Iuliia Perminova – Ice Skaters Train During Summer

Selected for the coveted JCI Mentoring Program, Iuliia Perminova has a goal to build an international ice skating rink in the proximity of Monaco.

Ice Skating in Monaco? Yes, the Principality is on the map when it comes to figure skating.

Princess Alexandra of Hanover

Princess Alexandra of Hanover is a Monégasque figure skater and the fourth child of Princess Caroline of Monaco and the third of Ernst August, Prince of Hanover.

Alexandra began skating when she was ten years old after receiving ice skates as a Christmas present. Her first competition was in Toulon, France, at the age of eleven.

Alexandra represented Monaco in figure skating at the 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival in Austria and in two competitive events during the 2015–16 season at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating.

Merovee Ephrem

Mérovée Ephrem is a French former figure skater who skated internationally for Monaco. She is the first skater to represent Monaco in an ISU Championship, which she did for the first time at the 2007 European Figure Skating Championships. Before the 2006-2007 season, she competed in France and placed 8th as a junior at the French Figure Skating Championships.

Davide Lewton Brain

Davide Lewton Brain is a Monégasque-French figure skater who represents Monaco in men’s singles. He is the 2019 Coupe du Printemps silver medalist and two-time Monégasque national champion (2018, 2019).

Kim Lucine

Kim Lucine is a French figure skater who skates internationally for Monaco. He is the 2010 Ondrej Nepela Memorial silver medalist and the 2013 Nordic bronze medalist. Lucine began competing for Monaco in the 2010-2011 season. He made his Europeans and Worlds debut that season, finishing 17th and 23rd, respectively. In 2012, he moved up to 13th at the European Championships and again finished 23rd at Worlds.

The Principality of Monaco is also proud of its Skating Club of Monaco. The club aims to promote figure skating, synchronised skating, speed skating, short track, dance, ballet, hockey, curling, and all disciplines that can be practised on an ice rink or on any other surface that can accommodate these disciplines.

Despite many successes in figure skating, the Prince’s Government wanted to set an example in terms of the energy crisis and climate change by scrapping the winter ice rink at Port Hercule in 2022. A decision that some say is breaking the momentum of some young Monégasques and limiting their dreams to go to the Olympic Games in the coming years.

This was the moment that made Iuliia Perminova, a private skating coach, think about a suitable solution.

Iuliia Perminova

Iuliia is a firm believer that ice skating lessons create new neural connections through complex exercises, and that anyone can easily learn ice skating with the right techniques. Therefore, her goal is to build an international and zero-net-carbon ice skating rink in the proximity of Monaco.

Iuliia was born in Shadrinsk, Russia, a very small town in the Kurgan region. However, thanks to his father’s profession as a fighter pilot and an instructor in the army moved around in Russia. Later, the family moved to the USA and Europe.

Why Monaco and the Cote d’Azur?

“First of all, I grew up with films like “Grace of Monaco” or those of Hitchcock. For me, Monaco and its people have always seemed like a majestic state and I wanted to be a part of it. I love the Egregore of Monaco. It’s my place of power. I feel that I have to be here and nowhere else. 

Two years ago, an inexplicable force brought me here and my life changed dramatically. I left my beautiful apartment in Le Marais in Paris, my well-paid job, the Cours Florent – drama school, my friends and moved here.”

Iuliia lived in Perm and Moscow until she was 10. Then her family moved to Los Angeles and she started taking ice skating lessons with the coach of Olympic medallists Rafael Arutunyan. The family spent three years in the USA, but this period was eye-opening for Iuliia.

“After seeing this new civilization and economic development, living and communicating with international top-level skaters that I had only seen on TV before, I couldn’t imagine my life in Perm anymore and wanted to leave the city as soon as possible. 

I started learning French, and in two years, I passed a competition to get into the International Lyceum of Valbonne, where a daughter of my father’s partner was studying. So, at the age of 16, I moved to the French Riviera to study at a boarding school. I’ve been in France for 11 years now.”

Two years ago Iuliia decided to pursue her dreams, and Monaco seemed to be the right choice to do that.

“I thought at the time that I’d built up over the last 10 years of hard work, I was so scared. In reality, it was just a step into a new life. I passed a kind of challenge of my own and started to win bonuses. Monaco gave me a new perception of reality and the power to decide my own destiny.”

Three weeks later, Iuliia received an offer for her first and main role in a short film in Monaco by the famous French filmmaker Virgil Vernier. The film is called “Imperial Princess”. Its premier was planned for the “Cinéma du Réel” festival, supported by the Ministry of Culture, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in March 2024.

