Whatever the cost, getting to the top is a family affair

AS their sporting idols take to the snow and ice in Vancouver, hundreds of aspiring Winter Olympics stars around the country are glued to their television screens, hoping they'll be in their place in four years' time.

But, for many families, the joys of seeing their children rise to the heady heights of international competition are tempered with huge bills, 5am alarm calls and endless travelling.

Star figure skater Peter Hallam, 14, took up skating with his older sister, Rebecca, when the iceSheffield venue opened in 2003.

Rebecca didn't take to the sport, but her brother, seven years later, is preparing for his first international competition in April and has his sights firmly set on the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Their mother, Jill Hallam, from Wincobank, Sheffield, said: "Peter had done just about everything else, like gymnastics and swimming, and somebody said that as he's quite petite and agile he'd be good at skating.

"When he'd been going for a few weeks, one of the coaches called me to one side and said that Peter had a lot of potential and were we interested in taking it further.

"I said, 'Yes, whatever it takes' – not realising the financial implications."

On a typical day, Mrs Hallam said, Peter now gets up at 5am and one of his parents takes him to iceSheffield in Attercliffe, where he warms up from 6am.

By 7am he's on the ice and usually skates until around 8.15am, when he hops on a tram to All Saints Catholic High School. On two days a week he has a free afternoon and catches the tram back to the rink.

About 18 months after he took up figure skating, Peter won his first competition. Now the family of four regularly travels all over the country so he can compete.

As a member of iceSheffield's Academy of Excellence, Peter regularly competes against the country's top skaters and has won a host of titles. In April, he will represent his country for the first time at international level.

Mrs Hallam estimates that Peter's skating costs the family at least 150 a week. She said: "That's only for the classes and so on and doesn't take into account the travel, the hotel rooms and everything else, which is extremely expensive. It's more than having a second mortgage.

"It was a bit of a shock to the system. Family holidays don't exist any more, but we're hoping to be able to afford for the four of us to go to Slovenia for the competition in April.

"It's all gearing up for the Olympics – that's the whole point, really," the 44-year-old added.

"He won't be making any money at all before then, as of course, you have to be an amateur to compete.

"Once these Olympics are over we'll be focusing on the run-up to the next ones in Russia, when he should be competing."

Neither Mrs Hallam nor her husband Stephen, who works for the Royal Bank of Scotland, are sporty and they say it's unclear where Peter got his exceptional talent from.

Peter said the path to becoming a champion skater was "really hard work", but making it to the Olympics would make the years of training worthwhile.

"School have helped me a lot, they gave me a laptop to take to the rink with me so I can catch up on schoolwork. I don't get much time to see my mates, but when I do we play computer games and stuff. When I started skating, my friends thought it was good that I was doing something I was good at, and they think it's pretty cool now," he said.

The Hallams are close friends with the family of figure skater Rachael Barley, 14, who is set to compete alongside Peter in a few weeks' time. Both teenagers will be travelling to the city of Jesenice, in Slovenia, to compete for the Triglav Trophy.

Like the Hallams, the Barleys have had to make many sacrifices along the way.

Phil Barley, a builder from Whiston, Rotherham, said he and his wife Susan had given up days out, trips to restaurants and other luxuries for Rachael's fledgling career. He said: "Luckily, neither of us smokes nor drinks – we couldn't afford it. We haven't had a family holiday since she started, as the skating is everything.

"It's a huge financial commitment as all the spare money – and even the money that's not spare – goes on the skating. Yes, you make sacrifices, but you have to cut your cloth accordingly."

The Barleys took their daughters Rachael and Katie along to iceSheffield when they were eight and 10 respectively.

Quickly, it became apparent that Rachael had star potential.

Mr Barley, 44, said: "Someone from iceSheffield told us Rachael had quite a flair and asked did we want her to join the development group. Soon we started with private lessons and she got into entering the open competitions around the country. From there she went up to International Judging System, or IJS level. It's like the step-up from the Championship to the Premiership. Since she got to IJS level, about two years ago, she's never been off the podium."

Rachael, a pupil at Oakwood Technology College in Rotherham, now trains four mornings and two evenings a week at iceSheffield.

Rachael said that one of the biggest problems is fitting in her skating around her schoolwork.

She said: "It's hard to find time to do my homework and things, I usually have to do it during breaks at school or at lunchtimes. I want to get as far as I can with skating but, even if I don't reach the very top, I'd definitely carry on for fun as I enjoy it so much."

While Peter and Rachael are aiming to be stars of the rink, freestyle skier Tyler Jay Harding, from Sowerby Bridge, is set to be a future champion of the slopes.

The 13 year-old already has 11 gold medals under his belt and, next month, will compete for the chance to perform at the prestigious Winter X Games in Tignes, France.

Tyler won 14 out of the 15 freestyle skiing competitions for under-16s he entered during the last year – despite only being 12 for much of that time.

His dad, Robbie Harding, a keen skier and snowboarder himself, said that Tyler first took to skiing on a holiday in Bulgaria, when he was five.

Freestyle skiing involves jumping and performing tricks on slopes or a half-pipe – similar to snowboarding.

Mr Harding, 45, said: "We put him in the creche in Bulgaria and, when we came back, started him on the kids' club at Halifax dry ski slope. When he was nearly seven, he started doing his first competitions.

"His first proper competition was at Xscape in Castleford, for under-14s.

"He won that when he was just eight, which was a bit of a shock. It's fair to say we were gobsmacked."

Although his wife Gill Harding was also a keen snowboarder, a fractured wrist and a broken leg sustained in 2003 meant that she no longer spent as much time on the slopes.

"It was just me and Tyler most of the time," Mr Harding said. "He started entering national competitions and, in the last four years, we've started travelling further afield."

Next month will mean a lot of travelling for the Hardings – first to Tignes and then to Laax, Switzerland, for the "Brits" – a week-long winter sports festival. Tyler will be 17 by the time the next Winter Olympics come around.

His mother added: "It costs around 20,000 to get someone to the Olympics, but if we have to sell the house to get him there, we will."

Girls setting the pace on ski slopes

Fearless Katie Summerhayes from Sheffield made history last year by being named the youngest-ever British Freeskiing Champion in Laax, Switzerland.

Katie, 14, now firmly has her sights set on Europe and then the next WInter Olympics in 2014. She started skiing at the age of six when her dad took her and her younger sister Molly to Sheffield Ski Village.

She then gravitated to perfecting the tricks and

360 turns needed to compete at the top level in Freestyle skiing.

Katie now spends 12 hours a week training at Snozone in Castleford, which also sponsors her, and she says she spends every waking minute thinking about skiing.

Andy Bennett, freestyle coach British Halfpipe team, says:"Katie is one of the most promising talents I have ever seen."

"Crazy" Katie Ormerod from Brighouse is another name to look out for. At just 12, Katie has taken the snowboarding world by storm since she started snowboarding at six. She goes three times a week to the dry ski slope in Halifax and twice a week to the indoor, real snow of Snozone in Castleford.

Along with her cousin, Sophie Nicholls, 15, (whose brother Jamie is a snowboarder for the British team), the pair are a force

to be reckoned with.

Katie and Sophie both regularly compete in women's freestyle snowboarding categories against women much older than themselves around Europe. Freestyle snowboarding demands a high level of skill and ability and both girls are fearless in their pursuit of bigger and better tricks.

Katie Ormerod is also a champion gymnast.