Girl gets the gold
3 August 2018
They're fast, elegant, strong, and now medal-winning.
Skaters from Tauranga Roller Skating have done the region proud, after carving it up at the New Zealand Artisitc Roller Sports Championships.
Club coach, Michelle Webb, says the skaters have made an impressive mark on the competition, collectively bringing home two medals and a number of significant placings.
Michelle says one of their biggest achievments is nine year old skater Hannah Lines winning a gold medal. "Shes only been skating for 16 months but shes been training 6 days a week because it was her dream to win. Michelle says shes watched Hannah go from barely being able to stand on skates, to only skating a few meters and falling hard, then managing to conquer three or four more metres; and eventually through determination and perserverance, to finding her groove.
"She would get up, try again, fall back down, and try again. I thought this is not going to work and then her mum bought her a pair of competition skates".
Hannah went to a few lessons to learn the proper techniques and through a few private lessons the penny dropped and she blossomed.
"Shes put hours into it, leaving school early to be able to train one day a week and it was all worth it. Now shes a natural."
However with a gold medal comes a higher grade.
"She has two weeks off then she has to start training for the next nationals."
Also bringing home a medal is Belinda Gifford who secured second place in dance.
"Shes obviously really proud of her achievement. We went in as the under dogs competing against skaters who have been doing it for years and are a part of these huge clubs.
"For us to go with only three skaters we felt undercapitalised and under recognised so whatever we took away was a bonus."
Michelle says the results are part of a team effort.
"You put endless hours into it as a coach, not only at the rink, but in the time spent preparing leotards, mapping out routines, hairstyles, and make up, all of these jobs which can take hours at home.
"its only a two and a half minute routine, and yet there is so much that goes in behind the scenes to get that end result - its all those finer details that make the difference at the end of the day."
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