SPICE teams sparkle at British Synchronised Skating Championships in Nottingham

Former ice-skating star Robin Cousins presented the medals as the SPICE Sparkles and SPICE Crystals finished first and second in their category at the British Synchronised Skating Championships in Nottingham this weekend.

SPICE - Special People on ICE – teaches children with a variety of additional needs how to skate at the Slough Ice Arena.

They train every Sunday morning in Slough and have formed two ice skating teams that have performed brilliantly on the national stage in recent years.

Members of the team have a range of additional needs including cerebral palsy, autism, deafness, and global developmental delay.

This Saturday, they competed at the National Ice Arena in Nottingham in an inclusive category where at least 50 per cent of the team must have an additional need.

The category is judged by the same criteria as all the others in the competition, and the SPICE Sparkles finished top of the leaderboard with a new personal best score to boot.

They claimed the gold medal while in silver medal position was the SPICE Crystals, completing a memorable weekend for the club and its skaters.

Their routines were watched by large crowds at the championships who gave them both a rapturous round of applause. Both teams are coached by Annie Hodgson.

Speaking about the event, and the thrill and excitement it gave the team’s skaters, treasurer Jo Hodgson, said: “We’ve been going for 20 years now, teaching special needs ice skating, and we’re desperately trying to get more and more rinks to come and get involved.

“A couple of years ago, British Ice Skating allowed us to take our teams to do an exhibition skate. And then three or four years ago, they introduced a proper inclusive category, so teams are scored just like every other team is and they’re judged on the same criteria.

“It’s a small category, but we are getting scored properly and we’re also getting personal bests and doing really well.

“The Sparkles got their best score by a good couple of points this time. They’re back in action in Sheffield in March where they’ll try to win another trophy.

“The competition is amazing, and this year we had maybe three or four members who hadn’t done it before. To go from skating at Slough to the National Ice Hockey arena in Nottingham, where Torvill and Dean skated, is incredible. It’s huge, it’s a much bigger rink and I think it seats a few thousand in there.

“Our volunteers are also amazing. They come every week to skate with the kids and they give up their time to skate with them in competition.

“The support we get from the public is amazing. They put the lights on their phones, and they stand up. They love our routines. It’s fulfilling for everybody, not just us but the audience as well.”

Jo added: “The coach tries to balance out the two teams. We have children and young people with all different needs, so, some of them have physical issues and some have more behavioural issues. She (Annie Hodgson, the coach) tries to balance the teams out and on paper they’re probably equal, but on the day, one team did better than the other. It might be the other way around next time.”

She added: “By the criteria set by the national governing body, at least 50 per cent of the team have to have special needs. We’re probably slightly over that with 60 per cent of our team having special needs. Each team has 12 skaters, seven with special needs and five volunteers who skate with them.

The national ice-skating governing body, in conjunction with SPICE, have also been working to introduce a new dispensation scheme to mark skaters with special needs more accurately and fairly.

Jo continued: “When skaters get judged, some of our kids won’t pass because they can’t maybe lift their leg as high, or they need to hold onto something. But in the last year or so we’ve worked with them on a dispensation process which is now in situ in most rinks around the country.

“They haven’t yet got to competitions, where they mark against these special criteria, so our members get marked the same as everyone else, which is a bit harsh sometimes.

“But, with the introduction of the dispensation scheme I really hope we’ll see more and more teams (like SPICE) emerge. There are some teams abroad, but nothing else in the UK at the moment.”

For more information about SPICE, please visit www.spiceskating.org while Jo Hodgson, the club's secretary can be reached on 07831 669227 or secretary@spiceskating.org