Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Young figure skaters had a chance to learn from some of Canada’s best on Thursday as Olympian Keegan Messing and Canadian national champion Nam Nguyen staged a seminar at Napanee’s SPC.
Hosted by Sharon Nixon of the Kingston Skating Academy, the on-ice session provided skaters of all ages a chance to practice with the elite athletes. Skaters from clubs across the province made the trip to Napanee for the rare opportunity to get instruction from Messing and Nguyen.
“I feel like for me to be able to come to these ice rinks and start teaching the younger generation like this, I absolutely love to do it,” said Messing, who represented Canada at the 2018 (PyeongChang) and 2022 (Beijing) Olympic Games. “Seeing the smiles on the kids is absolutely fantastic. It’s just a load of fun to come out and share your knowledge with the next generation.”
Born and raised in Alaska, but holding a dual citizenship due to his mother being from Alberta, Messing hopes his story of coming from a small town and reaching the Olympics can be an inspiration to the young skaters.
“I really hope that they can see this, find a new love for the sport and find a little bit more to drive them forward and to know that it doesn’t matter your background, as long as you give the right work ethic, you can really make the best of yourself,” said Messing.
He noted there’s a different level of nerves stepping onto the ice in front of Olympic judges compared to young skaters just learning the sport.
“Olympics is like everything you worked your entire live goes into one moment,” said Messing. “(Training seminars) is everything you’ve worked up to your entire life cumulative and then you just get to share it. You’re sharing your life knowledge instead of having your life knowledge come into one pinnacle point that is do-or-die.”
Man Nguyen is a two-time national Canadian champion figure skater who has shifted into coaching power skating, working with NHL athletes. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Nguyen is a two-time Canadian national champion, having won the title in 2015 and ’19, placing fifth at the World Championships in ’15.
Thursday’s seminar marked the first time he had laced up figure skates in almost a year, having retired from competition in mid 2022. He hasn’t step off the ice for good however, now spending most of his time as a power skating coach, working with clients as young as 10 all the way up to some currently skating in the National Hockey League.
“I’m grateful to bring in the experience that I got from figure skating growing up and sharing tips and tricks on how to become more of an efficient skater,” said Nguyen. “In today’s game it’s become so much faster, you have to be quick, you have to be efficient on your feet. There’s so many things happening, you want to make sure that your skating is instinctual. If you have to worry about the skating part than you’re not focused on the play that’s happening in front of you. My job is to make their job a little easier and take a load off their plate.”
Keegan Messing demonstrates the hydroblade during a figure skating seminar at the Strathcona Paper Centre. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Though Messing has also retired from competitions, he was willing to demonstrate he’s still got it. Following the lesson he called coaches Nixon and Jill Woodall to centre ice to help him perform his signature move. With the two coaches laying on the ice, he executed a perfect backflip over both of them, complete with a perfect landing.
Spectacular as the feat was, he warns it’s not without risk. His first attempt at the trick resulted in a missed landing and broken facial bones. It wasn’t until a full two years that he attempted it again and has since perfected it. It’s still the crowd pleaser as well, earning a rousing round of applause from those who witnessed it at the SPC.