How skating is changing in the OUA and beyond
Just days away from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship competition, the varsity figure skating team is busy making sure everything is in place. Ranked second in the OUA, the team is a serious gold medal contender.
The Ontarion sat down with head coach Janet Gibson and team captain Jade Marrow to talk about figure skating at the varsity level.
Gibson has been with the team for 13 years and Marrow is in her second season of OUA skating and her third year of the human kinetics program.
Different skaters have different responsibilities, ranging from sending music to competitions, to organizing costumes, to prepping food for road trips.
The team’s training begins at 6:00 a.m. Monday to Thursday. After a quick warm-up, they’re on the ice by 6:30 and skating until 7:50 or later. Each weekday takes on a slightly different focus.
Beyond the on-ice training, the team works out Friday mornings and individuals are also expected to keep up a workout program on their own time.
“I know some people purposely don’t pick night classes because they can’t stay up past a [certain] time. I know I have to be in bed no later than 10 o’clock,” said Marrow.
“It’s difficult to coordinate 21 schedules,” said Gibson. “It’s difficult to do everything together, which is why we train so early in the morning.”
As a team captain, Marrow is also part of the Leadership Academy, a unique initiative at Guelph that is practised in the NCAA. Representatives from each varsity team meet several times a semester to workshop leadership skills to use during and beyond their time on their respective teams.
“It’s an open, safe space where we’re able to talk about different situations on our teams and [give] each other different techniques to help knit together our team better,” said Marrow.
Another factor in leadership is bonding with a team where all the athletes don’t necessarily compete in the same events. For figure skating, events range from free skates, to dances, to synchronized routines. Programs range from individual, to pairs or fours, to groups of 17.
“That’s one of the hardest things,” said Marrow, “to be a leader to your peers. People who are the same age as you, or older than you.”
Compared to other varsity sports, figure skating has one of the longest competitive seasons. The gruelling 22-week season makes training difficult when having to accommodate injuries or illness.
“That’s the thing about skating,” said Gibson. “It’s so volatile. One day, you land all your jumps, and the next day, you miss them. It’s a tough sport.”
Of the 21 skaters on the team, 17 go on the roster for a given competition. Even if skaters are not a part of the competing group, they learn the routine and are able to step in at any point. Like other sports, rookies are sometimes recruited to train for a year to develop their skills before beginning to compete.
“It’s a lot of planning,” said Gibson. “They continue to develop over the four years on the team.”
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Unlike other varsity sports, the OUA figure skating season consists of just two competitions before the championship. For a season spanning both the fall and winter semesters, that doesn’t give teams much of a gauge going into the finals.
“There’s a lot to expect with only two preparatory competitions,” said Gibson. “Sometimes that’s just not enough to prepare.”
One solution to the lack of OUA-organized opportunities is in the form of invitational competitions for individuals.
On Feb. 4 and 5, individuals from the team attended the Dennis Silverthorne competition in St. Thomas. The invitational had to create an event specifically for the Gryphons’ two male skaters to compete.
Gibson partly attributes the emergence of competitive male skaters to the increase in media attention for the sport over the last decade. Gibson and Marrow agreed that including male skaters is another factor that raises competitiveness at the university level.
Currently, the U of G team is fully funded by the university, unlike their counterparts at other schools across the province. Laurier’s team is still fighting to gain varsity status, which means they can only attend invitationals.
However, many schools are revisiting their funding models and the team’s funding is up for revision at the end of this school year.
“Skating as a sport is extremely expensive,” explained Marrow.
“It’s hard to compete if you’re a team who just doesn’t have the resources,” added Gibson.
Between competition fees, ice fees, transportation, hotels, costumes, meal allowances, and team fees, it’s not hard to believe. For most, team funding is the deciding factor on whether or not they can continue their competitive careers.
The OUA championships are hosted by Brock University in Niagara Falls over Feb. 14 and 15. Nine Ontario universities are eligible to attend.
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion.
Great write-up & good explanation as to how much time & financial resources are required to field a competitive group/team. Best to you & your team Janet at the up-coming OUAA championships.
Go for the gold at the championships Janet! Were rooting for you.