Despite trying herself in the field of acting, Iuliia never lost her focus and became a figure skating coach and an entrepreneur with ambitious vision.

When did you start skating?

“I was almost 6 years old when my older sister got skates as a present. I wanted them too. That was how it started. I went to a sports school just to learn how to skate, but I soon started getting better results and winning local competitions. Then my family and I moved to the United States to study with Rafael Arutunyan.”

Her passion towards skating was so strong that at the age of twelve, Iuliia started giving lessons to small children. When she returned to Perm from Los Angeles, the local coaches could not teach her anything new to further her level, so Iuliia shared the knowledge and techniques she had learned abroad. 

“I went to a French boarding school on my own when I was 16, and at 17, I moved into an apartment in Antibes, which gave me the freedom to earn money by teaching skating on the weekends and holidays. It was then that I discovered that I had a talent for teaching: students learned quickly and happy parents paid me more than I asked for. 

It was then that I remembered Rafael telling me that I was “a perfect student” and would make a great coach. I could perfectly repeat the imitation of the exercise and explain every nuance in simple words. I think the fact that my mother is a maths teacher and my father was a pilot instructor, let’s call it genetics, played a large role in my teaching aptitude.”

When Iuliia went to the university in Paris to study on an alternance programme, she continued to give lessons on weekends. She also started teaching adults, as people shared her contacts with their friends and relatives. She also continued to come to Nice for short periods to give intensive training to local students.

Learning ice skating

What do you believe are the most important qualities a successful ice skater should possess?

“Courage, fearlessness, discipline and a trusting relationship with the coach. All these qualities can be built during our training sessions. I help students overcome their fears from the very first training session by introducing new, complex exercises.

It brings me immense joy to see students easily performing exercises that seemed challenging to them just yesterday. Adults often tell me, “I’ve been training for 2 years and couldn’t do this exercise. I didn’t know it was possible. With you, I did it in 20 minutes – it’s amazing”. That kind of feedback energises me.”

Can you describe your coaching philosophy and the principles you prioritise when working with skaters?

“It’s important for me to approach every lesson in a superb mood. The flow and success of the lesson depend largely on my mood and energy level. It helps to get the skater into the right mindset and ensures the lesson maintains the necessary rhythm and dynamics for achieving faster results.

That is why I prepare myself before every lesson and greet the students in my best state of mind, with a clear understanding of how the lesson will go. I apply the same principle to my life: every morning, I decide the mood I want to carry through the day and set my intentions. 

My main goal is to demonstrate that anyone can learn to skate if they know the “secret techniques” and that it’s easier than it seems. I love to see students grow more confident in themselves because the confidence they gain on the rink extends to all aspects of their lives.

My goal is to achieve the best results with minimal effort. By focusing on 20% of the effort, we attain 80% of the result.

Ice skating involves elements of physics and psychology. If you choose the right trajectory, speed, and weight distribution on the blade, you can accelerate speed or perform higher jumps with beautiful landings with relative ease. I can predict the success of a jump or turn during the preceding step. 

Almost no coaches, definitely none at the beginner level of my students, use this principle. In most cases, you have to skate for many years, and when you move up to a higher level, you stay in figure skating.

I create a personalised program for each individual based on their skating level, personality and interests. It’s important to me to make every lesson interesting and fun, so that students come to practice as if it were a vacation.”

What do you consider the most common challenges faced by beginner ice skaters, and how do you address them?

“Overcoming fear is a significant challenge. I have done it many times in my life. During lessons, I help you to go through it with me hand in hand.

My coach, Rafael, who mentored numerous champions, used to say before competitions, “Just go and take what’s yours”. My goal is to transfer that mindset to students and make them feel like successful skaters from the outset. The result and materialisation come from the inner state that you already have. 

Additionally, some adults fear looking foolish when starting to skate. That is why I suggest lessons on private ice where no one is watching you.”

How do you incorporate mental and psychological aspects into your coaching to help skaters build confidence and resilience?

“Every individual has their own mental programming, developed over thousands of years and inherited from previous generations. Our brain is like a computer with a a memory card, containing all our knowledge, fears and biases. My goal is to understand the programming of each student – their thought processes, motivations and fears – to find a personalised and ecological approach that facilitates their highest potential while maintaining a positive environment.

From my experience, I’ve noticed that when mothers learn to skate with their children, they overcome their fears, leading to improved results for both parent and child.

Another reason for the rapid success of my students is my personal work on mental programming. When I began to notice my own unwanted fears and replace them with positive attitudes, my life became boundless and abundant. I implement this in the coaching process. 

