a little (or not so little ) report about the training with children in Lausanne...

Like you know pianomaya, stephanie2006 and I went on Friday to Lausanne to see Stéphane train with kids.
After using for the first time a subway in Switzerland (and the only subway in the whole country!) we got to the Malley ice rink.
We were a little early but Stéphane and many kids were already on the ice. I wonder if he was there for the whole afternoon. Shortly after there was a zamboni break. And then other kids came. They divided the rink into three parts and there were also three groups of children. Stéphane was in the middle of the rink, Joannie Rochette and another coach on the right side and another group on the left side. There were'nt many spectators about 20-30 people.

Unfortunately I didn't see much of what Joannie Rochette or the other guy were doing because my focus was logically on Stéphane and his group of children. In the first hour the children were probably between 7-12 or so and in the second hour maybe between 13-18. In between this hour the three groups of kids changed from one coach to the other.
Stéphane showed them some moves and the kids were learning and repeating them. He observed what the kids are doing and helped and explained the moves to them when they weren't successful.

Unfortunately he was speaking so quietly that we couldn't hear what he was saying. The other coaches were almost yelling but the almost only words we could hear from Stéphane were: "Hopp!" Sometimes he was clapping with his hands so that the kids listen to him again or because they were doing great. All in all he was a very patient coach, despite him saying a long time ago he wouldn't have the patience to be a coach. But that was before his injury...

The younger kids seemed to have learned to skate to a certain music. They were skating to this music again and again. And Stéphane had to start, repeat and stop the music and was sometimes skating with them. So we assumed that he invented this little "programm" for them.
It seemed that with Stéphane the kids learned to improve their spins and with Joannie and the other coach they were doing more jumps or spirals. Stéphane had to show his spins again and again.

As I don't skate by myself everything on the ice looks so easily. I know that it's hard work and years of training from a very young age. You could see that this children were learning to do these movements Stéphane showed to them and once more I realized that you have to learn every little step and every little move by doing it again and again. Sure the talent you have or don't have plays a certain role but without hard training it's impossible to reach a certain level.

At around six the training was finished and all the kids were standing on one side to watch Stéphane and Joannie. They were doing some jumps, spins, split jumps and spirals (only Joannie unfortunately). After their little "exhibition" Stéphane skated around with some children, took many pictures and skated three times this little programm to the music with the younger children. It was so funny and cute to watch him there surrounded by children, who were admiring him.

At around half past six the zamboni ended this beautiful afternoon and everybody had to leave the ice. We had the hope that he might return after the zamboni, but only hockey players came and took the ice. So we left for dinner.

I'm so thankful to have had this possibility to watch this. It came out of nowhere (thanks again Reut for finding this information). It was more than two and a half hours of watching Stéphane! The longest I saw him before was 40 minutes for practices at competitions (when he stayed for the whole time).

After the opening of the Bossard Arena in Zug I thought: When will I see him again? At Art on Ice in February? Now I think again: When will I see him again? Maybe there will be another sudden possibility?!