***Article Update January 2, 2019: After a long battle with cancer, inspiring, courageous and fun-loving Blair Koski-Klein passed away on January 2nd, 2019. We send our sincerest sympathies to the family of Blair as they mourn the loss of a wife, mother, and friend. She was committed to the world of figure skating and to helping others experience the best of the sport. Our hope is that this article serves as a tribute to Blair's life and her impact on so many lives. ***

Blair Koski Klein is a professional figure skating coach who has loved this sport for a very long time. Her story is one of determination, perseverance, positivity, and inspiration. She is one of the strongest women I know – bar none. She has a smile on her face 110% of the time. She credits her family and the ice for getting her through some rough patches…and there have been a few. This is Blair’s journey.

The beginning

Blair started skating around the age of three on the backyard rink wearing a pair of her brother’s hockey skates. From that moment, she was hooked! She took up figure skating at the Agincourt Skating Club, continued at the Scarborough Skating Club, and finished with the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. She knew the rink was where she wanted to be.

At the wise age of nine years old, Blair decided she would be a skating coach. It was around this time that she had seen Dorothy Hamill and the Ice Capades at Maple Leaf Gardens. She remembers thinking how glamourous and beautiful that show was – it was something she hoped she would do someday.

The shows

So Blair followed her heart and made it so. With her coaching certification in hand, she taught for a couple of years before she decided to use her skates to see the world. She auditioned for Disney on Ice, got a spot and skated with them for a year. But it was her next adventure – touring with the Ice Capades – that was her dream come true. The Ice Capades took Blair to many exotic places – performing in China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and South America as well as touring Canada and the US – sharing her talent and love of the sport with young skaters around the world. Check out this YouTube video – Ice Capades: Behind the Scenes with Skaters and Show – for a look at life on the road. Blair makes an appearance at 3:09.

Skating and seeing the world was an experience of a lifetime but the icing on the cake was meeting her husband Andy Klein while on tour. They got engaged in Hong Kong, travelled a little more – taught in BC, toured in Mexico – and settled down to teach at the Newmarket and Aurora Skating Clubs.

And if skating with the Ice Capades wasn’t adventure enough, Blair has also had some small screen and big screen work too. There have been TV specials with Elvis Stojko, Elizabeth Manley, and Dorothy Hamill. Then in 2001, Blair was the Assistant Choreographer for a movie with Danny Di Vito, Robin Williams and Edward Norton – it doesn’t get much more fun than that.

The career

Blair has been teaching for over 23 years and has her NCCP Level III certification, which means she can take skaters to the Nationals if they qualify. She has taught skaters to their Gold levels in Dance, Freeskate, and Interpretive.

Every year, Blair takes on choreographing for the Ice Shows in Aurora and Newmarket, Skating Clubs. She also coordinates a competition in Buffalo, NY. While it takes a lot of work, coordination, and preparation to put on the shows and get ready for the competition, the sense of accomplishment at the end is worth it all for Blair.

The treatment journey

Figure skating has also helped her on a different journey, a very personal journey – first dealing with Crohn’s disease as a young woman just starting out in her career and then being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and again in 2016. Not once has Blair let any of this stop her from doing what she loved. In fact, it was doing what she loved that has helped her find the strength and determination to move forward.

This is where Blair’s strength of character is very evident. She has been through so much – bowel resection, mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, reconstructive surgery, and most recently more chemo. No matter what is thrown her way, Blair has always found her way back to the ice…where she feels at home.

In the mid 80’s when Blair wanted to go to China, the doctors suggested that maybe it was time to stop touring. But she was determined to skate in China and skate in China she did. When chemo began, there was a brief period when Blair stayed off the ice. But it wasn’t long before she felt up to it… and back on the ice, she was with her students. She would say to me, “Guess what I did today? Don’t tell my doctors!” The doctors never said no to skating but were surprised to hear she had the energy to teach. The ice has always been her place – her place to shine, to leave the bad stuff behind and simply skate.

Blair credits her strength and perseverance to the support she gets from her husband, her son, her family, close friends, the hospital and her team of unbelievable doctors. She once said to a doctor, “I want this cloud over my head to go away.” Her husband looked at her and said, “but look at the umbrella that is covering you!” It is that kind of support that allows Blair to smile her trademark smile and laugh with her contagious laugh. She finds the strength everyday to be positive and move forward. She truly is an inspiration.

The meaning of skating

Blair feels at home when she is on the ice. The familiar feel of the ice and smell of the rink – whether she is teaching a student, choreographing a show, watching her son play hockey or skating on an outdoor rink – her son’s favourite place to be – it all reminds her that she can do anything if she sets her mind to it.

Source: Pinterest

An interesting comment from a dancer has stuck with Blair over the years… “I’ve always been jealous of figure skaters. You’re so lucky to be able to glide across the ice.” For Blair, it will always be that feel of the glide that helps her on her journey!

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