A look inside the Gryphons figure skating team through the lone male skater
As Francis Adamo sees it, most people don’t know the Guelph Gryphons even have a figure skating team. With that, most also don’t know that they’re the defending Provincial Champions heading into this season.
Adamo, who took home OUA gold in the Men’s Event in February 2014, is the lone male on the Gryphons skating team – and, with complete honesty, has no qualms about it.
“I really love having teammates around, and a lot of supportive people,” Adamo explained, adding that skating can often be a very solitary sport. “And, you can put this in if you want, there’s worst things than getting up and training with two dozen girls – it’s not the worst thing in the world.”
Breaking into a sport that is thought to be predominately for girls wasn’t a second thought for Adamo. After seeing a competition on TV, the Guelph native recounts that he instantly started trying to imitate the ticks, resulting in his Mom enrolling him in skating at the age of seven.
“That was it, no going back from there,” Adamo said. “Now, what? 14 years later and here we are – that’s kind of crazy to think about.”
The fourth-year University of Guelph student follows big names such as Patrick Chan and Evgeni Plushenko; however, he chalks up his biggest influence to a past Russian coach.
“You know, the stereotypical Russian coach,” Adamo joked. “But he was a former World Junior Champion, and he taught me everything from the mental aspect to everything that goes into being a top competitor. It’s really made me a better skater and person.”
Adamo, experiencing a fair bit of success in his skating career – including attending the National Junior Championships – credits previous and current coaches as a whole for his success as a Provincial Champion in 2014.
The Gryphons, finishing with 105 points, won medals in 13 of 14 events to overtake the three-time reigning champions, the Western Mustangs (totaled for 82 points), to take home team gold in Toronto.
“It was hands-down by far the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done in this sport,” Adamo explained of the championship. “We knew we had a really good team, we knew we had the pieces there, but we just put it together, and it was just a tremendous feeling.”
This season, the Gryphons are hosting the OUA Championships to take place on Feb. 17-18, and will be looking to be for a similar result.
“We did lose a lot of our core skaters, but we have a lot of new skaters that have come in and are really talented,” Adamo said of the team this season. “We’re really looking forward to this year.”
As a team veteran, Adamo will be providing some motivation for the potential repeat, a responsibility that contributed to the 2014 Championship season.
“I’ve been trying, in recent years, to look into motivational speeches and put something together every time we go to a competition,” he explained. “I take elements of our practices, our experiences together, and try to motivate everyone in that sense.”
Motivation is a huge factor within such a precise sport, especially a sport where a single wrong move can cost an athlete immensely.
“You have to have the athleticism of a high jumper, but the grace of a jumper, and the stamina of a long distance runner,” the figure skater explained. “It’s a lot of specific skills, and it’s hard for a lot of people to recognize how much really goes into it, and really how tough it is.”
“Ice is hard,” Adamo added, laughing. “And that’s not an original quote – every skater will tell you that.”
Off the ice, however, the Earth and Atmospheric Science major is shooting to become a meteorologist, describing his dream job as tracking hurricanes at the Hurricane Centre in Miami.
For now, though, Adamo will continue to find success in a sport that too many believe isn’t for men.
“Don’t listen to the stereotypes out there,” Adamo said of advice for other males coming up in the sport. “It’s a really cool thing, it’s a unique thing – be proud of that.”
The Gryphons’ season begins on Dec. 13 at the Bill Phillips Synchro Invitational in Stratford.