PRACEY, Gloria (Aiken)

BORN ABOUT 1938 , Gloria Pracey started figure skating at eleven, and fell in love so quickly she started private lessons straight away. Coached by Cubby Lyons at Sydney Glaciarium, by the age of 13 she was skating in pairs at the national championships. At 15, she skated for the national singles titles, and at 16 she passed the senior gold medal test.

Pracey and Bob Watson were Sydney's newest and most promising pair in 1950, an era when Jackie Mason and Mervyn Bower became the first pair to compete at the Worlds in 1952. Sydney Glaciarium closed when Pracey was 17, and she soon met her future husband Ray, married, and later had a baby. She skated in ice shows, mainly pantomimes, at Her Majesty's Theatre, the Tivoli, the Capitol Theatre and St George Leagues Club.

In 1960, still in her early twenties, Pracey took up coaching after her dance partner left for Europe to teach chimpanzees to skate in an ice show. (The chimps could do a flying camel, although not very well). She began at the ice rink at Homebush, where Richard Lynch became her first permanent student. Transferring to Bondi Junction until it closed, she returned to Homebush, then taught at the new Burwood Glaciarium from 1965 to '69.

In 1971, she started teaching at the Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink cooperative, where she remained for 44 years until her retirement in 2015. A nervous coach to start, she wore high-necked collars to hide a red neck caused by the anxiety of watching her skaters, but she got over it with time. She regarded Blake Adams as special because he landed an axel at his first attempt, and she coached and mentored Belinda Coulthard (Noonan) at the Worlds in Vienna in 1979. Coulthard was the National Ladies Champion that year, and a four-time Pairs Champion with Mark Lynch between 1971 and '74.

Involved with Christmas ice shows from as early as 1960, Pracey continued the tradition at the Canterbury ice rink for 41 years between 1972 and 2013. By 1989, her spin coaching was so in demand by students of other coaches she became known as the "Spin Queen". She especially enjoyed the thrill of seeing her student's excitement at developing new skills, and the relationships with parents over the years.

The Praceys were fixtures at Canterbury, usually just outside the Skate Hire, encouraging students to improve and realize their potential. Among Pracey's students were Belinda Noonan (Coulthard), Sydnee Lea Knight, Cheltzie Lee, Lauren Winsborrow, Cameron Hemmert, Madelaine Parker, Elizabeth Mayers, Phoebe Di Tommaso, Holly Harris, Blake Adams and Maggie O'Toole. Some were national medalists and many went on to careers in judging, coaching and administration of the sport.

Pracey never skated overseas, but she did accompany some of her skaters who competed internationally, notably Lauren Winsborrow and Belinda Noonan, to places such as China, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Canada. Noonan thought "blonde and beautiful Gloria was the best loveliest person on the planet". Secretary of the Australian Professional Skaters Association for 43 years, Pracey received an Australian Sports Administration Award in 1999, and the prestigious Australian Sports Medal in 2000. But she continued on until her contribution as a skater, coach and administrator exceeded 65 years.