2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

karina17 said:

2019 WTT: 3A, 3Lz3T, 3F, 3S2ASEQ, LSp4, StSq4, 2A3T (missing 2T) x, 3Lz x, 3Lo x, ChSq1, FSSp4, CCoSp4
Total BV (with missing 2T added): 67.14

2019 CS Lombardia: 3A2T, 3A, 3Lz2ASEQ, 3F, FSSp4, LSp4, StSq4, 2A3T2T x, 3Lz x, 3Lo x, ChSq1, CCoSp4
Total BV: 67.62

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So overall a second 3A hasn't really benefited her. I think she should do layout similar to Kihira's if she wants the BV to outweigh the risk of repeating two 3As. For example: 3A-2T, 3A, 3Lz-3T, 3F, 2A-eu-3S, 3Lz, 3Lo. The total BV would be 69.79.Can she do euler combos though?

ruga said:

So overall a second 3A hasn't really benefited her. I think she should do layout similar to Kihira's if she wants the BV to outweigh the risk of repeating two 3As. For example: 3A-2T, 3A, 3Lz-3T, 3F, 2A-eu-3S, 3Lz, 3Lo. The total BV would be 69.79.Can she do euler combos though?

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in terms of BV I agree the second 3A is not worth the risk currently. But with two 3A she ensures 8s and even casual 8.5 in PCS later in the season. Judges think "oh nice two clean 3A than I have to give at least 8s". I personally dont agree. But thats how the game is played. same will happen with trusova "oh nice 3 quads, I will have to give at least 8.5s"

halulupu said:

in terms of BV I agree the second 3A is not worth the risk currently. But with two 3A she ensures 8s and even casual 8.5 in PCS later in the season. Judges think "oh nice two clean 3A than I have to give at least 8s". I personally dont agree. But thats how the game is played. same will happen with trusova "oh nice 3 quads, I will have to give at least 8.5s"

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3A is also a high risk element so if she falls or makes other big mistake, judges will have to deduct a bit of PCS, not to mention TES loss. That's why she needs to ensure bigger BV gain by adding 2T-2Lo or an euler combo. I'm not saying she should remove one 3A. But she earned less than half of a point by repeating 3A (which can easily be blown by making even a small mistake) because she removed a 3S and added a sequence. Her team needs to think of a better layout if she is capable of it of course.

readernick said:

Rippons are no longer counted toward higher GOE.

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you're wrong)
rippons count as a "good body position'

atsumiri said:

you're wrong)
rippons count as a "good body position'

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Haha. Perhaps I guess it all depends on the particular judges view

'Good body position' can be achieved with good tanos/rippons, but a position which good in general can also count for this.

Reina del Hielo said:

Regarding Ksenia's sp song:

I have always found that song very depressing, but Ksenia skated to it beautifully and I enjoyed her program. It is a tribute to Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni who committed suicide at age 46 by jumping into the Mar del Plata in 1938. :sad21:

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It's really sad, but I agree that Ksenia does it justice, to the best of her abilities.

NadezhdaNadya said:

Agree completely!
And here is one skater with both excellent height and distance - Yuna Kim - She is flying!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmZuU71C7eA
Kaori - amazing distance and fluidity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30D47Ylzs90

And Anna's height and distance...just...:disapp: Not to mention her heavily prerotated jumps (not only the quad but even her triples), wrong lutz edge...

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https://shizukasarakawa.tumblr.com/...nwhile-at-the-cup-of-russia-anna-shcherbakova

ruga said:

3A is also a high risk element so if she falls or makes other big mistake, judges will have to deduct a bit of PCS, not to mention TES loss. That's why she needs to ensure bigger BV gain by adding 2T-2Lo or an euler combo. I'm not saying she should remove one 3A. But she earned less than half of a point by repeating 3A (which can easily be blown by making even a small mistake) because she removed a 3S and added a sequence. Her team needs to think of a better layout if she is capable of it of course.

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I totally agree. Girl just learned a 3f3t combo, guess there wasnt time enough to (re)learn an euler combo. So maybe she will come up with it later in the season. My point though was, that having two 3a in the Layout (even if the layout is somehow not so clever) gives you more than just BV. It is a reputation thing and separates her from the rest

Figure skating map of the World - from Perm to Toronto: why are they fleeing from the provinces to Moscow, and from there to the USA and Canada?

The main figure skating stereotype: top Russian skaters are raised only in Moscow (in rare cases, in Sankt Peterburg). Individuals from the province, having barely mastered triple jumps, are eager for coaches who constantly shine on TV.

A vivid illustration - the protocols of the championship of Russia 2019. All the girls represented Moscow or St. Petersburg (with the exception of Medvyedeva, who however, is still formally attached to Sambo-70, but is training in Toronto). Among the guys the only regional participant Vladislav Katichev hails from Saransk.

The situation in dance is a little more diverse - duets from the Samara and Sverdlovsk regions. The diversity of regions in the protocols is deceptive however, not due to the popularity of the discipline, but to double representation: Zabiyako and Enbert formally (very formally!) Represent Krasnodar, and Tarasova and Morozov represent Tatarstan.

Why are there so few high class skaters from the province?

Migration to the capital is not a symptom of figure skating alone: the difference in quality of life and opportunities is too great. But there are several factors that are relevant only for skaters:

1. Training is impossible without high-quality and constantly available ice: in the province there are often problems with this. Ice palaces are closed due to unprofitability, and in surviving arenas, priority is given to hockey or mass skating sessions where you can earn money.

Athletes have nowhere to run their programs through, train sliding and work out elements - and this is a basic need even for the most talented. Tat'yana Tarasova often talks about this problem in the show “Ice Age. Children ”: children from the regions are actively taking lessons there, but it is difficult for them to compete with metropolitan skaters.

2. Figure skating is an expensive pastime. In large cities, clubs pay for a part of the expenses of a promising athlete, can pay a good choreographer, costumes, rent you an apartment near the rink or even find a sponsor. In the province, all expenses are borne by the parents, and the support of local authorities amounts to peanuts.

