Elvis Stojko clearly knows how to make the most of a visit to Sudbury.

In town a few weeks back, working a series of day-long clinics for the Nickel Blades Skating Club along with his wife Gladys, Stojko imparted some wisdom in terms of the tweaking of on-ice skills, to be sure.

More important, however, was the messaging that took a more "big picture" look at all that goes in to any athlete looking to maximize their skating talents with years and years of practice hours spent in the rinks.

"I want them to focus on who they are as a person and not just fixating on the skater," said Stojko, three-time World champion, two-time Olympic silver medal winner and seven time national men's skating champion.

"I try and steer them away from measuring their self-worth based on skating results."

Now 52 years of age, the native of Newmarket still performs regularly in a variety of international shows, in addition to working clinics similar to his recent visit to the George Armstrong Arena in Garson.

In a sport that can frequently test the belief in one-self, Stojko is well aware of the mental toll that elite skaters often pay.

"You will fail, you will hit the ground - and you need to pick yourself back up," he said. "They should learn things about themselves; learn who they are - what their strengths and weaknesses are."

"The situations that are challenging in life do not make you strong, they simply unveil the strength you already have."

Thankfully, memories of Sudbury for the Canadian icon who began skating at the age of four will always rank as among his most cherished. In 1990, the Canadian Figure Skating Championships were hosted in the Nickel City, with Stojko all of 17 years old at the time.

"I will never forget it," he said. "It was my second year as a senior but first time making it to nationals. I burst on to the scene, landed my triple axel and made the world team."

"That was a huge jump into the limelight."

Though he would secure second place at the competition, with Kurt Browning earning gold for the second time in his career, many who attended the event would suggest that Stojko outskated the defending champion.

Still, this was truly the launch of more than a decade of skating excellence for Elvis Stojko.

"Every time I come up to Sudbury, those memories come back - the feelings, the sensations," he stated. "I still remember the feeling in that arena."

These days, however, he arrives with the perspective that comes with an extra 35 years or so of life experiences - and the ability to share all of that with the next generation of young skating talent in northern Ontario.