|
FORMER CHAMPION ELENA
VALOVA SPENDS WEEKEND TEACHING
By David Walsh - The Herald-Dispatch, September 2003.
HUNTINGTON -- Erin
Lavery admitted to being tired and sore Monday.
That’s what happens
when a 15-year-old figure skater spends two days working out with a
former Olympic gold medallist and three-time World Champion in pairs.
"I worked so hard. It
was worth it," Lavery said Monday before heading out to a 6 p.m. soccer
practice at Huntington High. "I didn’t know who she was at first, but
when I found out, I thought this is great. What are the odds of this
happening?"
Elena Valova, who
currently teaches at Island Sports Center Ice Rink in Pittsburgh,
conducted clinics Saturday and Sunday at Tri-State Ice Arena. Her visit
was set up by the River Cities Figure Skating Club.
"She was unbelievable,"
said Barry Wyant, president of the skating club and adult participant,
too. "Her off-ice and on-ice work was so sharp."
"This meant the world
to us," said Heidi Sowards, an instructor at the rink. "It helps us
build up our figure skating program. The kids came away with a lot. They
paid attention and worked hard."
Valova started skating
in singles competition, but at age 15, switched to pairs. Oleg Vassiliev
became her first and only partner and they performed together for 20
years.
Valova and Vassiliev
won the Olympic gold medal in pairs in 1984 in Sarajevo and silver medal
in 1988 in Calgary. They won World Championships in 1983 in Helsinki,
1985 in Tokyo and 1988 in Budapest. She has been a World and Olympic
team coach.
In addition to the
four-hour clinics, Valova gave some private instruction.
"She had a lot of
energy and enthusiasm," said Lavery, one of the recipients of private
work. "You got instant evaluation. She worked well with the juniors and
adults."
Wyant said Valova took
skaters from off-ice and on-ice warmups through actual moves. "She gave
tons of examples to help all body parts," Wyant said. "They covered
endurance and strength."
After warming up,
skaters took the ice for two hours. There were two groups -- upper level
and lower level.At the end of the day, Valova did a seminar with
parents.
"She said the job of a
coach is to coach on the ice and the parents are there for support,"
Wyant said. "She said if you want to skate for fun, it’s great. She said
if you want to go on, the higher you get, the harder it gets."
On day two, Wyant said
Valova reviewed the basics and added work on jumps, spins and footwork
in general.
After Sunday’s session,
the skaters went through sort of a test with Lisa Adams and Andrea
Zimmerman working as observers along with Valova.
"I think I passed,"
Wyant said. "This was a great opportunity for us. We’ll try to do more
clinics like this. Elena said she was pleased with the way the program
went."
Danny Bloch and Alexis
Donahoe are a pairs team at Tri-State. They, too, got some tudoring from
Valova. It so happens in 2001, Kylie Gleason and Taylor Toth, Valova’s
students in Pittsburgh, won the Juvenile Pairs Championship at Junior
Nationals.
"They were so
inspired," Sowards said of Bloch and Donahoe. "It pumped them up. Elena
was very accomodating."
When all the work was
done, skaters received an autographed picture of Valova and Vassiliev
and a clinic t-shirt which she also signed.
In warmups prior to her
private session, Lavery, who performs at the intermediate level, said
she was hitting all her jumps.
"When we started, I got
nervous and I fell a few times," she said. "She made me feel at ease.
She told me what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do to fix it."
Today, Lavery returns
to school. Tonight, she’ll be in action as Huntington takes on Hurricane
at 7 p.m. at home. Will she be ready?
"I hope so," she
said. "I’m just glad I had this chance to meet someone like Elena."
The source:
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2003/September/02/LSspot.htm
Photo
credit: Jeff Gentner
|