3. All top coaches - are in Moscow and Sankt Peterburg. There, are higher salaries, better conditions and more prospects. There are still enough capable specialists in the regions who are laying the foundation for future champions, but their capabilities are limited by the lack of infrastructure.

In order not to forget about those who discovered Zagitova, Lipnitskaya and Trankov, we made a map of our figure skating and marked on it those cities where the sport still breathes: https://s5o.ru/storage/simple/ru/edt/f2/60/04/32/ruea9caac3da6.png

Sochi

Famous skaters: Denis Vasil'yev (until 2016), Yuliya Lipnitskaya (until 2017).

Sochi Olympic Games 2014 left the city the chic “Iceberg” stadium and the memory our skaters' triumphs. Thanks to the cool infrastructure is seemed the southern city would become a new center of attraction for talents, but in reality everything is different. Iceberg is rented out to ice shows, for several years in a row Open Test Skates of the national team took place here, but even those returned a year ago to Moscow.

Still, a school for figure skaters in Sochi was opened - the Volosozhar and Trankov Training Center for Olympic Figure Skating. Tat'yana and Maksim don't work there, the main coaching star is Alexey Urmanov. At first, things were going well at the rink: Denis Vasil'yev (Latvia), Slavik Hayrapetyan (Armenia) and Yuliya Lipnitskaya moved to the seaside town. Urmanov emphasized in an interview that in his native St. Peterburg there is no work for him - but in Sochi are all conditions are there.

Gradually the group decreased: Vasil'yev went to Stefan Lambiel, Lipnitskaya ended her career. Now there are no stars in the Sochi center, although you can engage in any kind of figure skating - there is even a team of synchronized athletes.

Tol'yatti

Famous skaters: Yevdokimova - Bazin, Maxim Shabalin (until 1998).

The duet of Yevdokimova and Bazin is a rare example of skaters refusing to move to the capital. The partner was repeatedly invited to Moscow, but, according to the athletes, they like to skate together, compete for their hometown and work with their first coach. Relations between the regions and the capital are described succinctly: "We are not entering into disputes - Togl'iatti will still be wrong."

The coach of Yevdomikova and Bazina is Oleg Sudakov. It was himwho advised his pupil Maksim Shabalin (bronze in the 2010 Olympics) to switch from single skating to ice dancing. According to Sudakov, many athletes are fleeing to Moscow, inspired by the example of Shabalin. But only a few succeed, and this proverb goes about the capital: “Taken, in order to bury”. Some provincial couples are intentionally broken up by Moscow coaches - they don’t even take them for themselves, but simply to eliminate competitors.

Izhevsk

Famous skaters: Alina Zagitova (until 2015).

Izhevsk is a symbolic place for female figure skating: it was here that the future Olympic Champion started. Her first coach, Nataliya Antipina, believes that moving to Moscow was the only right decision: Alina’s home rink lacked sparring partners and conditions for growth.

Generation Zagitova - the most stellar in the history of Izhevsk skating. In addition to Alina, Alisa Lozko and Natal'ya Ogoreltseva also trained under Antipina — both left for St. Peterburg. Zagitova’s younger sister Sabina is also engaged in figure skating - of course, with Antipina.

Kazan

Famous skaters: synchronized skating team “Tatarstan”, Yevgenia Tarasova (until 2010).

Kazan School of Olympic Reserve is one of the oldest in Russia. Many top skaters started here: from Yevvgeniya Tarasova (who then still performed in single skating) to Kamila Valiyeva, the rising star of the Tutberidze group. Suddenly, synchronised skating ignited: the local Tatarstan team is number Two of the Russian national team.

In Kazan, Tarasova is still considered: in 2018, she became the athlete of the year in the republic. The skater's first coach recalls how in childhood she encouraged her, who was left without a ticket to the Moscow competitions: “Zhenya, don’t worry, you’ll go to the World Championships. Not as a spectator, but as a participant!”

The Secretary General of the Tatarstan Figure Skating Federation says that Moscow has always taken the best athletes. This happened, for example, with 16-year-old Aleksander Fadeyev (4-time European champion), although both he and his coach were against it. Fadeyev began in Kazan with Gennadiy Tarasov, but after winning the junior World Championships he was transferred to the capital, to Stanislav Zhuk.

A new ice sports center worth 700 million rubles is being prepared in Kazan - Nina Moser will probably become a curator. There will also be a boarding school and a short track school.

Kirov

Famous skaters: Oksana Domnina (until 2000), Kseniya Monko - Kirill Halyavin (until 2005).

The main pride of the Vyatka school is the long-legged Oksana Domnina (bronze in the 2010 Olympics), who at the age of 16 moved from Kirov to Odintsovo. In this Moscow suburb, she was paired with Maksim Shabalin from the Samara region - the couple quickly grew into leaders in Russian ice dancing.

In 2005, four Kirov couples together with coach Olga Ryabinina moved to Rostov-on-Don to raise local figure skating in exchange for good funding. In May 2009, Ryabinina and the dancers were invited to Moscow to join Yelena Kustarova’s group. The most interesting thing from that company was the fate of Kirill Khalyavin: he paired up with Sarah Hurtado, received Spanish citizenship and competed for this country at the 2018 Olympics.

Perm

Famous skaters: Vera Bazarova - Yuriy Larionov (until 2011), Maksim Trankov (until 1999), Tat'yana Totmyanina (until 1996).

Perm is probably the main supplier of stars for junior pair skating. Some then grew into top athletes and even Olympic champions. Local duets have problems with difficult jumps, but they are impeccable in the performance of paired elements. The best confirmation - it is in Perm where the promising pair of Olympic champion Kseniya Stolbova and Andrey Novosyolov are skating.

Local trainer Pavel Slyusarenko believes that you can become a good skater at home: “The recent transitions from the Perm school to Moscow showed that for some reason these same guys showed results, and in Moscow those result disappears and the pair just disappears after a year, more and less. I don’t know what this is connected with, but I would not want our guys to be lured away, because in our city at our rink there are all the required conditions for good work”.

Slyusarenko himself was also offered a transfer - to Moskvina’s school in St. Peterburg.

Yekaterinburg

Famous skaters: Yuliya Lipnitskaya (until 2009), Maksim Kovtun (until 2011).

