months earlier or at any other moment of my sports career, when all my thoughts are occupied only with training and competition, then I would probably answer without hesitation: I am a figure skater who has clear goals, which every day in training does everything to achieve these goals. But now I can answer - I am the same person who is looking for himself, trying something new, sometimes learning from his mistakes, sometimes not knowing which choice is right, a person who consults with his family and friends, with someone who understands this better. That is, I improve, learn something new and enjoy every day, because great opportunities open up before me, and I try to use them. Something like that...
-Great! I think this is a great answer.
-Thanks!
- I was very afraid that you would be frightened and fall into a stupor, but you answered so well.
-Well, this question certainly makes me think about myself in general.
-Let's move on to figure skating. What is figure skating for you?
-Here, probably, I will partly return to my answer to the first question - in general, this is the work of my life at the moment, because from the age of three to this day, all my thoughts are filled with figure skating. I gradually and very systematically developed in this sport, reached some milestones, rose higher and higher. Probably, figure skating is what helps me realize myself, because it is in figure skating that I can show my success. And it really supports me, I am energized by the fact that so many people are interested in it, that they are following it. That is, not only me and my family can be proud of any of my minimal successes, but also many other people, my fans, and this is very cool, it energizes me.
-Do you remember that first day when you came on the ice and they gave you little skates? By the way, who bought you the first skates?
- This story is very interesting, life-like and, probably, not like a beautiful picture or a fairy tale. Initially, my older sister started figure skating. It was her own desire, she saw figure skating on TV and told her parents that she wanted to skate, that she would definitely succeed - and she began to practice. And I, as a younger sister, was brought there for the company - in order to make it more convenient to take everyone to the same place.
My first training session was also not like a beautiful fairy tale. What I remember, my first memories of the skating rink, is that I went out, walked on the ice, fell once - and did not understand why something could not work at all. I went again and fell again, upset. And at that moment my first coaches approached me, began to calm me down, said: “It’s okay, you now trying something new for yourself, it doesn’t work out for you, but you will work more on it and everything will become better - you won’t you will fall." That is, my first experience was to some extent instructive.
- But did you still want to do [figure skating] yourself, or did your parents suddenly see your talent and began to insist [on continuing to practice]?
- Well, it turns out that my parents brought me, and at the request of my older sister. But although I was brought to her company, it never happened that I was forced to train. For me, it was like this: my parents bring me to training, and I like it. They take me to a place where I like and I try something new. And although there was something good in learning new elements, but most of all I liked the moment when my first program was delivered to me. It was then that my eyes really lit up and I was already in a hurry to train.
They staged on the Pink Panther program for me. It seems to me that both as a first program and for me personally, it was the most suitable, because I remember all my emotions at my first competitions. I don’t remember at all the moments when I would go out on ice and think intently that I must definitely make some kind of jump. All I remember is how at one moment I looked at the judges, at another moment I made some movement, at some moment I smiled. And I liked all this so much, it was these moments of the competition that I loved the most. I always looked the judges in the eye, and if they smiled back at me, then for me it was the highest award. Therefore, at the time of the appearance of my first program, I had some kind of my own desire to practice figure skating, my eyes lit up.
-Hey, I think it's great! (applause)
-Thanks!
- You speak with such love about your parents, that they brought you [to figure skating]. Tell us about your family.
-If we talk about my parents, then my father and mother have never been involved in professional sports in their lives. My parents were primarily focused on their studies. Both of them graduated from Moscow State University. Education has always been their number one priority, and when they put us into sports, there were initially no plans for a professional sports career. It was just for general development, for the children to do something, not to be idle, to direct the energy in the right direction. And when for the first time, back in childhood, I had a situation of choosing between studies and figure skating, my parents always let me know that studies should come first, and if I can’t combine one with the other, then I need to choose studies. And only when they realized that figure skating for me is not just a hobby, but something more, they began to teach me to combine sports with study. They never gave me the opportunity to make a choice completely in favor of the sport. My studies have always been very important for them, and I am very grateful to them for this.
If we talk about sports, here I have always been extremely grateful to my parents, and now I am also grateful, because I know many such stories when other parents are so passionate about some kind of sport that they do not notice the desires of their child and push it themselves forward, forced, trying to realize some of their own ambitions. And my parents never coached me. There were no such situations when I would go out after training, come home, and my mother would teach me to jump the axel or do the cantilever at home. There was no such thing, and for this I am very grateful, because there is a coach on the ice. The coach will always tell you how to do it right. And my parents just supported me, that is, they supported me morally. In some situations, they behaved more strictly, in others - more gently. Sometimes they hugged and reassured me, and sometimes they made it clear that difficulties had to be endured and the work continued. In any case, it was always just moral support, but in no case teaching the technique of figure skating.
-In general, this is wonderful, because the parents of skaters very often begin to interfere in the training process and even make decisions about which coach is right for their child. Still, parents should trust the coach and your example is an absolute ideal. This is exactly what [parents] should do. Otherwise, there will be no result. It seems to you, parents, that your excessive energy is beneficial, but in fact it only interferes, often creates conflicts, this energy is destructive.
And, of course, we can't help but ask you about your first coach. You've already said about who lifted you off the ice, sent you in the right direction. Such people always remain in the shadows, but I really want to say a big thank to them.
-My first coaches are Oksana Mikhailovna Bulycheva and Yulia Aleksandrovna Krasinskaya. Oksana Mikhailovna taught me the basics of figure skating, I studied my first jumps with her, she took me to the first competitions in my life, set me up for these tournaments. And I probably don't remember everything from my childhood workouts, but one piece of advice I got from her has stayed in my head throughout my career.
At that time my first competitions were held, and the coach - he is always strict in some situations. In training with children, it is not always necessary to lisp, because they are athletes anyway. And at some point at the competition, when she saw that I was worried - my first tournament after all - she told me: “I never scold skaters for the way they performed at competitions. Whether you performed badly or well - I will not scold you, we will just analyze your mistakes. She told me: “I can scold you during training, because this is a work process, but competitions are already the result of our work, and I cannot scold you for this result. If we don’t like the result, then we just have to change something in training, we will work more on some components.” And I've never been scolded after a competition in my life. She said “Here we come to the competition, and you just have to show what we have been working on. And only then we will correct something with you, correct it in subsequent training sessions. And then I, perhaps, will scold you for something, and praise you for something. These words reassured me very much, and I still remember how she told me this in childhood, it really remained in me.
And Yulia Alexandrovna - she was a choreographer. It was she who staged my first programs for me - “The Pink Panther” and “The Addams Family” ....
- Say her name again, please.
- Yulia Alexandrovna Krasinskaya. She directed The Pink Panther and The Addams Family for me. These were very theatrical programs that I really liked and completely suited me. Probably, thanks to these programs, my desire to do figure skating intensified, because she managed to find what I like.
-I'm sure they're both very pleased to hear that right now. It's touching that you remember them. It is very very important to remember those people who move us forward. You just talked about your first tournament - do you remember this tournament well now?
- Well, I remember my first children's competition fragmentarily. I remember the moments when I looked at the judges, that is, I remember the episodes. I remember the first tournament, which then seemed to me significant for me, I got the first vivid emotions. It was the children's championship of Russia. I then won this tournament. It seems to me that at that moment I experienced such incredible joy - I even think that I have never experienced such sincere childish delight in any of my senior competitions. Because then I couldn’t even dream of such a thing, and my victory was something incredible for me. Then for the first time I skated cleanly, without errors, both programs, in which there were already 3 + 3 cascades. At that time I already performed with Daniil Markovich, and he was very worried about me. I just remember this delight - I was the last to speak, and they immediately announced that I took first place. It was completely pure childish joy, when there are no “buts”. I was just very happy and I didn’t have any thoughts like “but here there was something wrong, here I didn’t do it very well”. I experienced such complete delight that I still remember these emotions as one of the most vivid emotions I have ever received from winning [a competition].
-Wonderful! Tell me, what do you like more - training or competing?
- This is also quite an interesting moment, because we still train every day. And if you do not like to train, then it is probably very difficult to go to the starts through daily work. And, probably, it is necessary even in training at certain moments to rejoice and take pleasure the fact that you are improving, that you are doing something better. I think that I still like to compete more, because this is exactly the bright event that provides me with motivation for further training. But at the same time, I love to train too. Of course, there are difficult periods when you need to force yourself. This is my job - I come, do my job, I breathe a sigh of relief - like this. But there are also such trainings when everything works out, the strongest excitement appears, you want to achieve even more. At such moments, even coaches sometimes say: "That's it, Anya, that's enough, let's stop today."
-Good afternoon! I wish everyone who watches us have a good time. I hope that this time will be useful for all of us, including myself, because for me this is an absolute premiere - this is the first time in my life I'm take an interview. Hundreds of times I myself answered the questions, but now it's the other way around. This is quite exciting, and I really hope that you will support me as an interviewer with your answers.
I thought for a long time which question I should start with, because no matter which question I choose, everything looks somehow trivial. And I decided to start with the question: Anya Shcherbakova - who are you?
-First of all, I also want to greet everyone who is here. Thank you for coming, thank you to all those people who are watching the broadcast. I also hope that our conversation today will be interesting for everyone.
