UD figure skating coach Scott Gregory releases book
Scott Gregory

ADVERTISEMENT

UDaily is produced by Communications and Marketing
The Academy Building
105 East Main Street
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716 • USA
Phone: (302) 831-2792
email: ocm@udel.edu
www.udel.edu/ocm

10:09 a.m., Nov. 5, 2010----Scott Gregory, a world and Olympic ice dancer as well as a coach at the University of Delaware High Performance Figure Skating Center, recently released a book entitled Champion Mindset, which chronicles his career in the sport.

THIS STORY
Email E-mail
Delicious Print
Twitter

Gregory said he decided to write the book to inspire others to “go that extra mile” to succeed.

“I had several people tell me that I should write a book because I have overcome so much adversity during my career,” Gregory said.

His inspirational story begins during his childhood in Skaneateles, N.Y., where he began skating on the frozen pond in his backyard.

At the age of 15, he moved to Philadelphia to further his training. However, shortly after his five-hour move, he was sidelined twice for a kneecap injury resulting from the impact of skating jumps. This injury kept him off the ice for two years.

After his injury healed, Gregory began ice dancing, which is the only figure skating discipline that does not require jumps.

Six months after his return to the ice in a new discipline, Gregory won the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships, an unprecedented feat in the figure skating world.

However, Gregory's story did not end there. He went on to compete in the Winter Olympics not once but twice -- in 1984 at Sarajevo with Elisa Spitz and in 1988 at Calgary with Suzanne Semanick.

“Going in to my second Olympics, I injured my back,” Gregory said. “The doctor told me I could either have surgery or take a month off the ice and take medication. I, of course, chose to not have surgery.”

Although it was painful, he was able to complete his second trip to the Olympics with a sixth place finish with Semanick.

Gregory hopes that his own story will inspire other young skaters.

“I want ... my students to [have] that not-give-up attitude,” an element of success that Gregory has found to be vital in his own life as a two-time U.S. national champion, a six-time World Championship competitor, and a two-time Olympian.

“I want kids to be their own champion and live their dreams,” he said.

Gregory lives in Delaware with his wife, Pam Gregory, Kimmie Meissner's former coach, and his daughter Victoria.

To purchase Gregory's book, Champion Mindset, visit his website. It is also on sale on Amazon.

Book signings at the University's Fred Rust Ice Arena are planned, as well, from 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, and Wednesday, Dec. 8, and from 10 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Dec. 11.

Article by Kristin Zinsmeister
Photo by Diana DeLuca

close