Benoit Richaud

A Unique Coach Offers a Unique Perspective

By Kent McDill

The on-ice sessions at the PSA Summit in Chicago this May promise to be unique. In addition to jumps with Denise Myers and spins with Drew Meekins, Benoit Richaud will take us on a unique choreographic journey.

Benoit Richaud, the young French choreographer, will offer his words of wisdom to attendees with two on-ice sessions. The first will focus on developing powerful skating skills, and the second will be an expedition into Benoit’s choreographic process. Richaud comes fresh off of seeing 10 of his choreographed performances excel at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Benoit has been working with Kaori Sakamoto for around five years —she just won Olympic bronze for Japan last week. He also works with many others: Dutch Lindsay van Zundert, Czech Eliska Brezinova, Polish Ekaterina Kurakova, Italian Daniel Grassl, French Adam Siao, Mexican Donovan Carillo, and many more.

At the age of 34, Richaud has developed a passion for offering previously unseen choreography which develops out of an understanding of the skaters he is working with.

“One thing I have seen over the years is that there is always something different from what you have seen before,” Richaud said to PSA magazine in attempting to describe his coaching philosophy. “It is very hard for me to describe my philosophy toward choreography because it is created from my skater.”

Michelangelo once said the way to create a statue of Moses out of a block of granite is to chip away everything that was not Moses. Richaud works the other way, seeing the artist in the skater from the start and then building the successful skater from there. That is why Richaud works so hard at developing a relationship with his skater, so that he can design a program specifically to the best artistic ability of that skater.

“I work to the unique personalities of each of my skaters,’’ Richaud told PSA magazine in mid-February. “As someone who knows my skater, the No. 1 priority for me, the way I do everything, is for my skater. I am very excited to discover something new in each of my skaters.

“I feel like each of my skaters is a treasure chest to open,” he said. “Each has something special to discover inside that box. My job is to make them realize they have that something special and to explore that, to show them their direction.”

Communicating to skaters and coaches

While discussing his communication patterns with skaters, Richaud laughed and suggested that his interviewer talk to his wife about how he communicates.

“The way I work and teach, communication is very important with all the people I work with,” Richaud said. “I am very honest. When I feel I am seeing something that works, I do it. I have no fear.”

Richaud said his keynote address to the PSA will cover the topic of fear as it relates to coaching.

“The most important thing I am going to teach them is not to be scared,” he said. “To move forward. I travel everywhere in the world, but I see the U.S.A., it has always been a unique country because people are not scared to move, and to grow straight to an idea.

“When I look back at my career, I was not scared of losing, I was not scared to be criticized. I was very sure, even in my mistakes, that I was right. That is what I want them to believe and to understand.”

A look at the Olympics

For the Beijing Olympics, Richaud taught 14 programs, but only 10—five females, three males, and two pairs —ended up competing due to injury and other factors. He watched the competition from his home and birthplace of Avignon, France, but was very pleased by what he saw in the programs that were skated.

“There was more diverse skating this year,” Richaud said. “I saw much more the unique personalities in the competition than I have seen before. People are getting less scared.

“You know, we always consider men as powerful and the girls as sweet and sensitive, but figure skating is much more than that,” he said. “Figure skating should look like reality. I want to see different staples from different countries. I want people to understand the beauty of diversity. There is not just one way. I want people to understand that maybe what they think is not beautiful is maybe charming. There is another way to be beautiful. I’m looking for uniqueness, I’m looking to find a way to make something special. I’m not looking to cook something that has been overcooked.”

The Peak Ice Skating Camps

Richaud is the lead choreographer for the Peak Ice Skating Camps held in Lake Placid in April. The full day camp is for aspiring skaters as well as professional level performers working in small groups with some of the world’s leading coaches along with Richaud.

“I believe in sharing moments,” Richaud said in regard to his camp coaching intentions. “I like to invite all of my friends to work together and to share our knowledge to the young generation. I do the camp for the young version of myself who did not have such a camp available. I want to give experience to skaters from all different backgrounds, from the little one to the Olympic athlete.”

Looking ahead

Richaud’s unique approach to coaching extends to his attitude toward his own career. He considers it a necessity to grow and change as the skaters change.

“You cannot be the same person tomorrow that you are today,” he said. “You must evolve. I’m learning every day new things. That is one reason I like to work with the lower level skater. They are new to the sport and bring something new to me.

“When you are doing something that you love, you always want to find a way to get better at it,” he concluded.