Athletes tend to pay a little more attention when a world champion is talking to them.
Nelson Skating Club head coach Sarah Gower noticed this as soon as her skaters began following the guidelines of retired Canadian figure skating star Kaetlyn Osmond.
“It’s funny, because you could say the same thing to skaters and they kind of listen, but if it comes out of their mouth, they’re like ‘oh!’ They are really careful.
Osmond, who won three Olympic medals and was the first Canadian in 45 years to win the women’s singles at the 2018 World Cup Championshipsworks with young skaters for a week at the Nelson and District Community Complex.
Although her words carry a little more weight than Gowers, Osmond says it doesn’t take long for athletes to relax around her.
“I think when they spend more than two minutes with me, they realize that I joke a lot and make fun of people a lot with myself, and it relaxes around them and they realize that I’m more of a human than terrifying.
The club were able to invite Osmond through a personal connection with coach Jordyn Eberts – the pair had previously trained together in Edmonton.
Osmond said she helps skaters one on one, leads practice drills and also talks to them about how she deals with issues like competition nerves.
By the end of the week, she says she hopes to see the skaters have made some progress with their own goals.
“Miracles don’t happen in a week. I just like to see if the switch goes off. They might not even be able to land anything new or do anything new, but even if something just makes a little more sense, that’s all I can get out of it. And that’s super rewarding for me.
Since retiring in 2019 at the age of 23, Osmond has appeared on shows such as Stars on Ice while pursuing a degree in media studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Eventually, she hopes to pursue a career in broadcasting.
Coaching was the biggest surprise of his life after competition. It wasn’t something she wanted to do – Osmond admits she was pushed into it by a friend – but mentoring young skaters has restored the love for the sport she says she partly lost once her career ended .
Now she juggles a full-time coaching job with her studies.
“Being able to go back into the world and see that there is still joy in a lot of young skaters and see them try to live their dream, it gives me a sense of skating, which is amazing.”
It doesn’t hurt that they learn from one of the best.
@tyler_harper | tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
“Gamer. Introvert. Problem solver. Creator. Thinker. Lifelong food evangelist. Alcohol advocate.”