SOVIET HOCKEY’S SECRET WEAPON
Bolshoi-trained ballet master Elena Segal and Anaheim Ducks forward Patrick Eaves.
The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow (pictured above) is an embodiment of the ballet corps it houses. A Neoclassical structure that holds its own among Moscow’s magnificent landmarks, the gilded interiors and lush velvet soften a turbulent history that has shaped the theater’s unmistakable edifice over time. This combination of grace and strength not only characterizes the dancers who bring the imperial fantasy to life, but also harkens back to another Russian institution that was defined by its precision and style: the Soviet hockey program.
The USSR mandated the use of ballet for Olympic training purposes, and one Bolshoi-trained ballerina says that this tradition has as much relevance now as it did in Russia’s hockey prime.
Elena Segal studied with the famed Bolshoi Academy before turning her attention to professional athletes. For decades, Elena has used ballet to improve grace, flexibility, strength and performance. She is now bringing the “Soviet secret weapon” to the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, on top of numerous clients from an impressive array of sports.
Gillian Kemmerer (GK): You began your career at the Bolshoi. I cannot imagine the pressure of performing for one of the Soviet Union’s most celebrated cultural institutions. What are some of your most vivid memories?
Elena Segal (ES): I was born, raised and educated in the USSR, and I know the meaning of being a Soviet ballerina and a Soviet athlete. I was fortunate to be able to study Russian ballet and character dance under one of the toughest, most unforgiving, and ruthlessly-disciplined teachers of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. My teachers took immense pride in the ballet and expected only academic perfection in performances. I toured extensively across Russia, and it was the most memorable and beautiful time of my professional dance career.
I remember following many instructions from my teachers, which at the time I didn’t understand the purpose of, but we were not allowed to ask questions. Now that I am educated and experienced in athletic training, I understand the value of the strict rules imparted by my teachers, and I now appreciate their importance and use them for my clients.
GK: Rules such as…?
ES: One of the rules was, “Perform your exercises very slowly because speed is easy to add.” Sounds unusual, right? But this rule was intended to create strong muscle memory during movement, specifically to prevent injuries. None of my clients who employ this rule suffer injuries.
Another principle: “Do simple steps with pure, classical lines.” Perhaps some would say this sounds too feminine for men’s hockey. The meaning of this rule is to keep every single muscle in alignment to generate maximum power throughout the body (shooting, stick handling, etc). Subsequently, this produces grace.
You can observe this kind of grace during the famous bird goal celebration of Evgeny Kuznetsov on the Washington Capitals. He is "spreading his wings" like in the famous Russian ballet Swan Lake. This celebration has a double benefit of aligning and connecting all muscles (intrinsic and extrinsic) of the arms and upper body for powerful shots and precision!
GK: One of us has to share that with the Capitals. Was ballet your only athletic endeavor during the Soviet Union? I know that there was a focus on multi-sport training.
ES: During university in 1982, I succeeded in the high jump as well as in track and field. The coaches gave me the nickname "Air Elena" because of my graceful, explosive flight during jumps.
After receiving my Master's, I travelled and learned dance techniques from the fifteen different Soviet republics. Each dance style was unique in terms of movement, for example: male dancers in Georgia perform on the tips of their toes and knees, and Hopak dancers in Ukraine perform high leaps, squatting kicks and turns. My goal was to successfully apply these techniques to athletics.
I later traveled across Europe, Asia, North America and India, which helped me to gain extensive knowledge of different ballet techniques. I studied a wide variety of jump techniques in classical ballet/dance styles, such as Cecchetti (Italy), Bournonville (Denmark), Balanchine (America), French Ballet, the UK’s Royal Ballet, Baroque/Renaissance dances and national dances (Oaxaca, Highland Dance, Kathak).
GK: The USSR actively incorporated ballet into its ice hockey training - would you say it helped to define their style?
ES: In the Soviet Union, ballet was a “secret weapon” for athletes.
This ballet training was scientifically devised by doctors, trainers, coaches and teachers who were bent on world domination. Ballet was a national government requirement at the Olympic Center. The Soviet Union accepted only gold or first place finishes—silver or second place was the equivalent of a “first place loss.” This philosophy permeated the Soviet training ethic, and took hold in my brain forever.
