A podium worthy volunteer career

For super volunteer Fran McLellan, her interest in community activities began in her hometown of Ingersoll, Ontario, with parents who were strong role models when it came to offering their time to help.

Volunteering was definitely a community and family priority.

Fran remembers being inspired by the Director of the local YMCA, Al Clark. “He encouraged me to form ‘Teen Town’ and organize Friday Night Dances at the Y. He also helped me to swim competitively and hired me to teach and lifeguard at our local pool.”

That experience and others set the stage for Fran’s love of sports. “We swam in the summer and skated in the winter,” says Fran. “Along with my older brother and two younger sisters, we started skating at a very young age. My brother played hockey and the girls took figure skating lessons. I remember our mother driving us to early morning ‘patch’ lessons and then getting us to school on time.”

Many of her fondest memories revolve around skating in the club Ice Shows and wearing the wonderful costumes. “Some of the costumes were rented from the Unionville Skating Club. I also remember one year when our coach, Liliane de Kresz, skated a solo to the music Sabre Dance. I’ve never forgotten how fast she could skate!”

Growing up, Fran was dedicated to advancing her own skating skills, eventually earning her silver medal in dance. Once married, she and her husband John moved to Oakville where the Oakville Skating Club was a major star in the community. Fran thinks back, “Coming to Oakville, one of my first recollections was the parade welcoming home Maria and Otto Jelinek from the 1962 World Championships in Prague with their gold medal in pairs figure skating.”

That event sparked her interest in the Oakville Skating Club.

“One day I got brave enough to walk into the Club to see about registering our children for lessons and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to sign up. Louis and Marijane Stong were their first coaches – group lessons – three times a week.”

While Fran continued to skate herself and take on new volunteer club responsibilities at the same time, her children were following in her skating footsteps, Michael in hockey and the girls in figure skating. During this time, Fran was also discovering another side to the sport, precision skating, now called Synchronized Skating.

It was at an ACGM where she attended a precision workshop and listened to advocate Elizabeth Swan. “She was so keen to talk about this new discipline that everyone in the room became excited about taking the information back to their clubs.”

Realizing that not every figure skater could become a Barbara Ann Scott, Fran liked the team element. “There were very few team sports for girls when I was growing up,” admits Fran. “Finally, with precision, the girls and I had something we could do together!”

Fran remembers the beginning of the sport. “At first the teams were very large, 24 to 32 skaters, so it meant a lot of individuals found a new home at the rink. The skaters could set new goals, travel as a team to overnight competitions and share in the expenses.”

Fran was so attracted to precision, she continued to skate competitively for 25 years on adult teams and even sometimes on teams with her daughters. Yes, both Laura and Leanne caught the precision bug too, skating on teams in Oakville and in Burlington all while pursuing more traditional skating honors, Laura eventually earning her gold medal in Figures, Free Skate and Dance and Leanne earning her gold medal in Dance.

“Laura started judging when she was sixteen and is qualified to judge all disciplines – singles, pairs, dance and synchro,” boasts Fran. “At the age of 9 Leanne was an alternate on the senior team in Oakville and continued to participate in the sport until she retired at the age of 34.”

Fran recalls her proudest moment as a synchro skater. “It was at Synchro Nationals in 1994 in Verdun, Quebec and our Oakville adult team, skating to Pomp and Circumstance, earned a bronze medal.  I believe that was the first time a mother and two daughters skated together and won a national medal.”

Fran McLellan

1994 Adult Nationals – Fran McLellan

Once Fran hung up her skates, her transition to becoming a full-time volunteer was completely natural. Although she’s tiny in stature, her infectious spirit and endless enthusiasm meant she could take on jobs and get things done.

“Somehow it just happens. One day you’re driving your kids to the rink and the next thing you know you’re attending planning meetings and voting on budgets.”

Skating wasn’t the only activity on Fran’s list of priorities. “I volunteered at our high school, church and the YMCA, helped out with all the activities at school, volunteered at our hospital and the IODE, sat on several town committees and was a founding member of the Oakville Sports Hall of Fame.”

But it was when she was appointed Accreditation Director for the Winter Special Olympics that Fran found one of her most challenging and rewarding experiences.

“My committee accredited over 10,000 participants, officials, managers, chaperones, entertainers, food vendors, directors and special guests. It was a year-long process working closely with the Kodak people to develop the photo ID system. The experience and the people we met along the way were priceless.”

Back in the rink, Fran devoted countless hours volunteering at local, regional, provincial, national and international skating competitions. “At most of the synchro competitions I was judging, skating and managing. Always a challenge for the Tech Rep,” Fran laughs. “I had to make sure I removed the headset before going back on the panel!”

Today as Business Manager for Canada’s World Champions, NEXXICE, Fran is looking forward to the sport’s acceptance into Olympic competition. “My prediction is 2022 in Beijing, China.  And now this year for the first time Synchro will be part of the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. As the old saying goes, we’ve come a long way baby!”

For her vision and commitment, Fran has been recognized by both Oakville and her skating community. She was inducted into the Oakville Sports Hall of Fame this year and has been the recipient of the Elizabeth Swan Memorial Award for her contributions to synchro skating. While delighted with these honors, Fran’s proudest moment came after the 2013 World Synchro Championships in Boston when NEXXICE presented her with the Team Spirit Award.

oakville-sports-hall-of-fame-induction

Oakville Sports Hall of Fame Induction

Over the years Fran’s name has become synonymous with volunteering. “I’ve learned that it takes a ‘team’ effort to make things happen. I’ve gained a lot of friends – young and old.”

For Fran, volunteering has worked two ways. While she’s given her time and dedication, volunteering has given her a lot in return. “It’s kept me grounded,” says Fran.

Her advice? “Get involved and stay involved. One day you’ll be glad you did and the memories will live with you forever.”

Conrad Orzel overcomes injury, ready to face a new season of challenges

Conrad Orzel, wrapped in a sheepskin vest, took his opening pose at the novice contest of the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and quickly began to rumble.

The program? “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” a 1966 spaghetti western in which a trio of gunslingers go on the prowl to find buried gold.

Orzel didn’t find the gold that January day in Kingston, Ont., (he won the bronze medal), but his effort was a triumph nonetheless. It was a testament to his grit that he was there at all. For a skater so young, he learned a big life lesson last season.

Orzel, of Woodbridge, ON, was as ready as he could be heading to Challenge the previous month but just before the event, suffered a torn ligament in his left leg and also an avulsion fracture, in which a piece of bone chips away from the main part of the bone as a result of a fall, or a muscular contraction that is stronger than the forces holding the bone together.

The young skater had no idea just what was wrong at the time. He just knew it was very painful. Coach Eva Najarro found out about it the day before they were to leave for Challenge. Then during a morning practice, Orzel approached her, close to tears, and said he just could not spin on his left foot.

This was just not like Orzel. He wouldn’t jump at those practices, either. And he loves to jump, more than anything. “It was like he wasn’t there,” Najarro said. “I know that he loves practices, because he likes to show off. He wants to show what he can do. I knew there was really something wrong with him. He was just skating around.”  Massage didn’t help. She gave him the option of withdrawing.