In Yekaterinburg, there are several large schools where skaters are trained. In the Urals, there is a synchronized skating team, several dance couples (the future Olympic champion Marina Klimova began here in the 70s), but the main wealth is singles. In the local youth sports school “Lokomotiv”, Lipnitskaya and Kovtun first put on their boots.

Lipnitskaya's coach Yelena Levkovyets told how difficult it is to raise champions in the province. The salary of a specialist of her level is 25 thousand rubles. Skaters are also practically not supported: the coach says that over the year the federation bought five pairs of skates for the entire region. There isn’t enough ice: parents spend money every month to rent extra hours at the rink, and the provided 3 workouts for 45 minutes per week are a mockery of professional sports.

Moscow region

Mytishchi

Famous skaters: Konstantin Milyukov.

The main star of the local coaching staff is the ice dancer Vazgen Azroyan, but the emphasis in Mytishchi is on single skating. More recently, Ruslan Zhiganshin worked in the club, but now he is collaborating with the team of Angelika Krylova. After concluding his career, Azroyan himself managed to work as the head coach of the Kazan sports school. His current student, Konstantin Milyukov (star of the short program of the Czech Republic 2019 in men's singles), has been competing for Belarus since the new season.

Balashikha

Famous skaters: Diana Davis - Gleb Smolkin (until 2019).

Eteri Tutberidze, Diana Davis' mother, emphasised in an interview she would carefully choose a coach to transfer her daughter from solo skating to ice dancing. First, Diana was in the group of Yelena Kustarova, then she moved to the group of Denis Samokhin in Balashikha. Diana and her partner Gleb Smolkin begin their new season in the United States - in the team of Igor Shpilband.

In Balashikha they know a lot about junior dancers. The duets of Kazakov - Reviya (Georgia) and Khudaiberdieva - Filatov (the partner in a pair with Nikita Nazarov won the UChM-2019 silver) also skate here.

Odintsovo

Famous skaters: Domnina - Shabalin (until 2008), Denkova - Stavisky (until 2005), Ushakova - Nekrasov.

Like the school in Balashikha, Odintsovo specializes in training young ice dancers. Aleksey Gorshkov has been training here for many years: duets Domnina - Shabalin, Grebenkina - Azroyan, Denkova - Staviskiy passed through his hands. Even the Japanese Katie and Chris Reed managed to practice at the rink near Moscow.

Sankt Peterburg

In St. Petersburg - there are a dozen ice palaces. Main schools: Star Ice, Tamara Moskvina's club, and the Olympic Reserve Sports School.

• "Star Ice" - a symbolic place for St. Peterburg's figure skating. The list of current students includes Yelizaveta Tuktamysheva and Sof'ya Samodurova, among the coaches are the spouses Mishina, Arthur Gachinsky and Oleg Tataurov. The school’s own building appeared only in 2014 - before that, Mishin trained his pupils on the ice of the Yubileiniy Sports Palace, which he shared with hockey players and concert organisers.

• The Tamara Moskvina figure skating club appeared in St. Peterburg in 2017 through the efforts of her former student Anton Sikharulidze. The school specializes in pair skating: Yelena Berezhnaya and Oleg Vasil'yev invited former students to train under Moskvin. Tamara Nikolayevna says that in her club salaries are higher than in state schools, but the training staff does not have time for basic skating classes - a standard extra income for coaches. The main stars of the club now are the duet of Boykova - Kozlovskiy, who took bronze at the last Europeans.

• Sports School of the Olympic Reserve - the largest in St. Peterburg. In training there, you can meet Dmitriy Aliyev (Evgeny Rukavitsyn’s group), Mikhail Kolyada and Stanislava Konstantinova (Valentina Chebotareva’s headquarters), as well as three synchronised teams, including three-time Paradise world champions.

For many years now, the Velikov family has been working in the SSchOR, who collaborated with Stolbova and Klimov, Petrova and Tikhonov, who now are bringing up the promising duet Mishina - Gallyamov. Going down in the SSchOR is only ice dancing - however, much like in the whole of St. Peterburg.

Moscow

Moscow is the central point on the map of Russian figure skating. Adelina Sotnikova and Yevgeniya Medvyedeva were born here, Tat'yana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov joined in a couple, and Trusova, Shcherbakova and Zagitova step on the ice of Khrustalniy every day.

You can become a skater in almost every district of Moscow: in the eastern Novokosino works Svetlana Panova, in the north - YElena Buyanova and Angelika Krylova, in the south-west - Eteri Tutberidze. These are government institutions, but there is the private school of Yevgeniy Plyushchenko, who demands 60 thousand RBL for a lesson.

• “Sambo-70”, Khrustalniy branch - the place where almost all the gold of single ladies skating flocks together. Soon, a second skating rink will appear at the school: Tutberidze is constantly gaining new students, and in addition to her group there is also a team of dancers and health classes.

• “Tchaikovskiy Rink” - another branch of “Sambo-70”, but located on the other end of Moscow - in Strogino. The main trainer there is Yelena Tchaikovskaya, whose track record will take more than one page. Although a couple of seasons ago, Tchaikovskaya worked closely with Sinitsina and Katsalapov, the emphasis in the school is on single skating.

• CSKA (Sports School of the Olympic Reserve named after S. Zhuk) - one of the largest in Moscow. Local ice remembers Adelina Sotnikova, Irina Rodnina, Yekaterina Gordeyeva and Sergey Grinkov. The head coach, Yelena Buyanova, also studied here. In addition to Buyanova, CSKA's trainers list Svetlana Sokolovskaya, Sergey Davydov and a couple of dozen distinguished specialists. Inna Goncharenko’s group closed one and a half years ago after a conflict with the school's administration.

• The Megasport Sports Complex is not only the venue for the main figure skating competitions, but also the training base of Angelika Krylova. Like Tutberidze, Angelika returned from the United States (although she lived there much longer) to work at home.

