Sovetsky Sport. April 15, 1971. I recently visited the gymnastics section of the Young Pioneer's Palace sports school on Lenin Hills. This section is headed by Merited Coach of the RSFSR Vitaly Belyaev. Believe me, words cannot adequately describe how these young gymnasts train. Larisa Latynina, after watching the performances of Belyaev's students (who are 11-12 years old) at the Moscow competitions, exclaimed, "I haven't seen such wonderful youth gymnastics in a long time!" This is absolutely true. Vitaly Alexandrovich, who has trained more than thirty masters of sport, including M. Voronin, V. Sushin, L. Ryzhkov, and others, is now nurturing a whole constellation of exceptionally gifted young boys. Here is a brief transcript of our dialogue, which took place during the men's competitions in Leningrad.
Q: Despite some setbacks for the leading athletes, the women's competitions were optimistic. The gymnasts are progressing literally before our eyes. But the men lack that celebratory spirit. It seems that the guys are indifferent to what they are being told: "You can't get by on old achievements." What's the reason for this 'disobedience'?
A: As a former athlete, and as a coach, I understand perfectly well that adapting to a new style in such a complex sport is incredibly difficult. Undoubtedly, the barrier of monotony has become overcome, but further progress is quite slow. "Commercial" routines - that's how I would describe the exercises of most of the tournament participants. Some, I know, are learning interesting things, but for the most part they are showing elements that have been around for a long time.
Q: However, V. Klimenko, G. Bogdanov, and R. Mikaelyan enlivened the atmosphere, incorporating striking and original ideas into their routines...
A: Three surnames. How few for an All-Union competition! And among the girls, we can name more than a dozen names of those who impressed with their original performances. No, the time urgently demands a powerful, all-out offensive on new positions. Moving away from outdated ideas in men's gymnastics - that is today's task.
Q: I'll clarify your point. You're talking about early specialization - a trend in women's gymnastics. The same should happen with men. I don't want to make any premature judgements, but your work at the Palace of Pioneers deserves the most thorough examination.
A: It's all about daily choreography classes. In recent years, coaches have somehow forgotten this powerful tool for developing a strong foundation in gymnastics. By the way, it's not too late to intensively incorporate choreography into the training of the youth team, and perhaps even the main national team. The gymnasts have a lot of sloppiness in their movements, and this distracts from the attractiveness of their performances.
Q: What else can we borrow from women's gymnastics?
A: The leading female coaches have, as it were, divided the responsibility for different disciplines among themselves: R. Knysh is an excellent vaulting expert, Yu. Shtukman heads the 'search group' for uneven bars, V. Rastorotsky for the balance beam, and so on. It's time for those of us who work with male gymnasts to unite, consult with each other, and not be afraid to learn from the experience of our colleagues. For example, I have been studying the prospects of working on the pommel horse and parallel bars for many years. I think I've accomplished something in this area. I would be happy to share my thoughts with other coaches.
V. GOLUBEV, Master of Sports