Returning to the first question, I can say that this is a very global issue. In different periods of his life, a person can answer this question in different ways. And if I had been asked this question literally six months earlier or at any other moment of my sports career, when all my thoughts are occupied only with training and competition, then I would probably answer without hesitation: I am a figure skater who has clear goals, which every day in training does everything to achieve these goals. But now I can answer - I am the same person who is looking for himself, trying something new, sometimes learning from his mistakes, sometimes not knowing which choice is right, a person who consults with his family and friends, with someone who understands this better. That is, I improve, learn something new and enjoy every day, because great opportunities open up before me, and I try to use them. Something like that...
-Great! I think this is a great answer.
-Thanks!
- I was very afraid that you would be frightened and fall into a stupor, but you answered so well.
-Well, this question certainly makes me think about myself in general.
-Let's move on to figure skating. What is figure skating for you?
-Here, probably, I will partly return to my answer to the first question - in general, this is the work of my life at the moment, because from the age of three to this day, all my thoughts are filled with figure skating. I gradually and very systematically developed in this sport, reached some milestones, rose higher and higher. Probably, figure skating is what helps me realize myself, because it is in figure skating that I can show my success. And it really supports me, I am energized by the fact that so many people are interested in it, that they are following it. That is, not only me and my family can be proud of any of my minimal successes, but also many other people, my fans, and this is very cool, it energizes me.
-Do you remember that first day when you came on the ice and they gave you little skates? By the way, who bought you the first skates?
- This story is very interesting, life-like and, probably, not like a beautiful picture or a fairy tale. Initially, my older sister started figure skating. It was her own desire, she saw figure skating on TV and told her parents that she wanted to skate, that she would definitely succeed - and she began to practice. And I, as a younger sister, was brought there for the company - in order to make it more convenient to take everyone to the same place.
My first training session was also not like a beautiful fairy tale. What I remember, my first memories of the skating rink, is that I went out, walked on the ice, fell once - and did not understand why something could not work at all. I went again and fell again, upset. And at that moment my first coaches approached me, began to calm me down, said: “It’s okay, you now trying something new for yourself, it doesn’t work out for you, but you will work more on it and everything will become better - you won’t you will fall." That is, my first experience was to some extent instructive.
- But did you still want to do [figure skating] yourself, or did your parents suddenly see your talent and began to insist [on continuing to practice]?
- Well, it turns out that my parents brought me, and at the request of my older sister. But although I was brought to her company, it never happened that I was forced to train. For me, it was like this: my parents bring me to training, and I like it. They take me to a place where I like and I try something new. And although there was something good in learning new elements, but most of all I liked the moment when my first program was delivered to me. It was then that my eyes really lit up and I was already in a hurry to train.
They staged on the Pink Panther program for me. It seems to me that both as a first program and for me personally, it was the most suitable, because I remember all my emotions at my first competitions. I don’t remember at all the moments when I would go out on ice and think intently that I must definitely make some kind of jump. All I remember is how at one moment I looked at the judges, at another moment I made some movement, at some moment I smiled. And I liked all this so much, it was these moments of the competition that I loved the most. I always looked the judges in the eye, and if they smiled back at me, then for me it was the highest award. Therefore, at the time of the appearance of my first program, I had some kind of my own desire to practice figure skating, my eyes lit up.
-Hey, I think it's great! (applause)
-Thanks!
- You speak with such love about your parents, that they brought you [to figure skating]. Tell us about your family.
-If we talk about my parents, then my father and mother have never been involved in professional sports in their lives. My parents were primarily focused on their studies. Both of them graduated from Moscow State University. Education has always been their number one priority, and when they put us into sports, there were initially no plans for a professional sports career. It was just for general development, for the children to do something, not to be idle, to direct the energy in the right direction. And when for the first time, back in childhood, I had a situation of choosing between studies and figure skating, my parents always let me know that studies should come first, and if I can’t combine one with the other, then I need to choose studies. And only when they realized that figure skating for me is not just a hobby, but something more, they began to teach me to combine sports with study. They never gave me the opportunity to make a choice completely in favor of the sport. My studies have always been very important for them, and I am very grateful to them for this.
If we talk about sports, here I have always been extremely grateful to my parents, and now I am also grateful, because I know many such stories when other parents are so passionate about some kind of sport that they do not notice the desires of their child and push it themselves forward, forced, trying to realize some of their own ambitions. And my parents never coached me. There were no such situations when I would go out after training, come home, and my mother would teach me to jump the axel or do the cantilever at home. There was no such thing, and for this I am very grateful, because there is a coach on the ice. The coach will always tell you how to do it right. And my parents just supported me, that is, they supported me morally. In some situations, they behaved more strictly, in others - more gently. Sometimes they hugged and reassured me, and sometimes they made it clear that difficulties had to be endured and the work continued. In any case, it was always just moral support, but in no case teaching the technique of figure skating.
-In general, this is wonderful, because the parents of skaters very often begin to interfere in the training process and even make decisions about which coach is right for their child. Still, parents should trust the coach and your example is an absolute ideal. This is exactly what [parents] should do. Otherwise, there will be no result. It seems to you, parents, that your excessive energy is beneficial, but in fact it only interferes, often creates conflicts, this energy is destructive.
And, of course, we can't help but ask you about your first coach. You've already said about who lifted you off the ice, sent you in the right direction. Such people always remain in the shadows, but I really want to say a big thank to them.
-My first coaches are Oksana Mikhailovna Bulycheva and Yulia Aleksandrovna Krasinskaya. Oksana Mikhailovna taught me the basics of figure skating, I studied my first jumps with her, she took me to the first competitions in my life, set me up for these tournaments. And I probably don't remember everything from my childhood workouts, but one piece of advice I got from her has stayed in my head throughout my career.
At that time my first competitions were held, and the coach - he is always strict in some situations. In training with children, it is not always necessary to lisp, because they are athletes anyway. And at some point at the competition, when she saw that I was worried - my first tournament after all - she told me: “I never scold skaters for the way they performed at competitions. Whether you performed badly or well - I will not scold you, we will just analyze your mistakes. She told me: “I can scold you during training, because this is a work process, but competitions are already the result of our work, and I cannot scold you for this result. If we don’t like the result, then we just have to change something in training, we will work more on some components.” And I've never been scolded after a competition in my life. She said “Here we come to the competition, and you just have to show what we have been working on. And only then we will correct something with you, correct it in subsequent training sessions. And then I, perhaps, will scold you for something, and praise you for something. These words reassured me very much, and I still remember how she told me this in childhood, it really remained in me.
And Yulia Alexandrovna - she was a choreographer. It was she who staged my first programs for me - “The Pink Panther” and “The Addams Family” ....
- Say her name again, please.
- Yulia Alexandrovna Krasinskaya. She directed The Pink Panther and The Addams Family for me. These were very theatrical programs that I really liked and completely suited me. Probably, thanks to these programs, my desire to do figure skating intensified, because she managed to find what I like.
-I'm sure they're both very pleased to hear that right now. It's touching that you remember them. It is very very important to remember those people who move us forward. You just talked about your first tournament - do you remember this tournament well now?
- Well, I remember my first children's competition fragmentarily. I remember the moments when I looked at the judges, that is, I remember the episodes. I remember the first tournament, which then seemed to me significant for me, I got the first vivid emotions. It was the children's championship of Russia. I then won this tournament. It seems to me that at that moment I experienced such incredible joy - I even think that I have never experienced such sincere childish delight in any of my senior competitions. Because then I couldn’t even dream of such a thing, and my victory was something incredible for me. Then for the first time I skated cleanly, without errors, both programs, in which there were already 3 + 3 cascades. At that time I already performed with Daniil Markovich, and he was very worried about me. I just remember this delight - I was the last to speak, and they immediately announced that I took first place. It was completely pure childish joy, when there are no “buts”. I was just very happy and I didn’t have any thoughts like “but here there was something wrong, here I didn’t do it very well”. I experienced such complete delight that I still remember these emotions as one of the most vivid emotions I have ever received from winning [a competition].
-Wonderful! Tell me, what do you like more - training or competing?
- This is also quite an interesting moment, because we still train every day. And if you do not like to train, then it is probably very difficult to go to the starts through daily work. And, probably, it is necessary even in training at certain moments to rejoice and take pleasure the fact that you are improving, that you are doing something better. I think that I still like to compete more, because this is exactly the bright event that provides me with motivation for further training. But at the same time, I love to train too. Of course, there are difficult periods when you need to force yourself. This is my job - I come, do my job, I breathe a sigh of relief - like this. But there are also such trainings when everything works out, the strongest excitement appears, you want to achieve even more. At such moments, even coaches sometimes say: "That's it, Anya, that's enough, let's stop today."
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
part 2:
-Tell me, do you worry a lot before competitions? Do you have some secret that makes it possible to pull yourself together when the body refuses to obey and you want to say “I won’t go there”. I used to have this feeling: “I won’t go there.” How did you manage yourself?
-(laughs) I think you actually know this secret too. I will say this: lately they often say about me that I cope well with nerves, and everything looks as if I don’t have this problem at all in competitions - but this was far from always the case. I had a period when I got seriously injured and missed a lot of competitions. And when I returned to the tournaments, I did not understand what was happening - I had a fear of performances. In training, I could cleanly execute the program ten times in a row, but in competitions I completely disrupted my performances, falling five times during the skating. So I go out on the ice, completely seized with fear, and after the first fall, I begin to wait for the program to end. It was a very terrible emotion that I would never want to experience again.
