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Gold Medal Performing Arts
130 Plays11 months ago
Figure skating is similar to gymnastics and even dance, where there is an aesthetic and athletic component to competition. This is a sport where we see incredible displays of athleticism, as well as beauty and grace. So Yasi and Steven wanted to learn more about the life and training of a competitive figure skater by talking to one of the best in U.S. figure skating history, Todd Eldredge. We are also joined by Athletes and the Arts founding member--and Todd's skating prodigy--Julie Kirchen.
For more about Todd, go to https://toddeldredge.co
For more on U.S. Figure Skating, go to https://www.usfigureskating.org
For resources and info on Athletes and the Arts, go to http://athletesandthearts.com
Bio:
Todd Eldredge: His World Championship title, six U.S. National Championship titles, six World Championship medals and having achieved three Olympic teams, are testament to his incredible technical skill, consistency, and intense work ethic.
Eldredge, began skating at age of 5, winning his first U.S. Championship title (1990) at age 18. He defended his title in 1991 and made his first appearance on the World podium that same year. For the next three seasons he struggled with injury. His return to the top of the U.S. podium in 1995 marked the first time a skater in U.S. history reclaimed the title of U.S. Champion after a 3-year absence from the podium.
On March 21, 1996, Todd Eldredge became the first American in 8 years to win the gold medal (since Brian Boitano) at the World Championships.
After his third Olympics in 2002, Eldredge joined the renowned Stars on Ice tour where he entertained audiences across the U.S., Japan, and Canada for 11 years. In 2008, he was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Focus
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast hosted by Steven Karaginas and Yasi Ansari. Hello again and welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast. I am Steven Karaginas along with Yasi Ansari and we're so happy to have you with us today. Athletes in the Arts is a consortium of 17 different sports medicine and performing arts medicine organizations
00:00:35
Speaker
So go to athletesandthearts.com for more information and resources for performing artists. If you like what you hear on our show today, don't let me stop you from clicking subscribe and leaving a review. Our show is sponsored by schoolhealth.com, the one-stop full service provider of health supplies and services to professionals in educational settings from preschool to college for over 60 years.
Guest Introduction: Todd Eldridge
00:00:59
Speaker
Go ahead and check them out at schoolhealth.com.
00:01:02
Speaker
So we want to focus our show today on figure skating. Now figure skating is very similar to gymnastics and even some dance competitions where there is an aesthetic and athletic component to competition. These are activities where we see incredible displays of athleticism of course, but also beauty and grace as well as pure athletic talent. But always there's a part of the competition that depends upon the presentation and the aesthetic appearance of the performance.
00:01:29
Speaker
As we usually talk about here on the show, it's not enough for performing artists to just execute a skill or a technique. They have to nail it every single time and look good doing it. This fascinated Yasi and I, and since we haven't really talked about figure skating on our show, we figure we bring in one of the greatest figure skaters in US history to talk about with us today.
00:01:48
Speaker
So joining us on the show is Todd Eldridge, six-time US champion, six-time world championship medalist, including a world championship, three Olympics, and induction into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2008. Now joining us on our show is one of the founding members of Athletes in the Arts, Julie Kirchin, who became friends with Todd in a most unusual and serendipitous way. I'll have her explain that in a moment. Todd and Julie, we're so excited to have you both here with us on the Athletes in the Arts podcast. How are you both doing?
00:02:19
Speaker
Sounds good. I'm really excited to be here as well.
Todd's Early Skating Journey
00:02:23
Speaker
Awesome. So I just can't wait to get started with Todd. Todd, can you tell us a little bit about your history and when you began ice skating?
00:02:32
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Well, it was a long time ago. I started, I grew up on Cape Cod. I started skating when I was five and a half years old. Mom took us, my brother and I, to the rink and we went to a regular public session like a lot of people do and went out there. And of course I was clutching the side of the boards because this stuff was slippery and I didn't know what to do. And my brother just took off and went flying around the ice because he was the daredevil of the two of us.
