- Feb 10, 2021
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- #21
I used to wait tables and bartend at a pub in Avon, CT. We used to get in dozens of Russian Ukrainian, Bosnian, and Japanese skaters who all trained at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, a neighbor to Avon. Oksana Baiul trained there for a bit before her retirement. Many juniors and up and comers trained there along with some US amateurs. I don’t remember who made up the coaching team, but the same coaches would come in with their athletes and there would be a Japanese translater and a Russian (I think) translater in the group. It was hialrious to watch them eat buffalo wings, onion rings, potato skins, and nachos for the first time.It’s uncommon in gymnastics, but very common in other sports, especially figure skating where very often you have skaters from several countries with the same training centre and coaches
They always tipped extremely well and were always super courteous.
Right before I quit, one of the Ukrainian female skaters worked as a host part time to help support her host family. She was 18 so not a junior any more but she had been either the novice champion or silver medalist. She was sent to the US to train as a junior. It didn’t work out and so she continued skating as a senior but was never going to be competitive in Ukraine, so she stayed in the US. The host family allowed her to stay pending she have a visa, attend university, and pay rent. She showed us documentation, photos, and news articles of her novice success in Ukraine.
She was a horrible host though since English was a challenge for her. She quadruple sat me (including a party of 10) and I nearly killed her for it. My last memory of her was my “I quit!” party held at my condo. I invited everyone, never thinking Olga would end up showing up. The last time I saw her was at this party and my most favorite memory.
Olga funneled her first ever beer! Apparently she was quite the mess at work the next day and ended up getting fired a week or so after because she just couldn’t do the job well. Poor girl. Hope everything worked out for her.