Where’s My Super Suit? Recently, several members of the ISA Early Childhood team came dressed as superheroes to inspire ISA’s youngest learners in the Nursery and Pre-school programmes to gain a love of reading and develop a
Olympic rowing legend Steve Redgrave, to build a longtrack speed skating venue. This ever-growing level of support encouraged the British National Ice Skating Association (NISA) to work with Dutch speed skating
sense of adventure during ISA Book Week 2015.
groups to bring the recent UK Long Track Ice Speed
For ISA Nursery School assistant Jennifer Buckley,
2015.
her choice of character for the day wasn’t too difficult. Dressed as speedy superhero Frozone from The Incredibles, Buckley used the character to introduce the children to her own real-life “alter ego”: the new British national record holder for 5000m long track speed
Skating Division competition to the Hague in March
Competing in The Hague was Buckley’s first real return to skating after taking a break from competitive skating to focus on her new child. It was not a light decision.
skating.
“I waited until the last minute to send in my application.
Since the age of four, Buckley has been an avid fan of
do it. In the end, I had three weeks to train.”
skating. Initially starting out as a figure skater (her big sister did it, so of course she had to as well), Buckley took to the ice like a natural. By age eight, she and some other childhood skating friends decided to try their luck at speed skating, after realising that they were becoming too fast for the figure skating rink. “I always skated for fun and enjoyed the speed,” says Buckley. “Moving to speed skating allowed me to skate fast and to get “into the mix” of the race. For me, that’s what kept it interesting. The speed came along the way, and over time the fastest skaters in our group stayed. I was lucky to be one of them.”
But my colleague Elizabeth Arenas encouraged me to
Did she expect to win? “No. But I really hoped to, and knew who my strongest competition was, and kept her and her times in mind. I’m lucky to be able to train locally, and I really wanted to show that I could come back and do this. In the end, I won by 3/100ths of a second.” Buckley is a modest winner – almost reluctant to discuss her title and athletic abilities. Yet, once she starts telling you her story, you can’t help but be drawn in by her passion for the sport and her commitment to giving it all. And it is these qualities that allow her to inspire not only the children of ISA but also those who work with her. Good luck next season!
In the UK, short track skating is the only option speed skaters have for competing and training nationally. While Buckley originally started out as a short track skater, she always had an interest in long track. There are no 400m long track training or competing facilities in the country, and many skaters who want to pursue long track must go abroad to train. After meeting her Dutch husband through speed skating and re-locating to the Netherlands, Buckley decided to give long track a shot. She has been an avid long track skater ever since, skating with the Jaap Eden Baan team in Amsterdam Diemen. However, competing for Britain always remained a dream. Currently, there is a movement in the United Kingdom, spearheaded by skating aficionados as well as British
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