Spins were not always Orzel’s forte, but they were improving. But he took on an extra challenge by having Najarro recreate all of his spins to take the pressure off the left leg. “He was not able to do the spiral on the left foot, so we had to change it totally to a backwards entry to the spin,” she said. “We revamped, basically on the practice at Challenge.”

In other words, Najarro had to change his spins from forward to backward entries.  Najarro’s skating daughter, Alexandra, who knows all about dealing with injury, had a chat with Orzel, and bucked him up psychologically.

When Orzel got off the ice, he had qualified for nationals. The tears came, Najarro, too. “It was just so emotional,” she said. “We were both pretty stressed about it, because it was really hard to watch him.’

“I just wanted to try my best,” he said. “That was my goal for nationals, nothing more.”

He took four weeks off after that event. Immediately upon returning home, a doctor told him that he didn’t know how he had skated at all. He was still not fully healed when he went to nationals in Kingston.

Another problem surfaced too. Orzel was sprouting like a weed, and he outgrew his boots. He had to also try to break in a new pair before Kingston. “I just wanted to try my best,” he said. “That was my goal for nationals, nothing more.”

His good, bad and ugly was all that and more. He landed seven triples. “I was very proud of what I did,” he said.

Currently, Orzel is fine. He has healed. There is no more pain. And now he’s trying to create the next chapter of his career. He did win a gold medal for novice men at the Canada Winter Games. But now he’s pushing on.

He knows what he wants. When he was three, he started in CanSkate at a local club and Najarro spotted him. What was most remarkable about the young boy in front of her was that he wanted to skate. “The thing that caught my attention was that here was a 5-year-old boy who already knows what he wants to do,” she said. “That’s rare.”

Conrad OrzelOrzel said he became interested in skating because that’s what Canadians do. “I think I was thinking of growing up to be a hockey player,” he said. “ But then once I saw the high-end skaters jumping and that really got me into it.”

His heroes are Elvis Stojko and Evgeny Plushenko.

“He always liked to turn,” Najarro said about Orzel. “He has very quick twitch. Rotation is easy for him.”

Because Orzel has always focused so much on jumps, Najarro has been trying to turn his attention to the other side of skating: edges, details, flexibility, that second mark. And he gets it. (After all, he trains every day alongside the exquisite Roman Sadovsky at the York Region Skating Academy.) Orzel has improved already and his goals for the coming season are getting level-four spins, and level three or four footwork. “When I started, I wasn’t really a big fan because my core wasn’t strong,” Orzel said. “But now I’m getting deep into the edges and I realize that it is fun.” He also wants to get a triple Axel into his programs.

For the past year, Orzel has been training the triple Axel – and both the quadruple toe loop and quadruple Salchow jumps. The triple Axel isn’t consistent yet. “I’ve landed a few but it’s not there yet,” he said. He says he tries the quads without harness.

“I’m not a fan of the harness,” he said. “I feel like it’s an artificial feeling and I don’t feel in control of my jumps.” Soon, he’s heading off to Vancouver to work with Joanne McLeod on his quads.

Another remarkable thing about Orzel. He’s only 14.

While Grzegorz Filipowski has designed many of Orzel’s programs – Najarro likes his work very much – she is taking her young charge to Allison Purkiss this year to give him the experience of working with another choreographer.

“I think he has potential,” Najarro said. “I think his jumping abilities are amazing. I think he has a bright future.”

Our coaches are the champions this week!

Skating coach finds lost skating keepsakes after 25-year mystery

Photo albums are documents of life.

For ice dancer Bryon Topping, 1965 world team member with Lynn Matthews, they tell the skating story of a young man from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, his interests and his accomplishments. Sadly, some 25 years ago, his albums disappeared.

“After my mother passed away I went home for the burial and while I was there I packed up a couple of boxes of memorabilia and sent them back home to Ottawa on the bus. One of them made it, however the other one did not.”

It had vanished … along with irreplaceable photos documenting the successful skating career of an individual whose skating-for-life philosophy was neither planned for nor anticipated.

“I broke my leg when I was in grade 3 and spent over eight months in casts,” recalls Bryon. “I was told that I couldn’t participate in contact sports, that if I suffered another break, I could lose my leg.”

Living in rural Saskatchewan, there were few options for rehabilitation so his family decided to enroll him in skating at the Swift Current Skating Club.

“For me, skating began as therapy,” admits Bryon.Young Bryan Topping

Turns out not only did he get the rehab exercise he needed, Bryon also discovered a fascination with the sport and quickly passed his Preliminary tests. Although his family wanted to continue to feed their son’s unexpected interest and ability, they knew there were some tough decisions ahead if Bryon was to choose a competitive path. With no artificial ice available in Swift Current at the time, their eyes turned 150 miles eastward toward Regina and the Wascana Winter Club.

Bryon’s dad, Bert, worked for the railroad which entitled Bryon to a travel pass. “Every Saturday morning I’d get up at 4:30 am, catch the train at 5:30 and be in Regina by 9 to skate for the weekend and then return home Sunday night.”

Bryon also remembers his first competition in Regina in the mid ‘50’s. “It was a Bronze Dance event skating with my first partner Sandra Mitchell. Competing and watching veterans like Alma English and Herb Larson, then President of the C.F.S.A. (1953-55), was a great experience. After that I was hooked!”

Although Bryon’s passion for skating was growing, he was also learning other lessons that were not as positive. “At the time, a small city in Saskatchewan was not a place for a male figure skater. I was picked on, bullied and beaten up.  At school, I even had a teacher who I asked for extra help so I could go to a competition. He refused.”

Despite the challenges, Bryon’s motivation flourished. He studied skating, dreamt about the possibilities and watched the best athletes, deciding that one day he would be one of them. With the support of his mom and dad and his grandparents, his training increased. He travelled across the country to seek out high level instruction until finally landing in Toronto with Coach Dick Rimmer.

“That’s when I was partnered with Lynn,” recalls Bryon.

The dance team clicked and as Bryon’s lost photo albums would have shown, the pair spent several successful years on the competitive circuit culminating in an 11th place finish at the 1965 World Championships. After the partnership dissolved, Bryon decided to turn pro to teach back in Regina.

He soon learned that his teaching style didn’t fit every situation. “I had to adapt!” he says. “Thankfully one of my best talents was having a quick eye which helped me see the nature of mistakes and then work on correcting them.”

And correct them he did, counting many students’ successes in Saskatchewan and then again in Ontario when he moved to Stratford and began to broaden his skating experience.

“It was in Stratford that I was asked to help with Power Skating.”

As an avid hockey fan, Bryon had often observed that most hockey players didn’t know the basics and had no idea how to use the blade, balance points, and body position. As a result, he started to design hockey exercises that would develop fundamental skating skills. It caught on … fast!

