Hitting the Target; Stars on Ice their own toughest judges

There are no stern-faced looking judges to worry about. No sudden sinking of the heart when one scores you 3.8 just after another judge had sent your medal hopes soaring with a 5.9.

The point, of course, is that in many respects competitive figure skating is a lot more stressful for the participant than performing in a skating show.

Still, former world champion Kurt Browning is aware that there can be slip-ups for himself and other members of the Target Stars on Ice tour that comes to the Worcester Centrum Centre Saturday night.

One of his solo routines in the show that also features such skating greats as Scott Hamilton, Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi and Ilia Kulik requires a triple axel, a triple-triple-triple combo, and four double axels in a row at the end.

"I mean, it's not a walkover," the 34-year-old Mr. Browning said during a telephone interview from New York City last week.

"And yet somehow I have fun doing it. I know that if I miss my triple axel I've depreciated, devalued the program for those people that night. But I haven't given up the chance to be on Stars on Ice in the future."

Originally from a small town called Caroline in Alberta, Canada, ("Oops, you missed it," Mr. Browning joked), his skating future initially was directed toward hockey. Then his mother put him in a figure-skating program, which wasn't so unusual in Caroline at the time. "I think every mother put every kid in figure skating," he said.

Youths in Caroline had just one hour of hockey practice a week, plus a game on Saturday. "You're not gonna learn how to skate with that much ice time," he said.

And that would be a problem in a place where everyone is skate crazy.

"I think everybody in town figure-skated," Mr. Browning said.

The program in which his mother enrolled him was "pretty simple" at first, he recalled, with games such as "tag." But as the program got more complicated, Mr. Browning started to get good. Very good.

He was scoring goals in hockey, too. But he said he never seriously considered a career in the sport. "I was good because of my figure skating, not because I was Wayne Gretzky."

When Mr. Browning was 16, his family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, and a decision had to be made. "Mom and dad said, 'Look, that's it for hockey, we can't pay for both.' " The thinking was also that the years of training in figure skating could be ruined by one bad hockey injury.

The 16-year-old Browning concurred. "I wasn't excited about quitting hockey, but I saw the logic in it."

Four years later, he placed fifth in the 1986 Canadian Championships. He established a style as a brash Westerner, with jumps that were labeled "raw, confident and powerful." He was the first athlete to complete a quadruple jump in world competition.

In 1987, Mr. Browning placed second in the Canadian Championships. Two years later, he was the world champion. He repeated the feat in 1990 on home Canadian ice in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Friends and family were on hand to cheer, he recalled. "To have the crowd sing 'Oh Canada.' You think of that perfect moment, and that was as close as I came to that perfect moment."

His best finish in the Winter Olympics was fifth in 1994, but after turning professional he won the World Professional Figure Skating Championship in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

Now married and living in Toronto, Mr. Browning has been with the Stars on Ice tour for six years, going to more than 65 cities each year and performing before people who want to see excellent skating, but who also expect to be entertained. The performers skate solo and together in elaborate set pieces complete with props.

So how is a skater to judge how he's doing -- without judges?

"Competition has that quick fix. You finish your program and you know right away if you did well," Mr. Browning said.

"You know if you're gonna be happy that night. It has that instant fix at the end of the night. Whereas with Target Stars on Ice you look back over the last three months and say 'How did I skate this year?' as opposed to the last three minutes. It's a long hard haul, but totally worth it. And you look back at it -- it could be the best years of your life."

So he still thinks about his routines -- and frets about them as well.

He will perform two solos Saturday. In addition to the "Hollywood Cowboy Gone Bad" routine, he will perform a spot that has been choreographed as a flamenco-style glide and swirl on the ice. But there are no jumps and no spins, he noted, with a certain degree of concern.

"You're expected to go out there and do jumps and stuff. I'm really nervous that it doesn't have any jumps. You're just supposed to be impressed with the program."

And the Stars on Ice skaters could be their own best -- and worst -- judges.

"You should see us if we don't skate well. Boy, we get so upset," Mr. Browning said. "So we take it very seriously. It's you standing in front of people who have paid a lot of money to come see you. You want desperately to do your best every night."

Of course, it's well known that figure skaters have been known to have strong personalities both on and off the ice.

"We love each other but we're pushed together. There have been years where people have been snarky and we've had arguments," Mr. Browning said.

"But this year it's been really smooth. Maybe it's just the high energy that Scott's outputting."

He was referring to Scott Hamilton, former Olympic gold medalist and world champion, and the person who founded Stars on Ice in 1986. Mr. Hamilton has co-headlined and co-produced the show for 14 touring seasons, but the current tour will be his last. The show is officially titled, "Target Presents: Scott Hamilton's Farewell to Stars on Ice." Mr. Hamilton, who has had health problems in the past, has stressed that he is not retiring or stopping skating, but there are other things he wants to accomplish.

Mr. Hamilton's solo numbers include skating to James Brown's "I Feel Good" and Frank Sinatra's "My Way."

"He's quite the leader," Mr. Browning said. On the other hand, that this is his last Stars on Ice tour "makes it very difficult for him. ..."

"He takes every night very seriously. He's under a lot of pressure, but happy."

Which, in turn, can put pressure on his fellow skaters to perform well and make Mr. Hamilton happy.

"It's almost like a team. If you don't skate well you're pulling the show down," Mr. Browning said.

And those nights when Mr. Browning skates well?

"You feel like you're a bit of a hero out there," he replied enthusiastically.