Canadian men’s figure skating champion Keegan Messing—in town this weekend as part of Stars on Ice—basically grew up on the ice: he started skating when he was three years old. In 1992 he saw Elvis Stojko—who is also at Stars on Ice—skating and it changed his life.
“All I wanted was to jump and spin,” says Messing.
Messing says that he loves ice skating so much because of its edge and power.
“I love to jump, I love to backflip and have fun with it,” he says. “To be on Stars with Elvis and Kurt [Browning], Kurt was a huge idol of mine ever since I learned who he was, too. So to be on the ice with these legends is absolutely a dream come true for me.”
To Messing, the difference between competing and being on a stage like Stars on Ice is that the group forms a family throughout their tour and they create awesome bonds while bringing the show to life.
“Competitions can be very, very stressful,” he says. “You work extremely hard, you’re dedicating like 70 percent of your year into competitions, through your work ethic, through how you eat, how you train, how you sleep. You build up to these competitions, and they’re a lot of fun, I absolutely love doing them, but it’s just a completely different feel.”
He says that everybody is extremely supportive of each other in the skating community and that the point of a show like this is to entertain.
“There is less pressure on us to do well, and it’s just a family. It’s absolutely wonderful. Not to say that competing isn’t a family, either. We have some huge bonds with our teammates on Team Canada and actually even from different countries. You know, the sport’s too difficult to have any hardship against anybody else. So, honestly, all of us from the sport are very supportive against everybody.”
Messing says the group of professionals in Stars on Ice are some of the best people he knows, and that his favourite parts of the show are probably the group skates.
“To skate with them, I gotta say, to be part of the family, that’s probably the best thing about it,” he says.
For Messing, the show is a chance to remember what brought him to the sport in the first place.
“It’s very easy to forget why you started skating and what was fun about it,” he says. “Honestly, doing Stars on Ice really helps you remember why you started skating. It’s so much fun, having a blast with our friends, and it’s just a wonderful, wonderful experience.”
Stars on Ice
7:30 pm Saturday, May 21
$13.75 and up
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