On Kurt Browning’s arrival in Quesnel, well his second arrival, he matched the considerable energy of the welcomers with his own, wading into the small crowd with smiles, laughter and the same near-slapstick humour he shows on the ice.
He came, with that energy and humour to help the kids enjoy their sport.
“My message this trip is very simple. It’s to try to talk to skaters in a way that allows them to enjoy their skating more,” Browning said.
The welcoming committee had planned for an eight o’clock arrival for Browning. Though word went around the plane usually arrived early, nobody knew he would be here much earlier, near four hours. He had boarded an earlier flight and had been in town for some time before doubling back to the airport to greet the greeting committee.
The evening was an exciting one for the Quesnel figure Skating Club and a wonderful evening for Browning as well, who was pleased and surprised at the welcome.
It makes the town feel a bit more familiar, Browning said.
From the high-energy welcome, to the ‘cariboo limo’ (a logging truck), a highlight of the evening, Browning had almost as good an evening as the kids who waited for him to arrive.
The wait for the kids was longer than the half hour of fidgeting in the airport, keeping a keen eye out for planes. For the kids, and adults, in the figure skating club, the wait lasted more than a year.
If you can wind back your memory to winter 2010, you may remember seeing pennants and decorations with the Skate Canada logo pasted all over town. You may remember early in 2011 the Quesnel Figure Skating Club was the winner of the Skate Canada competition and that as a prize, Kurt Browning would come to Quesnel and give a session on figure skating to the club kids. After that it all went quiet. The activity didn’t let up, but it moved behind the scenes. Confliciting schedules had to be adjusted. Winter is Browning’s season, when he crisscrosses the globe skating. And in summer, when figure skating hits its lull, there’s no ice on which to skate here in Quesnel.
But all that was eventually cleared up. And for the kids it was worth the wait.
“It’s better than Christmas,” figure skater, Jillian Culdwell, said.
The faces of the kids as they skated with Browning showed their joy through wide eyes and even wider grins.
Friday, Browning taught from twelve to seven, each session ranging from a half to a full hour. Each session was tailored to the age and skill level of the children. The sessions, however, were not intended to teach so much as inspire the kids. An hour of teaching would not make much of a difference to how the kids skate, Browning said. The point of the sessions, regardless of age, was to get the kids to experiment with their skating and enjoy each moment on the ice.
“The jumps can be really hard and the competition can be really intimidating, but as long as you enjoying your skating, that’s really the important part. I talked to them a lot about feeling the ice and challenging themselves; doing the simple things really well and having joy in that. I think that’s important in life in a way. If you want to get through life, it’s the simple things in life we’ve got to enjoy,” Browning said.
He enjoys working with the kids, and inspiring them to greater heights.
“I’ve never really been interested in coaching that much. I do love inspiring. I don’t think I will ever be a coach, but I could be an ‘inspiralist’,” Browning said with a smile.
And he’s good at inspiring; the best coach Sharon Chow has ever seen.
“He truly, truly has to be the most inspirational, motivational seminar leader I’ve ever come across,” Chow said, adding the kids would probably remember it their whole lives.
But to do that, he needed the kids to open up and that was a job in and of itself. He used all his considerable people skills and positive personality to ease the kids out of theirselves. Though that backfired a little with the younger kids.
“I think I was a little more personality than they were expecting,” Browning said.
In fact, he had enough personality that it overflowed the rink and kept the parents in the stands entertained.
Besides inspiring the kids, Browning also showed them some spins and tricks close up, sometimes close enough to have the girls a little nervous. He would twirl, jump or glide backwards, stopping just short of an accident, at which point his audience would scatter, before laughing nervously and gathering around once again.
After the inspiration sessions Browning moved to the Billy Barker Hotel for autograph signings and to chat with the community at large. The figure skating club would like to thank the Billy Barker Hotel for hosting the event.
Then it was back to globetrotting for Browning and back to normal for the figure skating club. Except for a brief visit Saturday before he left. In the morning, while the kids were doing testing, Browning dropped in and practiced triples for his program on the leisure patch.
