President of the Russian Basketball Federation (RFB) Andrei Kirilenko in an interview with , he said that his son Stepan became interested in hockey in 2012 and the desire to play the sport did not arise due to parental pressure.
Stepan Kirilenko has been playing hockey since he was six years old and now the 16-year-old forward is training at the SKA Junior Academy.
—How come your son started playing hockey instead of basketball and even took your number 47?
— I have rarely crossed paths with hockey. So, I have been friends with Ilya Kovalchuk since American times, when we met at the All-Star Game in Atlanta. We were young then and just beginning our journey to the NBA and NHL.
And in 2012, I played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and there is a fragment of my biography. It was then that my second son got acquainted with hockey and received the first basics of this sport. And I have carried the love of hockey in my heart until these days. I think Stepan has already matured enough to start his professional career.
— Didn’t you say to him: “Son, there’s an orange ball”?
— He loves basketball anyway. And big enough for a hockey player. Does not play basketball professionally, only in his free time. But he mainly devotes himself to hockey training.
— Ilya Kovalchuk’s son has started playing football, he is already recruited into the Russian youth team.
“I also know his second son, who also played hockey, but went to basketball. Our children are not following in their fathers’ footsteps at all. But in general, in this regard, I am not the right parent. I think you should encourage a child to play sports. But there is no need to command: “Go ahead and play.”
It’s not my desire, but his, to play hockey. If at some point he decides to hang up his skates and devote himself to something else, I will be the first to congratulate myself. I know a huge number of parents who stand like Cerberus over their children, so that they do what adults like: “You are the next Ovechkin, Kokorin, Dzyuba, Smolov.
But the child himself should benefit from it. And then the result will be better. If you love the game, if you want to achieve something in it and move towards your goal, then you will succeed. “And not because your father told you,” Kirilenko told .
Source : MatchTV
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