Now she coaches Betina Popova and Sergey Mozgov, with Ruslan Zhiganshin is listed as assistant: “I like that Angelika has had experience in the States. Thanks to this, we can combine several approaches to training at once. And that's great. It’s not a problem for her to invite a specialist of a narrow profile, for example, an acting teacher or a yoga coach”, Ruslan told.

Megasport also has solo skating: you can do it, for example, with Zhanna Gromova (who raised Irina Slutskaya) and Mariya Butyrskaya.

• “Snow Leopards” - overseen by Svetlana Panova. At one time, Mariya Sotskova left tjisschool, complaining of poor working conditions: ice time was often taken away in favour of hockey players. Nevertheless, there are always many talented juniors in Snow Leopards: of the current generation, these are Nastya Tarakanova (she returned to Panova, having trained with Tutberidze and Plyushchenko) and Kseniya Sinitsyna.

• Gomelskiy's ORM No. 4 is located in Bibirevo, where Ice Palace “Dream” was given to the skaters. The school prepares good singles, pairs and synchronists, but the emphasis is on dancing: the main stars of the school are Aleksandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. In addition to them, Irina Zhuk and Aleksander Svinin train several junior couples and the Hungarian duet Yanovskaya - Lukash.

• School No. 2 is another large school in the north of Moscow. It is interesting that there are almost no successful singles here: the emphasis is on pair skating (a group of Sergey Dobroskokov) and dancing (a team of yelena Kustarova and Svetlana Alekseyeva). Every day, Tiffany Zagorski and Jonathan Gureiro, Dar'ya Pavlyuchenko and Denis Khodykin, as well as promising juniors, come to the north of Moscow to train.

• SSHOR “Moskvich” - the place of work of Alexander Zhulin. After Yekaterina Bobrova went on maternity leave, Viktoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov became the main couple. However, since January 2019, the skaters and the coach have been assigned to the school only formally: after the rink under the Olimpiyskiy Stadion closed for rebuilding, Zhulin moved to his own academy in the west of Moscow. But Viktoriya Butsayeva remained: in the past, a successful skater herself, who now trains singles.

• SSOR “Sokolniki” - former skaters who have recently completed their careers work here as trainers: Yekaterina Rublyova, Ivan Shefer, Sergey Novitskiy. The emphasis in the school is on junior dances, and the creativity of their performances is often noted by Tat'yana Tarasova.

• SC “Inspiration”, SSHOR “Vorobyovy Gory” - a rare school that exclusively educates pairs skaters. The list of graduates and students is impressive: Volosozhar - Trankov, Stolbova - Klimov, Tarasova - Morozov, Zabiyako - Enbert. The main person at the rink is Nina Moser, who, however, is constantly changing her plans for the coaching future: she either wants to retire and attend to the children's educational center in Sochi. Sometimes she stands behind the boards when Tarasova and Morozov perform, whom she herself called an “uninteresting old project”.

• Academy of FS "Plyushchenko's Angels" - one of the new schools in Moscow. Initially, many perceived it as entertainment for children of wealthy parents, but then Sotnikova, as well as several acting figure skaters: Tarakanova, Sakhanovich, Samoilov, turned to Plushenko.

Now, however, all three have left the group: one of the reasons is the unusually small ice surface. For the same reason, Plyushchenko and Maksim Kovtun did not gain a foothold: everyone is more familiar with working out programs on standard rinks. Very young students of the championship academy have a chance to practice with the son of Yevgeniy himself, or, for example, with the daughter of Philip Kirkorov.

USA and Canada

On our map there are three points outside of Russia - Toronto, Detroit and Istero.

Abroad, skaters often migrate and train in international teams - though, usually at their own expense. In our country, moving to a foreign specialist is perceived as an event (sometimes as a betrayal) and raises the question of the appropriateness of such expenses.

• Toronto - a place of attraction for skaters from around the world. Here, Brian Orser works with a team in a private sports club, and the list of his former and current wards is impressive: two-time world champion Javier Fernandez, Olympic champion Yu-Na Kim, and, of course, two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. Since last year, Yevgeniya Medvedeva has been training in the group, she moved to Canada after a scandalous exit from the Tutberidze group.

• Detroit - the home of Igor Shpilband, a former Soviet coach who emigrated to the United States in the early 90s. In 2016, he trained the Ilyins - Zhiganshin, and now Igor is helping Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin. Juniors rarely go abroad to train, but in the case of this duet, the ambitions are clear: Diana is the daughter of Eteri Tutberidze, and her partner is the son of the famous actor Boris Smolkin.

Zhiganshin himself isn't very enthusiastic over lessons with Igor - he did not like the distance between the coach and the skaters. “In Russia, the coach is much closer to the athlete. They follows you, check your weight, your life as a whole - they do everything so you can achieve your goal and show the results. In America, only an hour of paid private lessons connected us with a trainer. ” The result of that internship was hardly successful: the athletes brought a controversial, overweight partner from the USA, and at the end of the season the couple broke up.

• Istero (Florida) - the new base of Tarasova and Morozov. At the end of spring, an absurd situation developed: there was no one to train the best couple in Russia. As a result, we agreed on cooperation with Marina Zuyeva - after the inimitable Gordeyeva and Grinkov shone in her programs.

Now Zuyeva works in sunny Florida, although she trained in Canton, Michigan a year ago. In this small town near Detroit, Sinitsina-Katsalapov drove to her, only just after pairing up. The duo liked training in the USA, but had to return to Russia due to high living expenses.

***

Of course, stars are born all over Russia. Plyushchenko is from Volgograd, Trusova from Ryazan, Tuktamysheva from Glazov - the geographic spread of figure skating is quite wide. Sadly, but inevitably - all of them, in order to succeed, had to leave their cities as teenagers. But at least they can say for sure that this sacrifice was worth it.
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From: https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/beznedokrutov/2552811.html

How much do skaters spend? Skates and costumes are nothing compared to renting ice and the work of a choreographer.

Figure skating is an expensive sport. Parents invest tens of thousands in the training of their children, but only a few get the costs returned by piecemeal (or were able to minimise their expenses).

Recently, skater Anastasiya Tarakanova began searching for a sponsor: according to her, the family spent more than 20 million rubles on the sport over her 12 year career.

