Evgenia Medvedeva: “This is a message to parents of the younger generation, who are still very little: let children be children. If something doesn’t work out at competitions, please don’t pressure them.”
Evgenia Medvedeva urges parents not to pressure young figure skaters and to let children enjoy their childhood.
original source: Sports
Two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva discussed the attitude of parents toward children in figure skating on the show “Katok.” Here’s a translation.
“I was judging at a KVN event (humor TV show). Apparently, they have jokes aimed at the judges – they know who will be on the jury. There was a separate joke about the world of figure skating. A woman in a national team jacket, tall, strong, and intimidating, is holding a five-year-old girl in skates.
The girl is hanging there and says, ‘I want to go to my mom.’ And the woman replies, ‘You’re not going to your mom until you land a perfectly clean sextuple toe loop. What music do you like?’ ‘I like Blue Tractor.’ ‘You’ll skate to “Satan’s Ball” from “The Master and Margarita.” That’s it, go.’ That’s how we’re raised. Even if KVN jokes about it, it’s true,””Medvedeva shared.
“Very often, at master classes, mothers of their little girls – usually about six or seven years old – come up to me seriously during my 45-minute class and ask, ‘What’s wrong with her?’ ‘Will she be able to skate?’ ‘Oh, Evgenia, give us some advice. Surely, when you were little, you trained like special forces. Our daughter has four hours of ice every day, and we send her to training camps for two weeks with the coach, where they have eight hours, plus four hours of physical training, two hours of choreography, two more hours of ice. Still not enough.’
Seriously, I tell them, ‘Please, leave the child alone – she’s six years old.’ So, let’s all relax. This is a message to parents of the younger generation, who are still very little: let children be children. If something doesn’t work out at competitions, please don’t pressure them.
Maybe you think strictness now will lead to victory later. My grandmother always said, ‘You need to be kept in an iron grip.’ But I was just standing there at seven years old, wanting a chocolate bar. Give your child a chocolate bar for going out to compete. Please,” Medvedeva added.
Related topics: Evgenia Medvedeva
Good job Zhenya, you always say the right things.
Good job Zhenya.