WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
grown up
All
Hartsells cherish memories of skating together by LOIS ELFMAN
When Danielle Hartsell-Minnis looks back
on her skating career, she thinks about the time she got to spend with her brother, Steve Hartsell. Now that she’s older and lives with her husband and two children in Charlotte, N.C., and they only see each other once or twice a year, the years they spent skat- ing together are deeply meaningful. “Even though we fought quite a bit over the
years, I have some great memories of being with him and sharing that journey with him that I’ll al- ways cherish,” Danielle said. Danielle, 34, and Steve, 36, grew up in West-
land, Mich., and began skating at a rink in Wayne. Steve took up hockey at a young age and by the time Danielle was about 3 she asked to play hockey as well. Teir parents weren’t keen on that idea, so they put her in learn-to-skate class. Sensing a pos- sible pairs connection, Danielle’s coach persuaded their parents to give Steve figure skating lessons to strengthen his skating skills. “I went the whole summer in hockey skates
Danielle and husband Chris have a busy life in Charlotte, N.C., with their active children, Olivia and Cameron. Steve Hartsell with girlfriend Teri Haag
doing some of the stuff,” Steve recalled. “Ten finally one day I went to my parents and said, ‘I need figure skates because I’m competing in a competition in December.’ Tey had assumed I was just going to do it for the summer and would go back to playing hockey.” He did both for about three years. When he was 9, the coach persuaded
the decidedly resistant siblings to team up. Both fell in love with pairs skating and they began the journey that would lead them to U.S. and World junior titles and the 1999 U.S. pairs crown. Tey continued training in Wayne until 1990. Eventually, they needed a
coach more focused on pairs and began training with Johnny Johns in Detroit. In 1991, they won the intermediate pairs title at the first U.S. Junior Cham- pionships. Within a couple of years, they were competing internationally. “Most of the trips, our parents couldn’t afford to go,” Steve said. “Our
first year at Junior Worlds we were fortunate that it was in Colorado Springs, so our parents went to that (they competed four times at the World Junior Championships, winning gold, silver and bronze medals). Our first interna- tional competition was in Germany and our parents didn’t go. “Te fact that we didn’t have our parents at a lot of competitions really
forced us to grow up and be responsible,” he continued. “Te other skaters, their parents were helping them pack and make sure they had their tickets. We had to do that by ourselves. Our coaches and other adults were there, but we still had to take responsibility. I think that helped us along the way. We always felt that we were responsible for what we needed to do.” Both cite winning the U.S. senior title as a career highlight. Unfortunate-
ly, they were unable to defend their title, as Danielle suffered a fractured right kneecap in December 1999. Doctors were uncertain if she’d ever skate com-
8 NOVEMBER 2014
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