The athletes taught spins, footwork, jumps and off-ice training to children and adult skaters during a two-day camp May 5 and 6 at Point Mallard Ice Complex in Decatur. It was a rare chance for local skaters to work with high-level skaters.
"They're great at firing the kids up to work harder and be smarter about skating," said Charles Bernhard, Point Mallard's skating pro, who grew up skating with Zimmerman in Birmingham. "They have a blast."
Zimmerman and Fontana, who are married to each other, also taught a camp five years ago at the rink. He is a pairs skater, while she is an individual skater.
'You can make it happen'
The elite skaters said they feel a special kinship with skaters in the South, who have few places to skate and minimal skating resources -- challenges they both faced in their early years.
Ice skating was not a popular sport in Zimmerman's hometown of Birmingham, and Fontana grew up without an ice rink in Rome, Italy. During summers, she traveled to an outdoor rink in north Italy to train, and she practiced dance much of the rest of the year.
"It really was just the ice skating we watched on TV that kept us motivated," she said.
"The message is you can be coming from anyplace -- if you have the desire and the creative sense to do it, you can make it happen," Zimmerman said.
In Hackensack, N.J., where the two coach skating, skaters have a massive facility, complete with four ice rinks and training equipment. Yet it is inner passion -- not outer resources -- that will ultimately make a skater succeed, Fontana told young athletes during a question-and-answer session.
That point seemed to encourage several participants, whose parents had driven five hours from Mississippi, where their ice rink had recently closed.
New knowledge
Fontana and Zimmerman began sessions with off-ice stretching and training outside, and ran through stretches, exercises and drills with the skaters.
In the rink, each participant performed skills for the pair to evaluate.
"You hopefully infuse some new knowledge," Zimmerman said.
And sometimes hearing the same information their coach has already told them -- but from an outsider -- makes it click, he added.
At the end of the session, participants showed off their favorite skills, some of which included silly moves ending in splits on the ice, and even the rippling break dance move called "the worm."
Many of the young skaters were thrilled with the experience and clamored for autographs and photographs at the end of the sessions.
"I had them sign my binder," said 13-year-old Whitney Pacil of Decatur, who began figure skating a year ago. "They're awesome."
Susan Purvis, who has been skating for six years, had the two sign the bottom of her ice skates. The 12-year-old's eyes lit up as she talked about the special camp.
"It's really fun," she said. "It's exciting, too. He (Zimmerman) can demonstrate the moves really big. It helps you see what they can be like when you're on the ice with them."
But it wasn't just the children who embraced the experience -- it was the adults, too.
Skater Cynthia Kelly of Decatur said she loved getting tips from the two experts.
"It's amazing to see someone of that caliber perform an element," said Kelly, whose 3-year-old daughter participated in a free basic skills class May 5 with Zimmerman and Fontana. "They're so down-to-earth ... and their comments are so nice."
Other adult skaters traveled from Guntersville and Lacey's Spring.
"This is a gift that gives back to the whole Tennessee Valley area," Kelly said. "It's greatly appreciated."
Medals and marriage
Donning Adidas pants, black fleece jackets and stocking caps, Zimmerman and Fontana's non-assuming dress might have kept passersbys from guessing the numerous accolades the two have earned over the years.
Zimmerman, along with skating partner Kyoko Ina, placed fifth in the pairs competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and third in the 2002 World Championships.
Now, he and Ina tour with "Stars on Ice" and Zimmerman models in his free time. He and Fontana recently earned their real estate licenses.
Fontana, who was born in New York but raised in Rome, is a five-time Italian National Champion who skated in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.
Now, she plays the lead role of Gabrielle in Disney's "High School Musical: The Ice Tour."
With both of them on tour, it is rare that the married couple sees each other. Before the Decatur clinic, they hadn't been together since November.
"This was a great opportunity that brought him close to home and us together," Fontana said, who skated in "High School Musical: The Ice Tour" in Huntsville on May 1-4 and will perform in Birmingham on May 16-18. Missing the South
Zimmerman, who has been away from Birmingham since he was 17, was also thrilled to be home. After the clinic, he and Fontana planned to go to his mother's house for dinner.
"I come home to sweet tea and home-cooked meals," he said, sighing happily.
After years of living in big cities, the South's relaxed pace is appealing.
"I miss it so much," he said. "I yearn for the pace and chill factor."
To see more of The Decatur Daily, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.decaturdaily.com Copyright (c) 2008, The Decatur Daily, Ala. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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