We’re all “treated” too much by Plushenko. Nathan Chen’s coach about the system of figure skating training in the USA and Russia.
Rafael Arutyunyan is one of the most successful figure skating coaches in the world. He was born in Tbilisi, raised in Yerevan, he worked on the ice of Moscovite “Sokolniki”. Since 2000, Arutyunyan moved to live and work in the United States, where he managed to become an international specialist. His students were the five-time world champion American Michelle Kwan, world champion and bronze medalist of the 2006 Olympics Jeffrey Buttle, silver medalist of the 2010 Olympics Japanese Mao Asada. Now he works with Nathan Chen, Ashley Wagner, Michal Březina and other high-profile skaters. TASS talked with a specialist on the topic of men's single skating in Russia, which has been going through not the best times for seasons, on the peculiarities of the communication between the athlete and the coach, and on the role of trust in achieving a common goal.
Q: — For seasons we see that Russian men singles are not on the top. Since we are now at the very beginning of the next Olympic cycle, I want to understand - what needs to be done so that we have the prospect of a medal at 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing?
R.A: — Of course some certain actions should be taken for this, but this is the work of the national federation. The Figure Skating Federation of Russia is one of the most professional ones in the world. I know what I am talking about, - I work with the sportsmen from various countries. But in deciding this problem the Federation “hands” are tied in some way.
Q: — By what?
R.A: — I’ll give you an example of the change of the coaches of Evgenia Medvedeva from Eteri Tutberidze to the Canadian Brian Orser and her move to Toronto. This was the whole “firework” of different opinions and most of them — harsh criticism. I suppose most negatives ones were from the ordinary people who do not really understand the figure skating, but still. Here is under what pressure the Federation was as the result of this shift. This is for talking about tied hands.
Q: — But, you know, critics have not one step but only a half from love to hate, and there’s such a case!
R.A: — There’s nothing “special” in it — all of us changed a long ago. Go to the streets of Moscow and look — you’ll not see Russian cars anymore. And what? What’s wrong with it? Is it really that much bad that Evgenia left Russia to work in Canada?
Q: — And what about non-stopping discussion on Russian, Canadian and American schools of figure skating?
R.A: — I’ve been coaching in the USA for a long time, but tell me – on which system do I work? On the one I was raised. Let’s look further – there are 10-15 American coaches around me. And they are not blinded – they see, they learn, they take. Everybody remembers how the 1961 plane crush resulted in the loss of the American figure skating team. They were flying to the World Championships in Prague. All died – leading coaches, skaters, judges. Then people from Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom came to work there.
After the collapse of the USSR, Russian coaches came there. We have brought our culture, on which a lot is being kept. And when today you come to the American Championship, you can hear the Russian language there, half of the coaches are Russian. Igor Shpilband, a soviet sportsman, created the entire American dance school. This is globalization, it’s ok.
Q: — In the offseason you have trained our figure skater Mikhail Kolyada, do you see the results?
R.A: — He was with us only ten days. I enjoyed working with him - a good guy. A doubter - before he performs, he passes it all through himself. But in coaching, an athlete performs everything unquestioningly only when he trusts you completely. Then he does not think about whether your methods are suitable for him, he is sure that I know what I am doing. If told — do, time passes! But time is needed for this - at least two years should pass while the athlete "finds out how you taste”. And nevertheless, I saw obvious changes - he started the season well, skated clean, won two competitions.
Q: — And then?
R.A: — Then I didn’t see him skating — I have my own work. Simply, there is a specific process of assembling the mechanism, the sequence of actions. I worked two years with Michal Brzezina, and seven years later, at 30, he again made it to the Grand Prix Final.
Q: — And what did you teach him?
R.A: — He is a very talented skater. But I taught to come for practice on time and leave it on time. He complained to me, it was hard for him, but I didn’t offer him anything supernatural - I offered him to work.
And at a certain point it became easy for him. I always give an example - if you constantly run, then later it is easy for you to walk. Walking will be happiness for you.
Yes, we’re all “treated” too much by Plushenko, Yagudin, Kulik and even Abt. But with such skaters as in Russia, it is both possible and necessary to think about places at the Beijing 2022. The same Misha, he is so talented. His jumps can only be compared with Fadeev or with Yagudin — strength! Power! But athletes who want to win should work like a clock. Swiss ones. And like the real ones, not fake. In sport there are no trifles.
Q: — It turns out that Eteri Tutberidze also has a Swiss watch? The result is good and stable.
R.A: — Firstly, she has a good supplier factory, and secondly - the girls who come to her are initially technically better prepared than those foreign figure skaters with whom her girls have yet to compete.
Q: — Miracle of selection?
R.A: — This is a skaters production factory; there are no such 11-12-year-old girls anywhere in the world. They have "double strength". And in addition to this, excellent specialists work in the Eteri team, and she herself is an excellent coach.
A 19-year-old athlete sometimes comes to me with a comment: "I am still young". To which I usually reply: "Young? Young for marriage?" And I start working with her. Now I work with Mariah Bell, she is 22. Well, how can I debug her, like a Swiss mechanism, when she stopped falling only just a couple of years ago?
Or Adam Rippon, he is 28 now. But after five years of work, I have taken something out of him - he got into the top ten at the Olympics, and at the age of 23 when he came to me, he even didn’t jump the triple axel.
And Russian men have a very big potential. And there are prospects for the Games, especially with the new system. I liked all, Kolyada, Lazukin, and Kovtun. But in the USA I hardly like any of the juniors I’ve seen. Only Nathan Chen — more or less.
Q: — More or less? He is a world champion, six quads in the free program!
R.A: — Nathan has been training with me since he was ten years old — he drove to me in a car from Utah, slept in her. At some point, he came to his mother and said that it was no longer possible, they had to move. They moved, rented a small room and lived in it. And at that time he had already learned everything, but now he is training himself - he entered Yale University. We train on Skype.
But here in the USA, coaches are holding onto a child, and a child onto a coach. And when a certain age knocks, their eyes open - and they find themselves at the level of Novice who haven’t achieved anything serious. This is the story. It’s just uncomfortable with me, but not everyone can get out of the comfort zone.
Q: — Did Chen ask you when he was going to enter Yale University?
R.A: — His family decided so. The rules are simple: if an athlete comes — we work, if not — we don’t.
As for Nathan, he is an exception — more often in the USA young athletes do not come to me. In this country, they are very fond of their coaches, for the fact that they praise and support them. And by me they scare them (laughing). Later, when they are 18–19 years old, they come to me and say — “save me”, but what remains for me? I spread my hands — “Why are you doing this, bunny, where have you been before?”, “Where did you learn this?”. For them I am mean, malicious, and but I am not mean, I just tell the truth: I call white white, and black black.
Still, there are those who come to me and say: "I want to win the Olympics, do whatever you want with me.” This is completely another conversation.
Q: — So still a conflict is needed?
R.A: — Hating is not necessary, but the conflict between an athlete and a coach is permanent. But when an athlete starts arguing with me, I often reminds him: “What did you say to me when you came? So go and do it.”
Interviewed by Veronika Sovetova
Source:
https://tass.ru/interviews/5817230
. The heart wants what it wants, man! 
and I hadn’t gotten so emotionally attached to anybody like that again until Misha came along. I hope we haven’t cursed him! (They both are Oly silver and World bronze medalists after all)
and that he’s talented, but that an athlete needs to work like a Swiss watch. I don’t know if that’s a dig at Misha’s work ethic or an encouragement for him to keep doing what he’s doing (probably the latter, though I imagine it will be spun as the former).
my 10 year-old self wasn’t prepared to deal with Turin, and neither is my current self
