So nice to be
on ice? Go figure

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes an interview with Evan Lysacek, U.S. champion figure skater, an Olympian and a two-time world bronze medalist, who performed in Tom Collin’s: Champions on Ice Tour at the Wachovia Center on April 15.
From all my interviews, with professional skaters, I learned every ice skater has a story on how a pair of skates changed his life. This is Evan’s story on how he became interested in the sport of figure skating. Evan’s grandmother bought him a pair of skates for Christmas.
"Actually as a child, I was not interested in becoming a figure skater. I wanted to play hockey," he said. "I grew up in Chicago and idolized the Blackhawks. I wanted to try out for the hockey team. I went to a tryout but I had no ability whatsoever. I could not stand up on the ice."
At this point they told Evan to take figure skating lessons. He listened because he still wanted to play hockey.
"But once I started skating, went into group lessons and started learning tricks, I really enjoyed it," he said. "My favorite part was the ten minutes of free skate. I just wanted to be on the ice, by myself, going fast. That’s when a figure skating coach recognized me and asked me if I was interested in learning tricks."
Evan’s accomplishments in figure skating and world championships since 2003 are many, which included going to the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy. Representing the United States of America is no small challenge.
"It is an experience that obviously affects one of your lifelong goals, and you dream and think about it over and over again," he said joyfully. "Once you finally get there after all of the training and hours you put in, and then it culminates in just one minute. You know that is your one and only shot at it. It’s kind of a nerve-wracking experience, but it is also amazing."
Walking in with the team in the opening ceremony was amazing, he said, as was receiving all of the team apparel and having all the interviews as part of the U.S. Olympic team.
I was curious about Evan’s view on terrorism at the 2006 Olympics.
"The level of security was great in Torino," he said. "We were all pretty much at ease. It would be very disappointing if anyone ever tried to ruin this event. It is about unity and camaraderie between all of the countries. That is one event that hopefully would be sacred to all people forever."
According to Evan, choreographing a routine takes various amounts of time depending on its use. For example, for a competitive program, it could take quite a long time, because they have books and books of rules to go through to figure out exactly what they are and aren’t allowed to do. It also determines which move is going to get the higher points.
Now for the Champions on Ice tour, they have no rules for routines, tricks and music selection. Evan noted it is much more fun.
"We can do any tricks that we want to, and usually those kinds of routines come together a lot quicker, because it is a lot of freedom and creativity," he explained.
To learn a routine, Evan said, "It depends on the skater. For me it takes a long time to practice and learn a routine, because I have a really bad memory with steps. It takes a lot more repetition for me to get it down pat. There are people that can pick it up quick and remember the whole way through. Typically, I need two to three months to train and learn a competitive program that I am going to compete with."
Well, you know Evan is going to be good skater when you find out that Kurt Browning has done some choreography for him.
"Kurt has been a good friend of mine throughout my career," Evan said. "We have had a really good support system. We speak a couple times a month. We had wanted to work together for a long time. But, because he is so busy touring and doing shows, and I am busy competing, our schedules never really matched until this season. It is something I would like to continue working on, and I think we are going to continue working together for the next few years and see how it goes."
What has been the most pressure Evan has faced?
"It is hard to say. I think recently the most pressure would have been this year at the National Championships, because there was a lot of press around the men’s event," he said. "Every morning there was an article in the Spokane, Washington, newspaper about the men’s event about what was going to happen and how it was going to unfold. So, when you are reading that seven days in a row and then you have to go out and compete, it is sort of nerve-wracking.
"It is hard to not let the media get into your head," he added. "What we try to do is avoid any negative vibes that are coming in from it and absorb the positive. That is what I try to do. But, it was very nerve-wracking. So, to be able to go out, skate well, and win the gold medal there felt very good."
Evan felt his most difficult injury to overcome was when he broke his hip bone in 2004. He was not able to skate for five months. The whole recovery took about one year.
"As an athlete the thing that makes you happy is going out there and playing or doing your sport," he said. "To not be able to do it can slip you into depression a little bit. I would wake up in the morning and feel like I was not accomplishing anything. It is hard. I had to keep doing physical therapy to get stronger."
Evan notes that in skating, the line between amateur and professional has become thinner. He enjoys the competitive aspects of amateur skating.
"For me it is all about being an amateur," he said. "The day it comes that I don’t want to do that anymore, then I will go to school and follow a different path in my life."
What is Evan’s advice for someone interested in pursuing a career in skating?
"Skating is an amazing sport and is very unique. So, whatever your goal or reason for skating, they are all great," he said. "If you are doing it for exercise, it is amazing exercise, or even if you are doing it to become an elite athlete and go to the Olympics. I think it is all about enjoying what you are doing, and you can’t let it be anyone’s goal other than your own."
Evan, who is only 21, was born June 4, 1985, in Chicago. He presently resides in Los Angeles. He skates singles over pair skating because "I am really bad at remembering choreography, so I improvise a lot. That would be not cool if I had a partner that did not know what I was doing. For me, I always liked jumping, being on the ice by myself, and the freedom of going fast."
Evan’s ritual before the show includes: running a lot, listening to really loud music on his iPod, eating lots of Skittles and drinking lots of coffee.
Evan would like to be remembered for "what I am trying to work on is finding the right couple of cities, to try and somehow combine figure skating and the X Games, and get it in the X Games.
"I think it is much more similar to extreme sports than what people’s perception of it is, which is like a recital," he added. "It is a sport and it promotes individuality and crazy tricks that only a few people in the world can do. I think it is time that we highlighted that aspect. If that means taking a step away from the past, then that is something I am willing to do. I think it will benefit the sport in the long run."
What’s in Evan’s future? He plans to continue competing for the 2010 Olympics, the World Championships in 2009 in Los Angeles, looking for more time to go to school.
Evan feels that he has amazing fans and would like to thank them for all of their support.
If you were worried that you missed this unbelievable Champions on Ice tour, have no fear, they will be back next year, around the same time in April. For more information, you could call the Wachovia Box office at 215-336-3600. ••
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com