With Congrats from a Global Team of Skaters, Rafael Arutunian Becomes U.S. Citizen

When Rafael Arutunian, who was born and grew up in the small nation of Georgia on the east coast of the Black Sea, worked as the coach of Michelle Kwan in the early/mid-2000s, Kwan spent a lot of time helping him with his travel visas.
 
Having then only lived in the United States for a handful of years, Arutunian remembers that Kwan – with her heart of gold – went to great lengths to make sure he could coach at international competitions.
 
"It's funny; I would always have to go and get a visa to travel," Arutunian remembered recently. "Michelle was always helping me to get from one place to another. She helped me as much as she could, because otherwise I wouldn't have made it to competitions."
 
Kwan was also one of Arutunian's first former or current students to reach out last month when the 62-year-old was one of over 6,000 people at the Los Angeles Convention Center to become new U.S. citizens.
 
Arutunian – in true Raf style – sat in the front row.
 
"You can't imagine," he said in a recent phone interview. "It was so special. And I was right in front of the judge."
 
Arutunian moved to Southern California in the late 1990s, settling there permanently in 2000. He went through the green card process a few years ago, which he said was much more difficult that becoming a citizen, but admitted that becoming fully American – getting his citizenship – has been something he's had on his mind for a long time.
 
"I decided to apply because I was ready to become American," he said. "It's a completely different feeling as a citizen. When you're a citizen, you participate in every part of living in that country. That's not how I felt before (with a green card)."
 
Arutunian says as a kid in the Soviet Union, he never dreamed of coming and living permanently in the States. When he first moved to the U.S. and was commuting to Lake Arrowhead for skating lessons, he said he vividly remembers being paralyzed with fear of getting lost in his car.
 
"I was afraid to get off the highway," he remembers, laughing at the memory. "I was thinking that I would get lost. I was trying to fill up my gas tank full, so I didn't have to exit the highway between Lake Arrowhead and L.A. and back! I knew if I got off on the highway I wouldn't be able to find my way back."
 
He did, of course, find his way, and in the past 15 years has become one of the most sought-after coaches, not only for American skaters, but internationally as well. He said one of the biggest reasons he loves working and coaching in the U.S. is the kind of work life a skating coach can lead here, much different than that of a high-caliber coach elsewhere in the world.
 
"American coaches can work with any type of skater that you want: Good, bad, adults, kids… That's not how it works in other countries," he explained. "Famous coaches are not working with adults or small kids. They are mostly just working with high-level athletes. To me, that's not a good experience in life, or in teaching."
 
He continued: "I like working with everyone. I work with people who want to work hard. I have a team of coaches, five to seven of us, and we are all working together to take skaters to have the chance and opportunity to grow. I don't see myself as a celebrity coach… I'm just a normal coach like anyone else."
 
But Arutunian had plenty of skating celebrities – including Kwan – to reach out to him in the last couple of weeks after his citizenship ceremony, students saying congrats at the rink or calling him on the phone.
 
He was even on the local news.
 
"Can you imagine? My students all told me, 'We saw you on the news!' They liked it a lot," he said, chuckling.
 
In Irvine, at Great Park Ice where he's trained students in the last few months, Arutunian continues to work with an international group of skaters, including Americans Mariah Bell and Nathan Chen, Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic, Romain Ponsart of France and many, many more.
 
"I have so many different countries at my rink, so (becoming American) was like a celebration for me," he said.
 
While Arutunian of course wants continued success for his American stable of skaters, he says he marches forward as a coach with an international hat on, and – of course – doing things his way. The Raf way.
 
"With what I'm doing now at Great Park Ice, I am doing it differently than a lot of coaches in the U.S.," he said of the new facility, which just opened in 2019. "It's a school, an academy. Skaters have class everyday with me. They have homework and then they come back and we work on what they've been assigned. I find it as a more effective approach because – especially for the kids – they take more responsibility that way."
 
"It's actually the question I get a lot with Nathan and how he is able to skate so well when he is at Yale and away from me as his coach," he said. "But it's about those tasks… it's about him doing the work himself. He understands what I need him to do, even if it's just one word."
 
On the two-time world champion Chen, Arutunian confirmed that Nathan will return to Yale for his sophomore year, but he sees challenges ahead for them this coming season.
 
"I have had Nathan here this summer; I really missed him," he said. "He promised me that at least one year before the Olympics [in 2022] he will come train with me for the whole year. I think this [coming] season is going to be his hardest. Because already he has been one year without a coach [with him], so I think this year could be harder. Last year was his first gone after eight years of training with me. I think this is going to be harder for him to hold his shape. But we'll see. We are going to try our best… we have no other choice."
 
But what Arutunian did have a choice in is his becoming an American. Though, no surprise, he said that doesn't change him rinkside. He's still Raf. He's still going to demand the best out of each of his skaters no matter what. No matter the jacket on his back.
 
"I have always been an international man," he said. "As an American, I have a responsibility outside of the rink, yes. But, at the rink, I have always had a responsibility to my skaters. It doesn't matter who they are. The last 10 years, I helped the U.S. win three medals (at Worlds). I tried to do the best that I could. I wanted to show my appreciation for where I lived. Yes, I want to do my best for the country where I live, but my responsibility is beside the rink. I am a coach."
 
Not necessarily just an American coach, but now a coach that is an American. Congrats, Raf. And don't ever change otherwise.