When a student has all the physical capacity to do hard exercises but can’t, I ask myself – what are my fears as a coach? I go home that day and think about it or call my life coach to work on it. The next day, that same student successfully lands the exercise that he had problems with in the previous classes. You don’t learn that in sports university.”

Tell us more about the business skills athletes learn from skating.

“Ice skating lessons create new neural connections through complex exercises. When there are several people on an ice rink, which is limited by its dimensions, and you see skaters going in every direction, you have to analyse their future movements in advance, as well as calculate the trajectory and speed for your own jump, spin or other exercise, so as not to create an accident. It develops analytical skills. If you drive a car, the movement of other cars at intersections is predictable by the highway code. On an ice rink, you can’t predict; you have to feel.

Ice skating is a very complex sport. During a program at a competition, you have to concentrate on each move. If you fall, you need to get up quickly to keep the rhythm of the music, transfer the mood and the right emotions, focus on the next exercises to finish successfully and not think about your failure.

You calculate the points in your head to understand where you can add some more jumps or figures to regain points. It develops fast decision-making, strategic thinking and flexibility skills.

The constant training process requires a lot of discipline, and a positive result boosts your self-confidence and understanding of why discipline is important.

Before skating a program, you choose your music, understand your character, learn about your role like an actor learns his, you prepare yourself for the need to interpret new movements in real time, second by second, and share the right emotions. It develops intuition and empathy.”

Do you think people from Monaco can be ice skaters? 

“I have many students of different nationalities from Monaco every year. Unfortunately, we have to go to Nice or other nearby cities to rent an ice rink for training.”

What offers do you propose for teaching and what programs can they join?

“This year, I plan to take only 2-3 families maximum for private training for 6 months to train on private ice in any country with a lot of comfort and full confidentiality. I will create a complex personalised program, including the above-mentioned training on the ice, stretching and gym exercises of professional skaters. You will get results depending on your personal goals (strength, flexibility, weight loss), through interesting exercises that you have never tried before. You will also prepare yourself for ice skating training and achieve better results on the ice. Isn’t it great?

As for group training, every school holiday we have camps – only group lessons for 5 days at an affordable price for everyone. Kids come from other cities and countries. I’m always looking for new destinations for camps, where we have enough space to train, where there are ice rinks with free places to rent and where parents can spend an interesting time as well. I understand that during school holidays many people want to discover new places. 

This year I am preparing for two extraordinary sports camps. One of them: where children and parents can have breakfast in their house in the middle of the safari, watch giraffes and lions outside, then go to training for 3 hours in the morning. In the afternoon, we can explore the town. The next day we do local activities during the day and cardio and stretching in the evening.

During the winter, I’ll be teaching private and group lessons in Courchevel.”

Do you work with disabled kids as well?

“Yes, since last year, I have been working with a 7-year-old boy with special needs. He has absolutely the same abilities as others, plus no fear at all and a lot of courage. He quickly understands what to do but needs more time to repeat and learn. We’ve done a lot of work in the last 9 months, thanks to his mother who skates with us during every training session and makes videos of his progress. They often come to the rink by themselves to practise the exercises we’ve learned. So, the next time we meet, I see that the exercise has been well trained, and we can quickly move on to harder exercises.

Ice skating lessons help create new neural connections through very complex exercises. After two months of training, the mother of this child told me that he started to speak better and clearer.”

How do you handle disagreements or conflicts with skaters, parents, or fellow coaches, and what steps do you take to resolve them?

“First of all, we discuss the goals of the lesson beforehand, so we don’t have any conflicts regarding the training process. I inform them of the time and number of training sessions the student will need for each element. Parents and adults are always amazed at the results.

There have been two instances,, many years ago, when our interests did not align with those of the parents of young students. It hurts me when parents bring children at the age of 3 and want them to become Olympic champions overnight – I’m all for it if the child enjoys it. At 3 years old, it is important to love the sport and cultivate motivation through play, results, group activities, not through the desire to fulfil the parents’ goals. This is an overwhelming responsibility at any age.”

Iuliia loves to take pictures and videos with children and adults after training sessions. It is not just fun, but also a great pleasure to see their progress within months and offer them a feeling of a journey towards to be a professional skater.

The Monaco Ice Rink and Summer Training

In 2022, to set an example in terms of the energy crisis and climate change, the Monaco Ice Rink was closed. Many of her students from Monaco expressed their disappointment about the lack of an ice rink near their homes. Currently, the only ice rink on the French Riviera is in Nice, and it is always crowded, making skating dangerous. Moreover, students don’t have enough hours to skate.

