Natasha and Her Ice Skating Team Crowned British Champions

Year 11 Gillotts Student and Captain of Slough Synchro Ice Skating team, Natasha Peter has won the Britannia Cup in Nottingham recently with her team beating more than 10 teams and being crowned the British Champions 2023.

In this her only second season in synchro, the 16 skater team competed in both the beginners and intermediate categories and Natasha was delighted to win.  She said, “I wasn’t nervous and we performed well and I was really happy with my team.  The most important thing was to keep smiling as that’s how you get the points.  It was a long day, waking up at 6.00am, on the ice at 7.00am and not finishing until 8.00pm at night but it was well worth it.”  Natasha and her team skated to a Spice Girls and Lion King medley for their performances.

Natasha first went on the ice at around 4 years old. She commented, “I used to go to the pop-up ice rinks at Christmas and use a penguin to hold on it.  When I was 7 I started coaching at Slough. She had 2/3 years no skating when then ice rink was under refurbishment and during Covid she just had off-ice training too.  Natasha trains around 6 hours, twice a week, at Slough.  She started as a solo skater before being invited to join the synchro team in August 2021.  Natasha commented, “Synchro was completely new to me.  The difference with synchro is that everyone’s skills matter not just yours. You need to work together as a team.  As Captain I need to signal the parts and shout the moves. I am quite shy so when I started yelling at the team initially they were quite shocked.  It helps that I play the violin so I can keep in tempo.”

Luckily Natasha has never broken any bones, only a few sprains.  Her advice to people starting out would be to “Keep your head, keep persevering and don’t be afraid of falling.  I used to learn ballet when I was younger and I definitely think that helped with my ice skating.”

What’s next for Natasha?  She’ll be training for the International competition in March in Sheffield where she’ll be competing against teams from around the world.  Her goal at the moment is to progress through the categories whilst still studying hard at school for her GCSEs and A Levels.

Natasha loves synchro ice skating saying, “I like meeting new people, it’s really fun and you make a whole family in the team who are very supportive.”

We’d like to wish Natasha and her team well for the International competition in March.