On the eve of the last season, Nastya returned to coach Svetlana Panova after having spent a year at the academy of Yevgeniy Plyushchenko, obviously an expensive excursion.

Here is the list of annual costs compiled by Tarakanova:

• renting an apartment in Moscow (Nastya is from Volgograd);

• sports nutrition;

• payment for school tutors;

• additional classes in choreography, acting, stretching and general physical training;

• training using rod and harness for quadruples;

• sewing dresses for performances;

• staging programs;

• transport fares.

Let's figure out what this gigantic amount is made up of.

Equipment

The basic expense item is skates.

Usually, one pair is enough for the season, but some skaters have 2-3 pairs broken in and ready - in case the boot goes bad on the eve of the competition. Professional skates cost 40-60 thousand rubles - the Federation pays one pair for the members of the national team, the rest are bought at their own expense. The blades will cost another 10-30 thousand rubles.

You cannot save on this inventory: it guarantees the quality of elements and insures against stupid injuries.

Young skaters ride on simpler models, but change shoes more often: a child's foot grows quickly, and boots bought for growth are a direct path to injury. Rented skates are no good - except for mass skating sessions.

Another inevitable expense is the costume. It's not about the training jackets and pants (in those you'll find quite budget options), but about a pair of outfits for performances of both programs (top athletes have a third for demonstration). Sometimes a costume is remade several times a year: they remove heavy decorative stones, alter the skirt or change the concept of the image as a whole.

How much do skater dresses cost, what is fashionable, what colors are a failure? We found out ...

A dress from the Russian designer Olga Ryabenko (sews for the Tutberidze group, but also works with ordinary customers) costs about 60 thousand rubles. Leading foreign ateliers charge even more: for example, the price tag for outfits from Satomi Ito (costume designer of Japanese skaters) starts at $ 2 thousand.

Children's dresses are often resold to recover part of the cost. Another way to save money for beginners is to order costumes on Chinese websites: even exact copies of the outfits of famous skaters can be found there.

For example, a replica of Wakaba Higuchi's dress for only $ 425: (link to advertisement)

Staging

The standard option is to work with a full-time choreographer. But often the skaters are looking for development from foreign experts - there the production will cost $ 1.5-5 thousand (the cost of maintenance is the subsequent polishing of the production). In addition, they pay for the flight to the choreographer, living abroad and cutting music (in the USA - from $ 100 when ordering from an anonymous student, cheaper - to do it yourself).

Basic skating lessons

Basic skating lessons are the main expense for young skaters and the opportunity to earn money for those who have completed their careers. In fact, this is tutoring, additional training, on which they hone elements, do program run throughs, correct deficiencies. It happens that these run throughs takes place on sites for mass skating - in shopping centers or sports complexes, where an additional fee is required for going out onto the ice.

The price of a tutor depends on the city and the name of the coach. For example, an hour of individual training with Kristina Astakhova (8th place at the 2018 World Cup paired with Alexei Rogonov) costs 3 thousand rubles, while a coach with 25 years of experience like Yelena Konyukhova asks 4.

An individual hour-long training session with Yevgeniy Plyushchenko - it’s awkward to call it a rip off - costs 60 thousand.

Accommodation

In Russia, figure skating is concentrated in Moscow and Sankt Peterburg. Of course, you can reach a decent level in your hometown - but real development is only possible in the capitals. When moving, the skaters grow up early and face difficulties: for example, Maksim Trankov spent many nights sleeping under the stands and in the coaches room, while Serafima Sakhanovich lived in a communal apartment where she was persecuted for wasting water.

Muscovites are sometimes forced to rent apartments: if the skating rink is far from home, it is better to live nearby than to stand in traffic jams or kill an hour of time and your health every day on your way to rink and back.

What about foreigners?

It is more difficult for foreign skaters - they pay for training, ice and costumes without state support. An hour with a trainer costs $ 65-120. If you have money, you can even study with Brian Orser (he claims that he loves working with beginners - this forms patience and improves teaching skills). Athletes of the highest class pay extra lessons from specialists in spinning, sliding, acting; dancers and pairs skaters work on support with acrobats - and pay for everything.

Ice costs money too - $ 20-40 dollars per hour. This makes athletes concentrate on work. Eteri Tutberidze recalls: “As for Canadians and Americans, they are completely different. The athlete himself pays for figure skating there, moreover, very often he works for it. And he understands that every minute on ice costs money. And he appreciates this minute. And how to make our athletes even begin to appreciate their time if they just have this ice and that's it? They go out, take 5 minutes to remove the covers from their skates, another 10 to blow their noses, then lacing their boots. Because for them, time is not money”.

The coach’s trip to the competitions is also the athlete’s concern. Some specialists require athletes to pay for travel expenses and compensation for monetary losses for canceling classes with other students during their absence.

Medical treatment is a big expense. Treatment, rehabilitation, physiotherapist consultations, massage - all this costs a lot of money and is not always covered by insurance.

Think about the numbers: when the winners of the Junior World Championships in ice dancing Rachel and Michael Parsons started skating, their parents spent about $ 2 thousand a year. In 2016, expenses rose to $ 75 thousand (a little less than 5 million rubles), and after two seasons the female partner ended her career due to health problems.

In order to pay for their bills, foreigners work in their free time: for example, Alexander Mayorov is a massage therapist (by training a physiotherapist), Daniel Eaton is a parking lot guardsman. Another way out is to study at the university, which can issue a grant or at least pay for ice.

Some skaters couldn't even stay in sports without the support of their parents: for example, Javier Fernandez's father worked in two places so that his son could train abroad - there was no chance to realise himself in far from figure skating removed Spain.

He was Frank Sinatra of figure skating. And sang 'My Way' while skating.

If personal and sponsorship money is not enough, fans help. Even top athletes are not shy of crowd funding - fans eagerly send money. Here are the main reasons why skaters start collecting:

• trip to the competition. In small countries, federations do not provide for skaters - especially those who do not bring medals. Last season, Romania's Julia Souter collected money for her ticket to Saitama, where the World Championships were held - 13 people threw her $ 600, allowing the athlete to fly to Japan.

