British women encouraged to take up ice skating

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As part of the This Girl Can campaign, NISA (The National Ice Skating Association) hopes to encourage even more females to get involved in ice skating and sign up to Skate UK lessons, available at a variety of ice rinks in England and Scotland.

The Skate UK programme is the only learn-to-skate course recognised by NISA, with lessons delivered by NISA accredited coaches. The course combines fun with learning, enabling skaters to achieve fundamental skills of ice skating in eight stages.

Figures released by Sport England have identified that there was a 27% increase in people participating in ice skating across a broad range of ability levels last year. Monthly participation figures show that 46,700 people took part in ice skating every month in 2014, of which, 64% were female.

Nick Sellwood, Chief Executive of NISA, said, “We are really pleased to learn that more people are showing an interest in ice skating in England. With strong British athletes such as Penny Coomes, Charlotte Gilmartin and Elise Christie flying the flag at international level, we hope these lessons will inspire a new generation of skaters, whilst also appealing to those women looking for an alternative way to keep fit and have fun.”

Three times British Ice Dance Champion, Penny Coomes, aged 26, who is on NISA’s World Class Figure Skating Programme, competed at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics with her partner Nick Buckland. She commented: “I started skating when I was 8; I was at a skiing birthday party at Bracknell leisure centre and afterwards, I stood and watched the ice skating in complete awe. After it caught my eye that was it, that’s what I wanted to do. I started practicing at that very moment on the floor, I even pretended to ice skate on the slippery floors of supermarkets and pretty much everywhere I went.”

25 year old GB Short Track Speed Skater, Charlotte Gilmartin, who is on NISA’s World Class Short Track Programme and competed for Great Britain in the 2014 Winter Olympics, said: “I loved sport as a child, mostly copying anything my brother did. The sports I tried were all quite different, from jujitsu to football and roller hockey, which massively helped my skating ability later on in life. By the time I was 12, I had discovered short track speed skating after being spotted at a party. I went to my local club in Solihull where I instantly felt at home and trained twice a week where possible. Within three years, I had made the national team and had the chance to represent my country. It’s been an amazing journey that has taken me many places all over the world.

To find out more about ice skating in the UK, go to www.iceskating.org.uk.

Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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