Most people think figure skating is something you start as a child. Something you either grow into or you don’t. But Dudu Phele did not care about rules or timelines. She started skating at 40, three months after giving birth, completely self-taught. Now she is chasing a gold medal for South Africa, something no adult skater has ever done.
I went to meet her at the ice rink, and I will admit I was nervous. This was my very first time on ice. “I’m here at the ice rink for my very, very first time,” I said. “I’m going to skate for my very first time and I’m so, so excited.”
Dudu laughed at my wobbling attempts. Then she shared her story. “I started figure skating three months postpartum and it was just something that came out of nowhere. I don’t know why I started this and it just kind of like fell from the sky, from the sea, so maybe divine intervention.”
She is not just skating for herself. “I’m self-taught. I never stopped ever since and I love it so much. When I’m on ice, I feel like time does not exist,” she said. You can see it in the way she moves, in the energy she brings, and in the joy she radiates.
Dudu is also a national championship qualifier, a yoga coach, and a television personality. What she is teaching beyond medals is even bigger. “We tend to put age as a limitation so much as society and we obsess about age. You can do anything. You can start any skill at any age. Your energy, your energy, your aura is your real age. It is all about how you are feeling, not about the age.”
By the end of the session, I had fallen more times than I could count. And yet, it was amazing. Every slip, every wobble, every laugh reminded me of what Dudu had shown me that day. Dreams are always there. They wait. Age is just a number.
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