Athlete profile: Moira D'Andrea

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

Two decades ago, Girl Scout Troop #231 took a field trip to the Saratoga Ice Skating Rink...Moira D'Andrea's life has never been the same...her mother, Mary Ellen, was the troop leader at the time...wanting to save a buck in rental fees, she brought along a pair of her son's old speed skates for Moira to wear...what Mary Ellen didn't know was that she wasn't the only one keeping a watchful eye on her daughter that day...only an hour after the scouts made their way onto the ice, Moira was invited by a coach from the local speed skating club to return the next day for practice...it wasn't long before Moira was joined by all six of her athletic brothers and sisters, a troop in themselves..."We made up such a large part of the team that it was almost like getting one-on-one lessons, she recalls...these days, Moira is the only of the six children still skating and despite a list of accomplishments and injuries as long a Girl Scout cookie order form...from 1994 to 1996 she was the National All-Around Champion and since 1990 she has consistently placed in the top three at the U.S. Sprint Championships. Moira was a member of the 1988 Short Track demonstration team in Calgary before deciding to focus her energy on long track...perhaps her greatest achievement came in 1995 at a records meet in Calgary when she broke Bonnie Blair's eight year old record in the 1,500 meters..."All I can remember is hearing the announcer as I was coming down the last 100 meters and he was saying something about an American record," recalls Moira. "I was totally shocked because I didn't go into that meet thinking anything. I was there for fun and I had been resting all week instead of training"...Moira had beaten Blair's record by one hundredth of a second..."It was kind of weird because the meet was sort of a farewell celebration for Bonnie because she was retiring," says Moira."But she was really happy for me. That's just part of her personality"...this was also after D'Andrea did not qualify for the 1994 Olympics...D'Andrea's revival has coincided with the arrival of coach Guy Thibault (GHEE tee-BOH)..."It's really nice for a coach to have more than one outstanding athlete," explains Moira. "He really gives us our space and that's because he likes to have his own space as well. His family is very important to him. When he leaves the rink he says goodbye until the next training session. That's very different from a lot of other coaches who eat and drink and sleep speed skating and feel the need to be involved in our personal lives. Guy's methods work better for me"...though he tends to keep to himself, Guy was certainly a crucial part in helping Moira get back on her feet after a year of several career-threatening injuries..."I thought somebody was trying to tell me something," jokes Moira about her streak of bad luck...in 1995 she contracted Hepatitis A, a virus with an effect similar to that of mononucleosis..."It totally wiped me out," remembers Moira. "It took about a year before it was totally out of my system"...almost recovered, D'Andrea was hit by a car while biking..."I was going down a steep hill when a guy driving the other direction made a turn in front of me. He thought he could beat me"...Moira had applied her brakes so hard when she saw the car that her bike started to skid sideways - it probably saved her life..."I hit the car with my hip first, then I went over the hood and into the windshield elbow first"...she broke her pelvis in three places, severed her tricep in two places and shattered the tip of her elbow bone, "I know I am extremely lucky, I knew that right away"...although doctors agreed she was lucky that her injuries weren't worse or even fatal, they told her she probably wouldn't skate again..."This really made me challenge myself. I knew it wasn't over"...two months later she was walking without the help of a cane..."I am lucky because skaters have a very strong torso and tight hips because of all our lower body activity," she says. "The doctors said that helped to heal my fractures quickly"...strong torso or not, Moira's healing process would not have been so successful had it not been for her mother Mary Ellen..."When she came to help me out, she packed a bag for four days," recalls Moira. "She left six weeks later. I couldn't have done it without her because for a while I needed round the clock care"...Moira's injury-laden seasons have only compelled her to keep going..."I wouldn't change a thing that has happened to me over the last two years. It has prepared me for any obstacle that comes my way. Now, there is no doubt in my mind I can deal with them"...turning 30 in March, Moira is one of the oldest members of the team..."I remember it was shortly after the car accident and I had tagged along with the team to a training camp," recalled D'Andrea. " I wasn't supposed to do anything, so I just sat around and visited with friends I hadn't seen in a while. A girl from the junior team came up to me one day and said, ‘What are you doing? I can't believe it. If I were you, I'd be working my butt off. I look up to you.' I didn't realize that I was a role model. The next day I started training more. She set me straight"...the entire team had to train more this year with the introduction of the new and controversial clap skate...unlike the conventional skate, the clap skate has a spring loaded front hinge that allows the heal of a skaters' boot to rise and fall, which keeps the blade in constant contact with the ice producing a loud noise similar to that of a clap...the clap skate allows skaters to use their calves in pushing off, thus increasing their speed...adjusting to the new equipment has been a struggle for all of them, "It's almost as if we have taken a step back with the clap skates," says Moira. "It is really terrible, especially for some of my teammates who are serious medal contenders. We wanted to fine tune this year. Instead we are in our basements with torches trying to fix the skates so we are comfortable with them. We can't focus on things that elite athletes should be focusing on. It was really bad timing"...D'Andrea works with a small, but expanding company called Team Sports in Waukesha, Wisconsin that currently manages five professional teams on both a national and international level...if for some reason sports marketing doesn't work out for Moira, her brother Frank would love to have her at home flipping dough at the family pizza parlor, D'Andrea's..."It's sort of an institution in Saratoga," says Moira. "It would be fun"...