Ocala, Fla. – Inside the four walls at Skate A Way South in Ocala, Renee Hildebrand has her hands full training some of the best inline skaters in the world.
Dozens flooding this modest indoor rink, some traveling for hours to get to practice, just to be in Renee’s presence.
After all, Hildebrand hasn’t just coached one Olympian speed skater. She has coached three.
Erin Jackson, Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia, all from sunny Ocala, were the only Floridians to medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
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Mantia won bronze in team pursuit, Bowe won bronze in the women’s 1000 meter, and Jackson won gold in the 500 meter, becoming the first Black woman to ever win a speedskating medal at the Winter Olympics.
“They were all contenders going in, and they all got a medal coming back,” Hildebrand said. “It was really amazing. "
Those accomplishments become even more incredible when you realize there is just one thing missing in Ocala.
“Everybody is like, ‘Where is the ice?’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, we don’t have ice. We have wood,’” Hildebrand said with a laugh. “They all start right here in a skating rink.”
Winter Olympians who started not as ice skaters, but as inline skaters with Renee at the helm taking them all the way to the top.
“The fact that I could start out kids from the ground up, and they could become world champions, that does feel like a huge accomplishment,” Hildebrand said.
But as their accomplishments grew, so did their dreams of Olympic gold.
“Wishfully, we would have our sport at the Olympics, and they wouldn’t have to switch over, but we don’t,” Hildebrand said.
Since inline speedskating has yet to be recognized as an Olympic sport, world-class inline skaters are forced to switch to ice if they want to compete for an Olympic medal.
But the bonds formed at the skating rink between Jackson, Bowe and Mantia remained even after the switch to ice.
“We all realize that they might not skate for a long time, but they are going to have to deal with, you know, a lot of other things in their life. We hope to make them better citizens, just better humans in general, you learn a lot of that just from being part of a team,” Hildebrand said.
Evident when Jackson, a crowd favorite for the women’s 500 meter, made an uncharacteristic stumble at Olympic trials. That stumble put her friend and teammate Bowe in 2nd place, Jackson in third, and Beijing out of sight for any third-place finisher.
“The first person that texted me was Joey,” said Hildebrand, as she recalls that day. “He texts me he goes, ‘I think I heard Britney say she is going to give up her spot to Erin.’ And I was like, really surprised, and at the same time, happy and sad, because I didn’t want Britney to have to give up her spot.
“Later on that night, she texted me and she said, ‘Over my dead body will Erin not be going to Beijing.’ She showed everyone what kind of person we have always known her to be. She is just amazing.”
And if that doesn’t tug at your heartstrings Florida’s winter Olympians, who put Ocala on the map, still make time for the kids back home at the rink.
Their story comes full circle to where it all began with Renee at the helm for the next generation of speedskaters.
“Now, I just need to get them to build me a track,” Hildebrand said with a laugh. “People think I want to ask the county to build an ice skating rink, but I don’t. I want a backtrack, so I can just keep teaching inliners to get the best they can get.”
The Ocala Speed Inline Racing Team is currently training kids from 6 years old to 19 years old. They can reach speeds exceeding 30 miles an hour, and the world-class champions practice six times a week, three to four hours a day.