Most people start their mornings with coffee. Shiven Bodasing starts his with ice.
At just 5am, long before the hustle and bustle begins, the candidate attorney is already lacing up his skates at The Ice Station in Cape Town, the world-class rink that has become both his sanctuary and his battleground.
Then, after pushing through an intense training session, he joins the stream of commuters fighting Cape Town traffic to make it to his legal internship on time.
For Bodasing, 30, the discipline required to chase two demanding careers is not a burden, it’s a calling.
His journey into figure skating began not with a childhood dream, but with a moment of curiosity. “I started skating about five years ago, I fell in love with it after stumbling upon a figure skating training session at the Northgate ice rink,” he said.
That moment led him to skating school where he learnt the basics, how to glide, how to stop, how to fall and get up again. But that wasn’t enough.
“I quickly realised I longed for more, I wanted more and then took up figure skating lessons late 2020.”
South Africa’s limited ice infrastructure means most skaters fight for training time, travel long distances, or rely on rare facilities like The Ice Station. Bodasing is grateful for what does exist, but honest about the challenges.
His journey has been brutal in ways that go far beyond time management. Early on, he broke his arm on the ice, and that was only the beginning. Torn ligaments, torn cartilage, dislocations, the constant risk of impact: it’s the quiet violence behind the beauty of the sport.
But he chooses to see meaning in the hardship. “Let’s not think of this in a negative light though, it teaches us the true importance of training technique and body conditioning.”
Every morning is a marathon. Up at 4am, skates and work clothes stuffed into a massive bag, on the ice by dawn, then into court documents by mid-morning. By the time he gets home after 6pm, he has less than an hour to breathe before the cycle begins again.
Yet he is determined, for himself, for his coach Vage Evetts who has carried him through the worst days, and for South Africa.
Soon, Bodasing will represent the country at the ISU International Adult Competition, a feat made even more remarkable by the fact that he began skating at an age when most athletes retire.
For him, the competition is not about medals; it is about possibility.
“I’m doing it to prove that even as an adult athlete and someone who started this sport when most of the people retire from it, that we as South Africa, have the same talent, and to fly the South African flag, showing the rest of the world that South Africa has dynamic people.”
And because he remembers what it felt like to stand at the edge of the rink, unsure whether to take the first step, he has a message for anyone who doubts whether they’re too old, too late, too busy or too afraid.
“To those who are thinking of getting into skating, do it, don’t wait. Start now.”
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