It was a pleasure to be able to catch up with Canada's pair champions Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison over the weekend.  The setting was a local Toronta area rink and the occasion was a commercial.  I was there volunteering along with my son Peter, because a number of kids that I coach were part of the cast.

What's new for this season?  As has already been reported, coach Annie Barabe is happily anticipating the birth of her first baby which has meant that the skaters had to augment their coaching in another way.  Enter former Canadian pair champion, Doug Ladret who now makes his coaching home in Arizona.  They have already done work together in both Doug's rink as well as in Montreal and the situation has been mutually satisfying.

Bryce says:  "Doug is very technical but also very calming and for me to able to work with someone who is built more like me, in other words not a huge guy, has been great." 

Jessica adds: "I am someone who gets mad at myself if I can't do something well the first time.  Doug has made me see that even if I don't do it the first time, I can do it.  He is very calm and I don't feel any pressure."  She goes on to say :  "A lot of what Doug says is not too different from what Annie says which means that we don't have to adjust too much our technique."

What about travelling to the Grand Prix events in the Fall to Russia and Canada?  Jessica says with a chuckle that Annie says she wants to  come with the baby!  Fortunately, there is enough time to allow the new Mom to be able to figure out what is best for herself,  the skaters, the baby.

Jessica and Bryce talked about their programs and are looking forward to unveiling their new short program at the Summer Provinicial competition in Quesbec.  Working once again with David Wilson they have gone with a program to the soundtrack from The Mask of Zorro...can't wait to see Bryca Bandera(s)-fied!   Jessica talked about moving to something a little different but still allowing them to work on a more character based program, which is one of their strengths.  They said that they would be keeping their free program to The Way We Were and have made some changes around the choreography as well as their costumes.  

Jessica and Bryce have been hard at work since the start of the summer. One of their goals was to create a new entry into one of their lifts in order to conform to new guidelines in the rules.  It seems that a one handed entry, carry and exit on a lift  is no longer worth as much as it was without a variation in the entry or a leg hold by the lady in the air.  Just one example of how they have been "upping" their game in the off-season.

Far too quickly our break was over and it was time to get back to work.   Observing them from a distance, Jessica and Bryce are consummate professionals in front of the camera or behind where they happily chatted with skaters and signed autographs.

Bryce remembers as a six year-old, wearing a Stars on Ice t-shirt and going to a "skate and meet" kind of event with other skaters from his club.  He has a picture showing him being carried on Kurt Browning's shoulders.  Not only did he get to meet his idol, he got to skate with him.  It is that same sensitivity that he brings to his exchanges with the young people in attendance for whom he and Jessica are the idols.

Jessica smiles at the story and says that for her the gift of skating are the close friends and amazing people she has met.

For 11 year-old Sophie, a brand new pair skater - one of her "amazing people" is Jessica Dube.

The truth of the matter is Josee and I have moved in the same skating circles for a really long time.  I announced her as a competitor and was in the building when she won her 3 Canadian titles. I have talked to her superficially  and we have "air hugged" lots ot times over the years.   I wasn't at all prepared for the woman I got to know in Vancouver at the Olympics where we were both working at figure skating.

This is a woman with a mesmerising combination of charm, warmth and natural smarts; packaged in a whirlwind of energy which is  totally captivating.  To say we laughed in Vancouver would be an understatement.  Our friendship bonded due in no small part to the fact that Josee has a great sense of fun and is someone who does not take herself too seriously  - even when lots of people around her do.  She says in a telling statement that her 3rd trip to the Olympics, her first behind the scenes, was the best for her.  It was awe inspiring to appreciate all that goes on at the Games, not on the Field of Play, which is something she didn't see when she was focused as an athlete competing.

Where has she been and what has she been doing since you last saw her?

Skating has been at the centre of everything in her life and when asked about what it has given to her, she became thoughtful and said:  "Skating destroyed me and built me."   Wow.  I looked at her face and expected to see pain or bitterness registered there.  Instead, I observed an appreciation for the lessons she learned by not achieving all that she had hoped for.  She went on to say: "To learn the hard lessons as a young person helped me to realize who I am."   More than anything, it is this confidence that "the sun will come out tomorrow" even after disappointment,  that makes her such a valuable resource in her current incarnation as a coach.

Josee is at the Granite Club in Toronto , where she is the Head Competitive Coach.  She talks with pride about loving the technical aspect of the sport and gets a real kick out of "sharing moments" with the skater.  Having been an elite skater, she knows first-hand what has to happen and explains that her entree into the coaching realm was by way of seminars and consulting while she was still skating and performing.   Then came the moment of truth:  she took over the skaters for fellow coach Tracy Tutton who went on maternity leave; all 26 of them!  It was this experience where she really cut her "coaching teeth" and she realized that there was a lot more to the art than meets the eye.  She fell in love with the connection to the skater inherent in coaching and moved away from consulting  Her strength she says is in the technical realm but she also knows that a good coach has to create and manage a team that supports the skater.  It is a multi-faceted approach to skaters and skating that seems to work for her. 

The biggest difference she says between being a skater and being a coach is clear.   The rewards for the skater can be immediate:  they either land a jump or skate well in a competition or they don't.  By comparison, the rewards in coaching are not always immediate and that improvement takes time.  There is nothing more rewarding though, she says than having a skater come back at a later time to say that they have never forgotten what she said.

Her other passion?  Twins!  Her own 5 year olds Fiona and Noah.  Do they skate? "Of course" she says with a giggle "They are Canadian. They  know how to skate and swim." she continues laughing: "They went on frozen water before real water.  One sport is for safety and one is patriotic."

Josee Chouinard, still a Canadian sweetheart.