Spotlight Series; Moema
How many years have you been skating?
A little over a year now, my first group lesson was on the 31/08/2023. Started skating soon after Lee valley ice center reopened in 2023.
What discipline is your favourite?
Hard to say, every single one of them is cool.
If I have to narrow it down I would say that I love seeing pairs it’s just incredible to see what they can do on the ice at such high speeds. BUT my absolute favourite is solo ice dance, the flow of movement is just beautiful and creativity is the only limit. There are no jumps which I feel typically take away from the dance routine since there is some time right before the jump where the skater prepares for the jumps and just makes the dance routine a little ugly by breaking the flow of movements.
What skates are you repping?
I have the Risports Electra Light. They are my first ever pair of skates.
They are comfortable and I broke them in quite easily.
I wouldn’t know if there are better skates or blades for me since I don’t know better.
Biggest achievement so far?
Not giving up on skating.
I knew it was a hard sport but it really is a test of patience, consistency and effort. I also have extremely high standards and expectations so for a sport that takes years to master, it is definitely a challenge. I’ve thought about giving up on many occasions but decided to adjust my expectations and assess the level of effort I was actually inputting against the expectations I had.
In the end it has pushed me to work harder and be less critical of myself and to try to have more fun.
Ice skating has allowed me to be consistent with a sport for the first time since I became a teen, it has pushed me to try other hobbies and to upkeep an overall active lifestyle I would otherwise have a hard time maintaining.
Most embarrassing fall?
Any slow motion fall. The kind of fall where there is clearly enough time save ourselves but somehow we still end up falling after what seemed like an eternity. Of course, someone was watching the whole thing.
Just sad.
Who is your skating idol?
Yebin Mok
Their skating looks effortless and so smooth. Setting the bar quite high for what I would like to achieve skill wise.
Any plans for your future skating?
Continue to learn more steps and improve my movements. I would like to be more graceful and reach a level where I can improvise my own dance sequences and not feel limited by my knowledge or lack thereof.
Best ‘trick’?
Not dying. Very useful.
With the ice skating skills my friends and family have, crossovers and 3 turns is enough to earn their praises and esteem. I don’t show off, it is usually when you show off that you fall and embarrass yourself, so I don’t really have a best ‘trick’.
Any helpful tips for other skaters?
– Trusting yourself
– “Just do it” mindset otherwise there is no progress
– Knee and ankle mobility & strenghtening training from the start
– Flexibility training from the start
– Making time to regularly practice outside of the coached lessons. It doesn’t have to be long sessions, showing up and doing 30 min is better than nothing
