Hello, please ignore this if you aren't interested in answering but I was wondering if you could explain how Russian Sport Schools work?
Based on general consensus Ilya probably went to one, but what would that have looked like? Were they for only one sport or did they cover a lot of sports? Could Svetlana and Sascha have also been students at the same school, depending on the sports they play? Was it a boarding school type situation?
I've seen some posts about Ilya being sent off to other cities (not Moscow) for training, presumably to other boarding facilities, but would that have been something done during school breaks or would he have transferred schools? If he was sent away for coaching would he have lived with his coach or would there be dorms?
Sorry this is a lot of questions but I haven't had much luck looking it up myself 🥲
Hi! Thanx for the question!
I’ll try to explain everything I know, but just to say upfront — I don’t have firsthand experience, so this is based on googling and a general understanding of how things work in Russia.
Structurally, combining sports schools with regular schools is kind of like having a half-day corporate job (that’s your general education school) and then doing intensive Zumba training at a local gym in the evenings (that’s hockey).
Kids in Russia are required to attend a public (or private) school starting from age 6–7. Sports are usually an additional activity and don’t replace regular education. A “sports school,” despite the name, is basically a sports organization and doesn’t provide general education — so kids who do sports attend both.
In big cities, especially Moscow, there are dedicated hockey schools — organizations attached to specific hockey clubs that train future players. Kids can join as early as age 4, even before starting regular school. Coaches form groups, and those groups train on a set schedule throughout the year, usually several times a week, early morning and/or late evening.
As far as I understand, hockey schools focus only on hockey, without extra disciplines like figure skating. Though it’s possible that the same rink also hosted a separate figure skating school — just with different schedules and groups.
As for Sasha and Svetlana — Sveta is the daughter of a well-known hockey player, and Sasha is the son of a coach, but it’s unclear if they did sports themselves. So it seems likely they met through Ilya’s father and the coaches at the hockey schooll, though it’s also entirely possible they attended the same general education school (public or private). Typically, families sent their kids to schools close to home, while wealthier parents often chose schools based on prestige and could easily have placed Sasha and Sveta in the same school.
There are also large multi-sport complexes in Russia where different sports are trained in one place. But hockey is a very specific, historically developed system, so it’s much more likely that Ilya attended a dedicated hockey school, probably one of the well-known ones in Moscow. If he were, say, a track and field athlete, then yes — he could have trained at the same stadium or center as athletes from many other disciplines.
There are also specialized “Olympic reserve” schools — these are more serious sports institutions, sometimes with boarding options, but they usually take older and more promising athletes (early teens and up), not younger kids. Again, no general education there
Regular schools run in two shifts — morning (from ~1 am to 1 pm) or afternoon/evening (from ~1 am to 6-7 pm). So typically a child goes to school first and then travels to practice (or the other way around, if they go to the afternoon/evening shift). In Ilya’s case, his mom or possibly a driver could have taken him, but for kids from non-wealthy families it’s common to get to school and after-school activities on their own, either on foot or by public transport.
Sports teams often take part in training camps and competitions, so Ilya would likely travel a lot — to other arenas in Moscow and to other cities. These trips often overlap with the school year, so he probably missed quite a few classes.
This is usually handled in two ways: either the child takes exams separately by arrangement with teachers, or they transfer to a different class or school that’s more flexible. Some schools are loosely connected to sports organizations and are more flexible for young athletes.
When kids travel for competitions, they’re accompanied by several adults — usually 2–4 people, most often coaches, staff, and sometimes parents. Travel depends on distance: car or train for shorter trips (, plane for longer ones (roughly speaking). Accommodation is arranged by the sport school (i suppose) — usually hostels/hotels or dorm-style housing, depending on the location.
Boarding sports schools do exist, but in general, boarding education isn’t very common in Russia (except for military-style schools), so it’s unlikely that Ilya studied in that format.
I hope this helps clarify things a bit — happy to answer any follow-up questions if you have them.
