FREEPORT, Maine — What does it take to become a two-time U.S. national champion in figure skating? For Alissa Czisny, it was a combination of talent, focus, hard work, and an early start in the sport, so early she has no memory of it.
"I don't remember the first time I started skating," she said with a smile, "Because I was eighteen months old, according to my parents anyway."
On a recent afternoon, Czisny (pronounced Sizz-nee) was gliding about on a rink outside of L.L. Bean in Freeport, offering skating lessons to kids and adults through Ice Dance International, a nonprofit based in Kittery.
The organization's mission is to showcase and promote ice dancing through performances and get people involved in skating through community outreach and clinics like the one in Freeport.
Doug Webster, the founder and artistic executive director of Ice Dance International, grew up in North Conway, New Hampshire, where he spent countless hours at an outdoor rink in the center of town.
The sport changed his life, and now he wants it to lift the lives of others.
"Something about skating, with the flight and the flow and that sense of glide that we get to do on the ice, was a magical feeling for me," he said. "That's the feeling that I want to give to everybody, that sense of being able to take one push and fly across the ice."
Anyone worried they're too old, too uncoordinated, or too out of shape to try skating should still consider giving it a try. Webster brushed aside those excuses, saying, "You don't have to set goals to land a double axel. Your goal can be just to get out and take a lap around the rink. And that's just as significant."
Note: Ice Dance International has events coming up this month in a number of communities, among them Auburn, Dover-Foxcroft, Carrabassett Valley, and Portsmouth, NH. Watch the interview above, or click here to learn more.