00:03:03
Speaker
And, um, anyway, it, uh, it kind of all snowballed from there. We got signed up in the learn to skate classes and then I stuck with it. My brother got dizzy doing the spin. So he decided that was it for him. He was going to go do other things. And, uh, sure enough, there I was off and running with learned skate classes and then private lessons and so on and so forth.
00:03:26
Speaker
And here we are a few years later with a few things that happened between then and now.
00:03:34
Speaker
So why figure skating? Was that in your family? What was so important for your mom to get? It was something, it was 1976. The Olympics were happening. We were watching it on TV, just like everybody did. And it just kind of sparked an interest of, hey, let's go ice skating. I mean, we grew up in the Northeast. So it was the same kind of thing. Frozen cranberry bogs in the wintertime, and people go skate outside in the whole bit.
00:04:02
Speaker
But mom just said, hey, let's all go skating. And we're like, OK, cool. And so we tried it, and I fell in love with it. Yeah. You've had such an impressive career. I would love to know some of the highlights of when you began ice skating, some of the things that you think back to and that you really loved about the beginning stages of ice skating.
00:04:22
Speaker
Early stages, the most fun really was one, being a part of the class structure and kind of having fun with the other kids. And then we used to do the hokey pokey on the ice and do all kinds of stuff. The rink where I started skating was kind of a family run rink and they made it kind of a family atmosphere and you were part of the family in the whole bed and it was really cool. And they would do unique things and have fun and have parties and so on and so forth.
00:04:49
Speaker
So they kind of made it a really fun experience for the kids. And that just kind of kept me interested in wanting to learn and do more and stay with it because it was fun.
Training and Coaching Influence
00:05:01
Speaker
And I just remember doing that all the time.
00:05:07
Speaker
Enjoy the classes and then as you get a little bit more advanced and you start doing new things you start learning some jobs and you start learning spins and all those things. Then you, you know, I was like, well, hey, this is really cool. I learned this new thing and I learned this new thing. I remember learning my first waltz jump, which is
00:05:26
Speaker
Obviously, the very first thing you'll learn, half a turn. I learned it and I was like, hey, mom, check this out. My mom, my first walls jumped and I fell straight on my chin and we were off to the hospital to get stitches.
00:05:41
Speaker
It was a nice introduction, but apparently, I don't remember it, but apparently, my mom was like, hey, as soon as you got your stitches, you wanted to go back to the rink. I'm like, okay. I guess I was hooked at that point. I wanted to go back and do it again. That was the earliest part. The excitement is with almost anything. You learn new things, you master new skills,
00:06:07
Speaker
And, you know, with any kid who's just really interested in something, you know, to achieve certain things and learn all these new things and just the sheer, just, I don't know, just joy and fun of gliding on the ice. It was something that really kind of grasped gravity. And I just always loved skating around the ice fast, you know, and
00:06:34
Speaker
once I let go of the wall. But just going around fast and gliding, jumping and spinning and doing all the crazy stuff. And it was just that freedom, I guess, to that movement and that you just can't really find anywhere else.
Overcoming Challenges and Injuries
00:06:50
Speaker
How is there a break between like folks who like to go fast and maybe would do speed skating versus like figure skating with all the specific technical tricks and techniques and such? Like you mentioned going fast, like is there a, like a point in your training where you can go one path versus the other? How does that usually work? Well, it's interesting because the, I don't.
00:07:10
Speaker
I don't really know how many people get into speed skating other than seeing it on TV and saying, hey, I want to try that, I guess. Right. That's what I was asking. Because it's not really as prevalent in a lot of the rinks. A lot of kids aren't introduced to it right away. It's like, OK, you're either in figure skating or hockey. Boom, that's it. Yeah.
00:07:26
Speaker
pretty much. There's no real speed skating programs around the rink or around the country to go, hey, I'm going there. Unless you're in one of the either former Olympic sites like Salt Lake City or, you know, some of those places that they actually have those type of things, you're not really introduced to it. So it was either figure hockey and I
00:07:46
Speaker
was not going to go get my teeth knocked out, so I decided that figure skating was a little bit more interesting. I don't know, I just kind of steered towards that direction and I just enjoyed it and had fun.
