Petrenko brings added prestige to Ice Vault

By ROBERT RATISH
North Jersey Media Group

Olympic Gold Medalist Viktor Petrenko

WAYNE, N.J. -- Olympic gold medalist Viktor Petrenko watches carefully as 16-year-old Alja Pahor of Slovenia glides along the ice practicing her jumps and turns.

He calls her over to provide a few tips, twisting his body to illustrate a point.

It's morning practice at the Ice Vault Arena in Wayne and Petrenko, one of the arena's world-ranked coaches, is helping train young skaters from around the world who are spending the summer here. The high-profile coaches are helping the arena develop an international presence, a status now held in North Jersey only by the Ice House in Hackensack, training ground to more than a half-dozen Olympic medalists.

Petrenko, who took the gold medal in 1992, had been touring with Champions on Ice, a figure-skating show that plays large arenas all over the country. When the Ice Vault opened two years ago, Larry Tippner, one of the arena's owners, asked him and his wife, Nina, to coach.

Petrenko, 36, said the new arena and its location were a draw.

"We find it's a very nice, brand new arena, built with the latest technology, and the location is very good. All positive things we can imagine are combined here," he said.

He and his wife live in Oakland with their 8-year-old daughter, Victoria. And now anyone can get one-on-one ice time with Petrenko, who charges $100 an hour.

"For those who are just starting, I always say, 'Don't be afraid to fall.' It seems scary but without falling you never learn how to skate and do all the tricks," he said. "For those trying to reach the top, they should just believe in themselves and go for it. What else? This is the basic thing."

Petrenko is part of a staff of coaches representing China, England, Russia and the United States. He now works with his own coach and mother-in-law, Galina Zmievskaya, who also trained 1994 Olympic gold winner Oksana Baiul. The coaches don't get paid by the arena and set their own coaching fees, which start at around $80 an hour.

Although anyone can stop in or call up to schedule a lesson, the coaches are also spending the summer training young skaters ranging in age from 10 to 21, representing nine nations. It's all part of a plan to turn the arena into a destination for the world's athletes, said program director Sid Morgan.
Morgan said he hopes to build the arena's reputation at home and abroad.
"When you have a new rink, it's hard to grow a figure-skating program from scratch. It's easier to make an impact when you start bringing in international skaters right away," he said.

It's a model shared by Ice House in Hackensack, where skaters such as Sarah Hughes, who took the gold in 2002, train on four rinks. When that facility opened in 1998, its managers worked to attract world-class coaches, knowing that elite skaters would follow.

"We helped relocate some skaters and coaches into the area," said Tom Garcia, managing director. "We achieved a success that is pretty unique, probably in the United States, if not the world. We sent nine skaters to the 2002 Olympics."

Even as Ice Vault courts figure skaters, its core business is hockey, said Mariann Reiss, an events and advertising coordinator. She said the two rinks are competitive, but with key differences.

"Their location is more towards the city," she said. "We get more of the suburban customer. Our customer is a little bit different."

But, she added, "we all compete against one another for the figure skaters."

Morgan, the former program director at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, said he used his contacts in the skating world to reach out to coaches in other countries. Those contacts helped bring in skaters from Mexico, Finland, Slovenia, Croatia and other countries.

"It's cool because you learn about different cultures and everyone's there to be your friend, not to be a competitor," said 14-year-old Corenne Bruhns of Mexico.

Many skaters stay with their families in hotels for weeks or months at a time, while some stay with local families. The skating federation in the skater's home country often funds the trip, Morgan said.

The arena itself was a selling point, Morgan said. In some countries, skaters train in older facilities. "The coaches are very, very good but the facilities can be old; sometimes they're 30 or 40 years old."

Pahor is training for the junior world competition in March in her hometown of Ljubljana. She said she came to the Ice Vault to train with Zmievskaya. "She has two Olympic competitors, and the conditions for skating here are good," she said.

Idora Hegel, 22, of Croatia also said the star coaching staff lured her to Wayne. But she said the Ice Vault also provides a central place to do all of her training. "We came here because we have everything here."

Finnish coach Tiiu Valjemae said it helps her skaters to train with Petrenko.
"It is very good opportunity for motivation to have everyday one hour with an Olympic winner," she said. And she said in Finland, training takes place in groups. Here, students can have one-on-one time with coaches.
Even for a seasoned professional like Petrenko, the opportunity to work with an international group is appealing.

"It's always great to work with skaters from around the world. You get to see all kinds of techniques,"he said. "I get recharged. I feel young again."
The mix of nationalities also helps motivate the skaters, said Ricardo Olavarrieta, who brought skaters to Wayne from Mexico.

"I am looking for a place you can have good coaching, but also good skaters," he said.

But it is not just a matter of building skills on the ice, Olavarrieta said: "It's also for the culture. Some of our skaters might not be able to represent us internationally, but they get to practice their English and learn to be independent."

The international coaching staff is feeling at home. Petrenko said he loves living in North Jersey.

"It's great. It's wonderful, it's beautiful," he said.

Then, like a true Jerseyan: "One thing I don't like, but I can't do anything about it, is the traffic."