U18: Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup 2017

[Yakushev72]

Hey Yak?


I must say that Yakushev was the best Russian player I ever saw growing up.

Of all those Soviet players to me and many others he was the best, he used to scare the **** out of us.

An amazing player.

He was a really great player, no doubt. A well-liked and respected person as well.

 

[ijuka]

For Russia, in the aftermath of Soviet times, all Russian sports have experienced a steep decline. In what sports does Russia regularly contend for world titles? Maybe Rythmic Gymnastics, unless China takes over! If Russia was doing great in other sports, then there might be a reason to conclude that the RHF is failing in its mission. And of course the RHF is failing to challenge for World titles, but they are no different than other sports federations, that are failing miserably as well. And the reason for failure is the same: lack of organization, facilities and funds to build a national apparatus.

On this -

Russia is absolutely dominant in certain figure skating disciplines, especially ladies' figure skating, where they've won the past 3 world championships, 4 European championships and olympic gold and are all but guaranteed(assuming no injuries) to win 2018 world championships and olympic gold in it as well. In fact, Russia easily has the most dominant and deep junior ladies' skater pool in the world as well and will likely dominate for years to come.

So what gives them the success there? Certainly, it's a relatively minor sport but so is ice hockey. They do funnel all the best talent to their only real championship-quality coach, but young skaters from all over the country have far better technical abilities than those of most other countries with various coaches so there has to be something done right there. Well, what I've heard from some parent is that some of the young(like, 6-year-old?) Russian girls are absolutely crazy about skating and just want to skate skate skate so maybe they have very good introductionary programs to make the beginning skaters love the sport.


To me, Russian hockey players often are traditionally very technically skilled but it feels like the complete coaching and playing for the team gets very little emphasis. A lot of the time their downfall is a lack of discipline and selfishness and I think that this is something that needs to be taught from an early age.

 

[Yakushev72]

On this -

Russia is absolutely dominant in certain figure skating disciplines, especially ladies' figure skating, where they've won the past 3 world championships, 4 European championships and olympic gold and are all but guaranteed(assuming no injuries) to win 2018 world championships and olympic gold in it as well. In fact, Russia easily has the most dominant and deep junior ladies' skater pool in the world as well and will likely dominate for years to come.

So what gives them the success there? Certainly, it's a relatively minor sport but so is ice hockey. They do funnel all the best talent to their only real championship-quality coach, but young skaters from all over the country have far better technical abilities than those of most other countries with various coaches so there has to be something done right there. Well, what I've heard from some parent is that some of the young(like, 6-year-old?) Russian girls are absolutely crazy about skating and just want to skate skate skate so maybe they have very good introductionary programs to make the beginning skaters love the sport.


To me, Russian hockey players often are traditionally very technically skilled but it feels like the complete coaching and playing for the team gets very little emphasis. A lot of the time their downfall is a lack of discipline and selfishness and I think that this is something that needs to be taught from an early age.

I forgot about women's figure skating. It so happens that Russia probably has the best cadre of figure skating coaches in the World. Also, only minimal infrastructure is required. That doesn't refute my point that after state funding and infrastructure supports were withdrawn after Soviet times, the formerly dominant Soviet legacy evaporated in disrepair and disuse, and Russian sport accordingly plummeted, with the exception of figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics.