Roseville Resident Shines On the Ice

Not too many teenagers wake up each morning at 3:45 a.m. ready to start their day.

But for Roseville resident Bella Martinez, that's when she gets out of bed in order to be at for her daily three-hour ice skating session.

“I’m a morning person, said 16-year-old Martinez, who also spends an additional hour on the ice after school each day.

At a recent skating exhibition at Skatetown, Bella’s entire family was in attendance.  With every turn, spin and twirl she completed, brothers Sam, 14, and Jesse, 11, admitted they are proud to watch their big sister on the ice.

“I come just to watch Bella,” Sam said. “I don’t usually watch any of the other skaters, just Bella.”

For Bella, being on the ice is her time to shine.

“Skating is everything,” she said. “I love everything about it. I even like the way the ice smells.”

When asked what the ice smells like, she replied, “It smells like dreams.”

“When I’m on the ice, I feel like I can do anything. It’s freeing,” she said.

The feeling of being so at ease on the ice began when Bella was 3 ½ years old. Her mother, D.J., said when Bella was 2 she told everyone she wanted to be an ice skater.

“I’m not sure how she even knew about the sport,” D.J. said. “But when she was 3 ½ we were at the ice skating rink at Squaw Valley and when she went out on the ice for the first time she didn’t hold on to the walls or anything, she just started skating. She began skating lessons a few years after that.”

Bella recently placed first in the Sacramento Gold Rush Championships and third place at the State San Francisco competition last month. She finished sixth overall in the 2011 Central Pacific Championships and just became a senior level figure skater with the United States Figure Skating Association, which is the same organization that sends athletes to the Olympics.

But the cost of the lessons, competitions and equipment add up.  Bella’s father, Chris, said the price to prepare a high level ice skater is approximately $75,000 per year.  Because of the price tag of skating, Chris said Bella has participated in lots of fundraising and is currently seeking corporate and individual sponsorships.

Bella’s coach, Jayne Throckmorton, is proud of what Bella has accomplished. She’s been Bella’s coach for the past nine years.

"Bella is a very hard-working, energetic student,” Throckmorton said. “She loves the challenge of new skills and will practice them endlessly until they are perfect. The level that Bella is at requires an extreme internal drive to work hard every day they are at the rink. She always will find a way to have fun while she is doing this.”

And fun is the name of the game for Bella. While she would like to keep winning competitions and advancing her standing, Bella said she will be happy as long as she can continue to be active in the sport, whether that means being in the Olympics, coaching or just continuing to perfect her triple jumps, Bella’s life is on the ice.

“I have never seen anyone as hardworking and dedicated as Bella,” Chris said. "I am so proud of her.”

To contribute to Bella’s athletic fund, visit www.benefitwines.com/bella.