Sporting Spotlight on Ruby Olsen

It’s a real honour to get a glimpse into the life of a dedicated sportsperson, especially one who has lead such an interesting one like Ruby Olsen. For most people turning their sport into a lifelong profession would be merely a pipe dream but Ruby is living proof that with hard work and determination, dreams do come true!

Ruby’s sporting career began with Netball which she played for over 25 years, representing Queensland twice! She also played representative Softball for 5 years in Ipswich, QLD.

However, her true love has been, since just 11 years of age… skating. She has wonderful memories of the open air rink in Kirra with the steel floor, doing cartwheels and getting in trouble from her Mother “for skating with her leg up in the air!” She spent her teen years skating in Redcliffe and the early sixties skating at a rink in Inala. These days you will find her at the Inspirational Skating Club at Inala. You can hear the passion in her voice when she talks about the artistry of skating. How creative and elegant it can be and how very much she loves it. At 79 years young she continues to skate and coach skating on a weekly basis. She has been lucky enough to escape major injury during her career but did have a nasty accident recently where she slipped in the carpark after leaving the skate rink and broke her arm! She jokes that she is clearly better on skates than off them! And yes, she continued to skate, even in plaster!

As an avid skater she taught her own daughters from just 2 years of age! They flourished in the sport and also became competitive skaters themselves. One of her daughters even competed in the World Championships, in Spain 2014.

She openly admits that one of the biggest challenges as a coach is putting on a calm front for her students when they are competing. Another hurdle was having her daughters compete against each other and teaching skaters that would go on to compete against her own daughters. She had to learn to separate ‘coach’ from ‘mum’ and found that tough.

Dancing is something she loves equally as much as skating and believes she’ll be dancing long after she hangs up her skates. Ruby began ballroom dancing when she was in her forties and her teachers could see early on that she had caught the dance bug. They encouraged her to undertake her examinations and become a dance teacher in Latin, New Vogue and Modern Ballroom. She loved the joy that teaching brought her, “seeing a student set a goal and reach it, then set the next goal and strive for that, really makes me proud.” Ruby enjoyed teaching dance so much that she opened her own studio in Coolangatta soon after. Her studio proved to be a successful business which she operated for over 30 years (retiring from it just last year)! Although she has retired from dancing and skate coaching she still continues to coach at a guest level at different venues when requested. She also still has a hand in co-ordinating skate and dance exhibitions and socially dances at least twice a week!

To Ruby skating and dance are very similar “The artistry is what drew me to both. Jumping and spinning in time to the music. It’s magical.”

When asked what the most memorable part of her career has been she answers quickly; “The bonds I have built with my students. There is something so great about helping someone achieve their potential or learn a new skill.” Bonds so powerful they have lasted decades. “I’m guest coaching for a lady in her 40’s who I began teaching when she was just 2 years of age. Another student started with me when she was 6, she is now 40 and I’m teaching her 12-year-old daughter. It’s incredible how similar they look as I can still remember her mother at the same age!”

As a teacher and coach, she has some great advice for dealing with the pressures of competition “Breathing is important, so is psychological practice, visualising the performance going well. It’s about building confidence. It’s also about accepting a loss and being gracious about it. Besides, you never really lose, if you get out there and do your best you are never a loser.”

Recognising the importance of an active lifestyle, she intends to skate for another year and looks forward to dancing well into her 80’s and beyond. “That’s the beauty of dance. It’s something I can enjoy for many more years to come.”