Athletes tend to pay a little more attention when a world champion is speaking to them.
Nelson Skating Club head coach Sarah Gower noticed this as soon as her skaters began taking direction from retired Canadian figure skating star Kaetlyn Osmond.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny, because we might say the same thing to the skaters and they sort of listen, but if it comes out of her mouth, they鈥檙e like, 鈥榦h!鈥� They really pay attention.鈥�
Osmond, who won three Olympic medals and was the first Canadian in 45 years to win ladies singles at the , is working with young skaters for a week at the Nelson and District Community Complex.
While her words may carry a touch more weight than Gowers, Osmond says it doesn鈥檛 take long for athletes to relax around her.
鈥淚 think when they spend more than two minutes with me, they realize I joke a lot and make fun of people a lot along with myself, and that kind of loosens it up around them and they realize I鈥檓 more of a human than terrifying.鈥�
The club was able to invite Osmond thanks to a personal connection with coach Jordyn Eberts 鈥� the pair previously trained in Edmonton together.
Osmond said she has been helping with skaters one-on-one, conducting practice drills and would also talk to them about how she dealt with issues such as competition nerves.
By the end of the week, she said she hopes to see the skaters had made a little progress with their own goals.
鈥淢iracles don鈥檛 happen in a week. I just like to see if the light switch goes off. They might not even be able to land something new or do something new, but even if something just makes that little tiny bit more sense, that鈥檚 as much as I can get out of it. And that鈥檚 super rewarding for me.鈥�
Since retiring in 2019 at 23 years old, Osmond has taken part in shows such as Stars on Ice while pursuing a media studies degree at Edmonton鈥檚 University of Alberta. Eventually she hopes to make a career in radio broadcasting.
Coaching has been the biggest surprise of her post-competition life. It wasn鈥檛 something she wanted to do 鈥� Osmond admits being pushed into it by a friend 鈥� yet mentoring young skaters has restored love for the sport she says had in part been lost once her career was over.
Now she鈥檚 juggling a full-time coaching job with her studies.
鈥淭o be able to go back into the world and see there鈥檚 still joy in a lot of younger skaters and watching them try to live their dream, it kind of gives me purpose in skating, which is amazing.鈥�
It doesn鈥檛 hurt that they are learning from one of the best.
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| tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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