- Joined
- Jan 5, 2019
Not as a scientific phenomenon that can be quantified, although perhaps medals tally is a decent objectivation?
Accurate research needs a population and sample period and frequency.
The recent addition of Adeliya Petrosyan to the core selection of Khrustalniy made me think: how to appreciate the work of this woman Eteri Georgiyevna Tutberidze, chief trainer, in charge over some pretty good personnel like Sergey Dudakov, Daniil Gleikhengauz, Sergey Rozanov and probably quite some more who go about their duties nameless but contribute to the effect nevertheless.
Being chief of staff, chief trainer, head of the Khrustalniy department of Sambo-70 Children's Sports and Education School comes with lots of administrative duties also: keeping each student's (about 225 of them) dossier in order, preparing competition and progress reports, signing off all kinds of financial declarations and many other bureaucratic tasks. Then there is dealings with parents, other 'competing' rinks, MosKomSport and FFKKR officials, before even getting into her boots and taking to the ice to start working with the skaters. And of course a private family life, mother to a daughter and many other occupations make her a true taskmaster.
From what I've gathered from the various interview, the skaters both admire and fear her, but probably no more than they would fear their headmaster, because the skaters have a working relationship with their trainers, and vice versa.
For the sake of completeness, I consider the efforts and results of all Khrustalniy trainers equal, the sum of parts is what counts.
The Tutberidze Effect at work?
It would be interesting to follow Adeliya's progress for the purpose of studying the effect. She is not yet listed here on the official #TeamTutberidzeForProgress (my invention) VK page but is included in other listings.
Khrustalniy is known, perhaps renowned and sometimes criticised, for the quality of its skating: lyrical, gentle, soft (not in the definition of poor or weak) together with explosive bouts into the most difficult jumps from the rule book and always with great attention to detail in execution, in choreography and in the expression of the 'image' the 'artistic director' has agreed on with the skater. My opinion is that Khrustalniy revolutionised the somewhat sedate activity that was ladies figure skating and elevated it into the realm of top sport. The quick rise and success of Khrustalniy led to a the sudden obsolescence of a whole generation of domestic skaters from rinks that had different ideas, and a worldwide 'arms race' in difficulty of content and quality of its execution, with only a select few Russian rinks and national federations being able to keep up. Not forgetting to mention The Tutberidze Effect favours certain anatomic and bio mechanical traits in the human body.
So considering Adeliya is the average hardworking, studious, obedient, bright in the general sense, 11-12 year old child, what criteria have been applied to her to make the grade? To be included in the core selection amidst other kids her age, including boys, that form the training group, what is actually required of them? Children this age start to fully comprehend and understand the demands of sport at a high level and it is about the last year of age in which they unconditionally accept adult wisdom and authority.
Their childhood 'self' is at its maximum, and the uncertainties and changes of puberty and adolescence are still far off their minds.
Character traits required: discipline, self consciousness, ambition, toughness?
Physical qualities required: feet, ankles, knees, hips in excellent working order, strong joints, muscles, straight limbs and back, good natural carriage and posture. Flexibility can be trained, strength and stamina increased. Artistic articulation can be learned.
Mental qualities required: natural desire to work hard by yourself, responsibility in looking after yourself, attentiveness and learning capability including taking criticism to heart, quick application of newly learned and self reflection on progress and mistakes, easy adaptation to circumstances, thinking on your feet, a certain resilience to pain and physical discomfort?
Innate talent is not required per se, but often helps you in really standing out from the rest.
Negative traits or qualities that will disqualify you? Not being able to work in teams, egocentrism, self entitlement? There are few traits that cannot be changed in a person, but trainers are not paediatricians with a degree in child psychology and disorders.
Children this age still have pliable minds, need constant tutoring and corrections, so trainers have quite some responsibility here, almost equal to parents or school teachers. Not actually raising the child, but building her character, guiding and praising, correcting when necessary. I will not use the word 'punishing', but know this happens too since Russia in my view still is a 'command and obey' society on many levels. Most of the kids are from decent working class families and have received a traditional upbringing in values, behaviour, world outlook, etc. Figure skating with government subsidies demands a certain responsibility, no wasting of these resources, the parents signed a contract which the child must fully understand in all its implications.
Boys and girls training together not only teaches them respect for and proper manners in dealing with the opposite sex, it also has significant advantages: the boys learn this lyrical, soft and gentle style of skating typical of girls (stereotype), while the girls learn to master the explosiveness and athletic prowess of the typical male skater (another stereotype, I know). Actual competition results so far show, girls under The Tutberidze Effect score better than boys, but these statistics might be skewed because there are fewer boys, remember population and sample period and frequency?
So, with Adeliya being a recent addition, the question raises itself: when will she be able to do the quad, the signature element of Khrustalniy, the mark you receive after you've completed your Rite of Passage ;-) ?
What will she need to 'unlearn', even though one can presume she was noted for her technical staking skills while on probation?
For a fair comparison and proper evaluation of The Tutberidze Effect, there also should be a same age new boy that recently came to Khrustalniy for monitoring. Any names?
Hopefully we will be able to watch and follow Adeliya and her classmates (Sof'ya Akat'yeva, Vsyovold Knyazev, Mark Lukin (there are twelve 2007 born children listed) often in competitions, so we can see for ourselves what becomes of her under influence of The Tutberidze Effect.
Another measure would be a kind of coefficient like results vs longevity, or results vs health, but those are best left to another discussion.
