By Victoria Stone-Meadows
YEAR eight student Rachael Nolan from Hillcrest Christian College in Clyde has been selected to represent Australia at the Oceania Artistic Roller Skating Championships.
She will depart along with other members of the Australian team for Whanganui, New Zealand, on Friday 2 September.
The 15-year-old has been skating since she was six years old and is very excited to travel overseas to compete.
“This is my first international competition and I don’t feel like it’s happening,” she said.
“I’m only 15 and I’m getting an Australian track suit.”
Rachael first started skating when her grandfather found a pair of roller skates on a pile of hard waste.
“My grandpa picked them up and took them home where we have a really steep driveway and I wasn’t falling down so skating came pretty naturally to me,” she said.
She will compete in the solo dance category of the competition with a routine that she has worked very hard on.
“I’m a pirate and will dance to music from Pirates of the Caribbean,” she said.
“My coach picked the music and I think I can embody the character pretty well.”
Sharon Pedro, Rachael’s pastoral teacher at Hillcrest, said the school is very proud of her achievements.
“I’ve been teaching Rachel for two years and she has been an outstanding student and even won a few academic awards,” she said
“Rachael practises skating five nights but has never faltered in any of her school work and always stands out and shines.
“We are all really proud of her.”
Rachael said she is nervous about the competition but said skating means so much to her that it’s all worth it.
“I’m excited but I think when I get on the plane I’m going to get pretty nervous. Nerves are definitely a part of it,” she said.
“Skating just makes me feel really good and there is nothing quite like it. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s just a feeling.”
