Live interview with Fedor Klimov on June 13 | Golden Skate

Live interview with Fedor Klimov on June 13

LadyB

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2016
There will be a live interview with Fedor Klimov on June 13, 19.30 hrs (Moscow Time) on the Instagram site @sboryvsochi
https://www.instagram.com/sboryvsochi/?hl=en

You can ask questions on their page that they try and put to Fedor during the interview
https://www.instagram.com/p/Byk_CuzIbhQ/

Don't miss a gorgeous picture on Fedor's Insta story :love:
https://www.instagram.com/stories/klimov_f/?hl=en

I'll try and translate it, but it will take me a while. So, anyone who actually knows Russian and wants to give it a go, that would be much appreciated!!!
 

LadyB

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2016
I won’t be able to do a full translation as my Russian is not as good as I’d like it to be and I used the voice translator of the Google Translate app as support (I know :sarcasm:)
I can only offer a summary of the contents that I’m fairly sure I understood correctly.

So please, any Russian-speakers who have seen it, if you could lend some help that would be more than appreciated. Still banking on a transcript popping up somewhere….

The interview was conducted by Alexey Vasiliev who also works as a coach in Sochi and is a co-organiser of the specialist trainings camps where Fedor holds regular masterclasses.

Fedor joined from the US where he is currently training pairs on behalf the US National Team. He says the US fed approached them (I reckon that means Mozer Team) for their expertise to help enhance the skaters’ skills and show them different training methods. He pointed out that they are coaching different groups on different levels all the time. (My understanding is that national and international clubs and federations contract the various members of the Mozer Team coaching staff to utilise their knowledge, skills and experience for a week or two for specialist sessions – which would match with the Instagram posts). At this particular camp, Misha Ge also gave one or more lessons.

Fedor says he is inspired by great coaches/coaching and is generally motivated in his work to achieve progress, as a skater for himself and as a coach for his students. The best motivation is when a goal is reached.

Before becoming a coach, he already gave training sessions here and there and got into it a bit more to better understand the role of the coach.
He decided to give it a go about a year ago to see whether it would really interest him. He then gave lessons on various levels and now wants to further develop as a coach. He works with both singles and pairs. They are young skaters on various levels that are at the beginning of their careers, but the long-term goal is it to get them to GP, European or World Championship level.

He is learning by observing step by step which training method works and which doesn’t. (Not quite sure here whether he said at the moment it was easier for him to work with singles for this purpose.)

On the role of the coach: “Standing by the board is harder than skating yourself. When you’re the skater everything depends on you and you find out whether you need to do more work and what you have to improve. The coach cannot do anything about the performance and it is harder to figure out whether you must change your approach and if so, how.”

On coaching kids:
“Training with children is very different from working with top athletes, who know exactly what they want and what you are talking about. They already pursue their goals in a way that is useful to them. Children want to learn what you think is best for them. The main point is to get through to them, so you think about how to make them listen to you and observe discipline and convey your thoughts to them, so they understand what you want to say. It can be difficult for children to explain themselves, so you will have to find out after a few exercises. There can be a lot of repetition sometimes” (proably in both exercises and talking).

“It is easier when you can demonstrate what you want them to do. However, experienced coaches like Tarasova don’t have to go on the ice and show, they can explain everything.” (Not sure whether he meant that just in respect of already experienced skaters).


Opening a pub in Moscow

Fedor, together with Max Trankov, opened a bar, Kolpakpub, in Moscow last November. The venue is named after Kolpak (somebody from Kolpino, Fedor’s hometown). Fedor says it is probably unusual for a coach to open a pub and Alexey wants him to tell how that works with Max and whether they had the same ideas about such an adventure, as they are different personalities.
He says he likes doing unusual things. They have elements associated with figure skating in the interior decoration of the pub and they show live coverage of major events of many sports, including figure skating. The bar is painted and decorated in themes him and Max are both interested in, such as sports or movies and contains some of their personal belongings.

He adds that they are always looking for ideas [for the venue] and if there is someone who is creative they can bring their ideas forward by writing to them directly and if the idea is interesting, Max and Fedor might meet up and discuss the project with them. (Here I’m not sure whether he was only telling how the bar came into being or whether that is still the way they work things out.)

There are some skating fans who come to the pub, who have seen it on his or Max’s Instagram posts. Fedor likes it when they are then sending pictures on Instagram to show they had a good time. He says is always nice when people from Kolpino come and visit.

Then Fedor had to go as he was due to give another training session.
 
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