00:07:58
Speaker
I remember watching you perform and one of the things that announcers would always talk about with you was like your incredible technical skill, you're like a technician on the ice. And so how do you, like, would you credit that more to like how you're a coach, to how your determination is to perfect things, your perfectionist nature? How does, because it was always something remarkable about your skill is that aspect. So how would you say that developed?
00:08:21
Speaker
I think, I think a little bit of both. I think coaching, you know, it was, it's always geared initially. My, my very first coach was a great jumper and he did these really big jobs and all this stuff. And so he kind of instilled that in his, his skaters at that time was, Hey, let's go for these really big, cool jumps and all this stuff. So I think that's where I just felt a little bit more, um, excited. And, you know, I was on the ice and like, yeah, okay, I'm going to try it. He does this huge axle. I want to do that someday too.
00:08:51
Speaker
And so, yeah, so I kind of gravitated towards that whole concept. And, you know, if I could today, I would still love to go out there and, you know, jump around and do all the crazy stuff that I used to do. It's just, I don't know, there's just kind of an interest in it.
00:09:10
Speaker
Like you say, perfectionist. I had a perfectionist kind of mentality when I was a skater. And that's something that in any highest level of any sport or athletics, you try to achieve the top level. You try to be the best at whatever you can do. And that takes an element of, I need to be perfect, if you will. I need to try to achieve that, not that you ever will, but I try to achieve that concept and trying to
00:09:40
Speaker
land the jobs and learn new jobs and be consistent with the new jobs and the spins and everything and my routines as I was practicing was where I kind of really
00:09:54
Speaker
grabbed on and was like, Hey, this is, this is what I want to do. I want to be the most consistent skater. I want to be the best skater at these things. And, uh, I looked at skaters that came before me and like Brian Buetano, Scott Hamilton, those guys, they were national champion to world champions many times in a row and known for their consistency in their skating. So that was something that I.
00:10:16
Speaker
admired and looked up to and tried to also emulate and be like. And, uh, you know, Hey, these guys are consistent. They're winning. I gotta go be consistent if I want to be at that level someday. So it was kind of in my nature, but it was also, you know, monkey see monkey do these guys are doing it. So I guess I better do it too. Sure.
00:10:36
Speaker
So you hit, as your career starts taking off in the early nineties, you have a period of time. From what I recall, you had a couple of years, I think, where you had a lot of injuries that you're dealing with. So you get up to that point, you haven't hit all your goals in your career. You have all these injuries hitting you. But like when I was in med school in 1991, the idea of sports psychology and mental health, uh, was like pretty much non-existent, a handful of people in the country. So how, with all that pressure, how did you handle
00:11:03
Speaker
those injuries, because you came back to do well afterwards, but that must have been, for all that period of time, must have been very difficult. Oh, for sure. For sure. And to achieve, in 1990, I won my first national title, 91 my second, and then 92 was the Olympics coming up, and that was the year that kind of started my back injury, and
00:11:23
Speaker
I guess my, my kind of spiral down a little bit before I had my comeback, um, you know, and, and it started with my back and there were, you know, other injuries and things like that as an athlete gets, but, um, you know, it was, it was, it was a very difficult time. I mean, you, you achieve a certain level, you make it to a world championship, you met a little world championship.
00:11:43
Speaker
You got the Olympics coming up the next year. It's like, yeah, I'm on the right track. I got a lot of things going in the right direction. And then, boom, back injury, it starts to go the other direction. And the following year, same thing. Just the back was OK, but it was the confidence in, is it OK? Isn't it OK? Can I still kind of train and push through it? And self-doubts and things like that will start creeping in.
00:12:08
Speaker
Uh, you know, it was, it was,
Physical Demands and Training Regimens
00:12:11
Speaker
uh, it was, that was probably 93 was probably the toughest year. Um, then 94, I was in good shape and, and they kind of switched the Olympics up.
