Two South Canterbury skaters are in line to compete in Australia next month.
Kyla Beveridge, 15, and Grace Worner, 16, have the opportunity to compete in speed skating at the Brisbane Roller Sports Showcase.
However, their chances are reliant on fundraising.
Grace’s mother Andrea Worner said while mainstream sports could usually find financial backing to get teams overseas, it was a little trickier with niche sports.
And as it was a small sport nationally, to get the competition and experience skaters needed to compete in the world championships they had to compete overseas.
For Geraldine High School student Grace, it was the opportunity to get back on to an international track after winning a silver and a bronze medal in South Korea, at the Namwon Korea Speed Open last year.
For Roncalli College student Kyla, the competition would be a chance to practise before representing New Zealand at the world championships in Paraguay this October.
Kyla’s mother Helen Beveridge said 10 years ago the family had been heading back to the car after a day at the beach.
At the carpark they could hear music and lots of people coming from behind a concrete walled area.
‘‘It looked and sounded like something fun was happening inside.
‘‘Kyla pulled us to go and investigate.’’
The roller sports club had just hosted a competition and were packing up, but they invited Kyla back to the ‘‘learn to skate’’ session the following Sunday.
Mrs Beverige said then 6-year-old Kyla loved it straight away, but she was not a natural.
‘‘Not by any stretch of the imagination.’’
As Kyla worked through the programme, she saw a few others who had started after her progress through to the speed team before her.
‘‘Eventually I think the coach decided that Kyla had tried and tried but wasn’t getting the final few skills and to just put her through as a reward for her effort.’’
However, once Kyla attended the speed skating sessions, her mother said she fell in love with the sport even more; making friends and getting to skate more often.
‘‘Back then Kyla was a shy, anxious wee person.’’
She said her daughter would not speak in front of her class or to many adults, but through the support and encouragement of her coaches and the officials, and the role modelling of the older skaters, she grew in confidence.
‘‘Firstly just inside the club, then it spread to outside skating and in to her whole life. She has become a confident, enthusiastic, passionate, friendly young adult.’’
Mrs Beverige said the whole club — parents, skaters and coaches — all provided a fantastic environment which built the kids up and helped them grow into wellrounded adults.
‘‘Many of the past skaters have been head boys or girls at high school and have represented New Zealand in speed skating, and some have gone on to represent New Zealand in other sports as well.
‘‘The club becomes like extended family — our skating family.’’
She said it was the support and inclusion to everyone — by everyone — that made the club so great.
‘‘The club nurtures selfbelief and resilience, the kids build lifelong friendships. There are pathways for noncompetitive skating into coaching and officiating as well as pathways for the competitive kids.
‘‘Like Kyla, it can take them all over the world.’’
She had competed across the country, to Australia and recently to Europe.
‘‘In April this year she travelled to Germany and Portugal with a couple of New Zealand skater friends to train with Jay Ingram the USA team coach and race in three European races.’’
‘‘One of the highlights was that her coaches Bill and Cheryl Begg were visiting family in Germany and managed to cheer her on in one of the finals.’’
Kyla, a distance skater, had a goal to make all the A finals at each of the competitions, which she achieved.
She had even made the top 20 in most of the finals.
The cookie dough fundraiser (which also had tea and croissants available for purchase) could be found on: southcanterburyspeedskatingccc.raiseit.co.nz
The club’s public sessions run on Sundays from 2pm-4pm; and in school holidays Tuesdays and Thursdays 2pm-4pm.
‘‘You will most likely find Kyla down there willing to help any new skaters to learn and hanging out in the safe, fun environment of the club.’’
