“Slivko has achieved such perfection that she can practically write plans for herself” – Padin

Coach Andrei Padin told about the peculiarities of working with the leader of the Russian Biathlon Union (SBR) ranking last season Victoria Slivko and noted that the athlete can succeed in a coaching career.

Padin is Slivko’s personal coach, who is training independently for the second year in a row, outside of the national team.

— Victoria Slivko continues to work under your direction. Where is she currently training and how is her preparation going?

— She currently runs a training camp in Tyumen. Preparations are progressing in the same vein as planned in the spring. Everything is fine with her. She passed the summer competitions on a good note, so now she is full of inspiration, eager to compete and fight. She doesn’t give up at all, doesn’t think about how long the suspension will last. She is now at a time in her life where she feels a lot of positive emotions from training and competing.

— How is your communication structured, given that you are in different places?

— We have known Vika Slivko for a long time, since she was still in the junior team. Then there was a period when I worked in the women’s reserve team, and she was part of the team. And after that she asked for help several times. Firstly, communication is now very simple: everything is easily accessible. Secondly, she has achieved such perfection that today I don’t even need to carefully tell her everything and undergo training. She has become so independent that sometimes I just have to draw her a training plan and she can choose the terrain and everything else herself. If there are nuances, she can simply ask for advice on whether everything is done correctly or not. Plus, she can practically write plans herself. I always talk to athletes about this: you need a coach at the initial stage, then you only need a consultant. You can make any plan for your body, consult a trainer, where this or that error is, where you can make a correction. Nothing should stop you, you must train alone. A coach should not be a shepherd.

— Do you think Victoria could become a coach in the future?

“I think I could do it calmly.” As far as I know, she entered the master’s program, is studying and this will not be her first sports training. She is a good shooter and her shooting training meets international standards. She could help any athlete with shooting, explain, justify. Thanks to her extensive experience, it is not difficult for her. There is no limit to perfection, and she studies, trains, improves and can go far in her coaching career.

— Are you considering connecting Slivko to Shachilov’s group for centralized training?

– It’s more up to her, but no, now she’s already comfortable with training like that. Of course, the team has its own limits, its own discipline, but it also has self-discipline at the highest level. Some athletes need a team to train well. Some athletes are individualists who can be part of a team, but are more comfortable training alone. Probably, as a top professional, she is more comfortable training alone. She doesn’t regret it at all, she likes it, so she doesn’t feel any inconvenience.

— There is more and more talk about the club tournament, which could take place before the start of the first stage of the Russian Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. Are the athletes in your group planning to participate?

“Right now we can’t say specifically. First, we heard about this tournament through the media. Secondly, we have a unified training program and to participate in this tournament we need to make some changes. It’s not just up to us, we can’t just say “we want” and walk away. To participate, you must propose changes to the unified calendar plan. I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s not that simple either. There is still time, so you can always try to change something. It’s not just about financial changes, but also changes in the training process – it doesn’t happen with a single click. Therefore, we need to consult the coaching team about this, consult the athletes, discuss this issue and then come to a common denominator,” Padin told .