Love on Ice

In the late 1980's, Dublin native Steven Nelson found his passion on the ice: first as a teenage hockey player  and then as a figure skater who won Pacific Coast and Central Pacific championships and became a U.S. national competitor. 

Nelson decided to turn his talent into a paying job and joined the Ice Capades out of high school. He quickly became disenchanted with being part of the chorus so he taught himself a few tricks such as back flips and jumping over objects so that he could become a principal skater. 

It was an exciting time as Nelson dazzled crowds with his flips and jumps. There were some setbacks as well,  including the time he didn't quite make it over the car he was jumping and ended up recovering in bed for several weeks.

About the same time, Rita Nelson was a figure skater in Hungary. She had dreams of traveling the world and skating became a way to achieve that goal. Rita became a principal skater, too. 

The couple's paths would cross for the first time when both worked for different touring groups of Holiday on Ice. They were in Italy for a day when they met for the first time. After that day in Italy, the touring groups went their separate ways. Rita says she always remembered "the guy that did the back flips" and Steven says he remembered "the girl in the yellow dress."

Four years later, the two wound up principal skaters on a tour that started in South Africa. They became friends and had a lot of fun together during the three-month tour. Rita recalled the practical jokes they'd play on each other in the dressing rooms, such as tying each other's skates together. 

After the tour ended, they were separated for a couple of months, but were reunited again to tour Central America. This is when things really started to heat up off the ice. So it was hard when Rita was told she would be leaving the tour and sent to join a touring group in Mexico.

Once Rita's tour ended she planned to visit Steven in Zurich before going back home to Hungary. Just as she was getting ready to go, Steven called Rita and told her that the female principal from his touring group had broken her ankle and Rita was needed to finish the tour. Rita toured with Steven once again and they married soon after.

The couple has been married for 18 years. They live in Dublin with their teenage daughters and an 8-year-old son. Both keep their love of the ice alive by teaching and training students at Dublin's . They also still skate for fun, although you won't find Steven trying to jump any cars these days!