Ramping up for the Olympics
11-year-old hoping to be youngest to compete for Canada
Onlookers were buzzing with anticipation as 11-year-old Fay DeFazio Ebert sped toward an inclined ramp at her skating park.
She’s been trying to nail the “Tre Flip” for three hours, not even taking a drink as she kept trying and falling, and her fellow skateboarders were thumping their boards in encouragement.
She jumps off the skateboard, tilts and flips it 360 degrees before sticking her landing. The other skaters break into jubilant applause.
According to Fay’s mother Elisabeth DeFazio, a lot of girls don’t get into skateboarding because they are conscious of others watching, and they don’t want to look silly. But this isn’t the case with Fay.
“When I’m skating, I’m doing it for me,” Fay tells the Star. “I want to be in the moment and skate for the fun and thrill of landing tricks.”
Despite her young age, Fay is one of 12 skateboarders on Canada’s first national skateboard team, announced last month.
At 11 years old, she is the youngest member and the only skater from Toronto. Other than Fay, the 12-member team is comprised of skaters in their 20s and 30s. On the page showing their photos, her young face stands out among her older teammates.
“It feels like a big family of all my siblings, but they are just different ages,” Fay says.
Part of the attraction of the sport is the camaraderie among competitors and excitement they all share when someone at the park nails a trick, regardless of age.
Fay began with a free group skating lesson during the 2018 March break when she was eight years old. It was organized by Impact Skate Club, a Toronto non-profit that offers free allequipment-included skate classes to children.
“She was a natural on the board, and she loved it from the moment she stepped on it,” Elisabeth says.
That same day, Fay and her parents went down to their local skate shop to pick out her first skateboard. Since then, Fay has been training each week.
The International Olympic Committee announced in 2016 that skateboarding would be an Olympic sport for the first time at the Tokyo Games, which were delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are two categories in the Olympics, street skateboarding and park skateboarding.
Street consists of urban obstacles like stairs, handrails, curbs, benches, walls and slopes.
Park competitions are held on a hollowed-out course with a series of complicated curves, some resembling large dishes and dome-shaped bowls.
Fay competes in the park skating category with the national team, and is ranked No. 44 in the world.
“Her determination and potential are incredible,” national team coach Adam Higgins says. “The way she rides the bowl, and her commitment to learning new skills is phenomenal and she is definitely above the curve for the majority of people her age.”
While it’s rare for someone so young to be this good, Higgins says there are similar exceptional young elite athletes in the sport around the world.
As a member of the national team, Fay will get a chance to earn a spot on Canada’s Olympic team for Tokyo this summer.
But she needs to participate in more international tournaments to get enough points to qualify.
“The current uncertainty surrounding international sporting events due to the pandemic may keep her from collecting those crucial points,” Higgins says.
If Fay does qualify for the Tokyo Games, she would become the youngest Canadian ever to compete at the Olympics. Barbara Hounsell, who was 13 years old when she swam the 400metre individual medley at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, currently holds the mark.
“I really want it, but even if I don’t make it this time, it’s all good. I still have many years to practise and get better,” Fay says.
While Fay loves the competitive spirit of the sport, the secret to her success is that she genuinely has fun while skateboarding. Another reason she excels is her stamina, earning her the nickname “Fay-all-day” at camp because she wouldn’t stop skating.
“She does not tire like a normal human,” Elisabeth says. “She can spend a day skating, go to bed late, get a small amount of sleep and then continue to skate for hours the next day.”
The pandemic has proven to be both a boon and a bane for Fay.
While she can’t skate near her friends or give out high-fives to fellow skaters, the reduced load of in-person classes at school has opened up her schedule for practice.
She only has to attend halfdays at her middle school, while completing the other half on her own time.
Lower foot traffic at indoor skate parks due to lockdowns has also allowed her to have the entire venue for herself and her coach Trint Thomas.
She is sponsored by CJ’s Skatepark, a Mississauga non-profit that allows her to use its facility free of cost. It also runs a foundation dedicated to teaching skateboarding and scooter riding to children and youth.
While training to be an elite athlete can be a lot for an 11year-old, Elisabeth and her husband Andrew want to make sure Fay still lives a kid’s life.
In her downtime, Fay likes to play the ukulele, chat with friends over the phone, create animation and play Minecraft with her eight-year-old brother Adrian.
“Her brain needs that, to wind down from the adrenalin rush of skating,” Elisabeth says of Fay, who turns 12 in November.
More than 21,000 people follow Fay on Instagram, on a profile managed by her mother.
“I don’t think she realizes it, but by just being herself, she influences and inspires so many people all over the world,” Elisabeth says.
“Parents often reach out to us saying that their girls look at Fay skateboarding and get the confidence to take up skating themselves.”