Russian training: 100% commitment

Russia continues to move closer to the United States in political and economic philosophy. But the reverse may be true when it comes to athletic training.

Consider: By age 8, Andrei Kirilenko was singled out to play basketball. By age 10 he had moved from his native Siberia to a sports school in St. Petersburg to play basketball. Basketball, quite literally, has been his life, and the hundreds of young Muscovites watching their countryman play against the Chicago Bulls Wednesday understand perfectly.

Most or all of the athletes in town for the Moscow-Utah Youth Games have undergone a similar experience to Kirilenko's: picked at a young age to play their sports, then groomed and trained for greatness at a sports-specific boarding school.

"That's the difference," Utah volleyball coach Scott Keister said after a loss to the Russians Wednesday. "They're on the court five hours a day, seven days a week, and we're on the court two hours a day, three days a week . . . . I love their method. I would love to have a volleyball school here."

Neither the Russians' disciplined, single-minded approach to athletics nor the relatively loosey-goosey American style is superior to the other, said Sergei Korol, chairman of the Moscow Government Committee for Physical Education in Sport. The styles are, rather, reflective of their respective countries.

"Both systems are good," Korol told the Deseret Morning News through an interpreter Wednesday. "It's mostly defined by the traditions that are in place, the economic systems."

Like Keister, some Utahns are looking and learning from the Russian system. Many sports, in fact, such as skiing and speedskating, already approach the Russian system in America. Head Utah volleyball coach Kim Norman has left her position as Highland High coach in part to give her time to establish a Russian-style volleyball school in the Mountain West. And the daughter of one other than youth games co-chairman, David Winder, left home at age 9 to attend a figure-skating boarding school in Tacoma, Wash.

There are certainly advantages, coaches say, to such intense training. You can talk about talent and quality training time all you want, but one simple fact remains: Other things being equal, the team that spends the most time practicing will win.

But there are disadvantages as well. Too much time spent in a single pursuit can result in boredom and burnout. "That would be way too much volleyball for me," Utah player Amy Toone said of the Russian system. But stress isn't all bad. Kirilenko, whose skills Tuesday resulted in being named an NBA All-Star, has emerged from his decade-long, all-out training program with wide smile and child-like enthusiasm intact.

As Korol put it, "It all depends."

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