I tried to get rid of it, because the situation in which you are waiting for when all this will end, when you are not even trying to fix something, is the most wrong thing. I was in this state for the whole season. Constantly at the starts I had breakdowns. To be honest, at that moment I did not understand what was happening. Both coaches and parents tried to suggest something to me, but over time I realized that although I can listen and perceive their words and advice, nothing will change until I deal with it myself.
In training, I followed all the instructions of the coaches, I listened to them carefully, but still, I go out on the ice at competitions and nothing works. And I realized that at such moments everything depends on me and there is no need to shift the responsibility to someone and think: “probably everything will work out now, because I followed all the instructions of the coaches.” No, I need to pull myself together and do everything myself. I didn’t understand it right away, gradually - and began to perform at competitions better and better. Since then, I have never had a complete breakdown of the performance, when I would just wait for the end of skating, thinking something like: “It would be better if it ended as soon as possible, and after it I finally would be possible to fall under the ice through a shame.” No, I go out on the ice and I always have everything under control. And even if something doesn't work out, you have to fight for every step, for every element. As soon as I realized this, nothing like this has happened to me over the past few years, which I am very glad about.
- In general, you need to fight for every element. You already partly talked about it, but let's still remember the school again, because, as I'm sure, a lot of schoolchildren are looking at you now. How did your classmates treat you? This is such a generalized question. How was your training in general? How parents... but you already talked about it - what was more important for them? How was your school life in general?
- No matter how bad it may sound, but every year I was less and less able to attend school. For the first two or three years, I attended all school classes, like all other children. That is, the first school years, the first and second grades I have. I had training sessions early in the morning. Ice classes started at 6 o'clock in the morning. So my mother and I got up at four o'clock and she was a real hero. I was a child and normally perceived that we go to bed at seven o'clock in the evening and get up at four in the morning - then I understood little. But how my mother survived in such a regime - I just don’t know. Thank her very much for that, of course.
So we got up at four o'clock and went to training. Until seven in the morning I was on the ice, and by eight o'clock I managed to arrive at school. There was a full school day, all the lessons, and then I went to the second, daytime training. Thus, for the first few years I had a full-fledged school education. Then I moved to the group to Eteri Georgievna. There was already a completely different level of preparation, and at that time I had time to attend only two or three school lessons that took place in the morning - and then I went to training.
But you can’t go to the Tutberidze group just for fun in the style of “Here I do figure skating for my own pleasure, and as soon as I stopped liking it, I stopped going to training.” No, there is a serious approach. This is about when I realized that figure skating is not just a hobby, where I was taken just to skate, when I realized that I need to set goals for myself and achieve them, when I realized that figure skating is an opportunity take part in major international tournaments, and if I work, then I can succeed. I understood all this precisely after the transition to the group of Eteri Georgievna. She talks to you and explains that if you are in this group, then you must have goals. You can't skim aimlessly across the ice for your own pleasure.
At that moment, my parents and I realized that training is very important. Of course, I still completed all the tasks that I was given at school, but I had already started skipping classes. After ... After I gradually began to achieve some results, the first victories appeared at all-Russian tournaments - the Russian championship for skaters of my age, the stages of the Russian Cup, we began to travel to competitions in different cities, and I had to miss classes more and more often at school. Only in the mornings I managed to appear there for a couple of lessons, after which I ran away.
In my last school years, I used to go there before classes even started. Within 15 minutes, I had to run through the classrooms of all the teachers in order to give them completed assignments and take new ones. There was less and less time for all this. And in the most recent years, I studied remotely - to some extent this happened due to the coronavirus. This form of training made my life a little easier, because the daily marathon with running around the teachers' offices from the first floor to the fourth and back was quite hard.
In general, the last two years I studied remotely. And some teachers also watch figure skating and are fans. They congratulated me on my victories, said: “Anechka, we congratulate you on your victory in the next competition”, I told them “Thank you very much” and they ...
- And they give you a "three"?
- (Laughs) It happened too! But usually it was like this: “Thank you very much, and here is the biology assignment for you, I completed it and send it to you for verification.” That's how it was for me - I take part in competitions and simultaneously perform school tasks.
- I can imagine - here I have the Olympics starting and at the same time the assignment in biology comes. First I complete this task, and then I go to win the Olympics.
- (Laughs) Yes, exactly.
-Which university do you plan to go to?
- I have been saying for a long time that I first want to get an education as a coach, for the following reasons: firstly, figure skating - for me this is already such a field of activity in which I understand, which is very close to me, and I want I had the opportunity to try myself as a coach. I'm not talking about the fact that I have already decided everything for myself - no, I'm still in search, I'm trying to decide on my future.
Right now, I have already submitted documents to the selection committee in order to study in absentia as a coach. I want to plunge into all this even more, and, perhaps, learn something new for me, but from the side of the coach, not the athlete. But this particular year is like this for me - I try something new, I try to understand what else is interesting for me, besides figure skating. Because I would like to get a second education, not related to figure skating, education in some other area. I want to have some kind of alternative, because I'm generally a versatile person, and I'm interested in many things. The main thing is to understand what interests me the most.
- In connection with the word “Interesting” - tell me, do you have any creative hobbies, for example ... Well, do you like to read books, draw? Maybe you write poetry?
-In fact, in childhood ... More precisely, during the period when childhood turns into adolescence, I really composed something, wrote and tried to write some books. I have some sketches. But lately, no, lately I'm all about figure skating. There are, of course, different hobbies, but for now it's all somehow ... Well, I'm trying everything little by little.
-In any case, this is a very sincere answer. We're all a little shy about talking about things like this. Thank you for this sincerity! Have you ever kept a diary?
-There was a time when I tried to keep a diary, I kept a couple of notebooks. But I realized that ... I don’t know what this is connected with, but even when I am alone with myself, I do not record all my emotions on paper, I write very restrainedly. That is, I have one thing in my head, and I somehow covertly, veiled write. That is, even in the diary, I did not reveal everything. But the purpose of keeping a diary is to be as sincere as possible. And I realized that it is easier for me to conduct an internal dialogue with myself, but this does not work on paper. At some point, I stopped keeping a diary and since then I began to talk to myself more. It is important for me - sometimes after a hard day to come home and think about my thoughts, my feelings, decide what is closer to me, what I need to do in the future, in which direction to develop.
The bedtime self-talk that I think a lot of people have is my favorite, this is what I do. Inside myself, I think and discuss everything. It's probably easier for me to keep it all in my head.
-It is very interesting. That is, even with yourself, you behave as if you are waiting for someone to come and check.
- Well, yes, on paper I was even some kind of secretive.
- And today you are very open.
-I am doing my best...
-Tell me, do you worry a lot before competitions? Do you have some secret that makes it possible to pull yourself together when the body refuses to obey and you want to say “I won’t go there”. I used to have this feeling: “I won’t go there.” How did you manage yourself?
-(laughs) I think you actually know this secret too. I will say this: lately they often say about me that I cope well with nerves, and everything looks as if I don’t have this problem at all in competitions - but this was far from always the case. I had a period when I got seriously injured and missed a lot of competitions. And when I returned to the tournaments, I did not understand what was happening - I had a fear of performances. In training, I could cleanly execute the program ten times in a row, but in competitions I completely disrupted my performances, falling five times during the skating. So I go out on the ice, completely seized with fear, and after the first fall, I begin to wait for the program to end. It was a very terrible emotion that I would never want to experience again.
I tried to get rid of it, because the situation in which you are waiting for when all this will end, when you are not even trying to fix something, is the most wrong thing. I was in this state for the whole season. Constantly at the starts I had breakdowns. To be honest, at that moment I did not understand what was happening. Both coaches and parents tried to suggest something to me, but over time I realized that although I can listen and perceive their words and advice, nothing will change until I deal with it myself.
In training, I followed all the instructions of the coaches, I listened to them carefully, but still, I go out on the ice at competitions and nothing works. And I realized that at such moments everything depends on me and there is no need to shift the responsibility to someone and think: “probably everything will work out now, because I followed all the instructions of the coaches.” No, I need to pull myself together and do everything myself. I didn’t understand it right away, gradually - and began to perform at competitions better and better. Since then, I have never had a complete breakdown of the performance, when I would just wait for the end of skating, thinking something like: “It would be better if it ended as soon as possible, and after it I finally would be possible to fall under the ice through a shame.” No, I go out on the ice and I always have everything under control. And even if something doesn't work out, you have to fight for every step, for every element. As soon as I realized this, nothing like this has happened to me over the past few years, which I am very glad about.
- In general, you need to fight for every element. You already partly talked about it, but let's still remember the school again, because, as I'm sure, a lot of schoolchildren are looking at you now. How did your classmates treat you? This is such a generalized question. How was your training in general? How parents... but you already talked about it - what was more important for them? How was your school life in general?
- No matter how bad it may sound, but every year I was less and less able to attend school. For the first two or three years, I attended all school classes, like all other children. That is, the first school years, the first and second grades I have. I had training sessions early in the morning. Ice classes started at 6 o'clock in the morning. So my mother and I got up at four o'clock and she was a real hero. I was a child and normally perceived that we go to bed at seven o'clock in the evening and get up at four in the morning - then I understood little. But how my mother survived in such a regime - I just don’t know. Thank her very much for that, of course.
