It’s not every day you meet one of your idols, much less spend a whole day with them.
Such was the case for three of Stonewall’s brightest young figure skaters — Cameron Nesbitt, Gaia Turner and Lacey Learning — who twirled, jumped and carved their way around the ice with four-time world champion Kurt Browning, on Oct. 14.
It was an eight-hour affair, as Browning — who the girls know best for his time in Stars on Ice — critiqued a group of sprouting talent, shared some words of wisdom with each skater and their parents and even showed off a few moves of his own to remind everyone he’s still got it at 57 years old.
“It was really fun,” said Nesbitt, 15. “He has a very bubbly personality so he was able to make everything fun. We were doing some really simple things like cross-cuts and he made them interesting, he gave lots of tips on how to make them better and he also just said, ‘You don’t have to do this in your normal skating but it’s just a way to make your skating better.’
“He understood that not everybody is going to listen to exactly what he says.”
Nesbitt, who was born into a family of skaters — her dad and brother on the hockey rink and her mom a fellow figure skater — relished the opportunity to pick Browning’s brain.
“He told us a bit about what he did before competitions or before he went and skated. One of the things he did was he would find a clear spot on the ice and he would do six inside edges and try his best to line them all on top of each other, and it really just helped this mind prepare and get going. That was really interesting to try and hear about,” she said.
The trio, who all skate out of the Stonewall Skating Club twice a week, each took away something different from the seminar.
“We did a lot of yoga and cardio and we did a lot of skating with Kurt,” said Turner, 11. “We did a lot of footwork that he’s famous for. He showed us a triple-axel and then we did some jumps and spins.”
Though Turner did not attempt to replicate Browning’s triple-axel jump, she did pick up some tips on how to sharpen her own axel.
Turner is just in her third year of figure skating, having laced up skates for hockey in her younger years. But it wasn’t long before she found herself longing for a crack at figure skating.
“I saw a bunch of figure skaters and I just kept doing spins during hockey practice so then my mom kind of just led me to figure skating,” she said. “I love it, so much more than hockey.”
Meanwhile, Learning was able to take away some tips as a skater and a teacher. The 11-year-old is in just her third year of figure skating but it already paying it forward through the local CanSkate program, which works with children ages three to 12 on improving their skating.
“It was a really fun day. I didn’t know what to expect but Kurt was a very kind and normal person,” Learning said. “Kurt taught me to focus on perfecting the little things like keeping your head up and smiling and standing up straighter.”
During an off-ice portion of the seminar, Browning hosted a Q and A with the group of moms in attendance. Much of his message focused on protecting the girls’ mental health as they continue in the sport.
Browning emphasized to importance of each skater forgiving themselves for their mistakes on the ice and not focusing on what they can’t do, but rather on what they can do.
Certainly, it’s something Nesbitt, Turner and Learning will need to keep in mind as they each expect to be on the ice for a long time.
“I’ve been doing it long enough that I really enjoy it, but also I would always love to get up to a high competitive level, but even if I can’t do that, I just love to go out and skate every week,” Nesbitt said.
Learning added: “I mean, there’s no (real good) way to explain it. I just really like the feeling of being on the ice.”
Turner concluded: “I just love skating with my friends and doing new things every time with my coaches,” she said. “I’m not sure if it’ll come true but I really want to go to the Olympics.”
