By Connor Hood, Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics
Growing up in a country dominated by sports like football, basketball and baseball, curling isn’t the obvious choice for young athletes in Pennsylvania.
However, having maternal Canadian hertitage, second-year Bears curler Andrew Gittis took up the sport, and is now on one of the most unique journeys for a current Bear or Panda student-athlete.
Gittis took part in a junior camp run by Bears alum Brendan Botcher in the States, which planted the seed for him to come to the University of Alberta, 2,400 miles from his hometown.
“After running the camp back home, Brendan found out I was part-Canadian, so he told me to start looking into the UofA,” said the Exton, Pennsylvania native. “I honestly didn’t know much about the Bears before coming here, but in chatting with Brendan, I knew how strong of a program it was.”
Despite the Americans recent success at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea, curling still isn’t one of the countries popular sports. For elite-level curlers, extensive amounts of travel are often required to compete at the highest levels in the United States.
And for curlers who aim to reach the peak, like Gittis does, joining a program with a track record for success like the Bears was an obvious fit .
“I’d love to go as far as I can with curling. Hopefully some day I can make it to a professional level. And I think this is the best route to do this,” said Gittis. “Rob [Krepps] runs an amazing program here, and it shows with how many former athletes are at the highest levels of the game.”
The Kinesiology, Sport, & Recreation student-athlete is in his second year with the Bears, and has already earned himself a spot on the top Bears team heading into the 2020 Canada West Championship this weekend.
The Golden Bears are the defending Canada West Champions, and have won three of the last four regional qualifiers for the U SPORTS Championship. The Alberta men are also looking for a second national title in three years.
Gittis, who will play second for the Bears this weekend, was also on the Bears U21 junior team that recently captured the Alberta junior title.
“Based on our past performances, and how we have played so far this season, I feel good about our chances this weekend,” he said. “We have a strong team, but there will be some tough competition here this weekend. We should have a good chance to come away with another gold medal.”
Alberta’s first action will be at 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon, when they take on the Lethbridge Pronghorns in Draw 1.