I'd ice-skated before, because I'm Canadian and that's what you do as a kid, but I'd never, ever been on quad skates.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
As soon as I was introduced to ice speed skating, I was instantly hooked. I never thought about pursuing skating professionally; I just enjoyed doing it.
I started skating because I loved it. I started when I was three and I didn't know all the sacrifices and all the hardships and how difficult day-in and day-out it would be.
Skating was something I really wanted to do; my parents knew nothing about it. They said they'd support me as long as I was trying my hardest and enjoying it.
I actually have an ice-skating background. I skated until I was 15, for about eight years. It was hardcore skating for about eight hours a day.
As a kid in British Columbia, going back a long way, I learned to skate.
I just skated for the fun of it.
I grew up in Canada, man - we all had rinks in our backyards because we'd ice down the grass with a hose and build a skating rink.
Even in Canada, I never even played ice hockey. I never skated in my life; I always did rollerblade street hockey.
I skated in ice shows all over Europe and South Africa for 20 years. I love to ice skate.
I'd never gone as a kid to an ice rink. There was always that fear that I'd break my leg and it would affect my career.