MAKING A CHAMPION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 August 1938, Page 10

MAKING A CHAMPION

BIG OUTLAY FOR SKATING STAR. CECILIA COLLEDGE’S CAREER. How many of the thousands of people Who have seen the world’s leading ice-skaters in person, or, who have seen such stars as Sonja Henie in image on the screen, realise that it may have-cost anything up to £lO,OOO to produce the grace, skill and perfection displayed? Not very many, one would say;: That ■'figure—ten thousand pounds!—may sound incredible, but it can be proved by examining the,'history of Cecilia Colledge, the 16-year-old English champion. The story 'is told by the girl’s mother, Mrs A. Colledge. Mrs Colledge had made up her mind before Cecilia was born that the child was to be champion at some sport. As she watched her grow she was delighted. She could see the prospects of her dream coming true. But it was not until Cecilia was seven that she had the first glimmering of the goal at which her daughter was eventually to aim. She was taken to the World’s Skating Championships and they had then a glimpse of the star whose course she was to follow and whose place she was destined to take —Sonja Henie. As they watched this wonder girl skater spinning and gliding on the ice, Mrs Colledge noticed Cecilia attentive and enthralled. “I want to do that, mother,” she said. Mrs , Colledge then made up her mind. Cecilia was to be a skating champion. But little did her mother realise the years-of hard work and sacrifice on which they were embarking. The results have proved, . however, that they were worth while. It was eighteen months later that Cecilia started training in earnest to be a skater, the intervening time being spent in Swedish exercises and dancing, to develop her body on graceful lines. She was placed eventually in the hands of • the famous coach, Gerschwiler, whom the Swiss call the Svengali of the ice rink. She became his star pupil, and then the hard work began. Here, for. instance, is a typical day’s programme. Any young girl skater must da the same if she is to achieve world fame. Out of bed at seven. Half an hour’s specially designed exercises. Breakfast. Three or four hours’ hard skating practice, spending perhaps as much as an hour on a particular figure or movement. (All those fancy spins and swirls in the free skating exhibitions are but a part of championship skating. It is the basic “school figures” which have to be got right first, to a matter of inches.)

Then follow lunch and study. Languages, general subjects, literature, music. They all have to be fitted in, for, bear in mind, these young skaters are still school-girls, although they appear so often in public. After lessons, back to the ice for still more practice, and so bed —the earlier the better.

During the peak seasons of their training Cecilia Colledge and her other young rivals spend more than 1000 hours a year on the ice. When they get near the top of the tree, it means sacrificing almost entirely the normal routine of the school-girl. The trainer becomes the “dictator” of their lives. He orders their sleeping and waking hours, their diet, their exercise, every miniite almost of their day. Mother becomes nothing much more than chaffeur and chaperon. And what anxiety she might feel reaches its height on those long Continental tours to Paris, St Moritz, Garmisch, wherever the ice calls. No matter where the girl skating aspirant may be —in shop, or hotel, or home—the secret of her success lies solely in her implicit obedience to her trainer. If he says skip, she skips; diet, she diets. Never is there one morning’s escape from exercise or practice of some description.

It takes from' eight to ten years to make a world’s skating champion, and the cost, Mrs Colledge has confirmed, may be anything up to £lO,OOO. There are many items which go to make it up. Expert coaching costs half a guinea for twenty minutes. For practice proper it is necessary to hire specially a portion of a rink, which is naturally an expensive matter. Travel, when the star has reached the stage of the great contests, is a big item, and there as the trainer’s expenses as well to be considered in this. Then clothes. The star performers may pay as much as 100 guineas for a skating frock. And now that she is a skating champion, Cecilia Colledge is still not satisfied. She is even today an expert swimmer, diver, acrobatic dancer, and tennis player, and she may decide soon to set out to try and become champion at one of these sports,