Vera Vandecaveye: “Kevin was so motivated, I left my fulltime job”

Part II

by Mireille Geurts, Magdalena Osborne & Titia Tolsma

Photos © EMJO & Mireille

What does skating mean to you? “I can’t live without figure skating, it’s very funny. One month a year I go on vacation. My husband and kid and I all go to Spain where we have an apartment. There is no telephone, only a TV. There is peace and quiet and I relax on the beach and think about what I can do to help the athletes, if I still have something to give and if I have the right perspective. I don’t have to be there for ME, but for my athletes, my students so I can help them perform even better. I could say: Hey, I’m Kevin’s coach, come to me! And they would.

But the glory is not so important in life, what’s important to me is to achieve something with my students in general, and also with Kevin. He has a goal and I want to bring him there and when he reaches it I am happy. That’s what matters to me. Maybe some people think I stay too much on the side, but I disagree with that. What else should I do? Stand on the ice: here’s my student, have you seen him? Have you seen me? No.”*laughs*

Skating is not a big sport in Belgium, but Kevin told us that after last years show some new students wanted to sign up.
“It goes slowly, it is not like tennis. Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin get a lot of publicity and a lot of people will bring their children to watch them. Skating is a winter sport, and it’s not popular even though we have many rinks. But there are more skaters and more people realize that skating is an option here too; you don’t have to go to a foreign country to train anymore. Kevin trains here, he doesn’t go abroad for internships, his facilities are here. But it’s a difficult sport and it takes years to create a line of successors. There are some although I am not saying they’re ready to step up right after Kevin, but we’re working hard to prepare new athletes, ladies as well as men. Talent is a start but it takes approximately ten years of determination to get someone there. But in conclusion, things are looking up.”

"After the short program of the European Championships 2006"

If Kevin had decided to turn professional after the Olympics, would you have stayed and kept coaching and finding new students?
“Yes, for sure! I am 45 and my husband and I decided I will continue until he retires.”

Speaking about the Olympics, how did you experience the games?
“I really enjoyed the Olympics, it was fun and there is a very special atmosphere. We were pretty satisfied, especially with Kevin’s long program. Too bad about the fall in the short program, it was so unnecessary. But overall it was a good experience and it’s something very special to have participated in. Looking back I wouldn’t have done anything different.”

Good! Did you get to see any of the other competitions besides figure skating?
“Yes, once I went to speed skating and another time to short track. It isn’t that I didn’t want to see more, but it was problematic. First with the training schedules and also with the accreditations. You had to ask for tickets in advance and that didn’t always work out in time. Buying tickets was hard too.”

Do you have many students beside Kevin?
“I have a few in Belgium, yes. Outside the country, not yet, but you never know.”

"After the short program of the European Championships 2006"

Can you name some Belgian skaters who look promising for the future?
“I think that’s a bit dangerous, especially with ladies. There are a lot of girls you think could get there, but then puberty hits, their bodies change, their attitudes change, etc. And maybe you had high hopes for them! So it’s very difficult to say who’s a great talent and who’s not. We have three novice boys though, Ruben Blommaert is one and he’s a fighter, he has the motivation.”

What do you think of the Code of Points? “Ah, the new system, it’s been discussed a lot! The ISU tried to come up with a system that’s fair and that can’t favor or disadvantage skaters. I am not saying that the system is bad, but it’s not tamper proof. There are the technical points and the components, and they seem to be very subjective. It will take a few years for everyone to grow into the system. Sure there are seminars for skaters, coaches and judges, but it is still difficult and the system is in its infancy. As a coach you have to follow it but also make it work for your skater, because if you want to pursue too much, maybe with too difficult footwork or spins, he or she can’t really perform well.

A good thing is that now you can compare results, your own skaters but also others, and that makes it very interesting. But it’s still subjective, I mean how long does a landing have to be, for it to be perfect? Should someone stand there with a measuring tape? It can get very complicated and very technical and lose a lot of the artistry in the sport. But I do understand where the ISU is headed; they want more of the actual skating and less of the acrobatic jumping. I think in the end, especially in the next generation, we will see new and much stronger skating than in the past. But I also see that some good skater’s jumps are faltering because the rest of the program is so difficult, and that’s the flip side. But I think the overall idea was to raise the level of skating. If you want to have a difficult transition before a spin, or a triple jump out of a spin, you have to make sure that everything is perfect. So the general idea is to see skating again and not just one jump after another.”

That seems like a good development.
“It is! Or I think so. But it’s hard, everyone has to do their best and only the best ones will make it. It is noticeable at competitions: he falls, that one falls…They used to skate perfect programs. At the World Championships in Dortmund in 2004, the men skated perfectly; they did what they were capable of. But at the Grand Prix they fell, one after another, and it was because of the new system.”

What can be done to make skating a more popular sport? What can the ISU, the federations, the skaters, coaches and media do? “That’s a very hard question, I have to think. *We all laugh* There needs to be more skating on TV. They are partially doing this in the US already. In Europe we need more than Eurosport, because a lot of people can’t get that and there are so many new options, digital television like Prime in Belgium. They should show more skating, also on a national level. They should show the best skaters of competitions or shows that take place here, like they do in soccer and tennis.

And true, skater’s prize money was cut in half, but that alone won’t make skating less attractive. But if you’re already skating and you know you can also make a some money at it, then it could become an extra motivation to keep doing it. In tennis for example, you can become very rich, but you have to work so hard to get that far. A friend of mine was an ATP player and that life is so incredibly hard! But you can make lots of money… Unfortunately that isn’t the case in skating. But really, with all the kids in Belgium playing tennis now, how many of them will keep playing because they can make money? You need perseverance in every sport, and if you don’t have that in you, you won’t get there in any sport, even if the money’s good.
Media could do more for skating and they should keep up more with the skaters in their country. For example, what happens during the summer? Nobody knows. Everyone figures that with the rinks being open from September till May, the skaters train and compete, but that there’s nothing going on in the summer. Right… *we all laugh*
But to be honest, I love this question but it is a very hard one. And I will certainly think about it in July, on the beach in Spain.”

Thank you, Vera; we can’t wait to hear what you’ll come up with!
In the meantime the Absolute Skating crew will do all we can to promote the sport by bringing you more articles and interviews with the amazing people in skating.