Daniil Gleikhengauz: “If, in your coaching career, you encounter a very talented child whose parent constantly crosses the boundaries set within the training group, you choose your own happiness as a coach rather than chasing a result with that athlete.”
Daniil Gleikhengauz addressed the dynamics of relationships between coaches, parents, and young athletes, emphasizing the need for alignment between all parties for successful figure skating development.
original source: Sports
Daniil Gleikhengauz shared his thoughts on navigating the coach-parent relationship in the context of working with 13-year-old Russian Junior Champion Elena Kostyleva, who trains at the “Angels of Plushenko” academy. Gleichengauz emphasized the importance of collaboration between coaches, parents, and athletes. Here’s a translation of his comments.
“We always try to convey that the coach, parent, and child should work in unison. That’s why during every practice session, parents sit in the stands and watch each training.
When a child – or an older athlete – doesn’t follow the coach’s instructions and the parent doesn’t react, that’s wrong. For example, if the coach starts reprimanding the athlete but the parent says, ‘You’re doing great,’ it creates conflict, and progress halts. Both the parent and coach should move in the same direction.”
He pointed out that figure skating has many positive examples of parental involvement. “Take Nathan Chen, for instance. He openly shares how his mother did everything to help him succeed as an athlete. Did she perhaps overburden him? Was she indirectly responsible for an injury or some other issue? We’ll never know. But the outcome is clear: he loves his mother, their family is happy – I recently saw a photo of them – and he’s an Olympic champion. It worked out. The same can be said for many of our athletes. Ilia Malinin trains under his parents.”
Gleikhengauz continued, reflecting on coaching experiences: “Based on our combined coaching experience – with much of it coming from Eteri Georgievna – and my own experience spanning 10 years, you realize something: when you go to work every day for many years, you’d like to get at least some enjoyment out of the process.
If, in your coaching career, you encounter a very talented child whose parent constantly crosses the boundaries set within the training group, you choose your own happiness as a coach rather than chasing a result with that athlete. This is common sense for us.”
Gleikhengauz shared these insights on the skating talk show Katok, offering a nuanced perspective on balancing results and interpersonal dynamics when training figure skating athletes.
Related topics: Daniil Gleichengauz, Daniil Gleikhengauz
Leave a Reply