“Have I ever believed while Zhenya was growing up that he would be the best, that he would be number one? You know, nobody can predict these things. When he was still a little kid, a lot of people were talking about his talent and his future prospects. But I as a father have never planned ahead. You can never tell what would happen. I’ve always thought that you shouldn’t dream, but should pass judgment according to facts. If something happens, it happens. Of course I’m happy. Among other thing due to the fact my wife’s and my own efforts hadn’t been for nothing. I started teaching Zhen’ka how to skate when he was three years old. But I don’t think it matters. You can also start skating at the age of seven and achieve the same results. Many of my acquaintances started their kids on skates at the age of three as well, but none of them started playing. What matters is whether a child is blessed by god, whether he has talent, whether he has the will to practice, to move forward, to look to the future. It’s just that he has always loved hockey, since he was a kid, you could immediately see that. He loved it very much. This, together with his talent, gave this result. I felt that he loved hockey the moment he was born. Immediately. Well, obviously not literally the moment he was born, but even before Zhenya learned how to skate, it had already been clear that he wanted to touch the puck and put on the gloves. After he started skating, he was willing to sleep with the skates. He actually did sleep with his little kid-sized hockey stick under his pillow. He was always saying, “Little stick! Little stick!” when he was three, four, five years old. It had already been clear that hockey was his thing.”

— Vladimir Malkin about his son [source] (via genobest)