More than 40 figure skaters from Alexandra, Queenstown, Gore and Dunedin attended the first South Island competition of the season at IceInline on Sunday (July 6).

Clubs from around the region that are part of the New Zealand Ice Figure Skating Association were involved in the Alexandra Ice Skating Club Championships.

Alexandra had a strong number of entries - making up half of the competition - who had been training under Canadian coach Seema Mustaqeem, from Calgary.  

This was the first competition in the 2025 national circuit that gave skaters a chance to qualify for the Zealand Ice Figure Skating Championships in Auckland in October.

As well as junior skaters (under 18), the Alexandra club also had several adult skaters, including new club president Jo Tickle.

Next weekend Seema will travel with the Alexandra skaters to Dunedin for the Otago Southland Championships.

Seema had been travelling around New Zealand for three months prior to arriving in Alexandra, and saw the coaching job advertised at IceInline - teaching school children and community groups.  

The Alexandra Ice Skating Club had also been looking for a coach for its Kiwiskate programme and to train its competitive skaters. 

Seema’s holiday soon turned into a busy winter job; and she arrived in May to take over from Sam Kuri who coached in 2024.

Seema has been coaching in Canada since she was 12, and became a certified figure skating coach when she was just 16.

“We don’t have these sort of facilities in Canada that are so community based and people here don’t realise how special it is,” she said.

Jo said she was incredibly proud of the effort that everyone put into running their first competition for the season. 

“So many club members and parents turned up first thing to help out for the day, even if they weren’t competing themselves, they were more than happy to lend a hand. Skating is such an individual sport however it was humbling to see everyone come together and support each other as a team.”

She said the club was incredibly lucky to have an ice rink in Alexandra.

“[I]t’s really encouraging to see an increasing amount of young skaters start competing, Sam and Seema our coaches have done an amazing job preparing the skaters, and to watch everyone go out there and give it their best and face their own challenges with so much confidence was truly admirable.”

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