Whanganui artistic skater Pippa McKee looking to roll into Florida

Artistic skater Pippa McKee, her mother Trina McKee, and her father Ryan McKee. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui artistic skater Pippa McKee and her family are hoping for help from the Whanganui public to get them to Florida.

Pippa, aged 15, has been doing artistic skating for around six years, after being introduced to it by her parents.

She described the act of artistic skating as "dancing but on skates".

There are multiple disciplines to the sport, including Free Dance, Free Skate, Jumping and Spins, Star Dance, and Figures, as well as various traditional dances like the waltz and tango.

All of the disciplines involve different routines which also require certain moves and aspects to be featured, depending on the discipline.

Different routines also require different skates, and different surface materials on the floors require different wheels depending on how grippy the surfaces are.

She said the sport puts a lot of strain on the body, especially the knees, with the number of falls taken on the hard floor while practising routines.

"And if you don't fall, you're not trying hard enough," mother Trina said.

Pippa said she and the family travel to Palmerston North three times a week to take part in training to perfect her routines.

From the training, her coach selected her to go to Orlando, Florida, with a team of eight other Kiwi skaters to take part in the international competition America's Cup Championship of Clubs, which is taking place from January 15 to 19, 2023.

Pippa said if she were to go, it will be the biggest competition she will have taken part in to date.

"It's very exciting," Pippa said.

The competition is recognised by the governing body for all sports performed on skates, World Skate, and points towards international rankings, which will be on the line for the top three finishers in certain categories - including Free Dance, which Pippa is taking part in.

If she can get to the competition, she will be taking part in the Star Dance and Figures categories as well.

Pippa, Trina, and Ryan are all fundraising for the trip, as they need to raise around $12,000 for the trip.

This is because the airfare costs for a flight to Florida increased from $2,700 to $5,700 in a couple of weeks, according to Trina, meaning their initial fundraising goal of $9,000 had to be increased.

To help with the fundraising, the family is organising a few roller disco nights at The Rink, as well as doing raffles, sausage sizzles at Mitre 10 - they've also set up an online fundraiser for people to directly donate to.

The family said they had raised around $3,000 so far, coming from public donations and donations from local trusts and businesses.

Particularly, they wanted to thank the Future Champions Trust, Grumpy Old Men Enterprises, and Whanganui Auto Electrical for all making generous donations of $500 each.

However, Trina said they were still in need of a lot more, so they are asking for help from the Whanganui public.

The roller discos will run from 7pm to 10pm at 37 Hatrick Street West, with entry being five dollars per person.

People can stay up to date regarding when the next disco is happening, and can directly donate to the fundraiser, via Trina McKee's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/petrina.mckee