So we got up at four o'clock and went to training. Until seven in the morning I was on the ice, and by eight o'clock I managed to arrive at school. There was a full school day, all the lessons, and then I went to the second, daytime training. Thus, for the first few years I had a full-fledged school education. Then I moved to the group to Eteri Georgievna. There was already a completely different level of preparation, and at that time I had time to attend only two or three school lessons that took place in the morning - and then I went to training.
But you can’t go to the Tutberidze group just for fun in the style of “Here I do figure skating for my own pleasure, and as soon as I stopped liking it, I stopped going to training.” No, there is a serious approach. This is about when I realized that figure skating is not just a hobby, where I was taken just to skate, when I realized that I need to set goals for myself and achieve them, when I realized that figure skating is an opportunity take part in major international tournaments, and if I work, then I can succeed. I understood all this precisely after the transition to the group of Eteri Georgievna. She talks to you and explains that if you are in this group, then you must have goals. You can't skim aimlessly across the ice for your own pleasure.
At that moment, my parents and I realized that training is very important. Of course, I still completed all the tasks that I was given at school, but I had already started skipping classes. After ... After I gradually began to achieve some results, the first victories appeared at all-Russian tournaments - the Russian championship for skaters of my age, the stages of the Russian Cup, we began to travel to competitions in different cities, and I had to miss classes more and more often at school. Only in the mornings I managed to appear there for a couple of lessons, after which I ran away.
In my last school years, I used to go there before classes even started. Within 15 minutes, I had to run through the classrooms of all the teachers in order to give them completed assignments and take new ones. There was less and less time for all this. And in the most recent years, I studied remotely - to some extent this happened due to the coronavirus. This form of training made my life a little easier, because the daily marathon with running around the teachers' offices from the first floor to the fourth and back was quite hard.
In general, the last two years I studied remotely. And some teachers also watch figure skating and are fans. They congratulated me on my victories, said: “Anechka, we congratulate you on your victory in the next competition”, I told them “Thank you very much” and they ...
- And they give you a "three"?
- (Laughs) It happened too! But usually it was like this: “Thank you very much, and here is the biology assignment for you, I completed it and send it to you for verification.” That's how it was for me - I take part in competitions and simultaneously perform school tasks.
- I can imagine - here I have the Olympics starting and at the same time the assignment in biology comes. First I complete this task, and then I go to win the Olympics.
- (Laughs) Yes, exactly.
-Which university do you plan to go to?
- I have been saying for a long time that I first want to get an education as a coach, for the following reasons: firstly, figure skating - for me this is already such a field of activity in which I understand, which is very close to me, and I want I had the opportunity to try myself as a coach. I'm not talking about the fact that I have already decided everything for myself - no, I'm still in search, I'm trying to decide on my future.
Right now, I have already submitted documents to the selection committee in order to study in absentia as a coach. I want to plunge into all this even more, and, perhaps, learn something new for me, but from the side of the coach, not the athlete. But this particular year is like this for me - I try something new, I try to understand what else is interesting for me, besides figure skating. Because I would like to get a second education, not related to figure skating, education in some other area. I want to have some kind of alternative, because I'm generally a versatile person, and I'm interested in many things. The main thing is to understand what interests me the most.
- In connection with the word “Interesting” - tell me, do you have any creative hobbies, for example ... Well, do you like to read books, draw? Maybe you write poetry?
-In fact, in childhood ... More precisely, during the period when childhood turns into adolescence, I really composed something, wrote and tried to write some books. I have some sketches. But lately, no, lately I'm all about figure skating. There are, of course, different hobbies, but for now it's all somehow ... Well, I'm trying everything little by little.
-In any case, this is a very sincere answer. We're all a little shy about talking about things like this. Thank you for this sincerity! Have you ever kept a diary?
-There was a time when I tried to keep a diary, I kept a couple of notebooks. But I realized that ... I don’t know what this is connected with, but even when I am alone with myself, I do not record all my emotions on paper, I write very restrainedly. That is, I have one thing in my head, and I somehow covertly, veiled write. That is, even in the diary, I did not reveal everything. But the purpose of keeping a diary is to be as sincere as possible. And I realized that it is easier for me to conduct an internal dialogue with myself, but this does not work on paper. At some point, I stopped keeping a diary and since then I began to talk to myself more. It is important for me - sometimes after a hard day to come home and think about my thoughts, my feelings, decide what is closer to me, what I need to do in the future, in which direction to develop.
The bedtime self-talk that I think a lot of people have is my favorite, this is what I do. Inside myself, I think and discuss everything. It's probably easier for me to keep it all in my head.
-It is very interesting. That is, even with yourself, you behave as if you are waiting for someone to come and check.
- Well, yes, on paper I was even some kind of secretive.
- And today you are very open.
-I am doing my best...
Last edited:
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
part 3:
-Thank you very much for this. You have already talked a little about how your day is planned, how the time allotted for schooling gradually decreased in it. Tell me about your daily schedule when you train. So you woke up - and how much time do you have free, do you have time to rest a little, how great is the load.
-We have a day off every week. It can be any of the days of the week, but it is always there. The remaining six days are taken up with training. I am very grateful to Eteri Georgievna for the fact that she does not like to get up early, and we no longer have early training (laughs). As I said, as a child, we were already on the ice at six in the morning. And now our earliest training starts at nine or ten in the morning, it never happens before, for which I thank the coaches (laughs).
Well, in the beginning we always have choreography in the morning. These are classic ballet exercises...
-So you're not practicing on ice in the morning?
- No, it always starts in the hall. It never happens that we immediately went out on the ice. Before training on the ice, we should always have a warm-up or some other exercise necessary in order to fully prepare the body, warm up the muscles. In general, most often the morning begins with choreography. For 45 minutes or an hour we study with a teacher who specializes in this area. This is most often a ballerina. For a very long time, Lyudmila Borisovna Shalashova conducted these classes with us, this is the mother of Daniil Markovich Gleikhengauz. I think that everyone who worked with us is very grateful to her. This is an incredible person - talented and understanding.
She not only taught ballet with us, she talked a lot with us, helped us during training. She told her stories about ballet, shared her experience with us, helped us a lot. I am very grateful to her for everything she gave me, I studied and communicated with her a lot, and it developed me.
In general, choreography is very important for figure skating, because although figure skating is a sport, it is a sport in which there is art. And I really want the spectators at figure skating competitions not only to observe the set of elements performed by athletes, but to live the story that is included in the program, so that these people are touched by something in skating, so that they see it as a small theatrical performance. And, of course, in order to achieve this, choreography and dance classes are required.
In general, the morning begins with choreography, then we go out on the ice. Morning practice on the ice takes an hour and a half. The training includes additional skating, which I do with Daniil Markovich. At the same time, sliding on ice is practiced. Usually, everything is done like this - during the morning session, a complete skate of the short program is performed, and during the evening session, the skate of the free program is performed. So in the morning we are working on the short program. And there is such a rule - until you do your job well, the training does not end.
We are usually told at the beginning what the training plan is. In addition to the whole short program skating, there may be purposeful work on certain elements. That is, you clearly know your goal, and you need to accurately plan your training in time and be sure to complete the task. And if the goal is to complete a short program, then at the end of the session you can’t say: “Oh, I worked too hard on this element, I don’t have time.” This does not happen, it is necessary to do the work.
In general, in the morning we are working on a short program, then we have a short break. And right after the morning workout, we still have stretching exercises, the purpose of which is to relax the muscles after exercise. Then a break, during which you can relax, have lunch, study. Then we return to the training process. We start training in the gym, where we practice jumps, which are then performed on the ice. In addition, there are general physical training classes. The second training session on ice is as close as possible to the competition mode.
The coaches try to make sure that by the time of the competition we have everything already fully worked out, so we go out on the ice and we have a six-minute warm-up, as it happens in tournaments. In addition, there is a draw - each of us gets a random number, and no one knows in which order we will skate. Everyone has their favorite and least favorite numbers. Someone likes to perform first, someone, on the contrary, prefers to go out on the ice at the end.
Immediately after the draw, we go out for a six-minute warm-up, as we do in competitions, then we all go over the side and one by one do our programs. Eteri Georgievna makes a printout for us with scores for each element, puts marks, pluses and minuses, determines the level of difficulty. After skating, we always come up to her and analyze each element, find out what was right and what was wrong. This happens every day and therefore by the day the competition starts, each of us already has a lot of experience, we already know our strengths and weaknesses. In general, we prepare ourselves to the maximum.
- I really felt the whole process ...
- Yes, I tried to dip you into our everyday life as much as possible.
- And I imagined this draw, in which not just teammates take part, but your direct rivals. Yes, you are all friends, but figure skating is an individual sport where everyone fights for themselves to get on the podium. Every day you see the most powerful skaters on the planet who train, who fight - not only for future medals, but also for attention from the coach. Tell me is it stressful, is it hard, is it putting pressure on you, or is it not?
