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Originally Posted by kylaluvs2skate
Thanks for the link, it was an interesting read!
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Here is my first article on Wagner:
The Zen of Robin Wagner
By Gary Anolik
Hackensack, NJ--On Thursday night, February 21, 2002, Sarah Hughes climbed to the top step on the Women’s Olympic figure skating podium. The gold medal that was given to the Long Island athlete who trained in New Jersey was more than an award for a remarkable champion. The medal was also a validation that the coaching style of Hughes’s coach, Robin Wagner, works, and works well.
Wagner, who lives in Glen Cove, New York but trains her athletes at the Ice House in New Jersey, is the antithesis of most skating or other sports coaches. She revels that her star pupil, Sarah Hughes, now attends Yale University. “I have a much bigger picture in developing my skaters. They should not be defined by their skating,” commented Wagner. “Skating is just part of their lives.”
Wagner does not believe at winning at all costs. She believes in learning how to spin perfectly, but not at the cost of an education. She believes that learning a routine is important, but not by sacrificing a normal life. She believes that there is sport and there is life and that only by enjoying life can you excel at sport.
“The kids need to develop as young people, not just as figure skaters. I have the same attitude whether I’m working to develop a champion or someone who simply wants to enjoy the sport,” Wagner said .
Her style is admired by other top skaters, so much so that Sasha Cohen, who finished fourth in the 2002 Olympics, is now being coached by Wagner. Cohen has won numerous Grand Prix events including the 2003 Finals and other top skating competitions. She has been called the odds on favorite for winning the gold medal in the 2006 Olympics and she has pinned her hopes of winning that medal on the teaching and coaching abilities of Robin Wagner.
Teaching, coaching and developing a champion figure skater, such as Cohen or Hughes, takes years. Wagner started with Sarah when she was nine, becoming her head coach at eleven. Hughes was sixteen when she won gold.
While training for these international competitions, Hughes attended her local high school with Wagner’s blessing. However, because of the extensive training involved in reaching a championship level, many middle school and high school age athletes usually choose home schooling. They spend their day at the ice rinks, training, reading and socializing. Arriving early in the morning, they practice until long after the sun goes down. It is considered the norm among figure skaters. Wagner has a different opinion. It goes along with the Zen of Wagner.
“For a skater, training literally and figuratively takes place in a different medium,” she said. “We are talking about being on a slippery medium, ice, not a floor.” And that’s why she feels it is important for skaters to be grounded both on the ice and off.
“I am opposed to kids being at the rink all day, it is a complete waste of time. They become bored, they become uninterested and skating is no longer exciting. I want my skaters to come to the rink and be excited about it. I want them to know that they have about three hours to train, do quality work and then get out and have fun,” said Wagner. “They need to do other things; be in school, do their homework, and be around other children. I don’t see anything beneficial about a skater being in a cold damp ice-skating rink from 9:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night.”
In a perfect world Wagner would like to see her athletes wake up at 7:00 am. Next, they would do their studies in a condensed way at their local school, getting their necessary classes, then come to the rink in the early afternoon. They would have three 50-minute training sessions, do their off-ice training, go home, eat dinner, do homework, and go to bed at a decent hour. This system would be in the best interest of a well-rounded young athlete.
However, most school systems are inflexible with this approach and overzealous parents are partially responsible. Permission for a modified school day is often denied even though parents explain that their child is training to be an Olympic champion. According to Wagner, “The schools have heard it before and for them it’s like the boy who cried wolf. I get frustrated at times because the schools are inflexible and make it difficult for a child to succeed both on the ice and off. So parents home school the kids, then the home schooling falls apart and nobody wins. The schools have to realize that the student is going to have a wonderful experience by going to school and participating in a sport.”
Wagner will train two or three athletes at a time, while other coaches have a bigger group. Not all of her students are of championship caliber. Unfortunately, many times parents think differently. Most parents dream of their child standing on the podium with the American National Anthem playing, but that is always not a realistic goal. Wagner tries to let them know in a positive way. “I can’t say the child has no ability on the ice and should try knitting. That is, unless the child shows no interest in the sport, which in itself is an invaluable lesson. An honest assessment need to be made otherwise both the parent and child will be constantly disappointed,” Wagner said.
She continued, “I try to educate parents, give them appropriate explanations, and eventually I can mold the parent into what the sport is all about. For many parents this is their dream. They are living their dream through their children. It’s not just figure skating, it’s hockey, it’s soccer, football and so on. It’s a very enticing thing, there is great money at the top, but if it doesn’t fit the child, it could be a disaster. The child could leave the sport saying, “Oh, God, I hated every minute of this.”
As a coach, Wagner strives to make it a positive experience. “I am trying to get the child to like the sport, enjoy the discipline of performing and get pleasure from participating and putting herself on the line. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, but you get yourself up and try again. Those are life lessons, not figure skating lessons. I don’t just teach figure skating, I teach young people about caring, about themselves and others in a way that will carry them and mold them into good healthy adults, ” she said.
Wagner also believes that it is the athlete who has to perform not the coach. “I never end a session without a positive note. I want my skaters to feel good about coming back the next day. Of course, if they don’t do a good job I will tell them, but I put the responsibility on the athlete. I want them to know that I believe in them. They need to say, “What can I do better?,” assess how they can be better, and come back the next day and be better.”
When asked what she would like to see in the papers about her in the future, Wagner replied, “I would like to read that Robin Wagner is enjoying her coaching, developing young people, and teaching them the love of sport, while teaching them about life.”
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