International Rivalry Ice Stars

One, two, three, four. Bend your knees.

We're not first to the puck, we're last! Unacceptable!

Making it as a champion skater doesn't come easy.

-It takes years of practice...

-Keep going, keep going!

..hard work...

What is that? You're like a little old man at the end.

..and dedication.

Speed, speed, faster, faster, faster. Come on!

But even then, only a few will become tomorrow's...

This is the Ice Centre in Nottingham.

It's where future ice stars work hard to get to the top.

With the two rinks, it was built to honour Torvill and Dean,

the city's famous Olympic gold medal winners.

And there are plenty of others who want to follow in their footsteps.

Coming up,

the Icicles are finally off to the world championships,

where Afton is in for a big surprise.

I'm really happy.

We meet Solomon, as coach Tamara put him through his paces.

And Asiyah, who longs to become an Icicle herself one day.

It's mind-blowing, because they're doing all of this stuff

and everyone is there just with their mouth open, like, wow.

Synchro team, the Icicles, are British champions.

But winning the cup wasn't easy.

Afton, the team's newest member, had a nasty fall in practice.

But she skated on and the team got enough points to take them

through to the World Championships.

Practising their new routine for the Worlds brought more casualties...

..as team captain Emily took a crushing fall.

But nothing is going to stop her leading out the team.

Even if my shoulder did get worse, I'd definitely go.

I can't let the team down. It's definitely worth the pain.

With the training now over and all 16 bags packed,

the girls are finally heading to the World Championships in Croatia.

Morning, guys.

It's about two o'clock and we've just got the bus

to go to the airport.

Make yourself comfy, seatbelts on, guys. Thank you very much.

'I think everyone's really excited, but tired at the same time.

'We've been counting down the days and it's just so exciting.'

You get to see all the teams around the world,

it's the competition you wait for for the end of the season,

so, yeah, we're really excited.

For the Icicles,

travelling through the night is no excuse to let themselves go.

Girls, I know you're really tired,

but can you just put your hair into a ponytail?

The team make their way across Europe towards Croatia,

but they are not the only ones up before dawn.

Solly, time to wake up.

It's 4:45 back in Nottingham, and while his brothers

are still fast asleep, eight-year-old Solomon is just getting up.

In the gym, at the moment we're doing rotations and exercises.

Don't turn the body, keep the body nice and square.

Shoulders and hips should be forward, yeah. Come on, pull.

Getting out of their bed at four, five in the morning,

they are not coming to a playgroup,

they're coming to learn to develop the body,

to be able to go onto the ice to do the skills

and progress throughout their skating career.

Push up, up, up, back.

Training before breakfast may not suit everyone, but for the

synchro team, the dawning of this day couldn't have come soon enough.

The girls have arrived in Croatia

for the Junior World Synchronised Skating Championships.

Say cheese! Let me get a photo.

The team go straight into their off-ice practice

and, with 24 other countries competing,

time on the ice is tight.

OK, stop. It's not this, up by your ears. Can we do it again?

Can you look at each other? This needs to be sharp, OK?

Are you going to smile at each other or just gorm at each other, then?

-We smile!

-Yeah, I thought so, too.

We've got a final on-ice session before the competition,

so every minute counts.

We've just done off-ice and we're going to go on the ice now.

The girls are in the changing room getting their boots on.

You're only allowed 20 minutes on the ice, you can't go over.

You get told when you have to go on and you get told

when you have to get off.

Coach Esther is feeling nervous,

but the girls are doing their best to enjoy the experience.

GIRLS SING LOUDLY

New country, new rink, the team have just 20 minutes to become

used into their surroundings and get the feel of the ice.

Really fast, come on.

Some of their competitors learned to skate before they could walk,

so the girls don't expect to come first.

But what they do want is to beat their biggest rivals, France.

Coming 14th at the Worlds last year, you're definitely going to

feel a lot of pressure, because you want to keep up that.

There's a lot more teams this year.

Last year we only had 19, this year there is 24.

So it's definitely harder.

That's it, practice over.

Next time they're on the ice, it'll be show time.

-TANNOY:

-Please leave the ice. Have a nice day.

Solomon's been up since 4:45 in the morning,

but his skating day is nowhere near over.

Hi, did you have a good day at school, Solly?

Do you want me to take your bag and take it back to the car?

But becoming a star on the ice means a full-on schedule.

Just finished school and I'm going to get dressed, have my tea

then go ice-skating.

So he's off to get ready for his second session of the day.

OK, Solly, take your bag off, take your coat off,

upstairs, quick as you can.