- If we talk specifically about our relationships within the team, within the team, then it seems to me that we have developed them as correct as possible. This does not mean that we are best friends, it means that outside of training we communicate, we can talk about any topic. This may not be related to figure skating, but we also discuss training. And this even helps us - we consult among ourselves, we can suggest something to each other. At the same time, we don’t have any conflicts in training, we all perfectly understand that everyone works for their own result and that everyone has their own goals.
You correctly said that this is an individual sport that in a sense teaches you to be selfish and think about your own interests. But this should always be accompanied by respect for the opponent - coaches constantly teach us this. That is, if in training someone does not know how to do something correctly, or if a newcomer comes, Eteri Georgievna always tells us that we must show respect to everyone who is on the ice. In practice, this means, for example, that we always carefully monitor the situation on the ice and do not interfere with each other, do not create obstacles for other skaters on the way. If something like this happens, then the coaches immediately stop it - this should not happen.
-Well, if you see that your teammate is doing well today, she is doing one quadruple jump after another, and something is not working out for you - then what happens to you?
- If I talk about relationships, if we talk about competition and motivation, then everything depends on the character of the skater. It is difficult for someone to be in an atmosphere of competition every day. I have heard from many people that it is easier for them to train on the ice alone, work towards their own goals and not look at others. And I ... Well, I came to the Tutberidze group at the age of nine and I also watched older skaters - and everyone always trained in competition mode. That is, I saw that a situation never arises when there is one “main” athlete on the ice, and the rest are around him. No, on the contrary, I have always seen such a working atmosphere, when work is constantly in full swing on the ice, everyone is busy with their own business and the coach tries to give advice to everyone.
In the beginning, I watched it from the sidelines. Then, as a child, I got used to the fact that there are always children of my age. It has never been such that everything revolves around me. And then, when I myself began to rise to a higher level, when I began to take part in international tournaments, it turned out that there were always three of us - me, Sasha and Alena. That is, we went to junior competitions together, after to senior tournaments. And in general, for me, throughout my career, competition is my usual atmosphere. I got used to the fact that next to me on the ice, no matter how loud it may sound, there are always all the stars of the world figure skating. For me, this is normal. What you see at the biggest competitions, at the world championships - for me it's the usual home atmosphere in which I'm used to working.
And I can say that it even helps me. Probably because I'm used to it. But if I look at some other athlete who is doing something well - for example, he does excellent quadruple jumps, then I do not have any envy. I never get upset in style like this - now, I'm in a bad mood now and I don't want to do anything else. On the contrary, it energizes me, motivates me, I want to do the same, and, perhaps, due to this, I will get some attention from the coach. As if I said: “Here, look at me too, I can do it too, I will do it too.” It has always had a positive effect on me.
-Thank you very much for this. You have already talked a little about how your day is planned, how the time allotted for schooling gradually decreased in it. Tell me about your daily schedule when you train. So you woke up - and how much time do you have free, do you have time to rest a little, how great is the load.
-We have a day off every week. It can be any of the days of the week, but it is always there. The remaining six days are taken up with training. I am very grateful to Eteri Georgievna for the fact that she does not like to get up early, and we no longer have early training (laughs). As I said, as a child, we were already on the ice at six in the morning. And now our earliest training starts at nine or ten in the morning, it never happens before, for which I thank the coaches (laughs).
Well, in the beginning we always have choreography in the morning. These are classic ballet exercises...
-So you're not practicing on ice in the morning?
- No, it always starts in the hall. It never happens that we immediately went out on the ice. Before training on the ice, we should always have a warm-up or some other exercise necessary in order to fully prepare the body, warm up the muscles. In general, most often the morning begins with choreography. For 45 minutes or an hour we study with a teacher who specializes in this area. This is most often a ballerina. For a very long time, Lyudmila Borisovna Shalashova conducted these classes with us, this is the mother of Daniil Markovich Gleikhengauz. I think that everyone who worked with us is very grateful to her. This is an incredible person - talented and understanding.
She not only taught ballet with us, she talked a lot with us, helped us during training. She told her stories about ballet, shared her experience with us, helped us a lot. I am very grateful to her for everything she gave me, I studied and communicated with her a lot, and it developed me.
In general, choreography is very important for figure skating, because although figure skating is a sport, it is a sport in which there is art. And I really want the spectators at figure skating competitions not only to observe the set of elements performed by athletes, but to live the story that is included in the program, so that these people are touched by something in skating, so that they see it as a small theatrical performance. And, of course, in order to achieve this, choreography and dance classes are required.
In general, the morning begins with choreography, then we go out on the ice. Morning practice on the ice takes an hour and a half. The training includes additional skating, which I do with Daniil Markovich. At the same time, sliding on ice is practiced. Usually, everything is done like this - during the morning session, a complete skate of the short program is performed, and during the evening session, the skate of the free program is performed. So in the morning we are working on the short program. And there is such a rule - until you do your job well, the training does not end.
We are usually told at the beginning what the training plan is. In addition to the whole short program skating, there may be purposeful work on certain elements. That is, you clearly know your goal, and you need to accurately plan your training in time and be sure to complete the task. And if the goal is to complete a short program, then at the end of the session you can’t say: “Oh, I worked too hard on this element, I don’t have time.” This does not happen, it is necessary to do the work.
In general, in the morning we are working on a short program, then we have a short break. And right after the morning workout, we still have stretching exercises, the purpose of which is to relax the muscles after exercise. Then a break, during which you can relax, have lunch, study. Then we return to the training process. We start training in the gym, where we practice jumps, which are then performed on the ice. In addition, there are general physical training classes. The second training session on ice is as close as possible to the competition mode.
The coaches try to make sure that by the time of the competition we have everything already fully worked out, so we go out on the ice and we have a six-minute warm-up, as it happens in tournaments. In addition, there is a draw - each of us gets a random number, and no one knows in which order we will skate. Everyone has their favorite and least favorite numbers. Someone likes to perform first, someone, on the contrary, prefers to go out on the ice at the end.
Immediately after the draw, we go out for a six-minute warm-up, as we do in competitions, then we all go over the side and one by one do our programs. Eteri Georgievna makes a printout for us with scores for each element, puts marks, pluses and minuses, determines the level of difficulty. After skating, we always come up to her and analyze each element, find out what was right and what was wrong. This happens every day and therefore by the day the competition starts, each of us already has a lot of experience, we already know our strengths and weaknesses. In general, we prepare ourselves to the maximum.
- I really felt the whole process ...
- Yes, I tried to dip you into our everyday life as much as possible.
- And I imagined this draw, in which not just teammates take part, but your direct rivals. Yes, you are all friends, but figure skating is an individual sport where everyone fights for themselves to get on the podium. Every day you see the most powerful skaters on the planet who train, who fight - not only for future medals, but also for attention from the coach. Tell me is it stressful, is it hard, is it putting pressure on you, or is it not?
- If we talk specifically about our relationships within the team, within the team, then it seems to me that we have developed them as correct as possible. This does not mean that we are best friends, it means that outside of training we communicate, we can talk about any topic. This may not be related to figure skating, but we also discuss training. And this even helps us - we consult among ourselves, we can suggest something to each other. At the same time, we don’t have any conflicts in training, we all perfectly understand that everyone works for their own result and that everyone has their own goals.
You correctly said that this is an individual sport that in a sense teaches you to be selfish and think about your own interests. But this should always be accompanied by respect for the opponent - coaches constantly teach us this. That is, if in training someone does not know how to do something correctly, or if a newcomer comes, Eteri Georgievna always tells us that we must show respect to everyone who is on the ice. In practice, this means, for example, that we always carefully monitor the situation on the ice and do not interfere with each other, do not create obstacles for other skaters on the way. If something like this happens, then the coaches immediately stop it - this should not happen.
-Well, if you see that your teammate is doing well today, she is doing one quadruple jump after another, and something is not working out for you - then what happens to you?
- If I talk about relationships, if we talk about competition and motivation, then everything depends on the character of the skater. It is difficult for someone to be in an atmosphere of competition every day. I have heard from many people that it is easier for them to train on the ice alone, work towards their own goals and not look at others. And I ... Well, I came to the Tutberidze group at the age of nine and I also watched older skaters - and everyone always trained in competition mode. That is, I saw that a situation never arises when there is one “main” athlete on the ice, and the rest are around him. No, on the contrary, I have always seen such a working atmosphere, when work is constantly in full swing on the ice, everyone is busy with their own business and the coach tries to give advice to everyone.
In the beginning, I watched it from the sidelines. Then, as a child, I got used to the fact that there are always children of my age. It has never been such that everything revolves around me. And then, when I myself began to rise to a higher level, when I began to take part in international tournaments, it turned out that there were always three of us - me, Sasha and Alena. That is, we went to junior competitions together, after to senior tournaments. And in general, for me, throughout my career, competition is my usual atmosphere. I got used to the fact that next to me on the ice, no matter how loud it may sound, there are always all the stars of the world figure skating. For me, this is normal. What you see at the biggest competitions, at the world championships - for me it's the usual home atmosphere in which I'm used to working.
