Three million a year: where the money of skaters’ parents in Russia goes

In the biographies of champions of the past, sections can be found that speak of extreme need in their families. Tatyana Totmyanina once wore two boots with her mother – she did not have money to buy the second one. Evgeni Plushenko lived for a year in the apartment of his trainer Alexei Mishin – from Volgograd to St. After moving to St. Petersburg, she had no problems finding funds to rent her apartment.

Then the amazing determination and diligence of the athletes showed that, among other things, they used figure skating as a social elevator – an opportunity to break out of poverty, help their parents and provide for themselves. Today it is impossible to imagine the scenarios of Totmianina and Plushenko in real sports. Sport is no longer a social elevator, but rather a social filter. At a certain level, closer to the first sports categories, only children of wealthy and very wealthy parents remain in figure skating, because without large investments they cannot get to this level. According to various estimates, in Moscow, one of the centers of figure skating in Russia, parents of skaters spend 200-300 thousand rubles a month.

Naturally, there is no face check with a bank statement presentation. Everything becomes much more covered and natural.

Group lessons at the sports school are a fixed item of budgetary expenses. This figure varies between 15-25 thousand in public schools and 100 thousand in private schools. Sometimes the amount is officially credited to the account with a receipt, sometimes it is divided into a receipt and an envelope.

Another conditionally fixed article is rolling. On average, this is 4-5 thousand individual work per hour, as well as the payment for ice rental – about 1-1.5 thousand per hour. Parents say that for visible progress to be at least three skates a week with a ski jump trainer and a choreographer. In other words, 30-40 thousand per week and 120-160 thousand per month. Yawning girls, jazz lessons, working with an acting teacher are also added here. Not to the same extent as ice rolling, but they are also needed.

Tackles is a word that originated in Russia after 2010. These are individual lessons on ice with a coach outside of the main training session. Various things are done on skates – gliding, spinning, jumping. There are separate lessons for correcting the push edge on the lutz and the flip – as the rules began to severely penalize wrong edges, parents began to pay close attention to this.

Parents evaluate the situation and understand that their child should at least run on an equal footing with everyone else, be less busy than others so that he does not lag behind. And if others intervene twice a day, they too need two hands. Three is better.

Fierce competition, especially among single ladies, even at the level of 10-year-old girls. It was the parents of the first skaters who took two skates a day, realizing how difficult it would be for the girl to stand out from the crowd of perfectly trained soldiers in beautiful dresses decorated with diamonds. In addition to being a huge physical burden for the child, it doubles the cost for the parents. And even if they unite in mini groups on these journeys to somehow reduce the cost of the process, it will not be possible to meet even 200 thousand per month with this investment order.

In many schools, general physical education, special education, choreography, stretching, and acting are represented very little or at all. In all these disciplines, you can find a coach and work with him individually – for quite a bit of money, of course.

Each season, the skater needs costumes for his performances. If you sew them in a workshop of medium fame or in private, one suit will cost 30-40 thousand rubles. If you return to the workshop where elite skaters dress – for example, Olga Ryabenko, who sews for Khrustalny – the price tag is at least doubled. One option to save money is to buy suits from your hand, especially for a very young child. Skates are changed about once a season, sometimes more often – depending on height. The price range is wide, but the example of Lev Lelekov, the hero of a recent interview, shows that for a 12-year-old skater with all triple jumps, regular skates cost about 130 thousand rubles.

There is another important cost item that people outside the industry often don’t think about. There are very few free children’s tournaments – you have to pay a fee to participate in each. Last season, the tournament cost an average of 7.5 thousand TL. To be in shape and tone, a skater needs to start at least twice a month – this is already 15 thousand. Sometimes coaches insist that athletes go to competitions every week, and then it goes up to 15,30.

What makes up such a large amount of three million a year? Let’s calculate the monthly average. Sports school – 60 thousand. Competitions – 25 thousand. He struggles at the rate of four per week – 88 thousand rubles. Individual lessons in choreography, stretching, general physical training at the rate of three per week – 60 thousand. Total 233 thousand per month or about 2 million 800 thousand rubles per year. We also add at least one pair of skates for 130 thousand, two programs for the season for 50 thousand and two suits for 50 thousand. With a slight rounding, we find the amount close to three million.

Someone spends much less and does not recognize himself in this material, someone spends much more and finds where to appeal in the direction of increasing numbers. But Moscow and St. Petersburg, 250 thousand per young skater in monthly expenses of parents is more the rule than the exception.

How do these millions of investments affect those who are not lucky enough to reach the national team level at least? Kids who spend 10 years of their childhood often hurting school and the rest of their lives actually get a career path – go to ice shows, be a coach or a judge. And a lot of people have been doing the same tricks for fifteen years, because that’s a regular and good income that is constantly in high demand.

This is how the market for the production of future champions has been formed in Russia over the past decade – until now it is wild with its own excesses and many gray spots. It will be interesting to see that the raising of the admission age for adults has begun and how the current ban on the participation of Russian athletes in international competitions will affect it.