Aroundtown MEETS


do all after these years since my competitive career ended. But Billy and Lucy are so grounded; they give it their all every time and are a pure joy to teach and watch,” Yebin says. While Yebin oversees overall


skating direction, their long-time coach, Dancing on Ice professional Mark Hanretty, helps the pair with dance skating technique and choreography alongside former Swiss champion, Oscar Peters. Off the ice, Kelly Buddery


works with the teens on fitness and conditioning and David Hartley helps them get to grips with the various spins and lifts needed to form routines. Like building up layers, the pair


‘‘Lucy and Billy both share dreams of working towards an Olympic level and hope with Yebin’s continued support they will have podium success in their sights for the next Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022’’


As in their partnership on the


ice, Lucy and Billy’s paths to taking up ice dancing have become somewhat synchronised, with both having their first skating experience at a friend’s birthday party. Lucy, from Rotherham, started


skating as a hobby aged seven before joining the Skate UK programme to learn basic skills. Aged just eight-years-old, she was spotted by husband and wife coaching team, Kathy and Mark Hanretty, who saw Lucy’s raw talent and potential on the ice. For Barnsley lad Billy, he began


his ice skating journey aged ten where he too joined Skate UK before approaching a coach to help him progress. As soloists, the teens have


both won British Championships in recent years. Lucy won the 2016 Advanced Novice Championship category, while Billy was Dance and Figure Novice in the same year. He now has six titles to his name, including the 2017 Advanced Novice. After skating separately for some


years, Billy and Lucy, now both 15, came together as a duo last year and have made enormous strides in just a short time. “We both had skating partners


before but they quit at a similar time. Being on the rink all the time, Lucy and I knew of each other but we’d never been able to skate together before due to having partners. “When we did eventually couple


up, we gelled instantly which was helped by us already being friends,” Billy says. “Billy was smaller than me when


we first paired up but he seems to have had a growth spurt this last year so he can lift me easier now,” Lucy says. After just four months together,


Lucy and Billy entered their first doubles competition; the Mary Parry Trophy in Streatham last October where they were placed first in the free dance and second in the pattern dance. Two months later, they won


silver at the British Championships in the Advanced Novice ice dance category. While they put their trust in


each other to work towards their combined goals, the duo has also had help from a strong coaching team, headed up by former US World skating team member, Yebin Mok. Having competed at Junior


World Championships and the Junior Olympics, Yebin moved to the UK to pass on her passion and joy for the sport to other young skaters. “The skating environment over


here isn’t as intense as in the States but Lucy and Billy are two of the most hard-working and talented skaters I work with. They thrive on a challenge and are so competitive with both themselves and each other that they get bored if I don’t do things like put weights on their ankles and wrists to help them improve strength and posture. “A career in ice skating can be


hit and miss and I never want the skaters I coach to burn out because of the pressure. I still love what I


must first work on the basic steps and footwork on the ice before learning the choreography to tie it all together and finally practising their performance to be able to tell an aspirational, romanticised story on ice. Since working with Yebin and


the team, Lucy and Billy have been offered many amazing opportunities to train and compete overseas with celebrated skating stars. In January, the duo went off


to compete in Oberstdorf in the Bavarian Alps where they finished 13th in their category. Having been nominated by the


National Ice Skating Association, they returned to Germany in April for a ten-day training camp in Oberstdorf where they were joined by other young skaters from across the world. During the summer holidays,


Billy, Lucy and their families were invited to the US to train with former Russian professional, Marina Zoueva in Michigan, Detroit. Organised by Yebin, the intense two-week training scheme saw the pair practice ballet and ballroom dance, work on their lifts, along with top fitness, nutritional and psychological coaching to help the young sport stars cope with the stress of competitions. The pair has also recently


moved up a level, now competing in the Junior categories and will be one of the younger couples in the 15-21 age bracket. In August, they entered their first Junior level competition at the IJS Sheffield. “We didn’t think we’d be ready


to compete as we’d only been preparing at this higher level for three months but both Lucy and I decided we didn’t want to stand still after coming second in the Advanced Novice; we wanted to keep pushing ourselves,” Billy says. “It was hard work as the junior


level dances are longer so we had to train harder and put in more moves but we came fourth overall


aroundtownmagazine.co.uk 5


With Coach Yebin Mok


which we were both really happy with,” Lucy says. Aspiring to follow in the bladed


boots of their skating heroes, record-holding Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, Lucy and Billy both share dreams of working towards an Olympic level and hope with Yebin’s continued support they will have podium success in their sights for the next Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022. In the meantime, the pair are


working hard to juggle skating with school as they finish their exams and look to the future. Understanding their ambitions to go into a skating career, teachers and staff at both of their schools have been really supportive. Not ones to let their grades slip,


both Lucy and Billy are excelling in their studies, with Billy recently winning the Headteacher’s Award for 2018 at Kettlethorpe High in Wakefield. He also won the Barnsley Chronicle Young Sports Person of the Year award after being nominated. To help continue working


towards their skating dreams, Billy and Lucy are actively seeking sponsorship; so, if you’ve been inspired by their story and could offer support, big or small, you can contact them via email on lucyhsk82002@gmail.com


To see the pair in action, visit their Facebook page: sk8billy Youtube: Lucy Hancock - GB Ice Dancer www.billywilsonfrench.com


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