And I can say that it even helps me. Probably because I'm used to it. But if I look at some other athlete who is doing something well - for example, he does excellent quadruple jumps, then I do not have any envy. I never get upset in style like this - now, I'm in a bad mood now and I don't want to do anything else. On the contrary, it energizes me, motivates me, I want to do the same, and, perhaps, due to this, I will get some attention from the coach. As if I said: “Here, look at me too, I can do it too, I will do it too.” It has always had a positive effect on me.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
part 4:
- Tell me, as a continuation of this topic - there was a season when the girls moved to another coach, to Zhenya Plushenko. At this moment, you was practically alone, that is, alone in the first roles. Has it changed anything for you? I understand that competition is like everyday life for you, but still, didn’t you then have the thought: “This is it, what I have been waiting for so long”?
-It definitely wasn't.
- I mean - “I expected that all the attention of the coach would be directed only to me”.
-I understand. No. Of course, to say that nothing has changed and I continued to work as before would be wrong. One way or another, the workflow still changes when there was a transition from the fact that there were three of us vying for first place to a situation where the main focus was on me and I had no direct competitors with whom I intersected at every start. Still, something in such situations is changing.
In the internal moments, I did not interfere in any way. That is, it was their own decision, it did not concern me in any way, I have my own life and my own decisions. So I didn’t change anything myself, I left everything in its original places. But at the same time, the scheme of work changed and at first it was even hard for me to reorganize when there was more attention to me. Every step I took was visible, I couldn’t get out of the coach’s field of vision anywhere, it was no longer possible to hide behind someone. And when there were difficult days, I could no longer, as I could do before, hide “in the shadows”. I have always had a lot of attention.
There were no direct competitors, but it must be remembered that we, in our group, have skaters of a different age, of each generation. There were a lot of promising juniors who were also preparing for the competition. Thus, the atmosphere of competition on the ice was preserved.
-Kamila Valieva, for example...
-Yes, I would say that for the first few months I was going through a kind of restructuring, when I didn’t really understand how training would take place now, when there was such increased attention to me. But after about two months, we found the very optimal approach, and the process returned to normal.
- Then let's finish this topic already - and then they (Trusova and Kostornaya) returned again. You barely had time to get used to a different training scheme and then bam! - and they returned. Did you have some kind of internal dissonance?
-Then, at that moment, everything happened as if in a small fog. It was all so abrupt, so unexpected, and it's so ... You see, I do not take any part in this, but it still has such an impact on my life, on the training process. Of course, in the first days I was a little shocked. But, although it may seem strange, in the end I became much calmer. I thought something like: “Well, everything is back the way it was before. Finally!". And again we [the three of us]. Well, as if the familiar atmosphere, accumulated over the years, has returned. To be honest, I felt a little more relaxed.
- Tell me... It seems to me that now is the right time to tell about Eteri Georgievna. Who is she for you? Well, in general.
-If you start from the very beginning, I joined her group when I was nine years old. In general, all my career, starting from the age of three, I train at the same rink, in the Khrustalny Palace. And it so happens that even when I studied with other coaches, I was always on the same ice with Eteri Georgievna. And she already had adult athletes who had already competed at international competitions. And we, groups of kids, constantly peeped from the locker rooms at their training, watched the already titled athletes, watched her work.
And it always seemed to me that this was some kind of incredible, inaccessible level for us - we were still small children. That is, it turns out that I have been watching her work since childhood. Sometimes we went out to train on the ice right after her group, and before our own training we could look at how adult athletes work, how she interacts with them. I have watched this very often. Then I was still quite young and, probably, was not yet ready to make significant decisions related to my career. Therefore, the decision to come to Tutberidze for tests was made by my parents on the advice of other coaches who said that I was good at skating. As a child, I won competitions very often. For me, it was all a pleasure, a hobby, but my parents understood that if everything worked out so well, then, probably, we should try to develop. They made such a very important step in my life, as it turned out. They brought me to audition for Eteri Georgievna.
Of course, during the first training sessions, I was very afraid to be in a different atmosphere. When I before it used to go out on “our ice”, there were usually 30 small children there. And we all move smoothly on the ice in a bunch, there are no these huge speeds. And then I go out onto the ice, where there were usually about ten people, but these are all skaters who perform multi-turn jumps, these are huge speeds, everyone flies past you, and you understand that you can’t interfere with anyone here. And I tried to move somewhere carefully and quietelly. But still, remembering now this time - I constantly interfered with everyone, fell under their feet. Of course, they skated around me, but I caused inconvenience.
Probably, the transition to Eteri Georgievna is very significant for me because, as I already said, it was the moment when I realized that I had switched from amateur figure skating to real professional sports. I was simply pushed to make this decision myself, in my head - whether I was ready to take figure skating as my job. I had to understand that from now on there is no such thing as “I want, I don’t want”. Of course, it is necessary to enjoy figure skating, but everything must be strictly and clearly built, because this is my job. Am I ready to choose this for myself as a profession? And so Eteri Georgievna pushed me to this choice. Therefore, with the transition to it, the countdown of my professional career began.
Of course, after it all my major tournaments have already begun, everything that I have achieved, everything that made me successful as a figure skater. For this I express my gratitude to the team of our coaches - Eteri Georgievna, Sergey Viktorovich (Dudakov), Daniil Markovich. Together they make up the very team that helps me, goes along with me, thanks to which I achieve results.
- Tell me, as a continuation of this topic - there was a season when the girls moved to another coach, to Zhenya Plushenko. At this moment, you was practically alone, that is, alone in the first roles. Has it changed anything for you? I understand that competition is like everyday life for you, but still, didn’t you then have the thought: “This is it, what I have been waiting for so long”?
-It definitely wasn't.
- I mean - “I expected that all the attention of the coach would be directed only to me”.
-I understand. No. Of course, to say that nothing has changed and I continued to work as before would be wrong. One way or another, the workflow still changes when there was a transition from the fact that there were three of us vying for first place to a situation where the main focus was on me and I had no direct competitors with whom I intersected at every start. Still, something in such situations is changing.
In the internal moments, I did not interfere in any way. That is, it was their own decision, it did not concern me in any way, I have my own life and my own decisions. So I didn’t change anything myself, I left everything in its original places. But at the same time, the scheme of work changed and at first it was even hard for me to reorganize when there was more attention to me. Every step I took was visible, I couldn’t get out of the coach’s field of vision anywhere, it was no longer possible to hide behind someone. And when there were difficult days, I could no longer, as I could do before, hide “in the shadows”. I have always had a lot of attention.
There were no direct competitors, but it must be remembered that we, in our group, have skaters of a different age, of each generation. There were a lot of promising juniors who were also preparing for the competition. Thus, the atmosphere of competition on the ice was preserved.
-Kamila Valieva, for example...
-Yes, I would say that for the first few months I was going through a kind of restructuring, when I didn’t really understand how training would take place now, when there was such increased attention to me. But after about two months, we found the very optimal approach, and the process returned to normal.
- Then let's finish this topic already - and then they (Trusova and Kostornaya) returned again. You barely had time to get used to a different training scheme and then bam! - and they returned. Did you have some kind of internal dissonance?
-Then, at that moment, everything happened as if in a small fog. It was all so abrupt, so unexpected, and it's so ... You see, I do not take any part in this, but it still has such an impact on my life, on the training process. Of course, in the first days I was a little shocked. But, although it may seem strange, in the end I became much calmer. I thought something like: “Well, everything is back the way it was before. Finally!". And again we [the three of us]. Well, as if the familiar atmosphere, accumulated over the years, has returned. To be honest, I felt a little more relaxed.
- Tell me... It seems to me that now is the right time to tell about Eteri Georgievna. Who is she for you? Well, in general.
-If you start from the very beginning, I joined her group when I was nine years old. In general, all my career, starting from the age of three, I train at the same rink, in the Khrustalny Palace. And it so happens that even when I studied with other coaches, I was always on the same ice with Eteri Georgievna. And she already had adult athletes who had already competed at international competitions. And we, groups of kids, constantly peeped from the locker rooms at their training, watched the already titled athletes, watched her work.
And it always seemed to me that this was some kind of incredible, inaccessible level for us - we were still small children. That is, it turns out that I have been watching her work since childhood. Sometimes we went out to train on the ice right after her group, and before our own training we could look at how adult athletes work, how she interacts with them. I have watched this very often. Then I was still quite young and, probably, was not yet ready to make significant decisions related to my career. Therefore, the decision to come to Tutberidze for tests was made by my parents on the advice of other coaches who said that I was good at skating. As a child, I won competitions very often. For me, it was all a pleasure, a hobby, but my parents understood that if everything worked out so well, then, probably, we should try to develop. They made such a very important step in my life, as it turned out. They brought me to audition for Eteri Georgievna.
Of course, during the first training sessions, I was very afraid to be in a different atmosphere. When I before it used to go out on “our ice”, there were usually 30 small children there. And we all move smoothly on the ice in a bunch, there are no these huge speeds. And then I go out onto the ice, where there were usually about ten people, but these are all skaters who perform multi-turn jumps, these are huge speeds, everyone flies past you, and you understand that you can’t interfere with anyone here. And I tried to move somewhere carefully and quietelly. But still, remembering now this time - I constantly interfered with everyone, fell under their feet. Of course, they skated around me, but I caused inconvenience.