He also remembers how the players taking his class would snicker when he came on the ice in his figure skates. “After giving them a few minutes to warm up, I’d blow the whistle and order them to take a knee.” He’d then tell them to look at his feet. “This is what I wear so get over it!”

His classes began with basic exercises on quick starts, teaching balance, what part of the blade to be on and what to do with their toes, among other important techniques. “It wasn’t long before they realized I wasn’t going to teach them triple Lutzes. What I was going to teach them was how to be better skaters.”

After relocating to Ottawa, Bryon moved to the Gloucester Skating Club and continued to refine his coaching philosophy to make every skater better.

“I was approached by a hockey player who had a try-out with the Toronto Maple Leafs and asked if I’d work with him. I agreed but quickly realized there wasn’t a lot I could do in just one practice.”

The next year the player came back. “I told him that if he wanted my help he would have to take my 3-week summer class. Most of that class had good Jr. A players in it and he would have to work his buns off to keep up … he agreed. At the end of 3 weeks he was a different skater. He had learned how to turn in both directions with power, stop on all edges, skate backwards with power; all the important moves. He went to the Leafs try-out camp and because of his hard work had many successful pro years in the NHL.”

That experience … and others like it … gave Bryon a great deal of satisfaction. “It was the same when I was the Power Skating Coach for the Cornwall Colts Jr. A team for three years. It was always nice to hear them call me ‘Coach’.”

Although he continued coaching Power Skating till about 10 years ago, these days his time at the rink is spent watching his grandson play hockey. “My knees were giving out on me so I hung up my skates.”

Bryon Topping

Still … after a lifetime of immersion in every aspect of skating, Bryon was still puzzled by the 25-year mystery of the missing photo albums. Then one day his Facebook page suddenly lit up with details of a recent story in the local Swift Current paper, the Prairie Reporter, telling about a gentleman, Leon Echert, who had bought a box of memorabilia and photographs at a garage sale. Realizing they might be important, he began looking for their owner.

“I am very grateful to Mr. Eckert for finding them and returning them to me,” says Bryon. “And thanks to my friends on Facebook for connecting us. The pictures of Lynn and I are very special, the only ones taken before we left for Worlds.”

Finally … at least some of the mystery has been solved.

Bryon smiles as he adds, “I have a Canadian Emblem that I wear with pride. I’m also proud of the fact that I was a member of the first skating team to represent Canada under the new Canadian Flag.”

And now he has the photographs to prove it!

Pettitt Makes Leap to Junior With Hopes of Continuing Gold Rush

Whitehorse, Yukon is known as the least polluted city in the world, and also the driest in Canada. It was the birthplace of Pierre Berton, federal NDP leader Audrey McLaughlin, and Yukon bard Robert Service.

It is also the home of Rachel Pettitt, the first Yukon born athlete to win a national skating title. She won a gold medal in the novice women’s category at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Kingston, ON, in January.

In a town of 25,000 (largest in Northern Canada), with three ball diamonds, a Canada Games multiplex (with pools, ice rinks, a fieldhouse, and a fitness centre,) three golf courses and a bowling alley, it was the Arctic Edge Skating Club where Pettitt’s mother, Trish, caught the skating bug first.

Rachel’s three older brothers started out in CanSkate, with Trish coaching it. “My family was all on the ice, so they got to put me on and see how it goes,” Rachel said. “And then I loved it. I loved spinning and jumping.”

While Trish may have hoped her sons would become figure skaters, they turned into hockey players. After all, father Kerry is a hockey coach when he’s not working for Northwestel, a telecommunications company serving the north.

Trish was born in Whitehorse, skated with her sisters, and then went off to Vancouver for a while to hone those skills. Now she’s a coach. And Rachel has followed in her footsteps by moving to Kelowna B.C., where she works with coaches Karen and Jason Mongrain.

In Whitehorse, Rachel learned all the fundamentals. She achieved all her gold tests there for skills, interpretive, and free skate. The dancing skills that she learned in Whitehorse also really helped. “I always did off-ice dance, off-ice ballet,” she said.

“I loved training in Whitehorse,” said Rachel. “But now that I’m older, I needed to move on, and get some real training in.” That meant, at first, Calgary, which she came to love. There she worked with Scott Davis and the late Sharon Lariviere. “She was amazing,” Rachel said. “I give a lot of credit to her. My mom got coached by her too and a lot of my cousins. I learned the basics from her. I learned a lot about posture, a lot about your lines. I learned a lot of jumps, spinning. She did everything for me.”

By the time she was 11, Rachel had moved to Kelowna, and it was scary at first, she said, living by herself, boarding with a family. When she was in grade eight, she returned to Whitehorse, because it was difficult to be away from her family. “I struggled,” she said.

As a grade nine student, she returned to Kelowna. Sometimes her parents would visit, but it takes two full days of driving to travel between the two cities.

“She was always a very bubbly kid,” said Jason Mongrain. “She had a lot of personality. She had a lot of intensity on her presentation side. And she was coordinated in terms of her jumps. She was always a very good spinner too.”

From the Mongrains, Rachel has learned three triples: toe loop, Salchow and loop. Now the push will be on to teach Rachel the triple flip and Lutz. “There’s definitely a lot of work that still needs to go into those jumps…. There’s a lot of fine-tuning, drills and exercises she has to do to become automatic at it.”

Still, she’s buoyed by the memories of last season, when she won the national novice gold medal. She had been third after the short program, and for the long, she skated to Lara’s Theme from Doctor Zhivago, floating about in a white dress with white illusion sleeves and white fur about her neck. It was a triumph just getting to that event. The previous year she hadn’t even qualified for Challenge. This past season, she finished second at Challenge.

“I was thrilled going to Canadians,” she said. “I felt a little bit of pressure on myself…But by the time the long came, I was like: “I’m just going to go out and skate my best. Whatever happens, happens. It was amazing.” She was overwhelmed with the marks she got. “I just knew I gave it my all, and whether I got a medal or not, I was pleased with how I skated,” she said.

This earned her a berth at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C., where she also won a gold medal. “That was such an amazing experience,” she said. “I got to share it with a lot of Kelowna skaters. It was so much fun. Jason and my mom were the coaches for Team Yukon and I was representing Team Yukon.”

She knew it was her last skate in that white dress, and vowed she’d go and skate the way she could again, a clean program ensued. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to get rid of that white dress. “I have so many good memories with it,” she said.

Jason says the Canada Winter Games were a big step for Rachel, because although she had a great performance on a national stage in Kingston, the “Canada Games was a different animal.”

“There was almost more pressure on her at Canada Games because of the results she got at Canadians,” he said. “So she went into that competition as a clear favourite. She definitely wasn’t a clear favourite at Canadians. She was one of a handful of skaters that had the opportunity and ability to win, and she was a skater that laid down what she had to do to win that day.”

She’ll compete at the junior level this coming season, and aside from gaining triples, the Mongrains are helping her increase her program components. She’s strong in that area, but Jason says they want to exploit her strengths. “We have to find new ways of challenging her so she has two new programs which are very demanding,” he said.

