Young stars child development center dallas: Young Stars Child Development Center (2023 Profile)

Stanislav Tugolukov – graduate of the “Tractor” school, forward. When he was a hockey player, he played for Metallurg (Mechel, Chelyabinsk), Avtomobilist (Karaganda), Traktor, UralAZ (Miass), Nadezhda (Chelyabinsk). Since 2003 he has been working as a trainer in the USA. His teams have won three gold medals at the US National Championships and won silver and bronze medals for five consecutive years (2008-2012). Since the 2013-14 season, he has been a part of the Dallas coaching staff as a specialist in the development of individual skills and post-traumatic rehabilitation on the ice.

“Americans are more efficient, while Russians are smarter”

– What does coming to Chelyabinsk, your native city, mean to you?

– I am always happy to return to my hometown, especially since my parents live here. Due to my busy schedule, I don’t often get the opportunity to visit during the season. In addition to the main Dallas team, I also work in the club’s academy and coach my children’s teams. Therefore, the week off, associated with the American holiday Thanksgiving Day, is the only break during which I was able to visit my relatives. Moreover, I received an offer from the US.CAMP agency to conduct a small master class.

– There was information that you would be a Traktor consultant.
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“Consultant” is too formal a word. I can’t be because I have a valid contract with Dallas. I am not indifferent to the fate of the Tractor, and I always follow the team’s progress. I have long-standing friendly relations with the general director of the team Ivan Anatolyevich Savin and head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin. When they found out that I was in Chelyabinsk, they expressed their interest in meeting. I went to the games of both “Tractor” and “Polar Bears”, talked with the management, watched the training days of the teams. It turned out to be an excellent exchange of experience and ideas, such a “brainstorming”.

– And what impression did Chelyabinsk hockey leave?

– Excellent! I really liked the energy and fundamental approach that I saw while talking with Savin and Gatiyatulin. It can be seen that they are making every effort to achieve high results. The conditions that the team can boast of, primarily in the training process, are already almost comparable to the NHL. People are sincerely rooting for Traktor, and this is very pleasing. I hope that the day is not far off when the team will seriously fight for the Gagarin Cup again.

– But the results of the “Traktor” school have been going down in recent years …

– I can’t discuss its results, because I don’t have all the information. I would like the Traktor school to remain the flagship of Russian hockey, as it has been for many years. I believe that the problem of our hockey is that the children’s coach is often required to achieve results here and now. Therefore, guys with talent, but not yet physically developed, are pushed aside. It seems to me that the main emphasis in children’s hockey should be focused not so much on the result and the number of tournaments won, but on the number of players that the school has prepared for the team of masters.

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– During the workshop, did you notice how our children differ from American ones?

– You know, I didn’t notice a big difference. In any country, children involved in hockey love the game equally. Perhaps, at a young age, Russian guys are more developed in terms of skating training, and technical too. Children in the USA from an early age take part in camps a lot and are taught according to instructions there, so Americans are more executive, and Russians are smarter. In America, children under the age of nine, as a rule, cannot participate in clubs. They train and play at the rinks – this is the equivalent of our “Golden Puck”, a kind of yard hockey. No tasks are set before them, in addition to getting pleasure and joy from the game. Almost all hockey players also play other sports at a young age – basketball, football and baseball (especially in Texas), and I think this is also correct. Already at the age of 11-12, players begin to train more often, more intensively, looking for opportunities for additional classes and activities.

– Doesn’t it seem that in Russia parents are more “shifted” in hockey and want to raise new Ovechkins and Malkins?

– Crazy parents are everywhere: they come across both in Russia and in America. Yes, what to hide, I myself am not only a coach, but also a hockey dad, and sometimes I get carried away when cornering. Very often, the pressure also jumps during the games of my sons, but I try to calm down, lower the degree of emotions before analyzing the matches with them. Everyone, of course, wants their child to reach heights and fame, but often such a desire of parents takes over the mind, and pressure on the child can ruin everything. During my coaching career, I have personally seen a huge number of cases where it was parental super-zeal that prevented children from reaching their potential. Children should have fun playing hockey. And when they say all the time: “You must! You must! Do it!”, then all the joy of the game is lost. Definitely, the child needs help, but the best help from parents is still unconditional psychological support. They will hear criticism from the coaches, and the parental task is to be there, cheer and always lend a shoulder.

– Did you have any offers from Russia, from the KHL?

