Deidre and Danae Russell:
For the Love
of the Sport
By Scott Taylor, Photos by Jeff and Curtis Miller
There will always be critics.
Figure skaters, especially the
country’s elite skaters, hear those
critics all the time.
Deidre Russell knows that
people will say, “At 21, she’ll
never be this or she’ll never be
that.” They’ll say ‘Why not retire
from competition?’ but Russell
just laughs. After all, there is a
lot more to being a figure skater
than winning Olympic medals.
“I’m not really sure when I’ll
give it up,” said Russell recently.
10 / sportslife
“It’s going really, really well and I
still love it. I see no point at all in
quitting. I still love doing it. Why
would I stop?”
Indeed.
Deidre Russell is 21, she’s still
the best Senior Ladies skater in
the province and in December,
she competed in Edmonton at
the 2016 Skate Canada Challenge
Competition. She still loves it but
she knows times are changing.
In fact, she’s begun to coach
other skaters and she serves on
Skate Canada Manitoba’s Events
Management Committee.
She has not, however,
registered to Skate at this month’s
2016 Skate Canada Manitoba
Open Free Skate Competition
at the Arborg and District
Arena. Instead, she has left that
competition in the capable
skates of her 15-year-old sister
Danae.
For Deidre, a science student
at the University of Manitoba,
being the top senor ladies
skater in Manitoba is quite an
accomplishment. But until the
end of the Manitoba Open, she
remains the province’s only
senior ladies skater. Since the
Open is not a qualifying event for
Skate Canada, it’s a tremendous
event for young skaters like her
sister to hone their skills and
work on their programs.
Deidre started figure skating
for obvious reasons. Her mom,
Margo, is a figure skating coach
and to this day, is still Deidre’s
coach. Deidre has taken up
the mantle and Skate Canada
Manitoba’s executive director