There now are four others: Ghislain Briand (primary coach for Lafuente and the second Spanish man, Javier Raya); Lee Barkell (coach of Daleman, and Iliushechkina and Moscovitch); Andrew Hallam (stroking, skating skills, steps); and Paige Aistrop (spin doctor).
On a recent Wednesday, Orser was at the rink by 7 a.m. to work with younger elite skaters before they headed to school. His usual weekday arrival time is 9 a.m., and he stays until 4 or 5. He also comes in on an occasional Saturday, especially lately, because that is when Chartrand and her primary coach, Michelle Leigh, train at the Cricket Club.
While there are such "primary" designations, which apply mostly to private lessons, what the skaters like is how willing every coach is to work with any of them.
"The good thing here is you know if your main coach is away, someone else is going to be there to help you," Daleman said. "They are so close as a team."
Added Lafuente: "We all have bad days, but the coaches always have a smile on their faces. You can see they enjoy what they are doing. It helps you through the hard days."
Jeffrey Buttle, the 2008 world champion, is at the club nearly every day working as a choreographer. He marvels at the cooperation among the coaches and skaters, especially with up to 14 leading skaters often on the ice at the same time.
"There is no competitiveness among the coaches," Buttle said. "The skaters all gain momentum from watching the way champions like Hanyu and Fernándezrespect each other. It generates a good competitive spirit among all the skaters."
Three are men who finished in the top five at last year's worlds: Fernández (first), Hanyu (second) and Nguyen (fifth). Talk about the possibility of mind games and clashing egos.
"I have never felt any jealousies here," Nguyen said.
Joe Pacheco, the club's skating supervisor for 26 years, also has been struck by the camaraderie.
"They all feed off each other," Pacheco said. "You see the big names giving pointers to the other kids. It's not something they keep for themselves."
It is exactly that sort of environment that led Daleman to the Cricket Club a year ago. She came as a reigning Canadian champion who was losing her passion for the sport.
"Her skating has gone to another level because she's enjoying the sport again," Daleman's mother, Rhonda, said. "It's not just about results."
Rhonda Daleman was talking in the comfortable lounge area where the skaters often eat lunch or relax between twice-daily practice sessions. A glass wall separates the lounge from Cricket Club's figure skating ice surface, creating an openness reflected by the skating area.
It is a surface with no boards. Mirrors are spaced along the walls and ice level. Light comes in from multiple windows on the end wall opposite the lounge. Coaches watch from an apron surrounding the ice, then simply step out anywhere if they need to demonstrate something. The feeling is more of a dance studio than a rink.
The venerable club has everything a skater could need: fitness center, wellness center with physiotherapists and massage therapists, restaurants and snack bar with many varieties of healthy food.
A few years ago, when the club was doing renovations, coaches were asked for recommendations.
"I told them not to change anything," Tracy Wilson said. "We're not sure why things work, but I don't want to mess with it. There is a funky energy here."
Where else, after all, is there a skater who can also give tips on martial arts like Moscovitch, who specializes in Krav Maga, a hand-to-hand combat system used by Israel's defense forces?
"Sometimes, our way of warming up is wrestling with each other," said Lafuente, laughing about tag team "matches" pitting the women against the men.
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For skating clubs, heydays can be fleeting. When Orser was at the peak of his career, the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ontario, was the place to be, and that drew future world champions like Buttle and Elvis Stojko. Kristi Yamaguchi and Kurt Browning made the Glenora Club in Edmonton a mecca.
Oberstdorf, Germany, the World Arena in Colorado Springs (formerly the Broadmoor) and Toyota Sports Center in Los Angeles also have recently been the training homes of multiple national and international medalists.
"It comes in waves," Buttle said.
At the Cricket Club, they have been riding the wave for a decade, with no signs of slowing. In the past 50 years, there has never been such a confluence of so many top skaters from so many different countries coexisting for so long.
"There are times Tracy and I just stand back at a practice session and say to each other amazement, 'Look at this,''' Orser said. "These skaters make us look pretty good.
"Just because we're the hot spot now doesn't mean we will always be the hot spot," Orser continued. "As soon as you feel complacent, you need to do something. I don't take anything for granted."
Both Orser and Wilson have ice cred as Olympic medalists. Choreographers like Buttle and David Wilson like to work with them -- and their coaching colleagues -- because the coaches appreciate the art and requirements of program choreography. The coaches like to work with Buttle and David Wilson because they are choreographers who appreciate technique and the athletic demands of each element.
And the skaters appreciate each other, never more so than in the contest to keep the rink bell ringing. There is a spirit of all being in this together, not unlike what John Donne meant when he wrote that any funeral bell tolls for all humanity, even if he was thinking about matters far more serious than sport.
"People in the rink with you understand your suffering, and also your glory," Nguyen said.
So it was a while ago when a struggling Nguyen ended his weeks-long drought of clean practice programs. Orser banged the bell so hard three times that it left a joyous ringing in everyone's ears.
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