– I would prefer not to answer this question, I have an active contract with an NHL club. I always worry about Russian hockey, but today all my thoughts and goals are connected with the Dallas Stars.

“I never noticed prejudice against Russians and against myself personally”

– I would like to know the background, how did you get from Chelyabinsk to the USA? And why, of all cities, Dallas?

– After I finished my career, I started to engage in various types of business – from gas stations and oil storage construction to the sale of metal. In general, the typical 90s. At some stage, I realized that a businessman also needs to be born, and that this is not entirely mine. In 2000, I had the opportunity to travel to America as part of an experimental group to study the experience of the headhunting industry, which means the search and selection of key personnel and rare specialists. The program in America lasted 24 days, we lived with different American families in Dallas, Texas. Watched how business is done in small and large companies, including such famous companies as “Yahoo” and “Saber”. A lot of time was spent in communication, and then I realized how much I lack knowledge of the English language. When I returned to Russia, I began to make plans to study English and get a second degree in sports management. And so the plan was born. The people I met in Dallas during this exchange program helped me a lot at first in terms of life, studies, language and cultural development.

I did not choose Dallas on purpose, but it so happened that I have been living there for 20 years and I am very glad that, by the will of fate, I ended up there. In recent years, Texas and Dallas have been among the most attractive and popular places for residents to move from all over America. Well, the flow of migration to the state only increased after the November elections.

– Do you need to get some kind of education to become a coach in the USA?

– It all depends on the level of coaching. If we talk about professional adult men’s hockey, as such there are no licenses or specific requirements for a resume. To train children’s or junior hockey in America, you need to have a license. USA Hockey is the governing body that issues these licenses. There are five levels of qualification, and the first three need to be validated on an annual basis – taking training courses, etc. After reaching the fourth level, this requirement disappears. I have the fifth highest level of qualification. We also go through annual modules – these are manuals / courses that provide information on the training process, psychology and others.

What was your first job as a coach?

– The first job as a coach was on a volunteer basis, for free. And I didn’t manage to find it right away: I didn’t know how hockey works in America, and even in the southern city of Dallas, in which completely different sports were in the first place. I waited for my chance for over a year, left my phone number on the rinks offering my help, but no one called. One day, quite by accident, after a mass skating, I saw the team training (at that time it seemed to me that the guys were 18 years old, but they were 16-17), plucked up courage and approached the coach during their classes. In broken English, I offered my help. The Dallas hockey world at that time was so small that he looked at me with great surprise, but promised to find out if the club would allow it. Such a huge Canadian, Cosmo Clark, turned out to be a sympathetic and good person. He didn’t even need an assistant, he just wanted to help. The next time we met, he said that the club gave the go-ahead. So I began to help him, tried to bring something new, interesting. The guys liked that they were coached by a Russian coach, and I liked seeing what we were doing. I did volunteer work for a year and a half, and then I started coaching the school team as head coach, and so I began to move up in my coaching career.

– Did you have to do non-hockey work?

– Of course I had to. It was very hard. During the day, my wife and I studied at the university, after studying we ran up to different jobs until late to feed ourselves, pay bills for housing and education. Training was in the evenings and weekends. There was no free time at all.

– Did you have a desire to return?

– If I say no, I’m lying. Of course, at first, when it was very hard, I thought about returning. I really lacked knowledge of English, full-fledged communication, but I did not want to return as a loser. But when I met my future wife Marina, everything went uphill and slowly began to improve. Together, it became much easier to endure the difficulties of immigration. Then the coaching career finally began to develop, children were born. So I’m grateful to fate for the way things turned out.

– Is your wife also Russian-speaking?

– Yes, Russian-speaking. She grew up in Moldova and moved to America to study at the university.

– The United States is discussed a lot in Russia. And how do they treat Russian people in America?

– I get asked this question a lot. My father is very fond of following the news, and we often discuss this too. I am convinced that the common man in America treats Russia and the Russian people with sympathy. I never noticed prejudice against Russians and against myself personally. The people here are generally friendly and open. A simple American is friendly, he will always ask how you are doing, how he can help. During my life in America, so many people sincerely helped me, and not even close ones, that there can’t even be any talk of some kind of anger. I will leave politics alone, let the politicians deal with it.

– In Russia, more attention is paid to foreign policy, and in the United States – domestic?

– I agree with this. Although, in my opinion, the political degree in America has risen a lot after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. Even people who previously did not particularly delve into political affairs, especially external ones, began to take an interest and speak out. But in general, life here is fast: everyone works hard, constantly at a frantic pace and takes a lot of care of children, so there is little time left for politics.