The Soviet hockey team won 22 world championships and 8 Olympic gold medals, and—what’s more—they won with a style and finesse that was uniquely Russian.
I remember the magazine Olympic Talk saying that Soviet style wasn't even hockey, “it was like ballet or something.” During the '72 Summit Series against Canada, the Toronto Star wrote: “The Soviets played like ballet on ice, skating gracefully, passing crisply.”
The NHL noticed possibilities immediately. Harry Sinden, head coach of Team Canada, told the Toronto Star in 1987: “The superb condition of the Soviet players got us looking at different ways of doing things.”
The world did not know that one of the secrets to the extraordinary physical condition of Soviet players was Russian ballet training. It was incorporated on a regular basis by the extremely innovative coach Anatoli Tarasov, the first Soviet to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. He realized that Russian ballet employs precise, incremental and scientific methods for training the body and mind together—helping an athlete to gain confidence and remain injury-free. An excellent documentary that shows how Tarasov incorporated dance is the ESPN Films 30 for 30 episode, “Of Miracles and Men.”
It takes mental power, pride and stamina to continue intrinsic muscle training for the whole of your career. Soviet athletes did not have a choice in this regard.
GK: Can you explain what ballet achieved for Soviet hockey players that other methods of training could not? Their day-to-day was grueling.
ES: Russian or Vaganova ballet training focuses on the deep, small internal muscles (also called stabilizers). Their role is to stabilize joints, align bones and muscles during movement, and when stationary, to produce force to the mobilizers and keep the entire body balanced, steady and in-control.
These stabilizer muscles must be active, well-aligned, strong and flexible before the mobilizer (large) muscles can optimally function. It is important to realize that the mobilizer muscles are typically visible as the overdeveloped muscles in bodybuilding (think Arnold Schwarzenegger). They may win bodybuilding contests, but these muscles are basically useless for athletics without the fine motor control imparted by the deep, small internal stabilizers.
The Soviet training program included specific exercises to improve both the mobilizers and stabilizers. Both of these muscle groups were traditionally trained in different programs and different sequences because they have different functions and muscular demands. Imbalance in the strength, flexibility and power between these two muscle groups not only reduces performance, but carries the additional risk of producing injury. The Soviets knew that while the showoff muscles got all the acclaim, they were nothing without the supporting cast of tiny stabilizers.
Just getting “bigger” was not an athletic goal in the USSR. Coaches were focused on different forms of strength for ultimate performance.
GK: Many hockey players with powerful strides are compared to dancers. I remember reading an article about Pavel Datsyuk that said he was an artist…“more suited for ballet than ice hockey.”
ES: After teaching my students, many hockey coaches are surprised to see that the players are not just skating—they are actually flying on the ice with the grace of a dancer. I simply smile to myself with the knowledge that I have succeeded in bringing out the function of the intrinsic muscles—which were previously dormant and underutilized—to now become well-aligned, strong and prominent.
GK: Do you work with any specific teams or athletes in the NHL?
ES: For the past decade, I have worked at the Anaheim Ducks’ facilities with NHL players, USHL players, AAA young division players, NHL agents, hockey coaches, hockey referees and the children of NHL players and NHL agents. I do not disclose names of my clients I work with—but I will mention Ryan Garbutt, who is no longer with Anaheim but was extremely receptive to training.
The Anaheim Ducks have been very generous in allowing me to use their facilities for training across a wide spectrum of sports, not just hockey. This included athletes from basketball, baseball, football, figure skating, soccer and swimming. I also work as an international ballet trainer for athletes (mostly by Skype) for different sports, including Canadian hockey, Indian tennis, Australian MMA and English soccer. My clients’ successes have ranged from scholarships to universities to Olympic gold.
GK: I read a recommendation recently that a parent of a synchronized swimmer had written for you. She attributes her daughter’s Junior Olympic and PanAm victories to the incorporation of ballet training. What are some measurable successes you’ve seen in other athletes? Tell us about one you can name.
ES: This year, one of my clients was a 16-year-old football kicker named Brendan Marmion, who posted a standout performance at the Kohl’s Senior Challenge [a camp and competition designed to showcase punters/kickers to universities]. I trained him at the Yorba Linda Ice Rink for two hours per week. Initially, he only could kick a distance of 30 yards, but after only four months, he achieved 67 yards! After incorporating ballet training, Brendan won the Kohl's Championship and got a university scholarship.
