Skaters Damian and Natalie Bramley going through their paces at the Diamond skate park in Kimberley yesterday ahead of their trip to Cape Town where they will take part in the Tokyo 2021 Olympic qualifiers on Monday 21 December. Picture: Soraya Crowie
KIMBERLEY-based skate trio made up of siblings Damian and Natalie Bramley along with champion skater Boipelo Auwah, are headed to Cape Town where they will take part in the Tokyo 2021 qualifiers due to be held in the mother city next Monday, December 21.
Damian (20) and sister Natalie were hard at work practising their moves on Monday ahead of the qualifiers. So determined are the trio that in the absence of a sponsor they had to dig deep into their families’ pockets to pay for the trip down to the coast for the qualifiers.
The three skaters are arguably among Kimberley’s finest and this will be their first national competition where they will vie for Olympic points. Damian confirmed that they have paid all the requisite fees including registration, accommodation and transport to Cape Town.
As for the actual qualifiers Damian said that for an athlete to make it into Team SA is “extremely tough”. Only four berths are reserved for skaters from South Africa to take part in the Tokyo Games. The Cape Town qualifiers fall squarely under the auspices of the SA Sports Confederations and Olympic Committee. (Sascoc) who in turn are affiliates of the World Skate Organisation. The latter organisation will judge the events in Cape Town next Monday.
Natalie (22) said she is heading to Cape Town to try and make it into the SA women's skate team. She has previously won major titles both locally and nationally, placing third last year in the Kimberley Diamond Cup skate competition along with other accolades from Durban as well as previous national championships.
The trio’s routines at the qualifiers will include doing three 45-second Jam Runs where they execute a "Performance line". They will also get three attempts at doing a "Street” session.
The cumulative points collected will determine who comes out tops. The scoring system works out according to trick difficulty, your set-up and style as well as how many obstacles the athlete tackles during a session on the park.
Natalie, who is pursuing Education studies at Sol Plaatje University said, “I am going to Cape Town to try and get qualifying points for the Olympic Games in the women’s division. I will be skating Street” and skating “Bowl”. I hope to make it into Team SA.”
The athletes leave for Cape Town on Tuesday.