Iuliia, who obtained the highest level of skating diplomas in the United States and coaching diplomas from the most prestigious university in Moscow in parallel with her French business school, envisioned a positive change for the Principality.

In 2023, she was accepted into the JCI Mentoring Program with her project to build an international ice rink in Monaco. This program provides leadership development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change.

“If one day the development of skating will be beneficial for the economy of Monaco, I will be more than happy to contribute. We’ve been skating professionally since we were 3 years old, and if there’s no ice rink in the area, it means that in 15 years, there will be a gap of athletes who could represent their countries at the international level.

I wanted to start by implementing synthetic ice rinks in hotels, yachts, villas and conference rooms. This kind of surface gives the feeling of real ice while skating and can be built and rebuilt in 3 hours. I suggested inviting my colleagues – skating champions – for master classes, organising parties and gala shows on ice and renting this ice to companies for team-building sessions. 

JCI matched each project with a mentor. At the first meeting, the mentor I was supposed to have didn’t show up and didn’t respond to my e-mails. So, JCI gave me a new mentor – Michael Mangano from Grant Thornton Monaco. 

Michael is the best mentor; every time I shared an idea with him, he suggested making it ten times bigger. He believed in my project even when everything didn’t work out as planned. We share common values.I really appreciate our cooperation. 

Michael helped me with all legal and administrative issues, which is very valuable to me. I highly recommend Grant Thornton to anyone looking for a human approach and the best support for their business.

I am very grateful for our fruitful work and couldn’t imagine myself with any other mentor than Michael.”

What is the current status of your zero-net-carbon Ice Rink project?

“Right now, I’m looking for the best location for an ice rink, ideally near Monaco. 

I was invited to present my project at the Russian Embassy in Paris and received a lot of positive feedback and constructive suggestions. I’m looking for any help and cooperation to make skating more popular for beginners of all ages.”

Iuliia often holds training sessions on the dike of Port Hercule, a place that definitely lacks ice. Interestingly enough, Professional skaters spend the majority of their time training on the ground and these sessions are critical for preparing for ice skating. Training on the ground helps students to learn difficult exercises easily and efficiently.

Can ice skaters train during summer?

“Yes, ice skaters should train year-round to stay in shape. Most rinks are open during the summer. But skating lessons alone are not enough to get the best results. Professional athletes spend 80% of their time training: cardio, static exercises, stretching, choreography, swimming, dance. It’s important to train skating exercises and the right muscles before repeating them on the rink. 

With my beginner students, we have at least 2 hours of training before the ice to prepare them for complex exercises. It prepares the body and muscles in advance, reduces the risk of trauma on the ice and gives faster results.

During the summer, I organise group sports camps with 2-4 hours of complex training on the ground, including general physical preparation and training of skating exercises, coordination and vestibular system for spins and jumps.

I also have many more private lessons for adults depending on their personal goals: lose weight, learn a new exercise or make a split or billman etc.”

How do you stay updated on the latest developments and techniques in the field of ice-skating coaching? 

“I watch competitions, shows and follow athletes and skating schools on social networks. To keep up with regulations and policies, which are changing rapidly, I receive official information by email, follow news, discussions and read documents on official websites of skating federations.

Also, I have friends who are journalists and TV presenters, especially in sports, so I just follow their informative stories on Instagram and get news very quickly. I know people who ask about future changes in advance.”

How do you create a positive and supportive training environment for your skaters?

“I’m convinced that the best result is achieved with a positive attitude, when students come to class as if they were on vacation,knowing that they will learn new moves because they have done them before. 

First of all, when I communicate with new students or parents, they feel my good vibes and confidence. I explain how the lesson will go and reassure them.

Our lessons are fun and joyful, focusing on knowledge rather than pressure. I demonstrate to students that learning the basics of ice skating is fun and easy using the techniques I employ.

When students see quick results, they develop confidence and enjoy attending lessons. I also develop personalised games for children and interesting training methods for adults to train that require a lot of thinking and coordination.”

Personal development

In your opinion, what role do parents play in a skater’s development, and how do you effectively communicate and collaborate with them? 

“The role of parents is crucial. For high-level skaters, behind every Olympic champion, there is a mother who has spent many years with them in training: driving them to the ice rink every day, watching, supporting, waiting for for hours, talking to the coach, giving advice, communicating with schools to arrange individual exam schedules due to competition commitments, monitoring their diet and weight, ensuring they do not go to parties, choosing costumes for programs, visiting doctors regularly, and more – tasks that a coach can’t manage because our time together is only at the rink. We don’t know what happens at home. 