00:12:19
Speaker
They moved the winter Olympics up to two years, uh, kind of offset things. And then, so it was the winter Olympics coming up again. I got sick at the, uh, I have the flu at the national championships, which was our qualifier back then and came in fourth, missed it by a couple of spots. And, you know, it was, I was skating great up until there. So it was kind of a unfortunate thing. It wasn't an injury, but you know, got an illness. Sure enough, it kind of takes you out of the picture, but, uh, you know, I, the,
00:12:47
Speaker
In anything, in anything in life, pretty much, you're ups and downs, right? I worked, as you say, it was the whole concept of sports psychology was a very new concept and trying to figure out how to deal with certain scenarios and certain things. I worked with a gentleman in Colorado when I lived there.
00:13:10
Speaker
that had worked with some skaters also. And he really, really kind of helped me through a few things early in my career, even before the back injury and stuff. And then I kind of tapped into that as well during that period of time. And it helped me get through it, but it was not, you know, a smooth and easy road. And it took a while to really kind of sink in and get there because, you know, as with anything and any kind of thought process,
00:13:39
Speaker
You can work on things and you can talk about things, but when it comes to actually getting out there and it's just on you to go out there and do it, there's always stuff in the back that kind of creeps in. It doesn't matter. You could be the strongest mind in the world. There's still going to be stuff in the back of your mind that kind of creeps in there and can have an effect on your performance.
00:14:00
Speaker
Todd, did you have to take time off when you had your back injury? Well, unfortunately, it happened during the Olympic season. So I had to withdraw from the national championships. And then due to my previous placement the year before, I was selected to the Olympic team. So I didn't really have time. I had to try and rehab my back injury. I went to Boston, actually, and worked with the Red Sox doctor there.
00:14:26
Speaker
he helped me kind of get back into figuring out what was going on and how to address it and how to fix it in the short month, basically, that we had between the Nationals and the Olympics. So it was feeling okay, but not 100%. I'd say it was about 90% before I went there. So it was pretty darn good. But again, going into a little bit of technique of the way I did a certain jump,
00:14:55
Speaker
Uh, an axle, uh, the triple axle when I would step on my takeoff foot, it was as though somebody was sticking my back with a knife every time I step on it. So even though the back didn't hurt that thought in your mind of, is it going to, every time you step into it, not knowing, uh, changes your timing and your technique a little bit. So it was, it was kind of up and down a little bit with, with, with my technique for that, for that entire month and, and during the games.
00:15:23
Speaker
So it was unfortunate, but I was still pretty young at the time. So I was like, okay, that's happened and we'll try again the next time. So with your career, you have your comeback and you're winning the world championships after you come back from your injuries and such. When you look back on your active competition career, what are you most proud of? When you look back on, what do you look back on most fondly?
00:15:49
Speaker
You know, I really would have to say getting through almost two things. Getting through that dip, that 92 sub-par performances, 93 just not making the world team, 94 again, not making the world team. And then that comeback in 95 to winning the national title again and making it back to the world championship, getting a silver medal there.
00:16:14
Speaker
was kind of the second career starting again. And, you know, I had started it, but then it went here and then it was, you know, coming back from that was, you know, that resilience to get through it and through the tough times knowing I should be here. And I was here at one time, I should still be here and I just not there anymore. So once I got back to that level, that was like a tremendous like weight off the shoulders, like, wow, okay, I'm back. Here I go.
00:16:42
Speaker
And often run and we went for the next four years. Um, so that was, that was, that was kind of the first one. The second, uh, that's almost on par with it is, um, I took a couple of years off after the 98 Olympics, um, 1999 and 2000, I kind of did some tours and some shows and different things and didn't compete for those two years. And then I came back the year before the 2002 games and had to
00:17:08
Speaker
get my head back into competitive mode instead of touring and shows and having a little more fun. So at 29, 30 years old to come back and get into even better shape than I was previously, learn a quadruple jump, get out there and be able to compete with the big guys at 29, 30 years old was a difficult task and something that really made me feel great about being able to be
00:17:37
Speaker
come back from that and be competitive with the top guys at that time. So yeah, that was a big one too. Incredible.