Karen has choreographed the short, Jason the long. There will be more intricate steps, and there’s not a lot of rest time. There will be less setup time for her triples and her double Axel.

“We’re trying to achieve a more senior level of skating even though she’s moving into junior,” Jason said. It’s all a sign that good skaters can come from anywhere.

Celestino ready for the World Scene

When Daniel Beland was 16 years old, he blazed a significant trail on the world scene.

Back then, in 1977, he was the first Canadian man to win a world junior championship title. There have been three others since: Dennis Coi in 1978, Andrei Rogozine in 2009, and Nam Nguyen in 2014.

In taking that event, Beland was also the first French Canadian skater to win a gold medal at an international competition. Ever. As Quebec sport has gained power over the years, so have its figure skaters.

In the years that have followed, Beland has quietly been working as a coach in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., giving seminars, teaching skills, and now he has a 17-year-old student, Edrian Celestino with a sensitive touch that could, if he continues on this path, become quite goose-bump worthy. Celestino says he would love to become the Canadian junior champion this year and earn a trip to the world junior championships.

Ask a fresh-faced young guy what he likes most about skating, and he might very well answer that it is about the jump, that soaring feeling, risking it all, landing on a thin edge. What fun.

Ask Celestino the same question and his answer is: “I love edges, stroking, footwork.

“I could probably spend the entire session just doing edges,” he said. “There are so many things you can improve or enhance a little detail, to pointing your feet, the way your free leg is stretched, even your fingers, your arms. It’s endless.”

Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that Celestino’s favourite part of Skate Canada’s 2015 Development Camp in April was the session with Tracy Wilson, a former ice dancing champ who teaches the skill of the blade—right up Celestino’s alley.

“She was explaining so many things I never thought about,” he said. “Such as the way you apply pressure on your blades. And how a simple lean can make a complete difference in the way you accelerate on the ice.”

Celestino attended the 2014 camp as well, after he had finished second at the novice level to Joseph Phan – while winning the freeskate. But that experience was short-lived. Celestino was injured and could not participate, bundling out the door on the first day with his coach. Because of that, Celestino flew under the radar of high performance director Michael Slipchuk, who quickly became reacquainted with Celestino’s qualities at a Quebec summer skate, handing him his first international competition, a Junior Grand Prix in Estonia, in September of 2014.

“He brings a lot of good qualities,” Slipchuk said. “He’s a strong technical jumper, very good skater, good edges, good flow. But what really stood out for me this year was ice coverage. When he did his short program, he just filled the rink. The basic skating of the athlete is so important because as they move up, everyone is doing the same jumps.”

Celestino earned his way back to the camp this spring because he had won the bronze medal at the Canadian junior championships. “It was my first year in junior and I wasn’t expecting too much,” Celestino said. “I just wanted to have fun and gain experience. But at Challenge, that’s where I really surprised myself. I came out at the top. I thought: ‘You know, this hard work is really starting to pay off.’”

Going off to the national championship was more stressful because, as Celestino says, it’s nice to win, but much harder to maintain first place. He was nervous.

Celestino has been to the Canadian championships only twice. At his first appearance in 2014, he moved from eighth place to second with an excellent free skate.

Beland began to coach Celestino six years ago and he noticed right away that the tiny youngster had great knees. No big surprise that he used to be an ice dancer, paired up with Vanessa Bui.  He had good jumping action, too, and good spins. “He had the wow factor,” Beland said.

Currently, Celestino has all of his triples but the Axel. In April, he got a new pair of boots, and then began to work on the Axel, with the help of the “fishing pole,” or harness. Like Denis Ten, Celestino is very sensitive about his feet. He needs to feel comfortable in his boots. ”If there is a little bit of discomfort, I’ll take them off and adjust my socks,” he said.

Both of Celestino’s parents were born in the Philippines, moved to Canada and met while studying. In the beginning, Celestino’s father could speak no English. He now has a degree in aerospace engineering. His father used to play in the Filipino basketball league. His mother was always serious about school. Celestino’s 9-year-old brother, Earl Jesse Celestino, is also starting to skate.

“He has a great family,” Beland said. “You would like to have a family like this all the time. We talk about the year all together and we decide what to do.”

Last season, Celestino worked with top choreographer David Wilson. It seems as if he only skates to beautiful music, not surprisingly. His short program was to Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No. 2 in C minor.

His free skate during the 2013-2014 season was Puccini’s “Nessum Dorma” – one of the best-known tenor arias in opera. Imagine, skating to this powerful song at age 15! Last season, however, when vocals were allowed, Celestino amped up his game: he skated to a version sung by Liciano Pavarotti, who had elevated the aria to pop status during his career.

He’s looking to have his short program choreographed for the coming season by Shae-Lynn Bourne. Stay tuned for something exquisite.

Baldé finds his roots in West African Guinea

On a blistering, hot February day in Africa, Elladj Balde looked into the eyes of his 99-year-old grandfather for the first time and discovered who he really was.

Balde, 24, had never set eyes on his grandfather, Elhadj Mamadou Oury Balde, who is an imam in Tombon, a tiny village in the mountains of Guinea in West Africa, a town where there is no electricity or running water, cattle and goats wander everywhere and the good folk of the town grow their own food. Need some water? Grab a bucket, lower it into a deep hole, pull it back up and good luck.

Mind you, there is no pollution in this remote village, largely untouched by the development of civilization and big businesses. It’s nature at its purest. Everywhere there were banana trees, mango and orange trees. “It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen,” Elladj said.

Yes, Elladj is named after his grandfather, because after all, he’s the first son of his father, Ibrahim, who was the first son of Elhadj, all highly emotional and critical points in this culture.

This brings us to the grandfather, the reason for this unprecedented pilgrimage that was taken despite Government of Canada warnings to avoid travel to Guinea, the epicenter of the Ebola crisis that erupted in 2014. There were also security advisories, warning of political, social and economic unrest, rampant corruption, rebel activity and armed robberies, particularly if you travel to outlying areas. Still, Elladj and his father had to go.

As an Imam, Elhadj was a man of renown, not only in Tombon but also in all of northwest Africa, as the priest of the mosque, the teacher of young Imams, the holy man. So exalted was his status, that convention dictated a holy reserve: Elhadj didn’t hug people like figure skaters do. He was untouchable.

His firstborn son, Ibrahim, had much to live up to, and he did. From age four, he was always at the top of his class. Being tops meant that you received support to go to the next level. When Ibrahim finished first in his university class in Guinea, he earned an expenses-paid scholarship to the Soviet Union, Tashkent actually, which is now the capital city of an independent Uzbekistan.

Ibrahim was given six months to learn the Russian language, and applied himself the way he always had. While studying medicine, he was tops in his class once again. (Elladj remembers his father urging him always to do hours and hours of homework, and when he’d finish an assigned chapter, to read the next one too. “You always have to be ahead of the rest,” he said. Elladj said he has inherited his father’s drive.)