• tickets for relatives to attend the competition. Even if the federation pays the expenses for the skater, the family only travels at their own expense. Before the 2018 Games, Brady Tennell opened a $ 20,000 goal collection for her brothers' trip to Korea (raised 12,838). The American explained that her single mother provides for three children, so there is no extra money in the family.

Madison Hubbell received $ 7,200 from fans so that her brother (and a former partner in ice dancing) would cheer for her in Pyeongchang.

• training. Internships with the best foreign specialists are a real chance to take your career to a new level. In 2016, thanks to crowdfunding, Michal Brzezina left for Rafael Harutyunyan - and from a withering veteran he again turned into an elite athlete.

Can I make money in figure skating?

Members of the Russian national team receive a salary - the size depends on the achievements, the region and the club that he represents. Sergey Mozgov said that he received about 30 thousand rubles a month, but for the title of reigning world champion among juniors he was paid 120 thousand.

Alexey Yagudin believes that a small salary is normal: “What a nightmare! Previously, we were offered neither salaries nor fees! And somehow, after all, we are alive and healthy! Tat'yana Totmyanina shared one pair of shoes with her mother, slept at a factory in Perm, moving chairs! Yevgeniy Plyushchenko and Maksim Marinin arrived from Volgograd, there was nothing to eat! We collected beer cans!”

The regions are sometimes helped by grants. Last year, about 2 million rubles from the president were received for development of figure skating in the Stavropol Territory - the money went to support the regional team, ice fitness groups and competitions.

Finally, there are presidential scholarships: these are received not only by the winners of the Games, but also by members of the Olympic teams - 52 thousand rubles a month. The committee of the Ministry of Sports selects the candidates.

In figure skating there is some good prize money, however, for the elite, part of their earnings will go as a bonus to the coach and to taxes.

Exhibitions are paid separately - however, at the stages of the Grand Prix, fees for them are included in the prize money. If the athlete took from the 6th to the 12th places, but ended up in a gala concert, the rate is fixed: $ 200 for singles, $ 300 for pairs and dancers. ISU championships have a different system: medalists are paid $ 900 for their demonstrations ($ 1350 for duets), the rest - 700/900.

You can earn money by teaching basic skating lessons, however, it will take time to search for customers. In the summer, famous skaters are invited to training camps and workshops - an excellent test for the role of a coach with an eye on your future career.

Another way to make money is to do shows. Performances take place in May and over the summer months, but there are also New Year's events. According to Lisa Tuktamysheva, a month of touring will provide the money for a nice car.

The best shows are in Japan, but ice shows are also popular in Russia: productions of Navka, Averbukh and Plyushchenko, and the spring premiere of the Eteri Tutberidze Show of Champions. According to Ilya Averbukh, in the first rounds he was paid $ 2-3 thousand for a performance, Plushenko’s fee could reach up to 8 thousand. Now Ilya pays guest performers in rubles and wants to go international.

“They don’t understand how you can love Zhenya against Alina.” Figure Skating in Japan: Boom or Already a Culture?

To go on tours, it is not necessary to have significant titles. Best invite the audience’s favourites - artistic athletes who make vivid demonstrations and work well with the audience. The regulars of the show are acrobats: they do somersaults and do crazy things on ice.

Less popular athletes go to ice theaters or perform on ships during cruises, like Tutberidze and Dudakov did before starting their coaching careers.

Champions make good money on advertising. Zagitova represents expensive cosmetics and sportswear, Medvyedeva - apparel and shampoo, Plyushchenko - luxury cars (although the most epic commercial with him was broadcast on TV 15 years ago).

In countries where figure skating is en vogue, you can get into television projects. At the 2018 Games, Mirai Nagasu made a statement that seemed absurd: "I want to participate in 'Dancing with the Stars' because I am a star. I made history only by becoming the first American to perform the triple Axel at the Olympics. I think of this as an accomplishment. I hope I will have many chances to shine even brighter in the sky. I smiled during my free routine. This was rare for me, but I was pleased with myself and thought about my skating run, only like viewing it in Dancing with the Stars.

To the joy of Mirai, she was invited to the project. In addition to her, Adam Rippon, Meryl Davis and Charlie White took part in the American "Dancing with the Stars" at different times. In Russia, ice shows also captured television and various generations of star skaters - from Grischuk and Kazakova to Sotnikova and Trankov.

***

Figure skating is not the best investment for the future. The Olympic jackpot only falls on a rare hero, most finish their careers without ever going to major tournaments. For the sake of faraway medal chances, families of athletes spend amounts with which you can buy overseas property or pay for studies at a prestigious university.

However, the mother of the former skater Jeremy Abbott clearly formulated the motivation of any parent: "To see that your child is doing what he really loves is the best return that you can wish for."
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From: https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/beznedokrutov/2529870.html

Alex65 said:

https://shizukasarakawa.tumblr.com/...nwhile-at-the-cup-of-russia-anna-shcherbakova

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Regarding of the height of the jumps (not other aspects like prerotation or full-blade assist and stuff), Anna's quad defies the statistics of her other jumps. It puzzles me to no end because her quad is of magnificent height and distance (regardless of landing it or not), but then her triples are not like that. Her triples are smaller than all other 4A right now.

Edwin said:

Whole post.

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Thanks for this summary of the teams and schools.

How much do skater's dresses cost, what is fashionable, what colours are a failure? We found out ....

In figure skating you are measured by your clothes. A beautiful appearance brings extra points. It is no coincidence that judges evaluate not only the complexity of jumps, spins and step sequences, but also the overall impression - artistry, the beauty of performance, the transmission of images and music.

Dresses and costumes are another story. Skaters order them in the summer, special designers work on them - as a rule, familiar and trusted people. They are aware of fashion trends, know how to work with complex fabrics, understand the specifics of each discipline (dancing, couples, solitary) and sew so carefully that athletes in their new clothes feel confident and comfortable.

Vyacheslav Sambur spoke with Olga Oskina, a costume designer who worked with world champion Mariya Butyrskaya, Olympic champions Yelena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov.
Here are the details

1) Ordering a costume from a designer - how do skaters find you?