00:17:45
Speaker
What do you think it took to come back at 29, 30 and compete? So you said like, you know, there was a lot of shows, there was more performances, but to come back and compete, what did it take to shift in your mindset? I knew, even as I was doing shows, I mean, I was still keeping my skills going and, you know, to do the shows. I knew I still felt physically, I felt great. And I, up until that point, I hadn't competed
00:18:14
Speaker
the Olympics, the way that I had hoped to compete. I missed meddling at the Olympics 98 by one spot. I was fourth. So that medal was kind of hanging out there waiting and, you know, trying to go get it again. And, uh, you know, feeling good and feeling like I could go back and be competitive with the guys who were competing. Uh, as long as I could learn, you know, quadruple jump and some skills, uh, and get back into that training mindset. Um, I still felt good enough to go for it. And I placed third at the world championships the year before the Olympics. So I kind of.
00:18:44
Speaker
Solidified that my own mind that I made the right decision to come back and it was like, okay, here we go. Let's go for the Olympics. Yeah. And you know, off and run, we were gone, but yeah, just the idea of not finishing an Olympic games with a good taste in my mouth. I made mistakes in the long program in 98. So I was on the podium after the short program and then fell off.
00:19:06
Speaker
Um, so it, it kind of was like, I want to try that again. You know, just my nature of wanting to do it again, uh, achieve that, that goal. Um, so I, I gave it a shot and I didn't come away with a medal, but I skated and trained.
00:19:24
Speaker
exactly the way I wanted to for the 2002 season. And I made a mistake in the short program, which kind of took me out of contention. It's a little different with the scoring nowadays, but took me out of contention. So I went out and skated, other than one fall in the quad, a clean, long program at the Olympics. So it was a great way to kind of end that amateur part of my career with a really good skate and to do it in the United States in front of a home crowd
00:19:54
Speaker
Again, to have the opportunity to compete in Olympics in your home country is just not everybody gets a chance to do. So it was another reason to go forward again and have a great time at it. Cool.
00:20:06
Speaker
Amazing. Could you tell us a little bit about what it takes to train for the Olympics and as an Olympic skater? Like what does the day-to-day look like? I know it sounds, I mean, wild, right? And I know it is wild, but why don't you like run us through what that might look like? And I know this might change depending on, you know, which group that might be when it comes to figure skating. Back in my day,
00:20:31
Speaker
the off ice training was definitely not as intense as it is now. I would do a little bit of off ice. I did some ballet. I would do a little bit of workout and stuff like that and do some jumps on the floor. Now it's ramped up and it's a lot more than it used to be. I mean, the off ice component to it. And I think that's why the skaters are
00:20:51
Speaker
able to do, I mean, the technology in the skates is a little bit different, but I think that's why they're able to do a lot of things that we didn't do back in the day. They've pushed the envelope of more difficult jumps, doing quadruple jumps, doing quadruple axles now, which is insane. We'll see how those injuries happen down the road for some of these people with pushing your, physically pushing your body to the limit and beyond.
00:21:17
Speaker
I mean, that's what we felt like we were doing. We see these guys doing this crazy stuff now. I mean, who knows what that's going to be. I mean, I've got a hip replacement that's 11 years old. So I know what that did to me, but I think it's one of those things we'll see what happens.
Coaching Philosophy and Life Balance
00:21:33
Speaker
Day-to-day, I trained probably three hours a day on the ice and then I would do three, four days a week of some either off-ice component of some kind, whether it be dance or workout or this or that. It was pretty intense. Those hours, I would run my
00:21:51
Speaker
My routines, I would do long program, my free program in the morning and my short program again. And then I would do my free program again in the afternoon. So I was running lots of programs, several programs, not tons, but three programs a day. And just trying to get my physical stamina up so that I didn't feel like when it came competition time that I was running out of gas towards the end of my program. I always liked to feel like I was like, okay, I got something left in the tank. Let's keep going. Let's push.
