The new hope of Belgium – Ruben Blommaert
By
Mireille Geurts
& Titia Tolsma
Photos by Emjo, Joy & Titia
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We all know Kevin van der Perren, Belgium’s best male skater ever, but he’s not the only skater. Novice champion Ruben Blommaert is working very hard to follow in Kevin’s foot steps and this upcoming season he will be moving up into the junior ranks. The now 14 year old has had the opportunity to skate in one of Europe’s biggest figure skating shows “The Proximus Stars on Ice” twice! Already in 2004 we had a talk with him about his background and how he got started in skating <<read it here>>. Last year we had the chance to catch up on how he was doing, and we recently met him again when we attended and reported on <<Kevin’s own show>>. |
Having spotted and recognized us it was he who approached
us halfway through practice, sitting down with us and chatting a
bit about both skating and non-skating stuff, giving us enough anecdotes
and background information to conduct another interview, an idea
he liked.
So we went to work and in between practices, shows and other activities,
Ruben found some time to talk to us. While his mom patiently waited
for him, we got started by asking him about participating in the
Antwerp shows.
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“I really enjoyed it! It was a great
experience for me to skate in such a big show with all these
great athletes. I even got the chance to collect some autographs,
from Ilia Kulik and a few others. It was the first time I
skated in such a big show and that was very special to me. |
Speaking of Ruben’s mother, we caught up with
her too. She was always around, waiting in the ice cold arena and
welcomed some company. She shared with us the cute story about asking
the IMG to arrange a special hot drink for Ruben, as coffee and
tea aren’t really appropriate for kids. With the low temperature
in the arena he didn’t fancy soft drinks, so he was offered
hot chocolate.
Another thing his mother told us was how Ruben was filmed for an
Internet special called “The
Ketnet Wrap”. He had to skate of course, and at the end they
specifically asked him to act
out of breath so he would look really tired. Leave it to the media…
<<You
can watch the clip here>> (click on second photo)
Now back to our talk with Ruben.
What all did you do in the show?
“After the opening, in which I didn’t participate, I
skated my Buddah Bar program; the song is called “Fire”.
<<watch a part of that in our amateur vid** here>> And
in the second act I was in a demonstration number where some of
the skaters showed jumps and elements. I showed what a double Axel
looks like. <<
watch that also in our vid** here>> The ice was a lot
better than the year before! Then they used a tractor to resurface
the ice, and the ice was too soft. There were many wet places and
you had to work hard to gain speed. But now there was a real Zamboni!”
** For watching be sure to select the smaller image for the
best quality (this icon in the lower section of the player 
)
With which skater did you get along
the best? Besides Kevin of course! |
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By the way, are you being taken care of well over here?
"Yes. The chocolate milk tastes very good!" (we all laugh)
Ruben’s entire family (mother, father, sister and twin brother)
came to Antwerp, but Ruben and his mom stayed in a trailer in the
Sport Palace parking lot. Bad experiences the year before made them
think of this.
What happened?
“After the show it’s always very crowded when all the
people go home. The first year it
took us two hours to get from the Sport Palace to the hotel downtown.
Normally that takes about 15 minutes. Two hours is too long and
we didn’t want the same trouble again. And going home wasn’t
an option since home is 2 hours away, without traffic jams. So my
mom and I stayed overnight next to the Sport Palace in our trailer.”
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Ruben’s equally talented twin brother has been doing ballet for years. |
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It’s funny that you and your twin brother look exactly
alike, but he’s very flexible and you’re not. Is it
the ballet that makes him that way?
“He is flexible by nature. Too bad for me I didn’t get
much of it...”
Ruben tried to show us some of the things his brother can do. As
you can imagine, it looked very funny, and decided to keep to skating
poses.
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How has your skating developed lately?
“Last year I started landing the double Axel cleanly, which
made it my favourite jump next to the Flip, and I am also able to
rotate my spins on the inside edge of my skates. And I have a lot
more confident in my elements, like my landings and steps.”
The Code Of Points (CoP) has changed a lot in figure skating. How
is it working for you?
“When we make my programs we use the CoP, we think about the
levels of the spins and steps. But in the free program I’m
allowed to do only one long step sequence, so I do a lot of shorter
ones. That way the judges can’t count that as a long step
sequence and I can do more steps to fill up the whole time of my
number.”
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How do you go about making new programs?
"Most of the time I use music from TV shows, like Pokemon.
My mother picked the Buddah Bar music for my short program. We used
the original song but made it fit.
When we’re at the Oberstdorf ice rink we can see how everything
will look because there are mirrors on the wall. My mother is very
involved with my skating and when she’s not at work, she’s
busy with me. My free program is to 'Yu-Gi-Oh’.”
We both gave each other a look of: Yu-who??? So Mireille
asked and he explained:
“It’s a Japanese cartoon about the battle between some
cartoon characters. But I only use the music; I don’t do any
fighting moves in my program.”
Before the 2006 Belgian Championships, Rubens goal was to land
the double Axel and place
first among his competitors: Jelle Butzen, Jorik Hendrickx and Steffen
Beckers. When we met
Ruben again at Kevin’s show in Liederkerke, one of the first
things we asked him was how he
did, as we hadn’t been able to find the results on the Internet.
With a big grin he told us he won, and by heart rattled off the
website address where we should have looked. But writing it on your
hand isn’t necessarily the best place to keep this kind of
information…
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The subject then switched to summer training
and Ruben told us about the Ice-Dome in Oberstdorf where he’s
spent several summers. |
But you also train in Jaca, Spain, with Mishin. Which do
you like better, Spain or Germany?
(laughs) “I like it at both places! In Oberstdorf we have
a little more spare time there to go swimming, in Spain we practice
like three hours more per day. Two on ice and one hour off-ice.
Off ice we do things like hip-hop and ballet. I like to practise
hard and for a short time, that’s what works best for me.
To practise less hard but for a longer period of time doesn’t
work for me. Spain is also a lot warmer than Oberstdorf. But there
are skaters my age there, like Arthur Kill. He’s very good,
he has strong technique. And I get along well with Gaby Fernandez,
he’s from Spain but we all speak English and that works well.
Off ice we do some stuff together, like shoot off fire-works or
go swimming. There’s a pool next to the rink and we can use
it for free.”
How does working with Mishin differ from training at home?
“I have to work hard. Mishin has his very specific technique,
all coaches do. But he always uses good, difficult exercises, which
I enjoy very much. In Spain, I write down everything and when I
get back home I repeat all the exercises he’s taught me. But
my own coach uses the same technique, so it doesn’t get confusing.”
The new icerink in progress, in Jaca Spain
Ruben has spent this summer as well training in Jaca. But camps are very expensive and Ruben is looking for sponsors. He may be a young and very charming kid, but he’s also a promising figure skater who’s very serious about his sport.
What are your plans for the upcoming season?
“I have a new long program, and first I will compete
at the Junior Grand Prix in The Hague; it's my very first JGP. After
that the Belgian Championship in November. And if all goes well
I might be representing Belgium at the Youth Olympics in Jaca, Spain,
in February. But to qualify I have to land a triple jump in competition.
I have trained hard this summer and I hope I can make it. Cross
your fingers for me!”
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We surely will, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of him in the future and certainly at the 2006 Proximus Stars on Ice! (For more info on PSOI click here)
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Before we parted we asked him to make some choices: French fries or Flemisch ones (they
are a lot different from each other!) |
