before she went to the physical therapist's office. After picking it up, she quickly looked up Coach Baranski's telephone number from her contacts list and pressed "call."
"Dytyna! So good of you to call me back so soon." It was good to hear the other woman's voice, Kerri thought. She had not talked to her coach since a few weeks after the surgery. "How is the knee today?"
"It's getting better every day. I hope to be able to get back on the ice in another month, two at the very most."
"What does your doctor say about that?"
"As long as I don't do too much, initially, I should be able to skate. No jumping for at least four months though." That was a stretch, actually, but Kerri was anxious to get back in training as quickly as possible.
"That is good, Kerri. That is also why I called. I will not be able to coach you for the next year." Coach Baranski jumped right to the point in her usual up-front style.
"What?" Kerri tried and failed to stop the shock and disappointment in her voice from coming through. Coach Baranski had been with her for ten years. If she did not train her, then who would?
"Don't worry, Dytyna. I have been talking to other coaches and I found you a coach that I think will work very well with you. He is strong skater, very familiar with your skating already, knows all about your injury and your desire to come back for the Olympics, and he wants to work with you."
"That's excellent, Coach Baranski. Who is it? Is it Mikhail Chenko?"
"Ni."
"Oleg Alexander?"
"Ni. He is Jake Takeda. Now that he is retired from skating, he is coaching. Already, he has several skaters from his school winning in the junior level and is coaching Yuka Mori. He wants a caliper female skater in the senior level. He wants you."
The news shocked Kerri. She had not seen Jake since the world championship three years before just before he retired from skating in competition. Over the years, since that day in Turin and up to that last world championship before he retired, she would run into him occasionally, usually in the halls or at a mixer at one of the competitions. He never spoke to her again, but she often thought that he was looking at her. She never saw him do it, but she felt that same burning sensation whenever he was near. In the beginning, he was usually in the company of Izumi then later with a beautiful Japanese woman whom Kerri learned was his wife. Why he would want to coach her was a mystery.
"You say he wants to coach me? I'm not even sure that he even likes me."
"What does like have to do with anything? You need a strong coach who understands the world class system. He knows that you will still need time for your knee to heal, and he knows an excellent orthopedist that lives close to his training facility. There are only a few issues. But with you, they would be non-issues. His training facility is in Matsumoto, Japan, and you need to live on the premises. He assures me that you would be very comfortable there."
"It would mean a year in Japan? I would be living in a dorm for almost a year, Coach. I would much prefer to get an apartment."
"Ni. He said because you had no family there that you would need to live with him at his family home outside of Matsumoto."
"I can't live with him!" It would be difficult enough working so close to the man. She did not know if she even wanted to try working with him. There was no possible way that she would live with him and his wife.
"You will if you want to compete in the Olympics next winter. Those are his stipulations. The truth, Dytyna, is there are no coaches who want to risk a season working with you when there is no guarantee that you can come back. Your injury ends careers. You will work with Jake, Kerri. You will do what he says. It is to his benefit as well as yours to see you healthy again and competing. I'm told that his parents and grandmother also live at the house, so it would be more than just you and his family."
Kerri's heart sank. She had been looking forward to working with Coach Baranski for her come back. Knowing that all of the other top coaches