Sisters, Jodi and Kirsty Goodall are young high-performance athletes who have achieved much in their respective disciplines of dance and figure skating.

Jodi (17) spends almost four hours a day participating in acrobatic dance, acro sport, modern, jazz and contemporary dance, with more time spent when preparing for competitions. When she is not dancing herself, she is student-teaching as part of her acrobatic teacher’s training.

Jodi qualified to represent Central Gauteng, and managed to compete in the South African Acrobatic National Championships in November under strict safety protocols where she placed third in her section. The biggest disappointment last season was having to cancel her trip to America in July where she would have competed in the American Dance Awards for which she qualified.

“My ultimate goal in dancing is to compete in an overseas competition and make my way into the professional industry,” she told Randburg Sun. “My number one challenge is juggling my school and dancing hours. I have always been good at this but since I am in matric this year, and the workload is greater, it has become a little more difficult. I stay focused by using my time spent at the dance studio as a distraction from the long hours spent at school.”

Kirsty (15) also puts in endless hours of practice, doing solo skating between 5am and 7am before school three times a week, plus some evenings. Then at 6am on Sundays, she does synchronised skating. In addition to figure skating, Kirsty also does ballet two afternoons per week. She completed an online Royal Academy of Dance exam during the lockdown and is preparing for her next one later this year. Kirsty also qualified to represent Central Gauteng in the South African National Figure Skating Championships 2020 which was postponed and then cancelled.

She has an opportunity to represent again this year, hoping all goes well for nationals scheduled for June 2021. She will compete in the novice solo division, as well as mixed-age synchronised skating, earning double provincial colours. “My ambition is to compete internationally but my greatest challenge is the number of injuries I have had this year already,” Kirsty added. “The only way I can get through my daily commitments is by focusing on one thing at a time, and not letting my mind wander about what is still to come.”

The sisters even started a business together making tie-dye T-shirts and that business has now progressed to printed T-shirts, bags, masks and more.