– American mentality is close to you?

– What does the American mentality mean? What does Russian mentality mean? People are people: the language is different, the culture is different, but I would avoid generalizations, everything depends on the individual. For Americans, it seems to me, life revolves more around themselves, families, children. They have less developed very close communication, they don’t go to visit without an invitation. But still, getting together to watch American football, have a barbecue, chat for a couple of hours – this is often the norm on weekends. However, this is not the Russian soul wide open.

To what extent do you consider yourself an American?

– No, I don’t think so. Of course, I am Russian, but now I live and work in America. I am grateful to this country for what I was able to achieve, for the opportunities that I received. I have a wonderful family, great kids. The most important thing is that everyone is alive and well. I hope that the pandemic will be overcome in both the United States and Russia, that we will all return to normal life and will again be able to enjoy it the way we want.

“In the life of Radulov – fire, in training fire and in matches fire”

– How did you find a job in the NHL club?

– You can say – a lot of work and a little luck. I always believed that all people who dream of something and work fruitfully for any goal will have a chance. And there already someone can use it, but someone will not be able to grab it. For many years working in children’s and youth hockey, I earned a reputation, hoped and waited for the opportunity to get into the team of masters. My story with the NHL club began in 2013 in this way: Dallas holds annual development camps, where the players of the club’s system are collected. During this week, in addition to training on the ice, the club holds lectures and seminars. The Dallas Stars usually bring in a few local coaches to help out on the ice, and I was one of them. On the eve of the camp, Dallas just drafted Valera Nichushkin in the first round. I got a call from the president of the club (with whom I personally knew and whose son I coached for several years at the Dallas school) and asked if I was ready to help with Valera’s adaptation – on the ice, in the locker room, with the translation of coaching assignments and in other matters. It turned out that I was hired as an instructor to work on the ice in the camp, and I just turned out to be useful to Valera. Being always next to him, I was constantly during training. And after the end of the main classes, he remained and offered his services to players who wanted to work on individual skills. They were satisfied with my work on the ice. Valera was able to gain a foothold in the first team, and the club offered me to continue cooperation. Then “Dallas” already signed a full contract with me and the responsibilities changed, became more extensive. In total, I have been working here for the eighth year.

– What did Nichushkin fail in Dallas?

– A part of my life is closely connected with Valera, and therefore I wish him only success in his professional career. The NHL is also a tough business, and every player has a different career path. Perhaps, in order to find and become himself as an NHL player, Nichushkin had to go through some difficulties and trials along the way. I’m glad that he now found his team in Colorado and is enjoying the game. I wish him to get over his injuries and realize his full potential.

– What are your duties at Dallas?

– My position is a coach for the development of individual skills of the main team and the entire club, as well as rehabilitation on ice. After the player has recovered from the injury, he is allowed to train first on the ground, and then on the ice. But, since injuries are different, there are certain limitations. Doctors tell me which movements are allowed and which are not. My task is to draw up a program for the player so that he starts working on the ice, but does not harm the recovery process. Gradually we increase the load, complexity, amplitude of exercises. When doctors allow full strength training, we start doing more technique and endurance work so that the player can start team training in full readiness. With some hockey players who have complex injuries, I can work on an individual basis and for several months.

– So in the NHL all the little things are at the highest level?

– Yes, it is. In modern hockey, every little detail matters. A huge staff works for the NHL team, which creates all the conditions for hockey players. Also, a large coaching staff analyzes the game of their team, the game of the opponent, trying to create a system in the defense zone and an effective attack. In addition to the head coach, our coaching staff includes three assistants, two videographers, a goalkeeping coach and an individual skills coach. The hockey player is only required to complete the task and play for the result, and others will take care of the rest.

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  Nikolai Belov: there is nothing difficult in working as a waiter, and the money is paid

– Nikolay Belov in an interview with AllHockey.Ru was surprised that the NHL devotes a lot to independent work, and the Russian hockey player needs to “insert”.

– Probably, Nikolai meant pre-season training, because during the season the team mostly trains as a whole. But even during the season at our club, any player has the right to come up and say what he wants to do individually. It can be anything – skating training, throws, handwork or handover. Time is provided before and after the main workout. And on all the days when there are no trips, someone is sure to do something. As I have noticed, the better the player and the older he is, the more he has a desire to use extra time for individual development. Players try to stay in hockey as long as possible and do more of what they love, earning decent money. Therefore, as a rule, no one needs to be forced.