-Get changed and then come down for tea, all right, darling?

-Yeah.

Well, Solomon comes from quite a big family.

He's got five brothers and sisters.

Ollie, do you know where Eric is?

Hi, Dougie. How are you?

-Did you have a good day?

-Yes, thank you.

Enid, could you unpack the lunchboxes?

And then when you've done that, feed the fish for me as well,

please, thank you.

-Is my tea nearly ready?

-It'll be ready soon.

Solomon's love of the ice has had an effect on the whole family.

Me and Liddie did ice-skating lessons for a bit,

and then we tried for the synchro team, but we knew that my mum

and dad couldn't afford to let all three of us do it.

And we decided that Solomon was, like, the best at the time

and best for his age and everything, so we decided to let him do it.

I did sacrifice ice-skating for Solly,

but then again, I'm the best one at chess, so I've got that.

-MUM:

-Tea is ready, guys.

Ollie, don't have too many. Liddie, get your potatoes.

-ENID:

-Harry's not got any garlic there.

You've got loads, you've got a bigger portion than anybody else!

It might be a scramble to get dinner in this house,

but one member of the family never misses out.

There you go.

It's quite a luxurious life for me

cos I just sit back and relax, but my mum, she's very busy

and she's very good at being busy.

She does all the housework, but she hasn't dusted in a long time.

All right, darling, let's go.

Dinner over, and less than 12 hours since his last session,

Solly's ready to get back on the ice.

OK, Solly, quick, quick, quick.

Done? OK, yes.

Come on, right to the corners. Solomon! Where's that corner?

By Jove.

When I'm on the ice, I'm not scared of falling over.

I'm not scared of any jumps, really.

Not scared yet, but coach Joy has a jump that might change his mind.

I think we're ready now to train the axel. Who's excited about this?

It's difficult,

we're going to go turn 1½ times in the air.

And yes, sometimes you will fall, we might not get full rotation.

But we have to start working it now.

Oh, oh, nearly! Come on.

'A bit more power as you push through the jump, Solomon.

'When you think about, they're coming down onto a hard, slippy,

'cold surface with a very, very thin blade and a big, fat boot

'on the end of the foot...'

A bit more speed now.

No, no, no, try again, Solomon.

Go into this correctly. Come on! Push.

Fast, fast, fast. Leg and then pull.

Oh, good boy, Solomon! Wow!

'He's so intense, as in listening.

'And as he is skating away, you can see him nodding'

and he's still looking at you, wanting...

He wants so much information.

He's an absolute dream to teach.

Coach Joy has a special reason for Solly learning an axel,

and he's not got long to wait and see just what her plan is.

Don't get lost in there.

It's 5pm and Asiyah's come down to the rink with her family.

They like to spend as much time as they can on the ice.

I like coming here with my dad, my brother and my sister.

It's fun and I just like it, I just enjoy it.

-DAD:

-Oh, man down!

Shut up!

I've been in synchro for two years now, so I went from Icepops,

which is the youngest team, and then I went up to Icetastics.

Asiyah's dream is to make it into the Icicles team,

so one day she may compete at the World Championships, too.

It's mind-blowing, it's like, cos they're there,

doing all of this stuff,

and everyone's there just, like, with their mouth open, like, wow.

If she can move up from the Icetastics into the juvenile team

this year, she'll be on her way to reaching her goal.

Some of the people on Icetastics are already juvenile.

I need to really practise hard,

so I need to come to public sessions, go to every session

and, like, try really hard.

But before that, just like everyone else at the centre,

she has a gala to rehearse for.

Every year, the centre puts on a huge gala extravaganza,

and coach Tamara has the job of organising it.

We decided this year to do a theme of skating around the world.

It would be Around The World In 80 Skates.

Well, I'm very happy with the name. I hope the coaches will love it.

Every group of skaters will be given a different

country as a theme for their performance.

It puts a little bit of a pressure, of course,

because every year we want to do something bigger, something

better, and of course this year

I would love it to be the best one so far.

In an effort to make this gala the best one ever,

Tamara has been talent-spotting for months,

and she's just had a tip-off from coach Joy that one tiny talent

might be ready to help take the gala to the next level.

My skating has been going well, and I've not really done anything

really bad or not done very good jumps.

He doesn't know it yet, but coach Tamara is thinking of putting him

in a special gala routine with a group of elite boy skaters.

This could be a massive break for Solly.

Would you like to do the axel

in the gala?

Would you? Mm-hm? So, are we landing three out of three?

