Marco’s Story
In a country like the USA, where speedskating is a minority sport, almost everyone has an interesting story regarding how they fell in love with ice speedskating.
Last night; over a glass of wine on my front porch, my friend Marco Bucci told me his, and its one of the best I have ever heard:
For my whole life, I had one dream; that dream was to be a college hockey player. I spent 3 years playing for R.I.T & Canton, and it was a terrible experience with inter-team & NCCA politics taking away my playing time.
It was awful to sit on the bench and watch players I was better than get to play simply because they had scholarships and I was a walk-on. I worked so hard, and got crapped on by an ass of a coach.
With a lot of bitterness, I left hockey, and was working a job in my hometown of Plattsburgh N.Y. One night, at midnight, my Uncle Jim knocks on my door with a pair of speedskates in his hand, Jim said:
Marco, the ice on Lake Champlain is PERFECT, we need to go out there, come on!!
Jim, my grandfather, & all the men from my mom’s family were speedskaters. The speedskates he gave me were floppy, awful things from the 1950’s, but when we got out to the ice, IT WAS PERFECT.
The wind was at about 20mph, but there were miles of glass ice lit by a full moon.
We would work hard into the headwind, then turn around and just fly.
I was so excited, I skated right to the edge of the open water, it was incredible! Just huge sweeping turns, listening to the ice crackling & popping.
We skated until 4am, and I was hooked from that night on.
Three weeks later Jim took me up to the oval in Lake Placid, and I spent the rest of that winter skating miles & miles along Scomotion creek and the shores of Lake Champlain.
That following year, in the fall of 1996, with my 40 year old skates in hand, I moved to Lake Placid, I wanted to be a speedskater.
Marco skated Olympic trials in 1998, 2002, and 2006, and now owns his own tile & stonework company in Park City. Between speedskating and hockey, he gave 27 years of his life to the ice.
This is him, during US National Championships, December 2004
In a closet back in Plattsburgh, he still has that 50 year old pair of skates.
Filed under: from the coffee shop
Very moving story.
It sounds as if ice is now in his past - that so?
yes, the last time Marco touched the ice was the final day of Olympic trials, december 31st, 2005..
but I did just loan him a pair of inlne frames (yeah, I’m an enabler….)
I feel there sound to be more of a story with people whom dont make it to the games than the ones who do. Im thankful for the fact Ive be able to know the havenots closer than the haves . Thanks Marco for the story!!. I wish skating in the U.S. wasnt just all about olympic games 2 weeks of races only held every 4 years. I hope for most, skating means something deeper than olympic glory.
I’ve heard the story before but not in as much detail. Way to go Buuuchhh. I know the hockey thing as I was lucky enough to play college hockey. Something I sometimes take for granted. I was a goalie so I say I’m pretty fast on the ice for a goalie……
We had guys on our team who were 5th line players but they came out every day and worked their butts off. Yes they were an important part of our team even though they never saw hardly a minute of ice time. They worked hard and kept the starters honest. Hockey there is a lot of politics but in speedskating it’s a little more subtle. There are advantages given the haves but they still have to skate the races. At least the have nots can get to the starting line with hard work. I commend Marco for getting to the starting line. Hope to see ya on da hahhhd suhhface a-gain. -boudie
that’s the Spirit guys!!
marco: from midnight to 4am ? was it full moon? how did you never get into the open water? yeah, the sounds of ice cracking and popping, isn’t that magic…
(is this lake every winter skateable…)
When Marco was training and lived at my house, he worked 40 hours a week at a bank and survived on saltine crackers and tuna fish for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner.
He told me that it’s his dream, some day, when he makes a lot of money, to set up a foundation to help skaters who end up in his situation, so that they can realize their full potential. I’d donate to that!
Boudie, I know what you’re trying to say, and I used to feel the same way about speed skating compared to a team sport (after an experience similar to Marco’s, but in high school soccer…) but to find out whether the have-nots get to go to the starting line with enough hard work, all you have to do is ask the Romanian woman who skated the 1500 meters alone in Torino because two deserving Americans were sitting at home.
The only advantages, in terms of “fairness” or “purity” of a time trial-based sport that I have found have been:
1. Catching everybody off guard when you come out of nowhere to win an event, before they have time to write rules specifically against you.
Or,
2. If you have to take the ratfuckers to court, your case in a time trial sport is a lot more clear-cut.
And, of course, skating at night on a frozen lake still rules over the “World’s Fascist Ice!!!”