- Many people think that tailoring costumes is a whole industry, with competition, a struggle for orders. But in fact, in figure skating, everything is strongly tied to personal relationships. I have a circle of regular customers that changes over time. I almost never write about my work in social networks, I don't maintain a site - but they find me through connections, recommendations.

For any designer, the bulk of orders are for children's costumes, and these children then grow up before our eyes; top skaters are a smaller share. But even the champions apply personally: I made the first costumes for Lena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapova, even when they were children and still rode alone. As I remember the Elvis Presley costume for Nikita and the Uzbek costume for Lena, more than 10 years have passed since.

2) Who and how to formulate wishes?

- Usually there is a team that state the requirements: a coach, an athlete, his relatives, parents and a choreographer - they make up the technical requirements. Most often they come in late spring or early summer, with what is ready at the moment: sometimes there is no program, but there is an idea and music.

I need to present them sketches; early in the stage of designing, I show a certain fabric or several fabric options. Then we gather these in the store, cut the samples and number them - the customer takes some time to think. It is also important to meet with the athlete in order to choose the right body mesh colour - that matches the skin tone.

In the end, after all the approvals and selections, a reasonable compromise should be obtained between the task of the team and my feelings about the music, number, and appearance of the athlete.

3) Work on the costume: how much time is needed, how many fittings?

- The standard term is one and a half months of silent work. This is enough to draw, to step aside for a while, to look at a thing with a new look. There are urgent orders, there are always a lot of problems with these. Sometimes the opposite happens: the dress lies waiting for three months - not because I have been busy with it for so long; just the athlete does not have time to try it on.

At least two fittings are needed. On the first there is no dress yet - it is, rather, a leotard or even less; but it is enough to determine the stretch, to note the seam lines in order to make patterns. The second fitting is probably more spectacular, where the costume is close to its final appearance. But it’s not too late to change something: athletes take pictures in their costume, send pictures to coaches - at this stage the whole team is discussing it.

Sometimes we sew things without fitting at all - remotely. Recently, I had several orders from Vladivostok: I received only measurements, of course, taken by a dressmaker, whom I had never seen. This is always a big risk, but this time I was lucky - everything turned out great.

4) What are the requirements for the costume and how to test fit it?

- The dress is tested in two stages. There is this particular set of movements in the dressing room: raise your hands, make a swallow, bend forward and backward - precisely in order to check the stretch of the leotard. Further - already on the ice to understand whether everything is in order with the length. For good measure, you need to skate the full routine

Usually any problem is already visible in the fitting room. But sometimes inexplicable things happen: the dress sits perfectly, but the person in it does not feel right. I had this with Masha Butyrskaya: we made a great dress, but she fell in it. Not because it was uncomfortable, just psychology. Skaters are superstitious people, so we replaced the dress.

The requirements for a dress are simple: no more than 30-40% of the body should be exposed, and the main principle - no matter how sophisticated the dress, is that it should be primarily sportswear. That is, the main thing is convenience and safety: a strong, well-stretched fabric. If it is silk, then it should fly well, not stick and not cling. No element should be able to cause injury - nothing sharp, no foreign objects; a skirt only so long as not to cover the face and not fall under the blades.

5) How resistant are dresses to wear? How to care for them?

- Definitely enough for a couple of seasons of active use. Sometimes I see very old dresses that still look good. In principle, a practice exists - skaters hand over costumes because they serve for years. For example, the dress in which Yana Khokhlova (European Champion 2009 in a duet with Sergei Novitskiy) danced "Night on the Bald Mountain", Kristina Astakhova (winner of the Grand Prix stages paired with Alexei Rogonov later used in the program “Master and Margarita”.

Natasha Mityushina (she competed for Russia in the singles and in ice dancing for Italy) ordered from me dresses as a girl. Now she trains and gives the pupils her old dresses - and they are like new. We shorten the skirt, slightly change the proportions, and these dresses still look very modern.

Dresses do not require very complicated care, the only thing is you need to wash them carefully, because the stones are glued. That is, wash in cold water, do not soak and do not rub - just rinse. Glue for stones is transparent based on PVA; but when you rub it a little, it softens and turns white. After the dress dries, the glue becomes transparent again.

6) How much does a turnkey dress cost?

- In the studio with which I work, a dress costs 50 thousand rubles on average; for labour, fabrics, stones. A private master will be cheaper due to the fact that the price of labour lower. The spread in prices for professional dresses is small; there is no such thing that a cheap dress costs 10 thousand, an average one 50, and an expensive 200.

There is no global price difference, because the fabrics are about the same, although there are exceptions. Last year we used high fashion fabric, very expensive, for Vika Sinitsyna’s dress. The quality of the stones varies significantly - Austrian, Czech or Korean. The number of stones also varies - usually from 2500 to 5000 per dress. They largely determine the weight. I never weighed them, and no one complained to me, but sometimes you feel: this one turned out heavy. I heard that Johnny Weir once performed in a suit weighing about 1 kg.

7) How has fashion changed over the past 8 years - from the Games in Vancouver?

- Figure skating fashion, although it correlates with world fashion in general, is still quite conservative due to its functionality.

In general, theatricality has become less, and laconicism more. Dresses have become more stylish, simpler - their connection with high fashion, with actual images is traceable. Now the skater should look modern - without unnecessary lacing, ruffles and slurred details. Such costumes can still be seen, but they all looks old-fashioned.

If we talk about individual changes: the hip line for sewing skirts rose, the skirts themselves of the dancers became shorter. The so-called “figure skating costumes” became smaller. Sometimes athletes formulate the task for me: make me such a costume, as if I just came from the street, put on my skates and went out onto the ice.

Today, the artist is tasked with making not a beautiful dress, but a stylish one, whatever that means. When you see a simple stylish dress, you see a delicate work on it; I immediately understand how the search went: how to select the depth of cut, shoulders, how the dress matched the figure of an athlete.

I judge changes in fashion even by my sketches. When there is an order, I draw about three options on a given topic and additionally show old sketches - those that were not used by anyone. I have accumulated a huge bank for 20 years, but now I am not adding any of the works before 2013. That is, I like the last 5 years, and everything that's older is already clearly out of date. Although until recently it seemed relevant.

