Over the last decade, the legendary Canadian world champ (and one half of "The Battle of the Brians") has assumed a new role at the rink: that of trusted coach. Two of his skaters – Kim Yuna and Yuzuru Hanyu – have achieved Olympic gold, both satisfying triumphs for Orser, who famously missed out on his sport's top prize (twice). This week, he will cheer for his skaters at the World Championships in Shanghai. Here, the competitor-turned-coach shares some of the secrets to his success, including why a world-famous rivalry is a good thing.
Rivalry raises the game
Having a rival can be motivating. That was the case with [American skater] Brian Boitano, although it was a reasonably friendly rivalry. With social media these days, skaters will post photos and videos – they've landed this jump or that one – and they all watch each other's videos. I think it's good for keeping things competitive. Back in my skating years, it would be weeks before information would go back and forth from my camp or Boitano's camp. I was in Orillia, Ont., and he was in California and often we wouldn't know what each other was doing until the last minute.
If you see it, it will come
A lot of what I work on with my skaters is the psychological part of the sport. Mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation. Three or four years prior to my last Olympics in Calgary in 1988, I started working with a sports psychologist who taught me a lot about imagery and visualization. When I started teaching, I passed these techniques on to my students. Eventually I got the idea to create an app for skaters and, really, for all athletes. It's called Peak Performance and it just talks you through these imagery exercises. It's about 30 minutes and it's basically about getting into a state of relaxation and seeing yourself at the end of a victorious performance: how you feel, how the audience is feeling toward you. Just being able to see yourself at that finish line can really have a positive effect on your psyche.
My rink-side ritual
When my skaters are in competition, I have this habit of skating their program right along with them while I'm standing to the side of the ice. I know every step and I know the energy that they need and often I just can't hold myself back. I do every move along with them. Part of it is that I think it sends out positive energy, and then the other thing is that 4 1/2 minutes is a long time to just stand there with your feet planted on the floor and you're so nervous. When I do the program, the time goes by a lot faster. Apparently it's quite entertaining. At the 2010 Olympics, they actually did a split screen with myself and my skater Kim Yuna. Some people in the audience were torn about which one of us to watch.
How to get over gold
The thing about it is that Olympic gold is Olympic gold. Nothing else lives up to that billing. For a long time [after the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, where Orser won silver] I played the "what if" game. What if a different judge had been drawn, what if we'd skated in a different order? It took me about 10 years to realize that I needed to let it go. I think becoming a coach allowed me to recognize that I had made a valuable contribution to skating and that I could be proud of my career and that it really could have gone either way. I was good enough to be Olympic champion and I could have been Olympic champion, but it just didn't go that way for me and I needed to let it go and be positive. I have a sign in my office that says, "You take responsibility for the energy you bring into this space." I really believe that and it's not just coaches, it's athletes. I'll pull someone off the ice if they're bringing bad energy into the practice because it spreads. The good thing is that positive energy is the same.
This interview has been condensed and edited by Courtney Shea.