– Which of the NHL players impressed you with their hard work and professionalism?

– Over the years there have been many such examples, but I think the most striking example is Sergey Gonchar, a player and a person of the highest professionalism. Preparation for training, proper warm-up, lifestyle, nutrition – he took everything very seriously. No wonder Sergei had such a long and successful playing career. Many other names come to mind – Patrick Sharp, Trevor Daley, Jason Spezza, Johnny Oduya.

– Alexander Radulov is called a model of professionalism among Russians.

– Sasha Radulov is a unique person and player. Few people can compete with him in the output or performance on the ice. He is fire in life, and fire in training, and fire in matches. He simply charges everyone around with his energy and indefatigable thirst for struggle, while showing his outstanding skill. I’ll give you an example. A couple of years ago, the coach of “Dallas” was Ken Hitchcock. At the beginning of the season, he was not entirely happy with the physical condition of several veterans, and gave me the task of working on their endurance after the main training. In simple words, “drive”. I tried to get creative with this task and made up a kind of “fun starts” on the ice, simulating different situations that occur in a game shift, but with an emphasis on strength, speed and endurance. Veterans performed tasks, but, to be honest, without much twinkle in their eyes. Sasha was not in this group, but he saw that we were working extra and decided to join. And he began to do everything with such energy and passion that the veterans almost kicked him off the ice in a few minutes (of course, jokingly). They couldn’t even compare. Sasha is always one of the first to stay after training for additional work on finishing throws, accelerations, jerks to maintain his speed. When he joins the exercise, ice melts under his feet. And Radulov never gets tired of working on the ice, on himself. A huge talent, but also an amazing ability to work.

– Anton Khudobin looks like the soul of the team.

– Anton Khudobin has great human qualities, and he is a huge part of the team. We have a good working atmosphere in the team, and this is his great merit. There is no person who would not love Anton. The fans are totally into it! Sometimes he can do this – even stand, even fall, and everyone treats him with respect. They know that Khudobin is a reliable man, he will always take the ice and play at the highest level. His attitude to business captivates everyone. In the playoffs, Anton took on a huge burden and pulled the team, and the rest repaid him in return. With his help, we reached the finals and almost did not know what winning the Stanley Cup is. Although against a team like “Tampa”, it was frankly hard.

– And what can he do “at least stand, at least fall”?

– He enjoys everything – from training, from games, from playing in the NHL, from every second in hockey. Everyone feels it – hockey players, coaches, fans, journalists. I remember as soon as he signed with Dallas, the local press was a bit skeptical. But now our journalists are just waiting for what number he will throw out. Anton can go to the morning workout before rolling out in flip-flops and try to score a goal with a player’s club with one touch. His competition with Sasha on shootouts is a ready-made bomb for club social networks. Anton is our find, and I’m very glad that he re-signed a contract with Dallas for another three seasons.

– What can you say about Denis Guryanov? The playoffs turned out to be a breakthrough for him.

– Denis Guryanov has excellent data, speed and throw are crazy. It was only a matter of time before he could show it all in the NHL. When Denis was ripe for the league, this breakthrough happened. We in the coaching staff never doubted him, knowing Guryanov’s attitude to work. Denis is sociable, easy to communicate, non-conflict. Everyone likes him – from staff to teammates. The path that he patiently walked through the AHL is respectful and I am very happy for him.

– Guryanov was waiting for his time in the AHL. But many Russian hockey players do not want to play in this league, they return to Russia and complain that they were not given a chance. Do they lack patience?

– I think it depends on the individual player and the particular club. Very often a player is sent to the AHL to get used to North American hockey, adapt to the culture, learn the language. But hockey players, as a rule, want to play in the first team, even if they are not quite ready. Being sent to the AHL is seen as a kind of punishment, but I think it’s better to play in the AHL than sit on the bench in the NHL. I had a chance to work closely with one of the NHL veterans, Stu Barnes, who shared his story. When he was sent to the AHL, he took it as a personal insult, as a rejection of his potential. But over time, after returning to the NHL, Barnes admitted that it was the experience in the AHL that played a key role in his success.

What was it like living in a bubble?

– I was not in the “bubble”. First, there could be a limited number of people. Secondly, we did not know where the players would be better able to rehabilitate after injuries. Therefore, by common decision, I stayed in Dallas, but remained in touch with the players and headquarters.