Whoo, the hand's coming up. We worked really hard, didn't we?

Can we see it now, Solomon?

OK, warm up a little bit and go ahead and try,

and we will see how your axel looks like.

Yeah? Go on. Just you do it in your own time.

If he lands three axels in a row,

he could have a place in the gala line-up.

Oh!

-Oh, he fell on that one.

-It's all right.

Never mind, Solly, have another go.

That's one.

Come on, Solly.

Two.

-Good!

-One more, then I'll be a very happy coach.

And three!

'The axels that I just did, I think I can land them quite well now.'

And I hope I've done enough to get into the gala.

Solly? The decision time, yeah? Right?

Well, you go ahead, Joy, you tell him.

I think the last two weeks, with this axel,

you've worked really hard to get it into this performance.

-But that doesn't mean you hold back now.

-The decision is...

-..you're doing the axel.

-Yes!

-Yeah? Thumbs up?

-Very good.

-Good lad.

He's done it! He's made it into the gala.

This is a chance for the whole family to come

and see their little brother skate to a packed arena.

Well done, Solly!

The big day's arrived.

It's the synchronised skating world championships.

Where's the brush you use for this?

While the girls begin their preparation,

the Icicle mums head straight down to the arena to grab the best seats.

But not every Icicle has family there to support them.

Afton's mum couldn't make it to Croatia...

Can you do me a favour and plug that in?

..or so Afton thinks.

We've just flown in from Heathrow,

and we're here to surprise Afton, so we're all very excited.

She's got no idea.

Beautiful girl!

She's in for a big surprise.

Smile! Oh, stunner!

We've arranged with Afton's friend Sam to make sure she's in her room,

so we're going to sneak up to her room, knock on the door and

hopefully get the desired reaction we're after, with a bit of luck!

-It's open!

-Come in!

-Is it open, though?

Mum!

Hi, sweetie!

You all right? You OK? Yeah?

I couldn't miss it for the world.

I couldn't miss seeing you and your fantastic team for the world.

I couldn't, cos yous are going to be awesome, baby.

Yous are going to be awesome. Aren't you, girls?

You're going to be fantastic.

Yous are. You're going to be amazing. Oh, don't cry, sweetie.

She was like, "Can we go to the shop?"

I was like, "No, we've got to stay in this room"!

Hi!

Well done, Sam.

Sam was in on it all.

She kept it all a surprise and everything. Well done.

Oh, that was an amazing surprise. She just didn't know at all.

-That was the best cuddle I've had in such a long time!

-It was awesome.

Yeah, it was lovely. Fantastic. I'm so excited to see them all.

But, yeah, it was great.

Genuinely surprised.

I had absolutely no idea. I don't know how they kept it a secret.

I have no idea, if I'm honest.

I didn't even realise that everyone would come. I'm really happy.

Back in Nottingham, there's someone who'd be just as happy as Afton

if one day she too could make it into the world championships.

But for now, she has other things on her mind.

-What are these?

-Biscuits. Can you leave them alone?

-No.

I have to eat them.

'My religion is Islam,

'and it's important for me to wear a headscarf.'

My mum and my sister wear headscarves.

And I like wearing a headscarf.

I think more Muslim girls should get into synchro

and into skating, because I think I've only ever heard of one Muslim

girl who skates internationally, and she's from the Emirates.

I would like to meet her one day.

Today, she's finding out if she'll be moving up into the Juvenile team.

If she does, she'll be one step closer to reaching her dream.

-I got an e-mail off Mark this morning.

-What did it say?

It says they're going to be announcing the squads at

quarter past four.

-That was five minutes ago.

-OK. Come on, then, let's look.

Dad? Come here.

I'm nervous and I'm excited.

-What do I click now?

-Look at the Excel.

Are you ready?

Yeah.

There it is.

SHE GASPS

I'm in Juvenile! Dad, look, Foundation Stage Juvenile!

-Fantastic. Well done. You'll have to up your game now.

-Yep!

No more messing about on public skating. Practise all the time now.

Yes...

-Because it's the championship team.

-Yeah.

-Maybe you'll go to the Junior Worlds one day.

-Mm-hm.

Do you think you can do it?

-If I put my mind to it, I think I can do it.

-OK.

This is a few steps closer,

because now I'm two squads away from getting into the Juniors.

So I'm really happy.

Well done, Asiyah.

Looks like becoming a world-champion Icicle is now looking more

and more likely.

The Icicles have put in hundreds of hours on the ice and spent

hundreds of pounds on glitter and eyelashes, all working towards today,

the world championships.

