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Skaters
thrive under top Russian coaches THE coaching expertise of six European former ice-skating stars is producing a formidable generation of young WA skaters who have inherited their mentors' tough work ethic and will to win. WA's top juniors displayed their talent at the Australian figure skating championships in Sydney last month, dominating in the figure skating and ice dance sections for the second year in a row. Figure skaters Paris Abbott, 14, and Emilia Ahsan, 13, won gold in the primary and novice divisions respectively, while Laura Downing, 14, and Lloyd Tucker, 19, took silver. Ice dance partners Gabrielle Biffin, 12, and Tye Nagy, 14, won gold in the primary competition. According to Tom Barrett, owner of Cockburn Ice Arena, their winning performances are due largely to their coaches, Russians Maria and Andrei Filippov, Katya Boradatova, Irina Stavroskaya, Valentine Kadzevitch and Polish-born Wojtek Bankowskii. Filippov coached Russian Olympic champions Pasha Grishuk and Evgeny Platov in the 1990s and the 1997 junior world champion team, while wife Maria represented Bulgaria for several years. They migrated to WA three years ago at the invitation of Barrett who began sponsoring the Russian coaches in 1996, shortly after opening the rink, with the intention of nurturing future WA Olympic champions. "My kids were skating back then and I didn't like the way other rinks were operating with an emphasis on making money rather than building champions, so I decided to open my own," he said. "In Russia, the conditions after the fall of the communist regime were very difficult for the ice-skating stars who were used to getting all the money they needed through the KGB." He convinced them to settle in Perth and channel their skills and vast experience into WA children. "I brought them out here to have an impact. I saw the necessary ingredients as being a full-sized Olympic rink, top quality coaches from wherever in the world I could get them and the raw material - that's the kids," he said. "The kids that began as five or six-year-olds with the Russians are now starting to really show the results of their coaching - suddenly they are kicking a lot of butt over east." Barrett said the European coaches had a different work ethic and expectations than their Australian counterparts, often with better results. "They are very serious about skating and they go for results whereas Australian coaches often go for money first and see results as a bonus," he said. "They teach kids how to strive to be the best rather than accept mediocrity." The Filippovs said their skaters had progressed at a remarkable rate. "Considering the different conditions in Perth compared to Russia for ice skating, we are very pleased with their progress," Maria Filippov said. Enrolments for a four-week talent identification course for five to eight-year-olds at Cockburn Ice Arena are now being taken. |
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