“At first, I was very nervous. I remember when Ilia was about 10, we went to some serious competitions. He performed a double lutz, and I swear, I almost fainted from fear.” Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov about coaching their son
Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov about coaching Ilia Malinin.
original source: Sports by Maya Bagriantseva
Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov in a conversation with Sports correspondent Maya Bagriantseva shared what it’s like to train their son, Ilia Malinin. Here’s a translation of their comments posted on Russian site Sports.
“It’s practically impossible.
From the beginning, we tried to stick to the principle that at home we are parents, and at the rink, we are coaches. Initially, it was not very successful; there were conflicts. Ilia said he wouldn’t skate anymore. We responded: ‘Fine, don’t skate. We didn’t want you to be a figure skater anyway.’
He realized that he could not achieve anything by that method, and gradually started to listen to us. And he gradually began to do what we told him.
Ilia ran around the rink like crazy. And then my dad came from Russia for 2.5-3 months, who is also a figure skating coach. And dad said, ‘Let me just work with him a little.’ They quietly started doing something. After 3 months, I noticed Ilia began to land all the single jumps, and they started working on the axel.
Then Ilia asked me to sign him up for local competitions. We saw that he really enjoyed skating for an audience, he wanted to perform in front of people. Then he asked to be signed up for other competitions. That’s how it all started,” said Malinina.
Roman Skorniakov spoke about the nervousness he feels during his son’s competitions.
“At first, I was also very nervous, his initial competitions were terribly frightening for me. I remember when Ilia was about 10, we went to some serious competitions. He performed a double lutz, and I swear, I almost fainted from fear.
But gradually you get used to the stress, and now I go with him just to provide support. He doesn’t need to be psyched up for his routines; he handles everything on his own. My main task is to be there for him and to understand when he needs my help.
We never thought that Ilia would become a figure skater and compete. My wife and I worked all day at the rink and decided that he should just learn to skate.
He was about six, and essentially skated on his own. We sometimes suggested that he train with us, but he would reply that he was fine as it was, so we didn’t pressure him. We were just amused by the little boy on skates – we had no serious ambitions.
He loved to turn on some music and create his own programs. Of course, we praised and supported him, but we never thought ‘oh, he will make something of himself, he really is good.’ Here we would give him some tips, there teach him something – and suddenly it turned out that he really became a pretty good skater.” said Skornyakov.
Related topics: Ilia Malinin, Roman Skorniakov, Tatiana Malinina
American born, ethnically Russian. You can thank your parents and their country for your talent, Malinin. (As an aside, for parents, as former figure skaters themselves, to raise up talent, is pretty amazing, though he had a natural bent for it seems. Well done and congratulations, you have every right to be proud!!)
Well done! Parents were pretty good skaters too. Tatiana was an amazing jumper during her days as an athlete. Happy their efforts are getting paid off.