It seems to me that foreigners have less sense in choosing costumes - they don’t bother. Therefore, amongst them there is always a scattering: there are both successful solutions and completely failed ones. I look at them and wonder: how did this one came about?

8) Has the demand for colours also changed?

- If we continue to compare with Vancouver 2010, then there are fewer defiant, fluorescent or banal colors.

I see now there are more natural fabrics being used - and they are always more complex in colour compared to synthetics. Therefore, the deep colors look advantageous: wine red, black with shades. Green is a very interesting color, it fits only few of the girls, but if it does, it is necessary to use it.

I watched the stages of this seasons Grand Prix - the colours close to the body look very successful: fawn, complex pink, delicate tones. Always unsuccessful are colours close to that of ice: grey, dirty blue. I will not name a couple, but I noticed this season: female partner has a light dress, male partner has the same light coloured shirt and black pants. There was a feeling that only trousers were dancing on the ice.

9) What are your strongest jobs?

“I always like to do something for the first time.” In 2011, I designed Lena Ilyin dress for her Don Quixote program, and we tried to make a real, non-adapted ballet tutu. Lena's mother even turned to a company that specializes in tailoring ballet costumes. They made a training tutu so that Lena would get used to the new form of the skirt, and then sewed a dress for the performance.

Don Quixote is a free program, and the waltz was the obligatory dance that season, and Lena and Nikita chose the Schnittke waltz. This is nervous, torn piece of music, so I did not design a classic waltzing dress but a dress in the style of tango or even latin.

In 2016, we made a dress for the short program of Vika Sinitsina - dark blue with gold; in it we used bead pendants for the first time. We wanted to make a dress in the style of the 1920s with a “moving” skirt from glass beads, but 'jais de verre' in figure skating are unacceptable due to injury. The have sharp edges, over time they cut the thread which hold them together. We replaced the jais de verre with beads - this is an incredibly time-consuming job, but it was worth it.

And I remember the jumpsuit for Yelena Sokolova on the theme of "Romeo and Juliet." It was such an ambiguous black tattooed Juliet. In general, I like the synthesis of various techniques and directions, the ability to break boundaries and combine the unconnected. If this happens, if the customer allows me to do this, then the dress automatically falls into the category of favourites.

10) The most successful / unsuccessful costumes of the past season (2018/19)?

- The beginning of the season provides usually a good, safe and undeniable level of costumes. I will name a few memorable.

• I liked the costumes of Stepanova and Bukin. Rhythm dance - a sharp, unconventional dress, built on the contrasts of volumes and textures. In the free program, the dress is graphic, even calligraphic. I always like when both programs are combined in some elusive author's style; and it is not clear that this is the work of the costume designer or the beauty and sense of style of athletes.

• I generally like the graphic design of the costume, so I note the exact image and the black dress of Olivia Smart, with a tattoo ornament on her back.

• Lorraine McNamara has a pink and pink petal dress in her free program. Spiral lines seem to pick up and continue to move, the dress dances with the skater.

I will not name the dresses that I didn’t like, because I know how much work it takes to create them. I will list only the basic approaches that are far from me.

• Old-fashioned dresses, bulky and pompous.

• When a dress is forced "head on".

• When a young girl is made into a granny using costume and hairstyle.

• Boring dresses where there is no attempt to go beyond the boundaries of a classic figure skating dress. I like quotes, borrowing from haute couture or street fashion.

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From: https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/russiateam/2246849.html

cell said:

I actually haven't seen the Perfume movie and while it may be inappropriate for a 15 year old, I don't see what that has to do with Anna's interpretation of the music... the program is about the tension and darkness of the music as much as it is about anything inappropriate...

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I've seen it live on the test skates and it has left a deep impression on me. Anna's soft jumps and gentle skating style resonated with the haunting music perfectly. Nothing of it came out at Lombardia because she got super stiff but potentially her SP could be mesmerizing.

Fun fact here you were screaming about Anna's score, well yes with probably a wrong ur call but hey they didn't call her up on the wrong lutz edge either . But take a look at autumns classics scoring of yuzuru.yes he too had falls and faults but there where more wrong call than with anna

fabienne1996 said:

Fun fact here you were screaming about Anna's score, well yes with probably a wrong ur call but hey they didn't call her up on the wrong lutz edge either . But take a look at autumns classics scoring of yuzuru.yes he too had falls and faults but there where more wrong call than with anna

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Anna doesn't have a flutz Yuzu isn't a Russian lady

ec00834 said:

Anna doesn't have a flutz Yuzu isn't a Russian lady

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I only wanted to say that their is much worse scoring than what most of you were yelling about with Anna. So no need to get into hysterics every time you think someone is scored unfairly

fabienne1996 said:

Fun fact here you were screaming about Anna's score, well yes with probably a wrong ur call but hey they didn't call her up on the wrong lutz edge either . But take a look at autumns classics scoring of yuzuru.yes he too had falls and faults but there where more wrong call than with anna

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Yuzuru isn't Russian and he isn't a lady. I've seen plenty of people screaming about his scores on multiple platforms already, just not in this thread, and that seems very fair to me seeing as he isn't a Russian lady.

Besides, Anna doesn't have a "wrong" edge, that would mean an inside edge (e). Anna's edge is very slightly outside at best and flat (!) at worst, but seeing as she's far from the only lady to be excused for starting takeoff on a deep outside edge and picking on a flat edge, it's not really a surprise by now. Anna did spend most of her junior season getting called '!' on her flip for no reason, which just goes to show that the tech panel has skewered priorities for edges regardless of whether it's Anna or another skater.

fabienne1996 said:

Fun fact here you were screaming about Anna's score, well yes with probably a wrong ur call but hey they didn't call her up on the wrong lutz edge either . But take a look at autumns classics scoring of yuzuru.yes he too had falls and faults but there where more wrong call than with anna

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1) Anna had a flat edge at worst.
2) Did you expect people in "Russian ladies" thread to stop discussing Russian lady and swith to the oh so outrageous fact of Yuzuru getting a carrot for a 90 UR?