Ibrahim met and married Marina, who was studying meteorology in the Soviet Union, and they had a daughter, Djulde, who at age seven, fell ill with leukemia. Elladj was born in Moscow and when he was only one year old, the family moved to Bonn, Germany to get medical help for his older sister. A year later she died. But the young family had a difficult decision to make: how could they return to the Soviet Union which, in the meantime, was disintegrating, as well as perhaps Ibrahim’s scholarship? And they just didn’t feel it was safe to return.

So off to Canada they went and settled in Montreal, a world away from Guinea. Still, Elhadj’s fondest wish was to see his grandson, Elladj, before he died. However in December, he fell into a coma and it appeared too late.

Miraculously, two weeks later Elhadj awakened from his coma. It was then that Ibrahim knew he had to travel to Guinea to see him one more time. He booked his flight immediately to leave Feb. 22.

Elladj begged him to wait, because at the time, he had nationals coming up, and he had hoped to go to Four Continents and the world championships in February and March. But Ibrahim could not wait. “I don’t know how long he is going to live,” he said.

At the Canadian championships in Kingston, ON, all of Elladj’s skating dreams fell apart. He finished sixth and not only missed a trip to the World and Four Continents championships, but he lost a spot on the national team with all of its funding.

However there was a bigger issue on his mind. The day of his disastrous long program, Elladj booked his flight to Guinea. “I’m coming with you,” he told his father. “I’m a strong believer that everything happens for a reason.”

Many, including doctors, warned Elladj not to go, because of Ebola. Elladj finally reasoned: “If I die of Ebola, then I’m meant to die of Ebola.”

It was a long, exhausting and expensive journey. The Baldes flew from Montreal to Paris and then to Guinea’s capital city of Conakry. When they deplaned, 50 people from Tombon – all relatives (Ibrahim has 29 siblings who are still alive; his father had four wives), all-weeping with joy. Somehow, despite their remote location, they had heard of this figure skater with a Guinean name. They had followed him. Elladj also met the Minister of Sport in Guinea.

Their journey wasn’t over yet. It took 10 hours to drive to Tombon. They drove up into the mountains where there were no roads, only rocks. For two hours, they couldn’t go faster than 5 miles per hour.

Finally in Tombon, Elladj sat down in the house of his grandfather and this man who never hugs anybody, took Elladj’s face in his hands, exclaiming: “Thank you god. Thank you god.” Over and over again.  “It was one of the best moments of my life,” Elladj said. “We held each other for a long time, maybe five minutes.”

Others were looking on in shock, at the Imam’s embrace. “I can die in peace now,”said Elhadj, frail of heart, but sharp of mind. “God can take me.”

“He was so proud of who I was,” Elladj said. “As a human being, not as an athlete. He was so happy for who I was and what kind of person I am. I realized so many things.”

The 11-day experience in Tombon has changed Elladj forever. They were happy people, although they had little.  “It changed me deep inside,” he said. “It does something to you that you don’t expect. It was the best experience of my life.”

In May, Elladj’s grandfather died.

He knows now what really counts. His relationships with his family have changed. He’s back at home in Montreal, now living with his parents and training with Bruno Marcotte and Manon Perron. His skating has changed, because now he appreciates his opportunities in life. (He has a cousin in Conakry who has been looking for a job for six years.) He now skates with joy.

Elladj’s African experience, he says, has rooted him to the ground. He’s become part of the world, of its nature. He saw the origins of time, where his blood had come from and finds family ties are powerful.  “At the end of the day, we are not so different,” he said. “We all strive for happiness. And it’s all that matters.”

Stojko Returns to Canada Healed and Ready to Help

Elvis Stojko is back.

Mexico is in his rear-view mirror and so are the tangerine and papaya trees of Ajijic, where he lived for 12 years.

He’s come home to Canada a happy man, married to Gladys Orozco for five years, and a career that now takes him in multiple directions: skating, race car driving, acting, singing. And he’s tying himself again to Skate Canada, on board to conduct some seminars for developing skaters and donating some proceeds from the sale of his new wine, Quad, to the association.

Three-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist Elvis Stojko has much to offer budding skating stars, including his warrior attitude during competition. Stojko was the ultimate competitor, never backing down from a challenge. And at no time was that mindset more tested than at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, when he skated with a groin injury.

Stojko is a problem solver and he had plenty of problems to solve in Nagano. Some proved beyond him, ultimately.  He had already stressed his groin at the Canadian championships that year, but the morning of the men’s short program at the Nagano Olympics, he tore a muscle in his groin at an early morning practice. He went into emergency mode.

He pushed himself hard to win that silver medal. But the aftermath of it all, and of everything that had happened to him that year, came back to haunt him. At the very end of that epic, courageous long program, Stojko felt something break inside of him. Call it his will or his spirit. “It just broke and I was never – after that point, no matter how much I tried to train or skate – able to have that same feeling again,” Stojko said. “And that was my strength.”

“I went through my bout of major dark times,” Stojko said.

He had overextended his incredible will. “I guess my faith snapped or my willpower snapped,” he said. “From that point on, I was broken. I was heartbroken and I was broken.” He didn’t know it at the time, because he had been so programed to train and go to the rink, work for next year’s programs, go through all those important steps.

Stojko continued to skate, to give it another shot. He came back stronger than ever, with two quads. But he still wasn’t even close to being mentally the same as he was in early 1998. He figures he skated at about 65 per cent of his capabilities. He made it to 2002, then quit, and fell into a deep depression that he didn’t even realize he had. It really had started after the 1998 Games.

“I went through my bout of major dark times,” Stojko said. “It’s one of the reasons I left Canada. I needed some space and anonymity. I went through some hard times with family issues, after my parents split. Mexico was my place of solitude.”

The athletes that put a lot of heart into their endeavours sometimes find the switch to ordinary life difficult, Stojko said. He once heard Olympic swimming champion Mark Tewksbury talk about life after the Olympics during the 1990s, after he won his gold medal. Tewksbury moved to Australia for a year in post-Olympic depression.

“He had no idea how to move on and how to deal with stuff,” Stojko said. “And for me, it was a hard transition, too. Skaters are lucky in that they still have some shows, if you have a name in skating. Other skaters can go on cruise ships. But it’s not an easy process to go through.”

The worst is that you are caught between a rock and a hard place, Stojko said. You want to do what you feel you want to do. But you need to pay bills. “Then you’re stuck, going after something you may not want to do,” he said.

Financially, Stojko was okay, but his entire life had revolved around skating from the time he was four. It was his grounding place. He never thought about what comes next.  “I could only see myself as Elvis Stokjo the skater,” he said. “Everyone saw me as that. I needed to find out what’s going to make me happy as a complete person. And it took a long time to figure that out.

“I wasn’t depressed because I was leaving skating,” he said. “I was depressed because of the huge buildup and what I went through mentally with that injury. That injury just socked me bad.”

For Stojko, it wasn’t so much the fact that he didn’t win gold in Nagano. “It was about not being able to reach that peak that I knew I could do,” he said. “I had a lot of weight on my shoulders. Everybody thought I could win it. I showed up and knew I was skating on one leg.”

