Ice princess Raeleigh
She was just two years old when she had her first encounter with the ice rink and has since then fallen in love with the sport.
It is just like dancing, but on ice.
This is how Raeleigh Schoombie, a Grade 12 pupil at UniCollege in Kenmare describes the feeling when she thinks about nothing other than sliding away her time on the ice with her skates.
Her first encounter with the ice rink was when she was merely two-years-old, but today she is raking in the awards one after the other.
“My mother Debbie used to skate and my sister followed in her footsteps. As soon as I was able to walk my mom took me to the ice rink which was at Key West Shopping Centre back then – and that is where I fell in love with the sport.”
She practices each week for about two and a half hours at the Northgate Ice Rink and go to Durban every other weekend where she receives coaching from Debbie Bates and Mark Cockrell, members of the 1984 USA Olympic ice-skating team, respectively.
All the practice since then has paid off as she recently placed first at the Central Gauteng Figure Ice Skating Provincials which was held at the Northgate Ice Arena and bagged a second place at the Durban Inter-provincial competition.
“This competitions is certainly my personal best at this stage, but I am definitely hoping to improve on some skills,” Raeleigh said who already has a level 4, with level 5 being the highest.
“But, I am not going to try and qualify for the nationals later this year as I need to focus on my matric year.”
She said she considers making figure ice skating a career as she is also already boasting as coach, but that she also wants to study.
“I initially wanted to study Journalism, but my parents did not agree with this career choice so I will instead be pursuing studies in Public Relations – I just love to write when I am not on the ice rink.”
Natalie Franklin, Programme Coordinator at UniCollege said they are very proud of Raeleigh and wish her well with any competitions she plans to take on this year.
