Behind the Blades for Safe Sport: Gabrielle Daleman

After a very long and exciting season and then being asked to be in Stars on Ice I was ready to come home and regroup for the Olympic year. Stars on Ice was a dream come true for me and working with the incredible cast with so much talent had me over the moon. I was heartbroken when I had to leave the tour due to an illness. I am now recovering and looking forward to getting my new choreography for the upcoming season.

My journey as a young skater was not always easy and achieving the success I had this season didn’t come without tears of happiness and of sadness. All those tears, good and bad, helped me along my journey.

Being bullied as a young girl has given me courage and taught me perseverance. When athletes face the challenge of being hurt or when an illness strikes we have very little resources left to fight through it because we give everything every day in our training. Being bullied because I couldn’t read or spell correctly was terrible but it gave me the strength to fight through it with my skating.

Now being sick it is giving me the courage to work through this so I can go back to the sport I love and the place I call home. Skating has given me so much in my life and I am grateful for all of it. I get to travel the world doing what I love.

Having a Learning Disability, ADHD and Anxiety has been a challenge but through my freedom on the ice I get the relief I need to get away from my struggles and soar. So many people have their own struggles and we need to be kind to each other. We never know what someone is going through.

Skate Canada supports Safe Sport and we can all be a part of that by being understanding, tolerant and inclusive. I am proud to be a champion for Safe Sport and would love to see more being done in arenas around Canada to show kids that every effort is important, whether we are skating for fun or at a competitive level. Bullying, harassment and abuse should not be tolerated. We must appreciate each other for who we are and understand people have limitations. No one should ever be made to feel bad simply for who they are. We need to teach kids at the grassroots level about these important messages. This will help them to build the skills in life needed to get through the good but especially the bad times.

Take the time today to tell someone in your life that what they do is important and to never give up on what they love. Work hard, follow your dreams and don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re not good enough because you are!!!