Probably, the transition to Eteri Georgievna is very significant for me because, as I already said, it was the moment when I realized that I had switched from amateur figure skating to real professional sports. I was simply pushed to make this decision myself, in my head - whether I was ready to take figure skating as my job. I had to understand that from now on there is no such thing as “I want, I don’t want”. Of course, it is necessary to enjoy figure skating, but everything must be strictly and clearly built, because this is my job. Am I ready to choose this for myself as a profession? And so Eteri Georgievna pushed me to this choice. Therefore, with the transition to it, the countdown of my professional career began.
Of course, after it all my major tournaments have already begun, everything that I have achieved, everything that made me successful as a figure skater. For this I express my gratitude to the team of our coaches - Eteri Georgievna, Sergey Viktorovich (Dudakov), Daniil Markovich. Together they make up the very team that helps me, goes along with me, thanks to which I achieve results.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
part 5:
-Time flies so fast, I think that we will not have time, and now we have the most important block. After all, we need to talk about the Olympic Games, and we have literally ten minutes left. Well, of course, you can not ignore the Olympics. Say - Beijing met you. You are generally a superstitious person, have you seen any signs indicating that you will win the Olympics here?
- To be honest, I'm just not a superstitious person. I do not believe in any signs or omens. I taught myself to rely only on my own strength. For me, a good sign is when the training went well. This is definitely a good sign. That's how it is with me - I judge everything by my work. On the contrary, I try not to pay attention to some little things so that unnecessary thoughts do not appear.
I have everything as constructive as possible. That is, for a good performance, it is not required that something fly somewhere and fall somewhere, so that there is a “correct” weather. You need good physical readiness, a good attitude - and that's exactly what I'm working on. That is, I know what exactly I need for a good performance - and I bring it to life. Here is my approach.
-Tell me, when did you find out that you were not taking part in the Olympic team tournament... That is, we all understood that we had such a strong team that it almost guarantees Olympic gold for those who take part in the team tournament. And then you find out that you are not part of the team. Did it upset you somehow, what happened to you in general?
- Well, to be honest, I can't say that I took it calmly, that I moved on without any emotions. No, at that moment I took it very emotionally. And the next training days were very difficult from a psychological point of view. It seems to me that training saved me. Every day we had half an hour of training on ice, and the rest of the time I was in my thoughts, I was very upset, I literally couldn’t find a place for myself. It was hard to find motivation, somehow force myself to move on. And during training, all these experiences seemed to evaporate. I saw specific goals and worked to achieve them. And, probably, with even more anger, I worked in training.
I was saved by sports, training, and I tried to direct all my energy to my further preparing.
-Tell me, here's the story of the broken boot. The skate boot broke, they started replacing it, and the whole country was worried about whether you could get used to the new boots. To be honest, I can’t even imagine how you managed it, because here I was dancing on ice, we didn’t leave the ice at all - and yet it took me a month to at least feel my foot in the boot . How did you manage that? Maybe you just needed to throw it off, replace something?
-Probably, this aspect is the most difficult to understand for professional skaters. Sometimes, however, many ordinary people themselves understand what new shoes are. But there is an important nuance here - many skaters change their boots once a season or once every two seasons. Of course, for them to get used to new boots is a very difficult thing. But in the last season alone, I changed boots either six or eight times. That is, I performed at open skatings in the fall - and changed my boots, I visited two stages of the Grand Prix - and changed my boots. The Grand Prix Final was canceled, and I have never competed in the boots that were prepared for this. At the Russian Championship I was wearing new boots - and with these boots I came to the Olympic Games. And I was ready for the fact that they would have to change. I had a pair of brand new skates lying around, the blades on them were already fully prepared.
Of course, I would really like that I didn’t need these backup boots, so that everything went according to plan on the same skates. But when this happened, the main thing was to immediately make a decision - not to doubt and not to hesitate, but to replace the boots. I made this decision, recalculated how many days remained until the free skate, and I knew that I already had experince to get used to new boots at such a speed. Therefore, the main thing was not to waste time on emotions. Although emotions, of course, still took time, but I made such a tough decision.
- Tell me, please - I was lucky enough to attend training in Beijing and see how you work. It looked something like this: here you come to a morning training session, everything is great jumping so that it seems - well, there are simply no questions here, one quadruple after another. And then you go out for an evening session - and I see that you are just lying. It seems that you have forgotten all the jumps.
-Yes, it was...
- And then in the morning again all the jumps are in place. What happened at that time, how can this be explained?
- In fact, what I am extremely glad and happy about - during the Olympics, I was in my best shape for the season, that's what I aspired to. I did everything to reach the peak of my shape just in time for the Olympics. And here there can be no complaints from my side, because at the Olympics in my training I did a great job with quadruple jumps, and this gave me a lot of confidence. Of course, at some point, the already mentioned new boots intervened in all this, but it was only necessary to work extra - and everything work out. Sometimes, of course, I was nervous or tired, but in general, I repeat, I have nothing to complain about. I am very pleased with how all the training and warm-ups went. That is, I was in great shape there, I myself understood this and knew that I shouldn’t worry too much about this.
-You have already talked about how the training process takes place. Let's now in our imagination move to Beijing and remember - did you even sleep the night before the competition? Or did you wake up - and here you have the main day of your entire career? How did you wake up, how did you eat breakfast.
-The most amazing thing is that I had the realization: “has that very day come?” I understood that I was living the very day that would decide everything, but the only reason for possible worries was that for some reason I was not at all nervous. This day went so perfectly from morning to evening - literally nothing could make me feel excited. I came, warmed up well - everything is calm. I went to training on the ice - everything is calm, I worked out all the elements, everything is working out well, I made some conclusions for myself.
And everything went so smoothly! It seems to me that it helped me a lot that this Olympics did not take me by surprise. It was already my third senior season, and results at all my tournaments were growing. In the beginning there was my first senior season, when I was very nervous, then the second senior season, when I took part in the World Championship for the first time. That is, it was already some kind of experience. And this experience somehow accumulated in my luggage, and at the Olympics this experience I had gained earlier was enough for me.
I knew what to do in every situation. And I approached the Olympic Games so consciously that there were simply no moments at which I could be confused. I was very well mentally prepared for these competitions and I am completely satisfied with my day. Especially the end of this day (laughs).
- I wonder who could be dissatisfied by becoming an Olympic champion? Tell me - this is a performance, I remember it very well, I think that you remember it too. Here is the first quadruple jump - everything turned out great, the correct exit from the jump, everything is fine - after that, did you ever think that perhaps the second quadruple is no longer needed?
- No, in no case, even a fleeting thought like that was not. I always, at each start, perform a set of elements that I select, focusing on my capabilities and feeling that this is the maximum that I can do. This is the set I am doing. It does not depend on the performances of other skaters, I never look at how someone else performed. I always have my own goal, and if you lower the bar, then you can, on the contrary, fail. So I will think: “Oh, now I can do everything easily” - and as a result I will make small mistakes.
And here I very clearly assessed my capabilities, realized that I could cope with this set of elements, and my goal was to do everything clearly, without a single inaccuracy. I went to this step by step, element by element - and now I tried to do all this without unnecessary excitement.
- Without too much excitement, you won the Olympics.
- Well, when I say that, I, of course, simplify a little, because competitions are always nerves. So it goes without saying that there were experiences, that my breathing was sometimes confused, I was shaking, but this was not some kind of shock for me. All this was within the normal range, as in other competitions. That is, I was ready for all this - probably so.
- You know, I think that such a concept as "Shcherbakova's character" will go down in history. This is when you are confident in yourself, you will do it, you will pull yourself together and at the right moment “shoot” - as you did at the Olympics - brilliantly.
-Thanks a lot...
- And the most important thing is to “shoot” exactly when it is required. And I wish you that this happens in all your future life. You are a very bright, very kind person ...
-Thanks!
- And I think that everyone who watched this interview is now motivated. I am sure that these people are in love with you and understand how important it is to develop yourself as a person, how important it is to educate yourself. You speak beautifully, your speech “flies”, and this could not be if you did not read books, did not absorb impressions, did not see everything that is happening around you. Thank you for this already, because you are an example for those who go further. Well, you also have to go forward further and further, and it’s still too early to write you into legends.
-Thanks a lot! I really tried today to be as sincere as possible, to share my emotions, impressions, memories, I just wanted to talk openly about everything. I will be very happy if my experience helps someone. But at the same time, I also move on, try something new, I also listen to other people who are more experienced in some other areas of activity. In general, I, like you, go further, learn something, try to improve.
- In general, everyone supports Anna Shcherbakova, it seems to me that we succeeded today.
-Time flies so fast, I think that we will not have time, and now we have the most important block. After all, we need to talk about the Olympic Games, and we have literally ten minutes left. Well, of course, you can not ignore the Olympics. Say - Beijing met you. You are generally a superstitious person, have you seen any signs indicating that you will win the Olympics here?
- To be honest, I'm just not a superstitious person. I do not believe in any signs or omens. I taught myself to rely only on my own strength. For me, a good sign is when the training went well. This is definitely a good sign. That's how it is with me - I judge everything by my work. On the contrary, I try not to pay attention to some little things so that unnecessary thoughts do not appear.
I have everything as constructive as possible. That is, for a good performance, it is not required that something fly somewhere and fall somewhere, so that there is a “correct” weather. You need good physical readiness, a good attitude - and that's exactly what I'm working on. That is, I know what exactly I need for a good performance - and I bring it to life. Here is my approach.