00:22:21
Speaker
Cause you never feel as good when you're in competition, the nerves kick in and your legs feel a little stiff and a little bit tighter until you kind of really get going. But, uh, you never feel exactly the way you do in a practice day. But, uh, yeah, I mean, the kids now with, with their off ice regimens, there's their training regimens. I mean, there there's, there's different mentalities and I don't like to over train the kids because it is, it's a marathon. Like when you really look at it from the time you start to the time you
00:22:50
Speaker
may finish your amateur career. It's really a marathon. So I don't really push the kids too hard, too young, because I think they need to learn basic skills. They need to learn basic skating, strong basics, so that they're able to build upon that at a good pace. Now, I'm never going to hold a kid back if they're
00:23:15
Speaker
at eight years old, nine years old, and they're capable of doing certain things physically. The other kids at eight years old can't. Yeah, go for it. We're going to push, we're going to go. But I know that at that age, there's a long road. I mean, they're changing the rules for the ages, for the Olympics now. And they're kind of pushing that it's going to be 17 years old for the girls to be able to compete at the Olympics. And so that changes a lot of the mentality, in my opinion, on how you train kids as well.
00:23:45
Speaker
An eight-year-old doesn't have to be out there trying to throw triple jumps all over the place. I think you learn a little bit more of how to skate better and how to do this and various other things. But it's not a race to try to get to the Olympics as fast as you can and compete at 15 years old, 16 years old, and then hopefully win a medal and move on, you know, and then figure out what are you going to do the rest of your life. You know, there's a lot more longevity that will happen, hopefully.
00:24:13
Speaker
And I think it's necessary for the sport and the interest and longevity in the sport. They keep doing that. They keep that age.
00:24:24
Speaker
to where kids can continue to compete longer. And there's a lot of other things that go into that as far as the rules and what I think the physical demands are on the kids. I think they need to really address that and look at that because kids are still growing and developing at 14, 15, 16 years old, even 17.
00:24:47
Speaker
The demand on their body, what is that going to do down the road for them? And not only that, what does it do to your sport? If at 17, they're just wrecked, their bodies are wrecked and they can't keep going. And then there's, there's no, I look at the older skaters, the Michelle Kwan's, the, the other skaters who win a nine national titles and who win
00:25:07
Speaker
multiple world titles. Nobody stays in the sport long enough anymore, because their bodies are destroyed. Right. It doesn't, it doesn't lend itself to create rivalries within the sport, healthy, of course, rivalries within the sport, to where people get interested. I mean, I watch I like golf.
00:25:26
Speaker
So I watch golf. There's rivalries all over the place in golf because those guys are still gone. They keep going. They don't beat up their bodies. I mean, they kind of do, but they don't beat up their body, but they can keep playing and they can keep doing it for a long period of time. I think the demand physically on the technical side of our sport is so high that you can't maintain your health really.
00:25:53
Speaker
physically for that long a period of time. I think you're just going to wear out a lot faster. I mean, we're asking kids to wear out at 16 years old. It's crazy. We'll be back after this message.
00:26:07
Speaker
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00:26:35
Speaker
School Health provides more than just products and resources for performing artists and musicians. They also offer training, advisory services, and exceptional customer care for those supporting performers on school campuses.
Julie's Journey and Skating's Impact
00:26:50
Speaker
For more information, please visit www.schoolhealth.com. And now back to the show. So how do you stress the importance of balance in the younger age group?
