Maxim Trankov: For me, figure skating is art
Maxim Trankov joined the coaching staff of Russian TV show “Ice Age. Kids”. Short comment from Maxim about his childhood in figure skating and his approach to kids at this show.
-My childhood was in the hard 90th, my parents brought me to sports when I was 4 years old to protect me from the influence of the streets. They chose figure skating, because the rink was near our home and it was convenient to go at trainings. I did not have a lot of desire to train, only at the age of 12 I realized that figure skating is interesting. Just recently, I recalled this when I was writing the autobiography “Two sides of the coin”, which will be released very soon. In my childhood, there was one training per day, now kids have two and parents take extra classes for their kids. Figure skating has become a costly sport, but in former ti,es it was possible to buy a second-hand skates and even without rich parents (my mother was a kindergarten teacher and my father worked as a car mechanic) just train hard.
In relation to the young participants of the tv-project, are you a strict coach?
– I chose children in my team not by results of multi-rotational jumps or complex elements, but by charisma and artistry. For me, figure skating is art. Sometimes I looked at the wonderful girls who jumped triple-triple combinations and I could not come up with an original artistic image on the ice for them. Therefore, I chose kids who, maybe, are not the strongest in terms of technique, but the brightest in terms of artistry. I will not teach children any technical elements, because their coaches do it. My task is to make them enjoy skating. I perceive myself on the project primarily as a choreographer, not as a strict coach. They have enough strictness.
by Inna Fedorova for irk.kp.ru
Related topics: Tatiana Volosozhar Maxim Trankov
Can this TV show be watched online, and easily so?
Yes, you can watch it on YouTube. Here’re links on two episodes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rXuZCgI4QQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du6kvtv5sfc
Thank you SO MUCH.
Can you now please explain the judging system? What do the red and green circles mean — I thought the red means “fail” and the green means “pass”, but now I’m not so sure because it seems the judges pick people to mentor even if the kid has received all red. Can you please explain how the judging is done?
Don’t worry about explaining the scoring; I’m fully caught up to last night’s episode and am understanding everything. And, I’m absolutely hooked on it! The singles ladies’ skater in Tatiana Namkov’s group is OUT OF THIS WORLD. One to watch.
That’s great, because I don’t watch this show, so I know nothing about the rules))
His autobiography. Omg I want to read it so badly.
What a different and refreshing view! :)