But Stojko has figured it all out. In Mexico, the fog eventually lifted. And then he met Orozco.  And now racing cars has allowed him to tap back into his Terminator self. “I feel from that, I’ve let go from that [stuff] in 1998,” he said. “I’d say it took me at least 10 years to clear all that air of what happened in Nagano. My leg healed, but my soul didn’t. My soul took a lot longer.”

What makes him happy now? Spending time with his wife and his dogs. It’s his happy place these days. Now that he’s back in Canada, he’s spending time with his best friend, Glen Doyle, his sifu during his martial arts days.

He takes his hat off to Orozco, who told him that she does not care where she lives, as long as she is with him. She’s already endured one horrible Canadian winter and it’s okay. The couple knew they had to move back to Canada because more opportunities awaited them than in that growing retirement community of Ajijic, near Guadalajara. Stojko is searching for sponsors for his racing endeavours. Orozco, with her exotic look, has modeling opportunities in Toronto.

They sold off everything in Mexico a year ago and left with the bare essentials, their three dogs, clothing, some knickknacks. They held a couple of giant garage sales in Ajijic, sold the house furnished, and drove their truck to Canada. A friend drove it back to Mexico to sell it.

Now the couple is living in Richmond Hill, Ont., where Stojko grew up and they are starting anew. “It was kind of cool,” Stojko said of divesting themselves of possessions. “It was refreshing.”

Skate Canada CEO Dan Thompson giving back during Pan Am Games

Skate Canada CEO Dan Thompson is giving back to a sport – and a community – that has given him so much.

With the 2015 Pan Am Games currently in full swing in Toronto and the surrounding GTA, Thompson, a former Olympic swimmer himself, is volunteering at the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatic Centre, the Games’ official swimming venue.

Allan Gordon, a member of the Skate Canada Communications team, is also giving his time as a volunteer during the Games.

Like skating, swimming is in Thompson’s blood, even to this day.

In fact, the names of his two dogs? Splash and Ripple.

“There should always be a passion in your life, and you should embrace that passion and always give more than you take,” Thompson says. “Swimming has been an integral part of my life, and this is my way of saying thank you and giving something back.”

“It’s been a great time so far.”

For Thompson, the swimming venue is a perfect fit.

Thompson, a member of the Toronto 2015 sports program and legacy committee, was a double silver medallist at the 1979 Pan Am Games (100 m butterfly, 400 m men’s relay) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

These days, Thompson is at the helm of the Skate Canada ship, but still manages to find time to experience the joy of swimming. Not unlike the joy of skating – just water at a different temperature.

Last summer, Thompson claimed gold in Montreal in both the 50 and 100 metre butterfly events at the FINA World Masters Championships. He was also a member of Canada’s gold medal-winning 200-metre medley relay.

Pan Am swimmers.During the Pan Am swimming events, Thompson, who sits on the UANA technical swimming committee, works behind the scenes in the “ready room” as the athletes prepare to compete. Those moments are a throwback to his competitive days, as Thompson is with the athletes in their final moments before they step into the pool area. The surroundings allow a unique opportunity to watch world-class athletes attempt to find their focus and get into their zone.

These Games have also afforded Thompson a chance to get an up-close look at how other sports organizations operate.

“Learning comes from anywhere, and this has been an educational experience, as well,” Thompson adds. “You get a chance to get out and see how various organizations run their sports and organize their events. There are great ideas all around, and maybe I can even take one or two back to Skate Canada.”

It’s about the only thing Thompson will take this week.

Everything else is about giving back.

How Ice Intrepid went from Synchro Startup to University of Manitoba Mainstay

The year was 1999 when Megan Maxwell and her friend Ashley Renard, both students at the University of Manitoba, decided to put together a Synchro team as a way to get people together and enjoy skating.

It was a bumpy start. How do you attract members? Who will coach? What are the goals … the costs ..? What about a name?

With both women understanding that forming a team would take hard work and daring, Ashley came up with the name, Ice Intrepid, characterized by the “fearless fortitude” they both knew it would take to make the team successful.

As for who would take on coaching duties, all signs pointed to Megan who had been coaching recreational Synchro for two years in her hometown of Oakbank, Manitoba, east of Winnipeg. At first the thought of coaching the new university team was overwhelming … until her former coach Krista Hanson stepped in to help, agreeing to share choreographic responsibilities, something that helped build Megan’s confidence and opened the door for her to set some ambitious goals.

Megan Maxwell

Megan Maxwell

In the 16 years since Ice Intrepid was born, Megan has been its cornerstone, coaching the team, planning its progress and leading the way in its continued development. At the same time she also earned a Bachelor of Physical Education degree while continuing to dedicate herself to synchronized skating. She is an NCCP Level 3 certified coach in Synchro, a Synchro Technical Specialist and sits on the Synchro Committee for Skate Canada Manitoba. In her “spare time”, she works full-time for Parks Canada.

After three years on the team and graduating in Exercise and Sports Science, Ashley moved to the States where she too has become a leader and Master Coach. She is the originator of the first youth synchronized skating team in Philadelphia and now, as Director of Synchro at the Wissahickon SC, she is overseeing 100 skaters on 8 teams.

These two dynamic women shared a vision.

Thanks to them some 125 skaters have passed through the Ice Intrepid organization, most while pursuing a university degree, each one sharing their founders’ enthusiasm and learning from Megan’s ever-evolving coaching education and philosophy.

“I believe integrity is important.” says Megan. “I aim to be honest, fair and consistent in an effort to provide a place where my skaters can trust and know what is expected of them. From a team perspective, integrity is key to our unity, solidarity and strength.”

While Megan concentrates on developing great skating, her team’s training also includes the opportunities to learn many of life’s important lessons … and she is the consummate role model.

“I believe in being professional. As a coach, I arrive prepared at each practice and event with a plan. I aim to be competent in identifying errors and providing constructive corrections. As a team, I expect members to become skilled and polished skaters. I also aim to create an inclusive team environment where all team members are respected and valued.”

As the organization has grown, the team has taken on new ideas and expanded their goals. What began as a recreational activity for most participants has now evolved into a serious commitment where members are motivated to compete at the highest levels.

To get there, Megan knew some tough decisions had to be made despite the hurdles of geographic distance and costs associated with access to top teams and coaches from Ontario and Quebec.

“Over the last 4 seasons, we’ve had Nexxice skaters, in particular, Lee Chandler and Jennifer Critchton (Beauchamp) to help us with program lay-out. Their world-level quality skating has taught and inspired us to improve our knee bends, flow and artistry. Adding to those skills has been Wendy Coates who was living in Winnipeg in 2007-2008 and helped us realize the importance of designing programs that build momentum and speed.”

On the artistic side, Kayleigh Nichol of London, Ontario joined the team in the fall of 2010, skating for one year and then volunteer coaching for 3 years.

“With her Synchro experience and her background in theatre, Kayleigh has been a great addition,” offers Megan. “Kayleigh really developed the interpretative and expressive side of our team and helped us believe that more was possible.”

