Meet Aarifah: The VI Figure Skating Force

Aarifah is 21. She’s lived her whole life in Coventry, apart from the time she spent at Nottingham Trent University gaining her first-class degree with honours in Business Management.

While she’s currently applying for internships, graduate schemes and entry level roles, she’s never too busy to fit in her main hobby – figure skating.

She’s truly living her life without limits, having discovered that skating’s something she loves - despite a few false starts! We spoke to her to find out more about her life as a figure skater with vision impairments.

How did figure skating first come onto your radar, Aarifah?

When I was about nine, I received a voucher to go ice skating. I absolutely hated it! I couldn't do it at all, and held onto the side from most of the session.

 

I didn’t try again until I was 14 or 15, when I went through an anime phase and started watching a series called Yuri on Ice. It looked fun, so I went skating with some friends, and I kept going back. But when I wanted to take lessons, my mum said no. I think she was worried for me, as a person with partial sight.

 

But you obviously didn’t leave it there...

There was an ice-skating group at the freshers’ fair in my first year at uni, and I thought, I wonder if I could do that? But it clashed with my timetable, so I couldn't go.

I watched the 2018 Olympics, and started getting into ice skating again. When my second year came round, I went to the rink at Christmas, and I hated it again - it was so scary! I couldn’t even move from one side of the barrier across the ice to the exit. But it was the start of something. Eventually, I started to get the hang of it, and by the end I thought, “Oh, wow, I really like this!” From then on, I kept dragging friends to ice skating.

 

When did you start to take lessons?

Just before my 20^th birthday. My friend made me book to go, and I didn’t tell my mum until I’d done it.

When I say I was bad, I was really bad! I was waddling like a penguin and almost dislocated my knee in my second lesson because I tripped on my toe pick. I fell in an awkward position, but I still wanted to keep going.

 

Did you get serious about figure skating quite quickly?

I got a pair of figure skates and then I achieved Level 2, and from there I just kept going on and on. I was level 4 by the time I finished second year. I went home and tried to get a private coach, but it didn't work out, so I self-taught and I met a guy at the rink who taught me for free. I learned like stuff like crossovers and three turns by myself. 

Back at uni, I got a coach and passed my levels 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 before Christmas. I also found a coach in Coventry during the Christmas holidays – the one I still have now - who started teaching me jumps. Back in Nottingham in January 2025, I started waltz jumps, and since then I’ve landed my waltz, my salco, my toe loop and my loop.

 

Are there any aspects of figure skating that you’re not so keen on?

Spins! Don't talk about spins…most people are either a jumper or a spinner. It’s rare to be great at both. I can jump high, with power, once I get into it. But I hate spinning so much. It’s where I have the worst falls.

There's a lot to remember…you have to balance while keeping your whole body tense, and pull in all your limbs at the same time. And you need to stay on your rocker, a curved bit just under the ball of your foot. It’s like pretending you're in heels. Fall off that, and you catch the back of your blade and slam into the ice. Not good!

 

As a skater, do you get used to falling?

When I first started, I didn’t want to let myself fall over, so it was just a few times. Then it suddenly switched to falling over 40 times a session!

 A few weeks ago, I was trying to do a waltz jump, which is just a half rotation. You jump from facing forward and you land backwards. Simple, easy... but I had landed them fifteen times in that session, and I was tired. My coach asked me to do another one, and I caught my toe pick really badly and crashed into the ice. Usually I jump right back up, but the pain in my knee was so bad I was off the ice for two weeks.

 

 

What’s your figure skating ambition?

 I’d like to win a medal - gold would be nice!

 Once I land my flip - which I haven't done just yet - I can do my first skills test. Then I can start competing if I want to, which I kind of do. But I'm also a bit scared, because my spins are a bit shabby!

I think it's a bit too late, to be honest, because when you start as an adult, generally the furthest you can go is double jumps. If you do triples, it's too much stress on your body. When you land a jump in figure skating, it's like three times your weight landing on one leg.

I've never been athletic, and I’ve hated sports my whole life. Secondary school was the worst. You need good hand/eye coordination for things like netball and volleyball, and I've got none of that!

What vision condition do you have?

I've got a genetic disease which means my retina is slowly deteriorating. How I explain it is that what someone with 20/20 vision can see from 20 metres away, I have to be a metre away, and even then it’s tough to make out detail. When I'm holding my phone, it's not even 30 centimetres away from me. Plus I’m colour blind, and I've got a nystagmus, so my eyes wobble, but only when I'm really tired. I'm sensitive to lights, too - when it's sunny outside, I can barely see and have to wear sunglasses for protection, as the sun will deteriorate my retina even more. I also have night blindness, so I can't see well in the dark. 

Did your vision condition affect how you learned to ice skate?

At the start I was too scared to tell people, especially in group lessons with a handful of people. I was too shy to say, hey, I can't see. In my second lesson, I met a guy who has an eye condition too, and he performed really well. So I thought, if he can do it, so can I. 

Once I’d made some friends, they'd keep an eye out to make sure people didn't run me over or anything. My private coaches have been very understanding. When my coach was demonstrating, she'd describe things, like, “He's putting his right hand this way.” And instead of just showing me how to do it, she’d put me in the starting position, hold my hand and drag me through it, so I knew what was supposed to happen.

 

And do you feel scared at all?

All the time! Most people wear dark clothing, so I know they’re there, but if little kids are in fully white outfits, I worry that I can’t see them and where they’re going.

Other than that, it's all right. Everybody has a fear of falling, especially as an adult, but in figure skating is if you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough!

 

What would you say to young people with vision impairments who may never considered trying ice skating? 

Give it a shot. There's no reason why you can't. It can be daunting at first, especially because rinks can be busy, especially at Christmas when there’s a lot of people. Go during the summer on a Monday or a Thursday. Go with someone you trust - someone who can ice skate and can keep an eye on other people, because they tend not to watch where they're going. But usually people will try to stay out your way if they can see you're a beginner.

Practice makes perfect, like everything else. Because I can see in front of me, it's fine. And as my coach says, if someone gets in your way when they see you coming, it's not your fault. Whatever happens, happens!