But before they get out on the ice,

it's the all-important make-up session.

Can you believe we've only got

-a couple of hours till we're skating?

-It's crazy.

We've spent the whole year

working for this three-minute programme!

The arena's going to be really packed and busy,

but I think it'll give us a good atmosphere.

I think it'll add to the energy.

-Yeah, it'll make us want to perform more.

-It'll give us more adrenaline.

For captain Emily and her team, the wait is almost over.

I'm so excited for the competition now.

It seems like we've been waiting for ages and now it's suddenly come.

We've done our make-up, and we're just getting the preparations

now, so I'm really, really excited.

I'd imagine Emily is feeling quite nervous at the moment,

but also very excited.

They're very, very positive and everything's gone so well for them.

So, yes, she'll just be proud of her team. As I am!

Sorry!

The opening ceremony kicks off the competition.

-ANNOUNCER:

-Welcome to Zagreb. Welcome to the opening ceremony

of the ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships.

-..Team Great Britain!

-CHEERING

Right, girls, we're focused, we're ready.

No matter what happens, as long as we skate from in here,

we've done ourselves pleased. OK?

-ALL CHANT:

-..brr, it's cold in here

I said there must be some Icicles in the house

I said brr, it's cold in here

I said there must be some Icicles in the house

I said oggy, oggy, oggy, oi, oi, oi!

Now all the butterflies have kicked in, the girls are excited.

The parents are probably even more excited than the girls,

so I can't wait.

The girls seem fully prepared for the competition.

But for some of the mums, it's all getting a bit too much.

I'm just so nervous for them. I'm just praying that they'll do well.

They so deserve to have a fantastic skate.

I get butterflies in me stomach, me legs start shaking

and I just can't watch them. I really can't!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's show time.

Representing Great Britain, the Icicles have one

thing on their mind, scoring more points than France.

They're on eighth, and their rivals are skating just before them.

The Icicles are in their dressing room, waiting to perform.

And France are next door...

making noise.

CHANTING FROM NEXT ROOM

Can I just make a point?

No matter what score they get, they're going to go crazy.

You don't even let that bother you. Remember what we talked about.

It's about you and your heart.

Next to skate, please welcome Team France.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

As the Icicles head out to perform, France are already on the ice.

And they're looking good.

The girls just have to watch...

..wait...

and try their best to keep control of their nerves.

ANNOUNCEMENT IN CROATIAN

..Team France!

Next to skate, please welcome Team Great Britain!

APPLAUSE

Come on, girls!

The scores, please, for Team France.

France's score will be the one to beat.

But some of the Icicles can't bear to listen.

..30.88 points, which brings it currently in the first place.

Knowing the points they need to win,

the Icicles hit the ice. Come on, girls!

MUSIC: Together by Ella Eyre

# So many times has it all been said and done... #

Come on!

-# Cos it's not about me... #

-WOMAN SHRIEKS AND APPLAUDS

# It's not about who I want to be

# It's not about you... #

Push!

# Cos we are, we are, we are, we are more

# Yeah, we are, we are, we are, we are more

# Together!

# It's all right, all right, it's all right

# It's all right, all right, it's all right

# It's all right, all right, it's all right... #

CHEERING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Wow! A great performance.

But have they got more than the 31 points needed to beat France?

Well done, girls!

Team Great Britain...

No crying!

Oh, hurry up, judges! What's the score?

# Together!

# It's all right, all right, it's all right

# It's all right, all right, it's all right

# It's all right, all right, it's all right... #

31.28! They've done it! They've beaten France!

We managed to beat France, which we have never done before. We are...

overwhelmed! So proud!

I was absolutely just so happy.

Everyone was crying with happiness and screaming.

It was the best moment ever.

I feel like I'm in a dream. I still don't feel right.

My heart's beating as fast as it's ever beaten in its life.

I've cried more than I've ever cried. I can't believe it.

I'm so proud of them!

The Icicles smashed it.

Great Britain placed ninth in the world out of 24 teams and,

most importantly of all, they beat France. Go Icicles!

-THEY CHANT:

-I said brrr, it's cold in here

I said there must be some Icicles in the house

I said oi, oi, oi, ice, ice, ice!

Next time on Ice Stars,

the big competition day has finally arrived for Jellie...

I'm feeling quite nervous about it, and all the elements and the lifts.

..one lucky pupil is awarded a new skating scholarship...

One of your pupils has been talent ID'd.

..and figure skater Khloe goes back home to visit her family in Hungary.

I'm about to see my sister. I've not seen her for four months now.