Jules Alpe set to light up SEA Games ice skating rink for the first time

MANILA, Philippines – A 4-year-old boy kicked an orange cone on his way out of an ice skating rink. He was angry and frustrated because he was too young, and the rules excluded him from what he wanted: getting on the ice. Some time later the boy got over his outrage, but he never got over the pull of the rink. 

Many years later, the boy has grown into Jules Alpe, representive of the Philippines in figure skating for the first time at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And he is set to light the Empire City Ice Arena on fire.

Jules, now 18, has never known a passion greater than what he has for figure skating. His mother, Alma, has a wealth of anecdotes underscoring this fact about her son – a truth she’d known since he was 8, when he remembered he was then finally old enough to skate. 

One story goes that when Jules bought second hand skates to replace his old pair, he pretended they fit him perfectly when in fact they were much too big for his feet.

“He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to skate,” his mom told Rappler. 

In another recollection, Jules somehow inherited a pair of white skates designed for females. He eventually painted them black and spray-painted the shoe laces the same color to make them look like skates for males.

Jules belongs to a small and simple family from Bacoor, Cavite. His mother takes care of him, her only child, while his father rents out a van to make ends meet. Figure skating is an expensive sport to maintain, Alma admitted, and they couldn’t afford to buy Jules skates, which cost about P50,000. 

Jules’ first brand new skates were courtesy of kind people around him. A few years ago, Jules’ second-hand skates finally gave up, as the blade broke in half right down the middle. That was Jules’ only pair, and he had a competition coming up at the time – backing out suddenly became an option. 

Jules sobbed like a baby, his mother recalled. His wails and anguish were loud enough for a group of mothers to hear, and they offered to chip in to buy him new skates. Three weeks later, his brand new pair arrived.

“Jules was overjoyed,” Alma said, smiling at the memory. “Those were his very first brand new skates.”

The young skater is headed to the SEA Games with a pair of worn out two-year-old shoes. The shoes have grown soft, Jules said, but they will have to do.

Christopher Martin, Philippine Skating Union Sports Director and SEA Games Executive Secretary for the Union, explained to Rappler that funding for athletes go to the national team as a whole and not individually just yet. This means training camps are funded, but not personal equipment like skates or costumes for performances, although they work with private sponsors for Jules. Meanwhile, the partnership with SM Skating means free use of the ice rinks.

Sacrifice for passion 

Jules, though young, has already made many sacrifices in the name of his sport: time, energy, money, blood, sweat, and tears. But none compare to his ultimate show of love for figure skating. 

“I stopped schooling for my passion,” the erstwhile college freshman said with no hint of regret or shame in his countenance.

Jules had already begun his Business Management degree at CAP College as a home-schooled student. Over the years, through grade school and high school, Jules became a master of juggling time on the ice while keeping his head in the books. But college was an entirely different beast. 

He would wake up early and make the two- to 3-hour commute from Bacoor to SM’s skating rinks for training all day, then back home again at night to study or do his homework. His mom said Jules often fell asleep on her lap while they traveled, and Jules admitted there were way too many times when he drifted into slumber while studying because of exhaustion.

A year ago, things finally came to a head. 

“We asked him to choose. It came to that point,” Alma said. “We asked: ‘What do you want? To skate or study? Which is your priority?’ Then he spoke to me and his father and asked if he could stop his studies and concentrate on skating instead. He told us this would be the only time he would stop studying since he was a kid. He said it was too difficult to manage the schedule at that point.” 

As parents, allowing their only son to hit pause on his education was one other significant sacrifice because their dream is to see Jules finish college. But by giving Jules their permission, his parents displayed remarkable selflessness and their immense trust in their son. Although finances were a factor – paying for a college education and figure skating simultaneously posed a serious challenge – it ultimately came down to what Jules truly wanted. 

“We saw that he really loved what he was doing,” Jules’ mother pointed out. 

It helped that Jules thought about his choice carefully and considered every angle. 

“He told us he could return to college any time,” Alma remembered. “But with skating, there’s an age limit. If you could no longer jump or perform other skating elements, you wouldn’t be able to join competitions. So he wanted to take advantage of his youth and focus on skating.” 

Journey to Kuala Lumpur 

Much has changed in the year since Jules made the decision to drop out of school. In that short span of time, Jules has improved tremendously – the product of intense focus and fruitful training with national team coach Maria Safonova. 

Safonova, a former skater herself in Russia, has been coaching Filipino skaters for a year now together with Alexey Fedorov. They previously worked in Malaysia and Thailand, before becoming visiting coaches in the Philippines two years ago, then taking on full-time coaching duties after a year. 

The Russian sees plenty of potential in Filipino skaters, whom she commends for their natural artistry on the ice and coachability. 

“They can perform on the ice, which is also really important; it’s not only the technical part,” she said. “Of course the technical part you can teach. But the artistic part is quite hard to teach. It needs to be something that’s natural from the inside. This is one of the strongest [traits] of Philippine skaters.” 

Jules spent some time in his coach’s home country the last few months, working on his fundamentals and growing his repertoire of moves. 

“We saw a lot of improvement here; we’re still hoping for more. Of course there’s still many things to work on and many things to fix,” noted Safonova. “But he has good potential; he looks really good on the ice – judges like them a lot. So that’s the part we’re trying to use in his program.” 

In the SEA Games, where figure skating will make its debut in the biennial meet, Safonova says Jules’ toughest competition is Filipino Olympian Michael Christian Martinez himself, who will be flying in from training camp in the US. 

“He always gives me advice,” Jules said of his relationship with Martinez, his childhood friend. “When it comes to my jumps, he’ll tell me which technique to use to make it easier for me to accomplish.” 

“He’s an inspiration to me because every one of us wants to join the Olympics. It’s a motivation for me that an Olympian figure skater is mentoring me,” added Jules. He has some international competitions under his belt, but the SEA Games will be his biggest, most important yet.

Safonova is also wary about Malaysian Julian Yee, a 4-time national champion who also competed in the ISU Championships and World Championships. Increasing the level of difficulty is a sprained ankle Jules will have to manage as he competes. But that won’t keep him away from the rink. 

Despite his injury and worn out shoes, Jules still takes to the ice with grace and persistence every day. If he was having difficulty maintaining his balance after every jump, or if the pain in his swolen ankle was more than he could bear, he showed no sign of it as he glided across the ice as if it were an extension of his body. 

Someday, Jules would like to give back to his parents and finish his education. Someday soon, he’d also like to trade Philippine rinks for Olympic ones. Someday. 

“I hope I can compete in the Olympics one day because that’s one of my biggest dreams. As long as I can still train, jump, and I’m without injuries, as long as I can keep going, I will try to get there.” – Rappler.com 

All quotes in Filipino have been translated to English. 

If anyone would like to reach out to Jules Alpe and his family to donate skates for him to use in future competitions, you may do so through email: almabradecina1@gmail.com.