News
A massive step forward as the UK skaters over 18s are back on the ice
News
A massive step forward as the UK skaters over 18s are back on the ice
The team Solway Stars a few months before the pandemic. (Credits: Ice Galaxy - 2020)
For the past few days, the hearts of British skaters have been beating again! After long months of pandemic, skaters over 18s can return to the ice, but not all!
Three synchro teams from Great Britain answered us: Solway Stars from Dumfries in Scotland, Wight Jewels from Isle of Wight and Magenta Senior (Wales) who still suffers from many restrictions.
First of all, how is your team doing after such an unusual season?
Solway Stars: Of course, after having such a difficult year with COVID it has been hard to do what we love which is coming together as a team and skating. Throughout this last year, we have continued with off-ice through zoom and lately, we have been able to bring that off-ice to our rink car park! Which has been a lovely experience as we have been able to catch up with each other and be together as a team again.
Wight Jewels: We are doing good! Really glad to be back on the ice and training together again after such a long time! Looking forward to seeing what we can do now we can start to hold on again!
Magenta Senior: We have not been able to return to the ice yet as rinks in Wales are still not open. We are travelling to London for ice this weekend, and that will be the 2nd time we've trained in 15/16 months.
Solway Stars: Of course, after having such a difficult year with COVID it has been hard to do what we love which is coming together as a team and skating. Throughout this last year, we have continued with off-ice through zoom and lately, we have been able to bring that off-ice to our rink car park! Which has been a lovely experience as we have been able to catch up with each other and be together as a team again.
Wight Jewels: We are doing good! Really glad to be back on the ice and training together again after such a long time! Looking forward to seeing what we can do now we can start to hold on again!
Magenta Senior: We have not been able to return to the ice yet as rinks in Wales are still not open. We are travelling to London for ice this weekend, and that will be the 2nd time we've trained in 15/16 months.
Having the over 18s back on the ice is a massive step forward!
Solway Stars: Sure and hopefully, a rule that stays in place! Over the last year, very little skating has been allowed across the whole of Britain and even less for those over 18 as they have been restricted even more to when they could get back on the ice. The rules changing last week have been very beneficial for the club and the skaters themselves as it gets everyone back on the ice and doing what they love! It creates people to have a happy and healthy mindset during this time.
Wight Jewels: As we are a senior team the majority of our team is over 18 so we only started training again as a team this week after a long 6 months!
Solway Stars: Sure and hopefully, a rule that stays in place! Over the last year, very little skating has been allowed across the whole of Britain and even less for those over 18 as they have been restricted even more to when they could get back on the ice. The rules changing last week have been very beneficial for the club and the skaters themselves as it gets everyone back on the ice and doing what they love! It creates people to have a happy and healthy mindset during this time.
Wight Jewels: As we are a senior team the majority of our team is over 18 so we only started training again as a team this week after a long 6 months!
Magenta Senior is still training by Zoom, what about you?
Wight Jewels: We train once a week for an hour off ice and an hour and a half on ice as a team because our skaters come from all over the south to train as the Isle of Wight ice rink closed in 2016 but we still have skaters who travel over to Gosport where we train now.
Solway Stars: Unfortunately at the moment, we are still having to follow the social distancing rules, so we are currently only working on our single skating. Improving our skating skills, increasing our fitness and getting back to a form of normality!
Wight Jewels: We train once a week for an hour off ice and an hour and a half on ice as a team because our skaters come from all over the south to train as the Isle of Wight ice rink closed in 2016 but we still have skaters who travel over to Gosport where we train now.
Solway Stars: Unfortunately at the moment, we are still having to follow the social distancing rules, so we are currently only working on our single skating. Improving our skating skills, increasing our fitness and getting back to a form of normality!
What are your plans for the upcoming season?
Magenta Senior: A training season for sure. Our coach believes that it would be best for us all to return to the ice and find our 'Sweet Spots' again. That will take time as we've not skated for so long. Not competing takes away the pressure and we can concentrate on basics and re-grouping as a team.
Solway Stars: Next season will be an experience that I’m sure no team will forget! The year we all come back together at competitions (hopefully!) and get to feel the competition buzz again! At this moment in time, we have no plan set in stone like I’m sure many other teams are in the same situation as of course, no one knows what COVID is going to be like in the months to come. We are just looking forward to see and experience what this next coming season has in store for us!
Wight Jewels: We are really looking forward to the upcoming season, getting our programmes back out there, enjoying competing again, especially the British Championships! We can’t wait to see everyone and hope you all have a great time back on the ice!
Magenta Senior: A training season for sure. Our coach believes that it would be best for us all to return to the ice and find our 'Sweet Spots' again. That will take time as we've not skated for so long. Not competing takes away the pressure and we can concentrate on basics and re-grouping as a team.
Solway Stars: Next season will be an experience that I’m sure no team will forget! The year we all come back together at competitions (hopefully!) and get to feel the competition buzz again! At this moment in time, we have no plan set in stone like I’m sure many other teams are in the same situation as of course, no one knows what COVID is going to be like in the months to come. We are just looking forward to see and experience what this next coming season has in store for us!
Wight Jewels: We are really looking forward to the upcoming season, getting our programmes back out there, enjoying competing again, especially the British Championships! We can’t wait to see everyone and hope you all have a great time back on the ice!
