Speed skating for the Morrisons is a family affair.
All eyes are on Turin this month as the world's finest athletes take part in the Olympics. But you don't have to be in the Olympics to participate in Olympic sports. With that in mind, reporter Laura Czekaj ventured in and around the capital to try her hand at 10 Olympic events. Today, short track speed skating.
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Dave Morrison, head coach of the Gloucester Concordes, is joined on the ice at the Orleans Recreation Centre by his daughters Samantha, 14, and Hannah, 11. Both are slight girls with shy smiles and kind eyes.
They are also demons on speed skates.
"Both of the kids have been around the rink since they were born," says their proud papa as the girls fly around the track holding their own with a group of boys.
"Our mom skates and we even have a cousin who does," says Samantha. "A lot of our family do."
Coaching his offspring is nothing new to Morrison. A music teacher at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School in Orleans, Morrison also teaches his eldest daughter.
"We see a lot of each other," he says.
His daughters only smile and giggle when asked what it's like to be coached by their dad.
Morrison played hockey growing up and took up speed skating in his 20s. But it was when he took a coaching course that he really got hooked.
He started coaching young skaters and worked his way up to advanced and intermediate categories. Some of his prodigies have gone on to compete in national and international competitions.
SHARED PASSION
He is pleased that his daughters share his passion.
"It's really fun and you meet lots of cool people and you travel a lot," says Samantha.
The girls do both long and short track speed skating but this evening they are demonstrating short track.
At the instruction of their dad, we gals crouch down into the "basic" position.
Copying blond-haired Hannah as she pushes off on one skate, I manage to stay upright even as the sharp, thin blades are telling me otherwise.
Pushing off with one leg is one thing, but crossing one skate over the other is another. The feat is too much for me to master.
Olympic short-track speed skating consists of eight events: Men and women compete in 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m races. There is a 5,000m relay for men and a 3,000m relay for women.
It's a sport of careening around hairpin turns and spectacular crashes as competitors try to outwit their opponents. Skaters can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h.
It was in the 1992 Olympic Games that short-track speed skating was first included in the official program.
While competing in the Olympics would be downright "cool," the Morrison girls are taking their training in stride.
"It's not just for the glory," says Samantha.