GK: There was a recent scandal when Good Morning America anchor Lara Spencer made fun of England's Prince George for taking ballet lessons. Do you find that NHL players are sheepish about ballet due to traditional ideas of masculinity?
ES: I am not surprised that Prince George likes ballet and that his parents support his passion.
The history of ballet shows that kings and aristocrats often took a personal interest in ballet. In the court of Louis XIV of France, ballet was performed regularly and ballet lessons were mandatory. The first feature of the lessons was proper posture; the second was balance for achieving an elegant appearance and a light, graceful walk.
In the 17th century, Tsar Peter the Great took ballet lessons. He invited foreign ballet masters to develop the art of ballet and to set up an imperial ballet school in Saint Petersburg (now the Vaganova Institute). Peter the Great was also one of the most successful military leaders of the Russian Empire. He required ballet lessons for the military to develop balance, coordination, precise timing and skill.
From my experience, men and boys like ballet more than women and girls—in fact, eighty percent of my clients are men. I find that professional athletes are quite mature and realize that ballet is simply a more sophisticated method of training. NHL athletes do not feel intimidated at all. During the first lesson, they always ask a lot of questions. Primarily they are curious about whether ballet is difficult, and what results they should expect. They all know that many great professional athletes including Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson have used ballet in their careers with very impressive results. Steve McLendon of the New York Jets once said that ballet was harder than anything else he did.
GK: Tell me more about that first lesson for an NHLer. Friends of mine have taken their husbands and boyfriends to barre classes—many of them were shocked at the difficulty, despite being highly athletic.
ES: At the end of the first lesson, players are usually excited and become addicted to the unusual pain and soreness of small muscles. When I put them into the correct position of a leg lift, I tell them: “Now enjoy the pain!” They often wonder why just by lifting and correctly holding their extended leg at 90 degrees, they sweat like never before. I explain that they are now using the right group of small muscles. They are also curious about why they must hold the leg at exactly 90 degrees in different positions. The answer is that your brain needs to acquire the weight of your leg for protection from injury—it is one of the secrets of injury-free Russian ballet.
Professional athletes learn very quickly. They have a well-developed prefrontal cortex, where working memory is stored. Their brain is designed to perform and the power of their muscles has no limit.
GK: How far do they progress? Should the NHL stage a version of The Nutcracker sometime soon?
ES: Three to four lessons is enough to finish Level 1. Level 2 takes usually 4-6 lessons more.
When the antigravity muscles are more active in their bodies, I start level 3 of ballet training, which focuses on speed-strength, strength endurance and explosive strength. Level 3 is ongoing because it takes a long time to beat the likes of Ovechkin, Crosby, Federer and Beckham!
GK: I can imagine that an athlete who plays a fast-paced game like hockey might find ballet an uncomfortable change of pace.
ES: I remember a story about a Swedish hockey player who came to practice with coach Tarasov. He did not last. He reportedly said, “We Swedes don’t grow up on practices like this. I don’t want to die.”
Many of my clients complain that ballet is slow, no fun and “harder than MMA.” This is a common refrain that I repeatedly hear from pro athletes. It is not fun for them because working with tiny stabilizer muscles does not give the appearance and feeling of training big muscles. But it does produce grace, excellent body control, fluidity of movement, balance, coordination of arms and legs, effortless precision and the evolution of deceptive speed.
GK: You’ve studied many forms of dance, but you continuously reference Russian or Vaganova ballet. What is the difference for an athlete who chooses to incorporate ballet into their training—why Russian ballet over other styles?
ES: Russian Vaganova ballet and other ballets are completely different. I agree with the sentiment of famed dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov that “this is no ballet in America.”
Ballet in America has more injuries because the training is based on style and entertainment. Russian ballet is injury-free because it is based on a technique which creates an elite athletic body first, then adds speed and character. Russian technique is a systematically precise, progressive and highly-detailed exercise program. Russian ballet teachers concentrate their attention on precise instructions, particularly when to teach what, how long to teach and in what amount. This is all done in order to protect dancers from injuries.
This training program has produced the best dancers in the world, including Rudolf Nureyev, Vaslav Nijinsky and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Their performances were unforgettable and electrifying with pure strength, power and precision.
You can find out more about Elena Segal’s work on LinkedIn.
