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Sergei Starkin to coach Aliya Mustafina

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Coach Starkin with his World Champion, Denis Ablyazin

Valentina Rodionenko: "Aliya asked Sergei Starkin to begin coaching her.  He gave her certain conditions, and she agreed."

IF this is confirmed, it is great news.  Sergei coaches Denis Ablyazin as well as other members of the senior MAG team in Penza.  He is obviously hard working, dedicated to gymnastics, and has a positive charge ...

UPDATE - Via Vladimir Zaglada's direct contact with Penza, this fabulous news has been confirmed!!! More later from RRG.
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  1. Lovenicky17 December 2014 at 14:40

    I'm glad that Aliya finally has a coach! I guess she had watched him coach at Round Lake and was impressed enough by him. Just curious if Sergei had coached women gymnasts before?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous17 December 2014 at 16:41

    Yay, finally some good news from Russia!!! This is an early Christmas gift!

    Russiafan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous17 December 2014 at 17:42

    Im curious to what conditions he gave her. It's well known that she can be difficult to work with and i really hope it works out. It has neen painful to see her decline oner the last two years, this could be the best think for her if she is willing to work with him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous17 December 2014 at 18:05

    that's fantastic ! A gymnast who managed to win several world championship medals without a coach clearly has a lot of talent. It will be very interesting to see how she progresses with her new coach.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous18 December 2014 at 02:55

    Congratulations to Aliya! :)

    Queen Elizabeth, do you think Russia will have three Amanars by the Rio team final? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Queen Elizabeth18 December 2014 at 04:00

      Don't think so - see Vladimir Zaglada's idea of the priorities for Aliya in the most recent post on this blog.
      If this appointment works it should help Aliya get closer to her potential as an all arounder - but the team as a whole will still face the same problems as before as nothing has changed on a national level, as far as I know.
      My hope is that this arrangement will insulate Aliya from the worst influences at Lake Krugloye - establish a strong positive mindset and environment for her and assert a reasonable competitive strategy to make her feel good on both physical and psychological levels.
      Keep thinking positive thoughts for her!!

      Delete
  6. Anonymous19 December 2014 at 04:58

    Definitely great news! Starkin is a hard working and conditioning oriented coach. He kind of shares similar methodologies with Alexandrov. Yet, I am not sure about his approach to coaching "all around" gymnasts. He is a great floor and vault coach, yet I don't know about his UB approach. I think he is a superb choice for Aliya though. He will definitely get her back to a great shape. And about Aliya being difficult, I think he is more hard headed than her :) . If I should be thinking about a future Head Coach for Russia it is going to be him no doubt.

    Alfi

    ReplyDelete

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