"A huge thank you to the kids who love us so much." Coach Evgeniya Eliseeva talks about the first stage of the Cup of the Strongest

For Academy coach Evgeniya Eliseeva, the first stage of the Cup of the Strongest was a huge success. Her gymnasts Eva Kononova and Ksenia Savinova won 10 gold medals out of 10.

The specialist noted the support of the stands during the competition:

"A great atmosphere, a really cool crowd. The kids are so supportive of our Sky Grace gymnasts. It's incredible: so many toys, so many posters. They pass me little notes saying how they want to come to my training camp, they give me their phone numbers. It's all so sweet, so valuable. And it really helps the girls and me. This love and support is really motivating, so a huge thank you to these kids who love us so much."

She told how international competitions helped to improve the technique of performing expensive elements:

"We had some shortcomings at the international level. The judges pointed them out to us. We're working more carefully now because there are important elements, like fouettés, for example. We've taken this into account with the girls, and I see that Eva, for example, has very good results in terms of executing elements that we didn't get at the international level. We've taken this into account and will continue to do better and better."

Evgeniya Mikhailovna appreciated the performances of the gymnasts:

"I'm happy with Ksyusha because she had a clean run today, just like Eva, a clean run. I really love it when kids can do four events without missing a beat. Yes, there are some flaws, of course, and we can't avoid them, because we're working on them, and there's definitely room for improvement. But a clean four-event performance always shows focus, that the routines are well-rehearsed, and that we just need to improve and refine them. But overall, I'm very pleased. Yana had some flaws, but that's okay, we'll work through them. I always tell kids not to be afraid of making mistakes because they're not robots, they're not programmed. Various factors can cause a child to make a mistake. That happens; it's just work. We'll move on and fix it."

She also thanked the Academy and Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva for their help and support:

"I really want to thank the entire Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy, our beloved Alina Maratovna, who is always in touch with us, who tries to help us with our elements, and who experiences all of this with us. And a huge thank you to her for giving us the opportunity to work with her. My gratitude to her is immeasurable. I love her very much and I’m very grateful."