Megan has left no stone unturned in the search for the tools to improve by encouraging each member to take ownership of their individual progress. She requests monitoring feedback from Technical Specialists in Alberta via video footage, asks team members to evaluate weekly videos of practice sessions posted on-line, and has the team involved in regular stretching and yoga programs.

Remarkably, as the team began to believe in itself and embrace the idea that performing difficult routines with quality skating skills was truly possible, their move up the Synchro ladder to one of the top teams in the country has been sure and steady.

Over the years, their love for Synchro has continued to climb too. When World Synchro events are held in North America, many team members take advantage of the opportunity to watch Synchro at its best … and learn. This year in Hamilton at Worlds, seventeen past and present Ice Intrepid members were on-site to celebrate the sport.

“It was fantastic to look around and see how many current and former skaters from the team were watching,” says Megan. “After so many years, we were all thrilled to be together seeing new ideas unfold … and with Canada winning the gold medal, I felt like a proud parent!”

Not only have their individual Ice Intrepid experiences been positive, members all claim that Synchro has added to their lives. Of the 17 skaters photographed in Hamilton, (see photo: from left to right, members lined up in order of their time on Ice Intrepid), at least 12 are still actively involved in Synchro, either competing, coaching or directing programs.

Ice Intrepid
What is it about the sport that ties people to it for life?

The Hamilton delegation was quick to respond. Making best friends, travelling, building confidence, learning organizational skills, teamwork, cooperation, goal setting and leadership were some common themes.

Heather Baron who competed with Ice Intrepid for 4 years while completing a degree in Agriculture adds, “I loved all the daily laughs … and ‘secret buddies’, the selfless acts from one member to another to make their day a little brighter.”

Meghan Sprung, a 5-year member while earning a degree in Human Ecology, continues “It was my first trip to Nationals when my eyes were opened to the broader Synchro community and to all the possibilities that come with training and hard work.”

During her 6 years on Ice Intrepid, Jessica Watson worked toward her degree majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Math. For her it’s the cherished memories. “Lots of traveling, lots of random inside jokes, all the traditions, breathing exercises, hand stamps, hugs and ‘Can I get a woot, woot?’ …”

Human Nutritional Sciences grad, current Synchro participant and skating coach, Joelle Enns, sums it up perfectly. “Along with the skills, I also gained life-long friends and memories that will stay with me forever. All of that fueled my passion for the sport of Synchro and brought me to where I am today. Without Intrepid, I wouldn’t have made it this far in my skating career.”

Ice Intrepid, the University of Manitoba legacy lives on …

Skating Community Celebrates Toller’s On-ice and Off-ice Artistry

Toller Cranston, skating champion, artist, bon vivant, and force of nature, would have been positively bursting at the sight of it: a posh party honouring him. Surrounded by old friends, chocolates, and best of all: at the Art Gallery of Ontario, a place he was never able to professionally penetrate in his life.

But finally he has, with a vast array of his works from the start to the finish of his career, graciously loaned by various patrons of his fantastical art (mystic symbolism, he once called it) under the swooping eaves of the gallery. Beneath large screens where Cranston’s skating performances played and played again, perched a long row of his paintings, forged with colourful strokes from his imaginative world of Silk Road.

Now the brushes are still, but Cranston will live on, if not in many hearts, in a legacy he would cherish.  Through the Canadian Olympic Foundation, a charitable foundation affiliated with the Canadian Olympic Committee, comes the new Toller Cranston Memorial Fund. It’s meant to help those of Cranston’s ilk, skaters with artistic promise. The fund will help young skaters aspire to the Olympics, and artistry counts.

It wasn’t always easy for Cranston in his early days, because he had no such financial aid. Coach Ellen Burka first spotted him in tears after he finished fourth at the 1968 Canadian championships, and missed the Olympic team. She felt compelled to comfort him, telling him: “Don’t worry. Your time will come.”

Two weeks later, Cranston called her to tell her that he had been told to forget about the sport, and that he was too old at 18, but he loved it and wanted one more shot at it. Would Burka coach him?

Burka said she had to think about it, but the next day, he was at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. “He looked pretty overweight,” she recalled, holding court in the AGO as she told her story. “He didn’t look so hot.” She wasn’t impressed after he had done his routines for her. “He stood there sweating,” she said. “Steam was coming off his hair. I’ve never seen that before.”

But Burka gave him the goods, that he needed to lose weight, that he needed to improve his conditioning, and that she didn’t like his program or his music. And she told him he wasn’t properly dressed for the ice. “He was wearing a brown jumpsuit with a zipper from here to here,” she said. “And a belt. And everything was hanging out.”

Cranston turned and left. But two days later he was back, telling Burka, “I will do anything you tell me.”

He showed up at patch the next morning at 7 a.m., but also with a huge portfolio of his work. Burka had no idea he was an artist. “They were beautiful,” she said. And then she discovered that he had been thrown out by two landlords, who weren’t fond of the smell of turpentine, and Cranston had no place to go. He also hadn’t eaten.

Burka told him he could stay with her for seven days until he found another place. He stayed for seven years.

The memorial was a blizzard of sport icons, but also fascinating people from Cranston’s life. Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov sent a note, regretting they could not attend, but writing: “We loved Toller, because his soul and mind were close to us,” they said. “Toller was an artist. We will forever keep the memory of Toller.”

Cranston’s dear friend Ken Taylor shuttled from New York to make the party. He is best known for his role in helping six American hostages escape from Iran while he served as Canada’s ambassador to Iran in 1979.

Norman Jewison, film director for Academy-award winning movies such as “In the Heat of the Night,” “Moonstruck” and “Fiddler on the Roof” also showed up. Olympic champions Dorothy Hamill couldn’t miss it; neither could Jo Jo Starbuck, Sandra and Val Bezic, Barb Underhill, Lynn Nightingale, Donald Jackson, Shae-Lynn Bourne, Petra Burka, choreographer to the stars, Sarah Kawahara and Ron Shaver, Cranston’s nemesis, the man who made it difficult for Cranston to win his final Canadian title and then go on to take the Olympic bronze medal in 1976.

Organizing the whole soiree was Cranston’s sister, Phillippa, known as a university professor who taught a film course so well that nobody would ever skip class. “Toller was my brother,” she said. “I have been proud to call Toller my brother every day for more than 65 years.”

She was there with husband Dan Baran, twin brothers Guy and Goldie Cranston and “some of the most handsome and talented nieces and nephews and cousins that anybody could ask for.”

“I am the baby brother,” said Goldie, with piercing blue eyes, who admitted that he failed at stick figures and, sadly, at finger-painting as well.  (Gus is 10 minutes older.)  “Many of you here have no doubt experienced firsthand what I am to share with you: the Toller Challenge, or the Toller Inquisition.”

“He would relish putting people through the hoops of his choosing,” Goldie said. “He would challenge any number of people on any number of subjects in which he was extensively well versed: art, skating, current events, books, politics – anything in which he felt he had the upper hand.”