PS: I was just having fun collecting this posting, it is not meant to criticise anybody or any method in figure skating.
Accurate research needs a population and sample period and frequency.
The recent addition of Adeliya Petrosyan to the core selection of Khrustalniy made me think: how to appreciate the work of this woman Eteri Georgiyevna Tutberidze, chief trainer, in charge over some pretty good personnel like Sergey Dudakov, Daniil Gleikhengauz, Sergey Rozanov and probably quite some more who go about their duties nameless but contribute to the effect nevertheless.
Being chief of staff, chief trainer, head of the Khrustalniy department of Sambo-70 Children's Sports and Education School comes with lots of administrative duties also: keeping each student's (about 225 of them) dossier in order, preparing competition and progress reports, signing off all kinds of financial declarations and many other bureaucratic tasks. Then there is dealings with parents, other 'competing' rinks, MosKomSport and FFKKR officials, before even getting into her boots and taking to the ice to start working with the skaters. And of course a private family life, mother to a daughter and many other occupations make her a true taskmaster.
From what I've gathered from the various interview, the skaters both admire and fear her, but probably no more than they would fear their headmaster, because the skaters have a working relationship with their trainers, and vice versa.
For the sake of completeness, I consider the efforts and results of all Khrustalniy trainers equal, the sum of parts is what counts.
The Tutberidze Effect at work?
It would be interesting to follow Adeliya's progress for the purpose of studying the effect. She is not yet listed here on the official #TeamTutberidzeForProgress (my invention) VK page but is included in other listings.
Khrustalniy is known, perhaps renowned and sometimes criticised, for the quality of its skating: lyrical, gentle, soft (not in the definition of poor or weak) together with explosive bouts into the most difficult jumps from the rule book and always with great attention to detail in execution, in choreography and in the expression of the 'image' the 'artistic director' has agreed on with the skater. My opinion is that Khrustalniy revolutionised the somewhat sedate activity that was ladies figure skating and elevated it into the realm of top sport. The quick rise and success of Khrustalniy led to a the sudden obsolescence of a whole generation of domestic skaters from rinks that had different ideas, and a worldwide 'arms race' in difficulty of content and quality of its execution, with only a select few Russian rinks and national federations being able to keep up. Not forgetting to mention The Tutberidze Effect favours certain anatomic and bio mechanical traits in the human body.
So considering Adeliya is the average hardworking, studious, obedient, bright in the general sense, 11-12 year old child, what criteria have been applied to her to make the grade? To be included in the core selection amidst other kids her age, including boys, that form the training group, what is actually required of them? Children this age start to fully comprehend and understand the demands of sport at a high level and it is about the last year of age in which they unconditionally accept adult wisdom and authority.
Their childhood 'self' is at its maximum, and the uncertainties and changes of puberty and adolescence are still far off their minds.
Character traits required: discipline, self consciousness, ambition, toughness?
Physical qualities required: feet, ankles, knees, hips in excellent working order, strong joints, muscles, straight limbs and back, good natural carriage and posture. Flexibility can be trained, strength and stamina increased. Artistic articulation can be learned.
Mental qualities required: natural desire to work hard by yourself, responsibility in looking after yourself, attentiveness and learning capability including taking criticism to heart, quick application of newly learned and self reflection on progress and mistakes, easy adaptation to circumstances, thinking on your feet, a certain resilience to pain and physical discomfort?
Innate talent is not required per se, but often helps you in really standing out from the rest.
Negative traits or qualities that will disqualify you? Not being able to work in teams, egocentrism, self entitlement? There are few traits that cannot be changed in a person, but trainers are not paediatricians with a degree in child psychology and disorders.
Children this age still have pliable minds, need constant tutoring and corrections, so trainers have quite some responsibility here, almost equal to parents or school teachers. Not actually raising the child, but building her character, guiding and praising, correcting when necessary. I will not use the word 'punishing', but know this happens too since Russia in my view still is a 'command and obey' society on many levels. Most of the kids are from decent working class families and have received a traditional upbringing in values, behaviour, world outlook, etc. Figure skating with government subsidies demands a certain responsibility, no wasting of these resources, the parents signed a contract which the child must fully understand in all its implications.
Boys and girls training together not only teaches them respect for and proper manners in dealing with the opposite sex, it also has significant advantages: the boys learn this lyrical, soft and gentle style of skating typical of girls (stereotype), while the girls learn to master the explosiveness and athletic prowess of the typical male skater (another stereotype, I know). Actual competition results so far show, girls under The Tutberidze Effect score better than boys, but these statistics might be skewed because there are fewer boys, remember population and sample period and frequency?
So, with Adeliya being a recent addition, the question raises itself: when will she be able to do the quad, the signature element of Khrustalniy, the mark you receive after you've completed your Rite of Passage ;-) ?
What will she need to 'unlearn', even though one can presume she was noted for her technical staking skills while on probation?
For a fair comparison and proper evaluation of The Tutberidze Effect, there also should be a same age new boy that recently came to Khrustalniy for monitoring. Any names?
Hopefully we will be able to watch and follow Adeliya and her classmates (Sof'ya Akat'yeva, Vsyovold Knyazev, Mark Lukin (there are twelve 2007 born children listed) often in competitions, so we can see for ourselves what becomes of her under influence of The Tutberidze Effect.
Another measure would be a kind of coefficient like results vs longevity, or results vs health, but those are best left to another discussion.
PS: I was just having fun collecting this posting, it is not meant to criticise anybody or any method in figure skating.