Yulia Inshina - a lesson from my grandfather - interview

Lupita has provided another good translation of the recent interview in Gymnastika magazine with Russian senior team member, Yulia Inshina. 

One of the key improvements that the Russian team has made over the past two years has been the development of greater maturity, reliability and strength amongst those gymnasts who might be considered 'reserves' or the starting members of the team.  This year at the Tokyo World Championships, the two Yulias, Belokobylskaya and Inshina, proved this point strongly.  While expected to do very little, both gymnasts performed to the optimum of their abilities, contributing soundly to the team's overall silver medal by providing a solid beginning to each apparatus.  Inshina, who also qualified to the beam final, finishing in 6th place, hopes for better in the future, and says she is planning to add difficulty to her work in a bid to make the Russian team for the Olympics.

Yulia Inshina, born on the 15th April 1995, trains alongside best friend Viktoria Komova in Voronezh, and is the perfect, well grounded counterpart to the highly strung Youth Olympic Champion.  Her coach is Alexander Pravdin.  This quiet gymnast speaks her with determination of her life in gymnastics.  She shows great self knowledge, which is also reflected in an appraisal by her coach.

Yulia Inshina: A lesson from my grand-father

Yulia, your coach told me that you love reading. Is it true?

It’s true. The problem is that now I have no time. The last book I read was “War and Peace”. It was tough. I didn’t understand everything. Since we started school, I devote my free time to algebra, biology, Russian. I think those are more important subjects than school literature.

I was told that you passed your EGE exam. How did you reach this level?

Thanks to my Granddad. My Grandfather helps me. He is good at algebra, physics, chemistry, geometry. When I went home, I worked with him. At school I don’t understand many things. And he explains everything and very quickly I catch up with the others.

Was he a teacher?

He was a builder. You could say that he is studying for the second time. I do each year and he learns the curriculum in the textbooks. When I come back home, he’s able to explain what I don’t understand.

At Krugloye Ozero do you have all your lessons?

I’m not always that happy to attend. Because sometimes I get very tired. But I love studying. It’s interesting. And when sometimes you hear that sportspeople are ignorant, that studying is not necessary, I don’t agree. Sport has nothing to do with that. If you want to study, you will, and you will succeed. And if you don’t … Why was it important for me to prepare for the exam? First, I respect myself more because I have succeeded. Second, if you don’t answer the questions, it means that you haven’t understood a word. I think that understanding is the most important thing.

Can you tell us about your bad points?

I can talk very harshly to my coach, I can be very brusque. But I always apologize. This is the way I am … I can’t let it go if I know that I have hurt someone, my conscience kills me. My coach doesn’t rant. He is not strict. Sometimes I don’t behave well, I cry, for instance. Then he gets mad at me. He never gets angry at me for nothing … I can’t stop myself if I feel like crying …

What is most important to you right now?

To get good results, to study at 20 is not too late.  To make the team for the Olympics, to perform some complex elements.  I try, I train.

Was your dad also a gymnast?

Yes. And I went to practice gymnastics because a coach came to our nursery and I was invited to a trial. I wanted to bounce around; I didn’t know that gymnastics was not only about jumping. But it all went very naturally.

I don’t know why but, when I was small, everyone said I loved working. I myself never paid attention to it, I went and did it. Now it’s become more difficult. You seldom find conscientious children. It means that they were brought up this way by their parents. My dad always says to me: “If you have an aim, you have to go for it even if it’s hard”.

Probably he suffers for you more than anyone else does …

No, everyone suffers; only my father is more demanding.  If there’s a conflict with someone, I ask for his advice to solve the problem. My parents never made me practice the sport. If you want, go and practice, it wasn’t like some parents who have their children work beyond their limits.

Was there a time when you had to practice beyond endurance?

More than once. And now. This feeling, when it becomes difficult to go to the training sessions, may last not a day or two, but weeks. For various reasons. I cannot learn an element. I have no strength or have pain in my muscles. Then you think “That’s the end”. It’s a sobering moment because you can really quit. You recover strength and it’s difficult to come back. You better wait and start from scratch. To hold on. On those days I begin talking to myself, to convince myself that everything will be OK. My parents call everyday and ask me how things are going. I tell them, but generally I say that everything is normal. Not to worry them.

I go home and I also practice, but I spend the rest of the time with my family. I walk with my young brother, he is three years old. I love him so much! 

Coach Aleksandr Pravdin:

Yulia has been my gymnast since she was 9 years old. A coach understands immediately if he has a good material in his hands. This girl immediately surprised me with her capacity for work. She still works very hard. More than the others. She shows a high level of strength and endurance. You give an exercise to the girls and she has time to do it more times, and thoughtfully. Sometimes when they are small, they are easier to work with, when they get older, the capacity for work disappears. Yulia has improved all this. She’s able to do more than the rest. Thus it’s easier to find stability. For emotionality and artistry, it’s something she still needs to work on…. Compared to girls of her own age, Yulia is more reserved.

She’s 16 and she has overcome puberty. Were there problems? How come? She was obstinate, and able to be critical. But this didn’t last so long as it usually does. People say that a good coach should have all the skills, but, frankly speaking, it was not easy for me. Yulia helped me to come to terms with this period. Not only did she believe in me, but also in her relationship with me. She is able to come and apologize if something went wrong. It’s an important quality when you have to work together for a long time. People think that it’s more difficult for girls to train with male coaches. I don’t agree with that. It’s teamwork, the personal coach is not alone with the gymnast, there’s the choreographer, the acrobat, the composer. But the personal coach is the personal coach, and if there is a good understanding, it doesn’t matter if they are a man or a woman. I know that Yulia can convince me. She trusts me.  

Picture of Inshina published with kind permission of the Russian Gymnastics Federation 

WITH MANY THANKS TO LUPITA!