00:01Axel and I have a love-hate relationship. I love it. It hates me. That's how it works.
00:07Some days it's there. Some days I am still searching for it.
00:12Most competitive skaters start training before they reach primary school age.
00:16Cape Town-based Juven Bodasinghe started at 25.
00:20In figure skating, that's almost unheard of.
00:22Yet, against all odds, he's South Africa's adult champion.
00:26I love the feeling you get when you fly into a jump and you attack it and you get up,
00:33you rotate, you land it.
00:35And it really is testament to all the hard work and all the force that went into learning that jump.
00:40With only a handful of ice rinks in South Africa's cities, figure skating remains one of the country's most niche
00:46sports.
00:47But what does it cost to pursue your dream when the system doesn't support you?
00:52We're a developing country. If you compare it to first world countries, Russia for example, where once you get to
00:59a certain level, you don't pay for anything.
01:01You go to a skating school, basically. And that kind of government buy-in, the proof is in the pudding.
01:07Look at the results.
01:07For Juven, all his costs come out of his pocket.
01:11It's ice time. It's coaches. It's choreographers. It's boots. It's sharpenings. It's medical bulls through the roof.
01:19With four hours of training, six days a week, it's not just his bank balance that feels the pain.
01:25Figure skating is a dangerous sport. It's brutal on the body.
01:28And because you're doing all these crazy acrobatics on a blade, on a sheet of ice that is rock solid,
01:36the room for error is zero.
01:37I've broken bones. I've dislocated joints. I've torn ligaments. I've had surgery.
01:42I'm constantly in pain somewhere. Something is aching. But that's the sport.
01:47And then there's the axle jump, the move that still messes with his head.
01:51The axle is the only jump that takes off forward. So you're skating backwards at quite a decent speed.
01:57And then you have to step onto your left leg. You have to launch yourself into the air, jump out
02:03the circle, and then find an axis, snap over it, rotate, and prepare for landing.
02:07Getting over the fear and hoping, trusting that you're going to somehow not break your neck, it really is the
02:16definition of a leap of faith.
02:17But once it's there, the axle sort of unlocks the other jumps.
02:21Now Shubin is training to retain his title at the South African Figure Skating Finals.
02:26I tend not to be so great under pressure. And I think it's because I put so much pressure on
02:31myself.
02:31You've got to just train the brain. It's a pity he didn't start when he was five or six.
02:36We do a lot of visualization. You try to imagine the situation as it will be at the competition because
02:43nerves also get you.
02:45A lot of people think that it's 50% mental, 50% physical. I think you're heading way towards more.
02:51It's 30% physical and 70% mental.
02:55Just do the flying count.
02:56Just by itself.
02:58It's a sport of repetition.
03:00That's how we train all these quick twitch reflexes so that it becomes second nature.
03:05But figure skating isn't only mastering jumps. It's also creative.
03:08My biggest strength is not really my jumps. It's my artistry and the way I can feel the music and
03:14feel my performance.
03:16That's what I play to and that's what I really work on.
03:18Everything you do in skating is dancing.
03:20Your posture, the lines that you create, dance is the polish that makes everything really, really pretty.
03:26When training ends, another side of Shubin takes over.
03:29As a candidate attorney, he represents the SPCA in animal abuse cases, a cause close to his heart having worked
03:36there as an inspector before qualifying.
03:39Working in animal welfare is soul-destroying.
03:41It's part of the reason I started skating because it's a beautiful escape to the horrors that you have to
03:45see every day.
03:46I really do love the work that I do now.
03:49It's vindication for animals.
03:51I get a lot of satisfaction from successful cases where I can deny people ownership of animals for the rest
03:58of their lives.
03:59Yeah, so the thought was from their side.
04:01As a proudly gay man, Shubin's precious free time is spent with friends in Cape Town's queer district.
04:08I love being part of the LGBTQIA plus community.
04:11I am who I am and everybody loves me for it.
04:14And I think that's the beauty of my skating community, but also my friends and my family.
04:19I couldn't be more proud as a friend.
04:21He's worked so hard to achieve what he has.
04:23The other night he phoned me, his skate impaled into his hand.
04:26And then the next day he was back on the ice rink training again.
04:31Every early morning, every four and every hour on the ice has been building towards this moment.
04:40When your first jump of the program is a disaster, everything inside of you just wants to be like,
04:47can we just stop the music?
04:49I want to get off.
04:49But having the fortitude to be like, okay, rein yourself in and speak to yourself positively.
04:55Now he cites a set on Oberstdorf, Germany, where he hopes to be the first South African to compete in
05:01his division at the ISU Adult Figure Skating Championships.
05:05I'm really looking forward to that international competition experience where I get to rub shoulders and share ice with exceptional
05:13figure skaters, ex-Olympians, ex-World Champions.
05:16When you surround yourself with that caliber of skater, you can only benefit.
05:21So Shibin has started fundraising to get there.
05:23If you're in Europe, it's a train ride.
05:27Whereas for me, the flights are crazy expensive.
05:30Accommodation, visas, competition entry fee.
05:33Nobody pays for it.
05:34I just want to get everything I can to be the best skater I can be.
05:38I give myself license to fail, license to take the risk, because I'm giving myself a chance of what I
05:43love.
05:44At the foot of Africa, far from figure skating's traditional powerhouses,
05:48she then keeps carving out space for a dream that once felt impossible.