Goldie’s challenge was, ironically art. Toller figured he had a good eye. He’d drag Goldie to all sorts of art galleries, and say: “Okay, what’s the good stuff and I want to know this minute.”

“Apparently I passed because I stand before you here today,” Goldie said.

“As brothers, we weren’t particularly close, as you probably all know,” said Guy. “There’s no particular reason. We just weren’t close. We were no different from any other family.

“But he was family, and families do what families do. They come together. And so we have come together to ensure that his legacy lasts a very, very long time, with your help.”

Cranston’s best friend, Haig Oundjian took center stage, wearing a familiar red jacket. It had belonged to Cranston (“always wear bright colours,” he once said). Cranston had given it to him and then told him he bought it for $10 at a thrift store. Cranston was forever frequenting thrift stores, finding treasures and when he did, he would “Tollerize” them.

The partygoers heard about his penchant for being a generous host, and his lack of knowledge of technology and finance. At 3 o’clock early one morning, Oundjian got a call from Cranston, who blurted: “I’m ruined.  I have nothing.”

“’Could you just email me?’” Oundjian said.

“What’s that?” Cranston said. “I don’t do those things.”

Oundjian had to fly to Mexico, and asked Cranston to show him his accounting process. It meant putting a hand down a vase to see what you can find. “There would be electrical bills, gas bills, all unpaid,” Oundjian said. “He had no concept of those things. He would say: ‘I’m an artist!’”

The memorial also heard how Cranston neglected his health and needed dental work. He also suffered a hernia, which became infected, and he did nothing about it. The result? He ended up in hospital, seriously ill. “He was within hours of death,” Oundjian said.

He loved Monty Python.

A few Tollerisms? Do not tolerate mediocrity. As you age, it is better to skate backwards. (Better for a receding hairline.) And the Oscar Wilde gem: “I may not always be right, but I am never wrong.”

The day Cranston died, Loreen Harper, wife of the Prime Minister, took the flag that fluttered that day at Parliament Hill in Ottawa and reserved it for the Cranston family. It found its way to the memorial. Normally there is a 20-year wait following a request. Cranston would be delighted to have jumped the queue.

Federal sport minister Bal Gosal presented the flag to a young generation of Cranstons.

“He was fearless, courageous and uncompromising, when it came to life on his terms,” brother Guy said.

Skating is all about the exits and the entrances, Cranston once said. He made all of them memorable. This one too.

Social Media Skates into the Spotlight

When former figure skating competitor Lorne Edwards from Winnipeg started his own Facebook page during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, he had no idea he had a tiger by the tail.

“It had a figure skating thread that was becoming too long” admits Lorne. But it prompted him to think about skating as a whole new opportunity to build community.

The page has reconnected hundreds of people who haven’t seen or talked to each other in decades

After attracting skating friends Lorne hadn’t heard from in over 30 years, he decided to start another Facebook group called “Manitoba Figure Skating in the 70’s” that in just over a year has grown to over 200 members from all across Canada and the US … and yes, everyone has some connection to figure skating in Manitoba.

Lorne’s proud of this skating initiative. “Members regularly post old photos, skating programs from past events, and photos of medals and badges earned at competitions and on test days, as well as costumes that were worn that many still have hanging in their closet!”

The page is not only for communicating with competitors … judges, administrators and parents can also share their memories of skating at certain arenas and traveling to various competitions, as well as stories about the people who encouraged and supported them.

“The page has reconnected hundreds of people who haven’t seen or talked to each other in decades,” says Lorne, “although it’s certainly not restricted to only those who skated in the ‘70s. It’s really for anyone with a connection to skating in Manitoba.”

Out of the group page came the idea of a Manitoba Figure Skating Reunion.  According to Lorne, “Plans are in the works to have the reunion on April 16, 2016 in conjunction with the annual Bursary Banquet and Ice Show featuring performances from the year’s bursary winners.”

Former skaters will have the opportunity to greet old friends and support today’s top Manitoba competitors through the Manitoba Grassroots Bursary Trust founded in 1983 by a well-known Manitoba figure skating judge, Reta Barber.

“Pay it forward” is certainly one goal for Manitoba’s Alumni but Lorne and the other organizers are also looking to provide more first-hand skating opportunities for the reunion participants.

“What skating reunion would be complete without some skating?” asks Lorne. “A bunch of us from FB became inspired when we came across an event that’s been held at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club for 47 years called Toronto Ice Dance Weekend. Why can’t we do that here in Winnipeg?”

Shuna Heeney, the volunteer organizer of the dance weekend in Toronto agrees it is a huge success and a phenomenal program for keeping everyone active on the ice regardless of their age or ability. “I’m very passionate about promoting social ice dancing. Being able to skate all the Compulsory Dances is an activity that’s growing in popularity around the world. Just here close to the Toronto area, there are similar programs in Hamilton, London, Kitchener and Richmond Hill.”

When Shuna took over the TCSCC Dance Weekend six years ago, awareness of the event was waning. But similar to Lorne’s experience in Manitoba, as soon as she started using Facebook to promote it, interest in participating has triple Axeled. “For the last number of years our numbers have been steadily climbing. Part of it is through growing awareness but we’ve also tried to modernize the experience by using vocal music instead of dancing to repetitive ‘test’ music. Now we’ve created a music library that really livens up the environment and motivates the skaters.”

With more than 100 participants ranging in age from 13 to 87, social dancing at TCSCC offers skaters of all ages the opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie the sport offers.

“Our participants are having fun dancing without being judged,” says Shuna. “We have a wide variety of skill levels and ages. Some are competitors, some are beginners, but regardless of ability, everyone skates with everyone.”

Next year’s event at TCSCC is scheduled for Feb 26-28, 2016.

Back in Winnipeg and following the example set by TCSCC, a reunion committee has been set up with Co-Chairs Lois Howard and Lorne, as well as Leanne Howard, Colleen Woods, and Don Brown leading the planning. Lorne has even booked ice time. “Here’s a chance for former Manitoba skaters to lace up again, remember the dance steps and have some fun.”

And word is spreading fast through social media.

“The list of those confirmed has grown to over 120!” boasts Lorne. “A reunion website is in the works but in the meantime, simply search Manitoba Figure Skating Reunion. It’s all about continuing to enjoy the sport and then passing it on.”

During next year’s Manitoba reunion, the Ice Dance portion of the weekend will be held April 17, 2016 in Winnipeg, the day after the Bursary Ice Show, giving attendees the chance to see the current crop of up-and-comers and then to skate with people they haven’t seen for 30 years or more!

For any other skaters interested in social dancing, Shuna has some advice about how to test out this exciting initiative. “A group called IDOL (Ice Dancers on Line) organizes a database of social ice dancing events in North America to help spread the word. There are lots of social media opportunities through Facebook and Yahoo if anyone wants to find out more.”

Whether you’re in Winnipeg or Toronto, social dancing may be a perfect way for you to continue exploring skating throughout your lifetime.

No partner is required … just come and dance!