Phoenix rising - with her skates on
Eight wheels have taken roller skating-mad teen Phoenix Reid on a wild ride to Florence, Italy.
The Awatapu College year 12 pupil currently holds two Oceania age group titles in artistic roller skating. Over summer she seized the opportunity to take her sport further by training with an Italian roller skating team in Florence.
Artistic roller skating is essentially the same as ice figure skating, which many people have seen on television, Phoenix says.
‘‘We have free skating, with jumps and spins. Then we have dance, and the compulsory figures, where you have to follow the line and the try and be perfect.’’
Her contact with the Italian Firenze Oltrarno club began when a guest tutor visiting New Zealand invited Phoenix to visit.
To make it happen Phoenix approached the AFS international exchange student programme, and they helped her set up a two-month exchange to Florence.
Then she worked in a part-time job, studied Italian at home, saved hard, and studied to achieve an excellence endorsement in NCEA level 1 to prove she could juggle school, skating and the Italian trip.
Her exchange fitted into the New Zealand summer school holidays.
She stayed with a host family, and going to school in Italy, then arrived back in New Zealand just after the start of term 1.
Her Italian is now at a usable conversational level after the trip, and training with the Italian skaters has helped her push her skating and jump speeds.
‘‘I’m at the stage now where I’m moving from a double rotation, to triple rotation jumps, and that’s something I’m quite proud of.’’
Phoenix won the figure and dance sections at the 2016 Oceania Championships in Whanganui in September, and came third in free skating.
She hopes to defend her titles in Brisbane later this year.
She got started when she was five years old, joining friends, and says it was exciting and social.
‘‘As I got more into the competitive side, I started enjoying the challenges. There’s always something new to learn and things to work on.’’
She now skates for the Manawatu Skating Club.
The club was also the home club of Peter Michael, seven-time world speed skating champion, an Awatapu College old-boy.
‘‘It’s motivating to know that he’s from little-old Palmy, and you can achieve great things,’’ she says.
On March 18 Phoenix is competing in the Laurie Hastie Competition in Palmerston North, at the CET Arena 3.
It is open to the public, and she says it will be a good opportunity to have a look at artistic roller skating locally.