Tessa Virtue dropped in on a youth skate practice to offer up some inspiring advice

Tessa Virtue sure knows how to pay it forward—after becoming the most decorated Olympic figure skater ever (along with partner, Scott Moir) in 2018, she's now using her retirement to inspire the next generation of little athletes. In honour of Barbie's 61st anniversary (one day after International Women's Day it's worth noting) and the country-wide launch of her Tessa Barbie doll, the Canadian hero crashed a youth skate practice in Toronto to offer some sage words of wisdom to what might as well be a group of mini-Tessas."Each and every one of you can truly accomplish and pursue anything you can imagine," she told the group. "I remember being exactly in your place when I was dreaming about the Olympic Games and I had some skaters that I would look up to and never did I think that one day I would be able to stand on an Olympic podium and there I was. I had really lofty goals and I worked really hard and then I was able to accomplish that."After her pep talk, Tessa sat back as the team performed a choreographed routine they'd been working on. She then skated around with them for a while, offering one-on-one advice about everything from dream-coaching to proper spread eagle form.Last year, Tessa not only debuted her own Barbie doll (which wears her now-iconic red Mathieu Caron costume from her and Scott's 2018 "Moulin Rouge" Long Program and is available Canada-wide exclusively at Toys R Us) she also became a Barbie Dream Gap ambassador. Mattel's Dream Gap program is an initiative aimed at giving young girls inspirational role models in an effort to stamp out self-limiting beliefs. When girls grow up in a world where boys are treated as more capable, they tend to believe it. Tessa wants to help end that.

Winding down #internationalwomensday ? How did you celebrate? pic.twitter.com/HHeIww2cSs

— Tessa Virtue (@tessavirtue) March 9, 2019

"We’re really talking about the idea of being limitless and being able to set goals and work hard to achieve whatever it is we want," she told media. She explained that it was being surrounded by strong capable women that taught her early on that she could really be anything—even a world-renowned Olympic athlete.

"To pursue anything that I could dream"

"I grew up with an incredible group of women surrounding me—my grandma, my mom, sister—all who really instilled this idea of limitlessness, and I grew up feeling like I could be anything and to pursue anything that I could dream, crazy as it may seem," she said. "I'm so thankful for those fierce, independent, really strong, bright women and I just grew up wanting to emulate that and not really knowing anything else." She added that her drive to instill that in others is the reason she loves the work she does.[video_embed id='1913171']RELATED: Tessa Virtue tells us how she’s celebrating International Women’s Day[/video_embed]Tessa also acknowledged that it's not all inspirational talks and Olympic medals—we all deserve a break from the hustle from time to time, as trite as it might sound."It's important to find some semblance of balance—I know that's a buzzword—but it's important," she said. "It's sort of ingrained in us from an early age to just continue to pursue and 'what's next?' and 'how can we be better, bigger?' and 'how can we continue to accomplish things?' and sometimes we don't remember to stop and reflect on what we've done.""I've learned—I know the buzzword is 'self-care'—but I know the importance of that," she continued. "And as an introvert, it's important for me to spend time on my own and whether that's a bath and a really good book or a conversation with a really close friend or my mom, that also is refreshing."As for that "retirement" she thought she was in for when she and Scott stepped out of the skating spotlight?"I haven't golfed as much as I thought I would as a retired person," she joked.[video_embed id='1917878']BEFORE YOU GO: Dolly Parton wants to pose for Playboy again for her 75th birthday[/video_embed]