Vladislav Tretiak - Early Years

Early Years

Tretiak's mother was a middle school physical education teacher (his father taught Russian literature) and although he initially followed his brother as a swimmer, as a child Tretiak was known to excel at many sports and is remembered for his ambition to master all of them. However, like many children of his generation, he loved hockey and at age 11 entered the Children and Youth Sports School of the Central Sports Club of the Army (known by its Russian abbreviation as TsSKA or CSKA), that now bears Valeri Kharlamov's name. His first trainer was Vitaly Erfilov. He apparently started playing goal as a bargain in return for a cherished TsSKA hockey jersey, and because no one else wanted to play the position.