This is a bad situation form all the Canton teams period. The USFSA would have been aware of this decision. Skate Canada - not so sure. It was pretty telling that all 3 Canton teams were getting help with the SD last year from Dancing with the Stars experts- throughout the whole season and SDs for both V/M and the Shibs were being constantly reworked. Then who knows what happened over the last 2 months - to precipitate this but it has to be bad...there are always two sides to the story and we won't know the truth until after Sochi...but I feel for the skaters...this is a no-win situation for all teams....
Igor Shpilband fired
- Thread starter berrya
- Start date
I find it odd that this happened when all of the skaters were on vacation. Kind of hard for them to be feeling neglected and stand up for themselves when they are not there.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2005
One of our coaches in our rink skated with Zhuk and he alluded to similar issues - alcoholic, harsh, physically violent.
Well V/M haven't been back at Artic Edge since training for WTT - after WTT they were at Stars on Ice Canada and then had vacation. If I had to guess, all three teams D/W, V/M and the Shibs were probably slated to be back from vacation today. That's why the timing of this is very WTH?
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2006
Thanks for posting the comment. It's very interesting. In the article Igor says that Marina was making the skaters schedules without telling him. That right there shows that she is trying to take over. I guess she has enough pull with the people at the rink to get what she wants
As for the comment about doing all of this when the skaters were on vacation...that's the best time to do it. Then you have little to no opposition to the firing by the skaters. I wonder of the skaters will put out statements of their own.
John Kerr posted about it on facebook this morning basically saying....how do you fire the most successful coach in the sport!
And I agree with heyday....The timing is very suspicious!
As for the comment about doing all of this when the skaters were on vacation...that's the best time to do it. Then you have little to no opposition to the firing by the skaters. I wonder of the skaters will put out statements of their own.
John Kerr posted about it on facebook this morning basically saying....how do you fire the most successful coach in the sport!
And I agree with heyday....The timing is very suspicious!
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- Aug 2, 2011
Zhuk was indeed a very mean person. He would sometimes come to practice in a bad mood and start shouting at his students when they made mistakes. That is why some left him like G/G and Rodnina and they should have done it. But he was no pedophile or molester which is what Zoueva said he was and which ruined his career and forced him to retire. She was trying to find a way to get rid of him.
Was she trying to get rid of him because he was drinking , harsh and physically violent? What an evil manipulative woman
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2011
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2011
Slight off topic, but what is John Kerr's facebook link? Is it a personal page or a fan page?
I kinda put the puzzles together. Marina wanted to get rid of Igor and have her boyfriend take his spot. USFS knew something going on in Canton, tried to push DSC skaters to make sure that USA has another camp to produce top skaters, not only Canton. I was surprised why USFS pushed H/D so hard to be on the top. Now, it makes sense. However, DSC is too crowded, I can't see D/W will go there.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2003
Wow, I am shocked by this. The situation must have been really, really bad, otherwise I cannot fathom this breakup of the top ice dance coaching team in the world. It's so bizarre and out of the blue.
I almost can't even begin to speculate what happened. But, you do have to wonder if the Russian federation is involved in some way. I wouldn't put much past them in the quest for medals at Sochi. Breaking up the coaching team that's standing in their way is an underhanded way to try and beat the competition. But it could be effective.
You know, I wonder if this explains some of the oddities going on with the Canton teams last season. The seesawing scores of the Shibs . . . the controversy about their programs . . . Alex's uncharacteristic problems at Worlds . . . the trash-talking from Scott . . . the still, to me, inexplicable results at Worlds that put V/M on top over D/W and by such an unaccountably wide margin . . . then V/M's poor performance at World Team Trophy and trouncing by D/W. All in all, it was a strange season for the Canton group. Maybe behind-the-scenes problems contributed more to this than we realized.
I want to know more about this story and what went wrong. And, of course, what will happen now to the skaters.
I almost can't even begin to speculate what happened. But, you do have to wonder if the Russian federation is involved in some way. I wouldn't put much past them in the quest for medals at Sochi. Breaking up the coaching team that's standing in their way is an underhanded way to try and beat the competition. But it could be effective.
You know, I wonder if this explains some of the oddities going on with the Canton teams last season. The seesawing scores of the Shibs . . . the controversy about their programs . . . Alex's uncharacteristic problems at Worlds . . . the trash-talking from Scott . . . the still, to me, inexplicable results at Worlds that put V/M on top over D/W and by such an unaccountably wide margin . . . then V/M's poor performance at World Team Trophy and trouncing by D/W. All in all, it was a strange season for the Canton group. Maybe behind-the-scenes problems contributed more to this than we realized.
I want to know more about this story and what went wrong. And, of course, what will happen now to the skaters.
Of course
But an abusive alchoholic probably wasn't much fun to be around for anyone.- Joined
- Aug 2, 2011
It's not hard for me to also imagine a situation where Igor didn't see where else he could go with those three and wanted new challenges. I know that´s probably shocking to most but in the case of V&M they always seem to refer to Marina when asked about coaches and Igor geared more towards D&W. Perhaps the challenge of taking a new team to the top was more enticing then trying to keep a team like D&W on top (much harder challenge heading into Sochi). The Shibs are also harder to package and sell as a sibling team. Maybe the three teams sensed a lack of excitement from him, a lack of vision but noticed he seemed more inspired with the two new teams he was working with. Throw in the possibility he worked exclusively with them might give the skaters further sense that they aren't as important anymore.
It seems so much effort went into keeping a balance at the rink and making them all feel equally loved that when that effort starts to slide things fall apart. All three teams had disappointments this season and in the case of two of them it's impossible to satisfy them at this stage in their careers because they both want the same thing. Something had to give and it seems in this case it was a coach.
There were no instances of him physically abusing his students.
Verbal abuse can be just as painful.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2003
Everyone keeps talking about Igor going back to Russia. He defected when the country was still under communist rule. He didn't just leave after the iron curtain fell. I don't think he can go back, even if he wanted to.
I feel ridiculous posting in this thread as I have no insights or any facts to add; but I am just so shocked by this news I had to just say it out loud (or type it here). wow, wow, wow....I could see them splitting after Sochi with a lot of fan fare and celebration of having created a huge skating dynasty; but I really never expected this now.
Sure, last season seemed to show some tension; and Doris' observation that no new teams signed up is fascinating (I just didn't know that until now)....but, really i'm shocked. Hoping all ends well for the all the parties involved.
Sure, last season seemed to show some tension; and Doris' observation that no new teams signed up is fascinating (I just didn't know that until now)....but, really i'm shocked. Hoping all ends well for the all the parties involved.
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2011
If there is verbal abuse then you just leave a teacher/coach, not go lying about him being a child molester. When I was a kid, I had enough teachers who employed verbal abuse. They were terrible people but they were not fired (even though they should have been) and I didn't go complaining to the principal that the teachers tried to molest me.