Parents should be partners with the coach, demonstrating the coach’s authority to their children. If necessary, they should inform me about the student’s health, such as if they are currently sick or tired after previous competitions in gymnastics. 

If parents disagree with the coach, they should communicate their point of view directly to the coach, not in front of a student or at home. Otherwise, I lose my authority. 

We talk with the parents before each lesson to set new goals. Parents often send me videos of their kids practising on their own and inform me of their progress, which helps me plan our sessions effectively.”

How do you tailor your coaching approach to meet the individual needs and skill levels of your skaters?

“Within the first 5 minutes, I understand how long it will take to reach a certain level of skating. It depends on the student’s ability to learn, curiosity, attitude and perception of information while learning a new discipline. 

We discuss each student’s goals before the lesson and I provide a clear plan for achieving them.

I have a different approach for each student. With children as young as 3, we learn to skate through play. I ask about their favourite cartoons, movies and hobbies, and then create a training program where the children imagine themselves as their favourite characters, overcoming obstacles and completing quests. 

Children don’t realise they’ve learned difficult elements. Seeing the happy faces of children and parents, I leave the class with great happiness in my heart, like after running a 20-kilometre cross-country race and solving a maths Olympiad simultaneously. 

I want to hide under a blanket and sleep because I’ve invested all my energy. I don’t know any coach who works with little kids like that. I can’t do it any other way. I find it easier not to take on new students when I know I can’t handle the load.

It’s easier with adults, as I can immediately read their way of thinking and their fears. With the right approach and choice of words, I can provide them with the necessary knowledge. 

Personal communication is very important; I do not overstep the thin boundaries of the relationship between trainer and student of any age, although we follow each other on Instagram. 

Often, on Friday at 10 pm, I respond to messages from parents about the choice of equipment or procedures for muscle toning. Caring and personal involvement are very important, but I manage to maintain a fine line and boundaries.”

Where does this coaching approach come from? 

“When I came to the USA, I was surprised that it was possible to teach without raising your voice, just by explaining a new technique. In Russia, we have a lot of rinks, and skating is free; you can show your character to a coach. In the USA, you have more motivation because you pay for each lesson to many coaches every day.”

Can you share a success story or memorable achievement of one of your past or current skaters?

“A 9-year-old girl came to my lessons with some basics of skating. In one lesson, we changed her technique, making it more professional and beautiful,. In the next two lessons, she had already learned 6 jumps and 2 spins. 

An adult woman came to me for a 3-day intensive program, and by the end of the third lesson, she had learned complex exercises, skating forward and backward and learned a simple spin.

My super young student, a 3-year-old child, started skating on their own from scratch within 45 minutes.

I am always delighted when students share their skating success videos from their winter holidays in Courchevel or Switzerland.”

Do you have any dream projects or goals for 2024?

“Yes, I will develop the project I started. We don’t have enough time for skating; we really need an ice rink so that students have enough time to skate. 

I could invite my colleagues, world and Olympic champions for master classes. I want to develop charity projects, invite kids from schools for free lessons or New Year’s parties. It’s fun. 

My dream is to have my own international ice-skating school where I can invite my colleagues – famous skaters – to share their techniques. They support me so much. They have very busy schedules, but they say “Iuliia, keep going, we have to make ice skating more popular”. They’ve always had my back since I started the online school project. I’ve been planning these projects for 4 years. 

I remember when I was 15 years old, I told everyone who asked about my career plans that I’m going to have my ice rinks all over the world. I have an online skating academy with Olympic champions.

This year I’m going to focus more on the development of my new activity – team building sessions on ice for employees of large and small companies, in cooperation with my teachers from the Parisian acting school Cours Florent, who have been doing this for years.

I’m also going to focus more on developing collaborations with movie studios to teach actors how to skate because at the moment, at least in France, we don’t have the technology to replace actors’ faces in movies. 

I discovered it three years ago when I was casting with Bryan Joubert for a TV series. My French was not perfect, but it was possible to change the nationality of the character. But the biggest problem was that I didn’t have professional acting training and my movie agent told me to go to an acting school, where I studied until 11 pm after work and my master’s degree in marketing. I understand that I can’t sacrifice as many years in my acting career as I did for figure skating, but I can teach actors to skate within a few lessons.”

To summarise it, Monaco residents miss the opportunity for the beloved Ice Rink, and it is great that people like Iuliia Perminova care enough to find a positive solution. The current technology offers synthetic surfaces that are 95% as slippery as ice and not affected by the temperature. 

If there is a will and support, then Iuliia believes that there is a way to implement a zero-net-carbon, all-season ice skating rink in Monaco.