TUPPER LAKE – On Saturday, an expert came here to offer his advice and encouragement to the young figure skaters.

Scott Allen, an Olympic bronze medalist, World Championship silver medalist and two-time U.S. national champion figure skater, came to the Tupper Lake Memorial Civic Center Saturday to skate with the Tupper Lake Figure Skating Club.

Allen still holds the Winter Olympic record for the youngest male medalist and youngest individual medalist for winning the bronze medal at the age of 14 at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

Members of the club, coached by Amy Payton, practiced their routines and talked with Allen, who answered questions, posed for photos and signed autographs.

Allen was visiting with Adirondack Club and Resort developer Tom Lawson and commented on the importance of the project to the area.

“I’m a big supporter of the Adirondack Club project,” Allen said. “It’s all about having people connect with the beauty that’s around here, the outdoor beauty. Their vision is quintessentially about the Adirondacks and about bringing people together with nature, and this project does that.

“Interaction with nature is a dynamic process; it’s not static. You just have to have the facilities to bring people in a careful way and let them have the benefit and pleasure of that Adirondack experience. I was blessed to have it because of my skating, but this is a unique environment, and it lends itself really to connecting with nature.

“There aren’t many places like Tupper Lake where you have a year-round opportunity to do that, on the water, or on the ice, or in the mountains.”

Allen explained a little about his training regimen during his skating heyday.

“I skated 11 months of the year, five hours a day, six-and-a-half days a week, from (age) 6 to 18,” Allen said. “If you took a week off, it would take you two weeks to get back to where you were.

“It’s very much (about) the feel of the ice. It’s like a golfer. If you ask them what they do in their time off, they say, ‘Well, we do little chip shots, and we can do that for an hour, just to get the feel of it.’ It’s all about feeling comfortable on the ice.”

Allen offered some advice for the budding figure skaters in the club.

“Really enjoy and love it, number one. Number two, the rest will come,” Allen said. “The practice and everything else becomes self-motivating. It’s like anything else. If you love gymnastics or hockey, you want to go out and practice more.”

Isabella Stalhammar, 10, of Tupper Lake asked Allen when he started skating.

“Five,” Allen said.

“Oh, my God,” replied Stalhammar.

“My mother drove me a lot,” Allen said.

Allen’s mother is Sonja Fuhrman, a Swedish figure skating champion. Allen skated in his first national competition at the age of 9; he won a silver medal.

Allen stayed on hand throughout the club’s practice.