Anything but ordinary – Artistic roller skaters and Bechtle suppliers under the microscope.
In the good old days, what made a lot of noise, looked kind of awkward, and caused a lot of bruises? That’s right, roller skates! Many of us know them from our childhood. Well, someone made it into a competitive sport. Allyson Buchmiller has celebrated several roller-skating successes over the years and in 2022, she’ll be sitting on the jury at the German National Championship. The 23 year old master’s student is in the middle of a General Business Management dual studies programme and works in Bechtle’s Logistics & Services in purchasing. She’s responsible for the management and evaluation of Bechtle suppliers including within the scope of Bechtle’s Sustainability Strategy 2030.
Artistic roller skating is practically the same as ice figure skating, just on concrete instead of ice and with wheels rather than blades. Ice-skating is an Olympic sport shown on TV—artistic roller skating isn’t, unfortunately. I find it a bit of a shame, because they’re basically very similar at a sporting level. There are various events and age categories conforming to international standards. The moves are also pretty much the same with pirouettes, jumps, and so on.
Somewhere between nursery and primary school, I went to an artistic roller skating taster session. I took it up as a hobby and then quickly as a competitive sport in the Eppingen Bike and Roller-skating Club. Until I was 18, I regularly competed, training up to six days a week. This included strength and conditioning as well as mental training as preparation for competitions. I won first prize in a youth cup, I took part in the German National Championships three times, and managed to come eighth out of around 30 competitors. With starting my dual studies at Bechtle, I had less time to devote to roller-skating and I had a feeling that this chapter was slowly coming to an end.
Two things, very definitely. For one, perseverance. Roller-skating taught me not to give up, even if you have little or no success to begin with. You just have to keep going and your hard work will pay off at some point. The importance of self-confidence is the other thing. In individual sports, it’s often not your performance, but lack of self-belief at a crucial moment that lets you down. That’s why the mental training is so important. I tried to really internalise this early on and it’s something I come back to time and again in my job.
The sustainable supplier management department, which I joined after completing my bachelor studies, was only founded in October 2020. Some things are still being worked out, there is a lot of activity and sometimes there are big challenges that seem too daunting at first. In difficult situations, I always first say to myself “there’s more to you than you think. Be brave. Have confidence in yourself. Show us what you can do.” There’s so much potential inside all of us! We need to remember that if we want to be successful.
Let’s go back to the start. How did your Bechtle career start?
I was interested in a dual Bachelor study course in business and commerce after my A-levels and I kept hearing good things about Bechtle at career fairs and by word of mouth. When my application was successful I was very happy. I liked the working environment at Bechtle so much that I decided then to choose Bechtle as the partner company for my dual studies programme.
I find the atmosphere very young and dynamic. We have great opportunities to develop ourselves! I’d also like to say that the CEOs really show how they value their employees and employee satisfaction is given high priority. I’ve had these experiences personally. And moreover, I find the modern buildings, great offices, and of course the Bechtle garden in Neckarsulm really very cool.
I stopped competing in big competitions a couple of years ago, but I didn’t want to stop completely so I’ve joined a formation group with 15 former skaters. Our club, which is 100 years old, incidentally, performs a musical every year. It’s always a big challenge but real good fun. We’re currently preparing The Greatest Showman. But I’m most excited about my seat on the jury of the German National Championship in 2022. It’s the furthest I can go as a judge.
