North Devon skater figuring out her journey to the top

Aisling Lessiter, who lives near South Molton in North Devon, is skating her way to an elite career on the ice. This is her amazing story so far, as told by mum Amy:

When Aisling Lessiter was six years-old, we had a family trip to Basingstoke where she tried skating for the first time.

From the minute she stepped on to the ice, she never needed a skating aid, it was strangely like she had done it a million times before.

After two years of listening to her pleas for skating lessons, we finally relented and she started skating at Plymouth Pavillions Ice rink in 2019. She quickly progressed in learning various elements of free-skating including edgework, jumps and spins.

Her coach, Shelly Clarke, is Canadian and was a talented skater in her youth at a high level. Shelly has expressed how unusual it is to have such a naturally gifted young skater. We have joked about how it's almost like she was a skater in a previous life because the ‘feel’ for the ice and skating has always been so strong.

After Covid, Aisling returned to regular training in September 2021 and by December 2022 it was announced that Plymouth ice rink would be closing permanently without a replacement facility. We then had no choice but to move Aisling’s training to Bristol Planet Ice facility where she has been training since January 2023 until present.

To put some context to Aisling’s dedication, she has been getting up at 3.15am since she was eight years-old because the training ice or ‘patch’ is early in the morning at 6am. In addition, with the locations being at least an hour and a half away from where we live, this has become a normal routine of very early mornings several times a week.

As well as the on-ice time, she also does off-ice training every day, and ballet, lyrical and musical theatre classes with Unlimited Dance Company (UDC) in Barnstaple. This helps to compliment her performance on the ice.

Up until recently, she also attended Falcon’s Gymnastics Academy from the age of three and only gave up because ice skating training has become so intense. Both UDC Ltd. and Falcon’s have, and continue to be, very supportive of Aisling’s skating journey and ambitions.

In October 2023, Aisling competed at National Level 2 in British Ice skating’s (BIS) Young Stars event in Sheffield. This was a nationwide event where skaters from all around the UK competed against each other.

She placed 1st in Level 2, receiving a gold medal in her first ever figure skating competition. In March 2024, Aisling competed again at the BIS Young Stars event in Sheffield at Level 3 and placed 2nd against the top 23 UK competitors in that category.

Aisling has worked solidly since the summer to get to Level 6, which is called Advanced Novice, and she will compete from February 2025 in this category in National competitions all over the UK.

There are only 8 levels to achieve the highest level of ‘Senior’ and that is her aim in the next couple of years. She loves competing and although she does get some nerves, she just loves the pressure of competing in front of a crowd and a panel of judges, she seems to thrive during those moments and can’t wait to start competing in February.

During Easter holidays in 2022/2023, she attended training camps in Milton Keynes with the International School of Skating (ISS) hosted by coach Yuri Bureiko. In addition, she also attended week-long training camps in Dundee with GB coaches Simon and Debi Briggs, David Richardson and 2022 GB Olympian Natasha McKay.

We have travelled across to Belfast to work with Olympian and 11-time British Champion, Jenna McCorkell and her husband, Kevin Van der Perren, nine-time Belgian champion, two-time European Bronze Medallist and three-time Olympian.

They are both experts in elite figure skating, with Kevin being a highly regarded technical jump specialist, and off-ice coach to the Belgian national team.

Aisling has also attended camps held by Mark Hanrettty, his area of expertise is choreography and performance on the ice. He is currently a professional skater on the ITV production ‘Dancing on Ice’ and has a vast amount of experience of UK and International skating. Disney on Ice also ran a one-day event last year that she attended with Dancing on Ice professional Andy Buchanan.

In August 2024, we secured a prestigious place on an international camp held in Luxembourg hosted by Olympian coach Brian Orser, who has coached athletes to Olympic gold medals, including Yuna Kim in 2010 and Yuzuru Hanyu in 2014 and 2018.

Being surrounded by other elite international skaters, from national teams of Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany was hugely inspiring and has driven her desire to work hard and reach the elite level.

We, as parents, wish to continue to support Aisling, to take part in camps and competitions that help to support and progress her skating skills and take her one step further towards her Olympic dreams.

However, figure skating is a very expensive sport and requires substantial amounts of travel and funding, therefore we are actively seeking sponsorship or bursary avenues to continue to expand the opportunities that we offer her.

Aisling was lucky enough to be awarded a one-year bursary from Planet Ice in March 2023, which gave her free access to training ice but now costs £85 per month. This was a national competition open to all rinks across the UK and judged by a panel of prestigious ice skating officials. There were hundreds of applicants in Aisling’s category and she was fortunate enough to be awarded the bursary.

Barnstaple & District Round Table have also sponsored her to attend training camps in Dundee in 2023 and 2024, as part of their Rising Stars scheme. They have enabled her to attend these camps which have developed her skating skills and progressed her skating ability.

We currently have a GoFundMe page to raise money towards Aisling attending an international camp in Europe in 2025 if any businesses, individuals or charitable organisations are able to help with funding towards this: https://www.gofundme.com/f/aisling-train-at-a-figure-skating-camp-in-europe-in-2025

Should anyone wish to discuss sponsorship or promoting their business through advertising logos etc. then please email amyanne31@hotmail.co.uk