-Tell me, when did you find out that you were not taking part in the Olympic team tournament... That is, we all understood that we had such a strong team that it almost guarantees Olympic gold for those who take part in the team tournament. And then you find out that you are not part of the team. Did it upset you somehow, what happened to you in general?
- Well, to be honest, I can't say that I took it calmly, that I moved on without any emotions. No, at that moment I took it very emotionally. And the next training days were very difficult from a psychological point of view. It seems to me that training saved me. Every day we had half an hour of training on ice, and the rest of the time I was in my thoughts, I was very upset, I literally couldn’t find a place for myself. It was hard to find motivation, somehow force myself to move on. And during training, all these experiences seemed to evaporate. I saw specific goals and worked to achieve them. And, probably, with even more anger, I worked in training.
I was saved by sports, training, and I tried to direct all my energy to my further preparing.
-Tell me, here's the story of the broken boot. The skate boot broke, they started replacing it, and the whole country was worried about whether you could get used to the new boots. To be honest, I can’t even imagine how you managed it, because here I was dancing on ice, we didn’t leave the ice at all - and yet it took me a month to at least feel my foot in the boot . How did you manage that? Maybe you just needed to throw it off, replace something?
-Probably, this aspect is the most difficult to understand for professional skaters. Sometimes, however, many ordinary people themselves understand what new shoes are. But there is an important nuance here - many skaters change their boots once a season or once every two seasons. Of course, for them to get used to new boots is a very difficult thing. But in the last season alone, I changed boots either six or eight times. That is, I performed at open skatings in the fall - and changed my boots, I visited two stages of the Grand Prix - and changed my boots. The Grand Prix Final was canceled, and I have never competed in the boots that were prepared for this. At the Russian Championship I was wearing new boots - and with these boots I came to the Olympic Games. And I was ready for the fact that they would have to change. I had a pair of brand new skates lying around, the blades on them were already fully prepared.
Of course, I would really like that I didn’t need these backup boots, so that everything went according to plan on the same skates. But when this happened, the main thing was to immediately make a decision - not to doubt and not to hesitate, but to replace the boots. I made this decision, recalculated how many days remained until the free skate, and I knew that I already had experince to get used to new boots at such a speed. Therefore, the main thing was not to waste time on emotions. Although emotions, of course, still took time, but I made such a tough decision.
- Tell me, please - I was lucky enough to attend training in Beijing and see how you work. It looked something like this: here you come to a morning training session, everything is great jumping so that it seems - well, there are simply no questions here, one quadruple after another. And then you go out for an evening session - and I see that you are just lying. It seems that you have forgotten all the jumps.
-Yes, it was...
- And then in the morning again all the jumps are in place. What happened at that time, how can this be explained?
- In fact, what I am extremely glad and happy about - during the Olympics, I was in my best shape for the season, that's what I aspired to. I did everything to reach the peak of my shape just in time for the Olympics. And here there can be no complaints from my side, because at the Olympics in my training I did a great job with quadruple jumps, and this gave me a lot of confidence. Of course, at some point, the already mentioned new boots intervened in all this, but it was only necessary to work extra - and everything work out. Sometimes, of course, I was nervous or tired, but in general, I repeat, I have nothing to complain about. I am very pleased with how all the training and warm-ups went. That is, I was in great shape there, I myself understood this and knew that I shouldn’t worry too much about this.
-You have already talked about how the training process takes place. Let's now in our imagination move to Beijing and remember - did you even sleep the night before the competition? Or did you wake up - and here you have the main day of your entire career? How did you wake up, how did you eat breakfast.
-The most amazing thing is that I had the realization: “has that very day come?” I understood that I was living the very day that would decide everything, but the only reason for possible worries was that for some reason I was not at all nervous. This day went so perfectly from morning to evening - literally nothing could make me feel excited. I came, warmed up well - everything is calm. I went to training on the ice - everything is calm, I worked out all the elements, everything is working out well, I made some conclusions for myself.
And everything went so smoothly! It seems to me that it helped me a lot that this Olympics did not take me by surprise. It was already my third senior season, and results at all my tournaments were growing. In the beginning there was my first senior season, when I was very nervous, then the second senior season, when I took part in the World Championship for the first time. That is, it was already some kind of experience. And this experience somehow accumulated in my luggage, and at the Olympics this experience I had gained earlier was enough for me.
I knew what to do in every situation. And I approached the Olympic Games so consciously that there were simply no moments at which I could be confused. I was very well mentally prepared for these competitions and I am completely satisfied with my day. Especially the end of this day (laughs).
- I wonder who could be dissatisfied by becoming an Olympic champion? Tell me - this is a performance, I remember it very well, I think that you remember it too. Here is the first quadruple jump - everything turned out great, the correct exit from the jump, everything is fine - after that, did you ever think that perhaps the second quadruple is no longer needed?
- No, in no case, even a fleeting thought like that was not. I always, at each start, perform a set of elements that I select, focusing on my capabilities and feeling that this is the maximum that I can do. This is the set I am doing. It does not depend on the performances of other skaters, I never look at how someone else performed. I always have my own goal, and if you lower the bar, then you can, on the contrary, fail. So I will think: “Oh, now I can do everything easily” - and as a result I will make small mistakes.
And here I very clearly assessed my capabilities, realized that I could cope with this set of elements, and my goal was to do everything clearly, without a single inaccuracy. I went to this step by step, element by element - and now I tried to do all this without unnecessary excitement.
- Without too much excitement, you won the Olympics.
- Well, when I say that, I, of course, simplify a little, because competitions are always nerves. So it goes without saying that there were experiences, that my breathing was sometimes confused, I was shaking, but this was not some kind of shock for me. All this was within the normal range, as in other competitions. That is, I was ready for all this - probably so.
- You know, I think that such a concept as "Shcherbakova's character" will go down in history. This is when you are confident in yourself, you will do it, you will pull yourself together and at the right moment “shoot” - as you did at the Olympics - brilliantly.
-Thanks a lot...
- And the most important thing is to “shoot” exactly when it is required. And I wish you that this happens in all your future life. You are a very bright, very kind person ...
-Thanks!
- And I think that everyone who watched this interview is now motivated. I am sure that these people are in love with you and understand how important it is to develop yourself as a person, how important it is to educate yourself. You speak beautifully, your speech “flies”, and this could not be if you did not read books, did not absorb impressions, did not see everything that is happening around you. Thank you for this already, because you are an example for those who go further. Well, you also have to go forward further and further, and it’s still too early to write you into legends.
-Thanks a lot! I really tried today to be as sincere as possible, to share my emotions, impressions, memories, I just wanted to talk openly about everything. I will be very happy if my experience helps someone. But at the same time, I also move on, try something new, I also listen to other people who are more experienced in some other areas of activity. In general, I, like you, go further, learn something, try to improve.
- In general, everyone supports Anna Shcherbakova, it seems to me that we succeeded today.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
Within the framework of the same event, similar interviews were held with Kamila Valieva and Sasha Trusova. I have not listened to them yet, I will try to do it in the near future.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
I was watching through old videos and it turned out that in the past, Zhenya Medvedeva, it turns out, had a reason to quarrel with Anna. It was Urgant's show after Anna's second victory at the Russian Championship. It's great that nothing like this happened.
Alex, do you mean the Evening Urgant show when Anya was on it with Alena and Sasha? And is the reason Zhenya may complain that Anya called her "a girl"? I'm very curious.I was watching through old videos and it turned out that in the past, Zhenya Medvedeva, it turns out, had a reason to quarrel with Anna. It was Urgant's show after Anna's second victory at the Russian Championship. It's great that nothing like this happened.
Btw, you are a hero translating VK Fest interview and so many others!
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- Joined
- Nov 12, 2021
Yes, that's the show I meant. But I don't know where my eyes were - it was not after the second, but after Anna's very first victory at the Russian Championship. The last days of 2018, Anya is 14 years old.
Here is the link, I don't know if it will work without VPN:
https://www.1tv.ru/shows/vecherniy-...cherniy-urgant-fragment-vypuska-ot-24-12-2018
Why could this offend Zhenya? There are several reasons. First: this episode with dumplings on ice could not be pleasant for her. This, of course, reminded her of everything related to weighing, malnutrition, etc. Second: one could imagine that Anya was laughing at Zhenya, who was given such "gifts". And thirdly: Anya, not very successfully, tried to get around the sharp corners, not directly naming Zhenya, but saying "one girl." Urgant immediately picked it up and added:
That is, it could be interpreted as a disdain, an arrogant glance of the new champion at the fading star. Well, 2018 was, as you know, a difficult and nervous year for Medvedeva. So there some animosity could be appeared. Generally speaking, some haters even seemed to try to ignite this conflict, but, fortunately for Anya, she was not yet taken very seriously at that time.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2018
@Alex Fedorov Thank youuuu kindly for these translations!!
So many highlights, but for me this part:
Confirmed yet taught me a lot. This is what I had assumed for a long time, but to see it succinctly like this from Anna's own mouth is different. Thank you so much to the Shcherbakovas
So many highlights, but for me this part:
Confirmed yet taught me a lot. This is what I had assumed for a long time, but to see it succinctly like this from Anna's own mouth is different. Thank you so much to the Shcherbakovas