00:27:04
Speaker
The reason I'm asking this is from a coaching standpoint, how do you make sure that there's some sort of balance? Because I've worked with a lot of figure skaters who they're homeschooled. Their schedules are back to back to back, and then maybe around lunchtime they're coming home and doing the school. But then meals, there's not always a refrigerator wherever they're training, so they may not have the meals and the snacks. And what I wonder is,
00:27:32
Speaker
you know, from a coaching standpoint, are there conversations that are had with parents? And you've been through it, right? So you've been through all of this, and you're seeing the change and the shift, I assume balance is important. What does that conversation look like? And how do you, how do you tackle that? It is, and it's a very difficult conversation, depending on the parents, obviously, you know, I mean, there are some parents that are more open to that concept, some parents that
00:28:01
Speaker
think it's a sprint, we got to get our kids the best, they're going to be the best by the time they're 10 years old, or that's it. I mean, I've had parents say, look, if my daughter's not doing triples and not, you know, going to nationals by the time she's 13 years old, or that, you know, we're just going to quit and go to school and be done with it. I'm like, whoa, that's crazy. If I quit at 13 years old, I would have never done anything. So the challenge is trying to get them to understand, look, this isn't like
00:28:28
Speaker
learning the piano. This isn't like learning something that you can just sit and practice it for hours and hours and hours every day, and you just get better at it. Yes, you can do that, but at some point, it's going to take its toll physically on your body. I mean, playing the piano for four or five hours a day, that's crazy to think about that, but you're sitting there, yeah, your hands are going to hurt, but
00:28:52
Speaker
It's not as physically demanding on your body as going and doing all of these crazy things that we're asking these kids to do. I don't know. It's a hard conversation to have with some of the parents, but a lot of them, when you break it down, and one good thing with this age change has, I think, gotten some parents to pump the brakes a little bit and go,
00:29:22
Speaker
Okay. So I want my daughter to be at the Olympics. And of course the pyramids like this, since a lot of kids escape, this many people get to the Olympics. So blame that out for them and then say, Hey, look, we have until this time. So your daughter is eight years old right now. She can't even be eligible to compete until three more Olympics. So it's like, let's just take it easy here. Okay. Let's work on our skills. Let's get better. Let's stay healthy. And then.
00:29:52
Speaker
If we get there, we get there, right? Cause there's only going to be out of the entire country, two, three kids and singles that are going to go. So, I mean, you got thousands of them and only maybe two or three go. So it's, it's a long road and it's, it's a very narrow road when it gets to the top. Um, but we, when you, when you kind of put it out in front of them that way and say, Hey, look, you're eight, you got a long way to go.
00:30:19
Speaker
I think they, most of them will really understand, okay, I don't need to push my kid to get this by the time they're eight years old, by the time they're nine years old, to be at this level, by the time they're 12 years old. We have time. And, and I think that's one of the things that pushing the age out is going to really resonate over the years with a lot of people and be like, Hey, look, let's, let's learn how to skate.
00:30:47
Speaker
Let's not get a rush to go learn the highest, hardest jump and beat our body up trying to do it. Then maybe we get injured and we can't do this anymore at all by the time we're 13, 14 years old. I like the age change concept because kids will stay in a little bit longer and there will be that concept of
00:31:07
Speaker
Hey, these guys have been competing against each other since they were 13 years old. Now they're 17. They're going to the Olympics there. It's going to be their first time, but we, we, we have a history with them. We know them. And there, there isn't that much of that anymore. I mean, you look at this past Olympics and the girls from Russia and whatever that we're winning medals. I mean, it's a whole different concept with those scandals and so on and so forth, but you know, you're not going to see any of them ever again.
00:31:36
Speaker
Yeah. And that's crazy. Like if Michelle Kwan went to the Olympics, if Tara Lipinski went to the Olympics one time, if these people went one time and they got a medal and then they left, okay, well now it's a whole new crop of people. So the interest in the spore with the general public, who only watches it maybe once every four years, goes, okay, who's in there now? We don't know any of these people. So their interest is like, okay, maybe we'll watch it and we'll see. They don't know people. Like when I competed,
00:32:06
Speaker
People knew us. Like we were, we were part of their, their household. I mean, there was a lot more on TV and a lot more accessible as far as shows and competitions and different things. So we were more in front of them, however. And that's something that I think needs to come back a little bit more is that they need to know these kids. Like they don't know a lot of these kids, even from the time that they're 13, 14 years old, they don't know them. They need to know them. I mean, we knew Michelle from when she was 13 years old, competing at the nationals and trying to make a world team.
00:32:34
Speaker
And all the way until she was in her twenties. So, I mean, everybody knew who she was. Now you have a 13 year old that may come and go, by the time she's 15, she's out. We don't know her. So it's, it's, it's going to be nice to have that concept. Hopefully they really embrace that concept a little bit more with, Hey, we need to put these kids out in front of people. We need to get them to know these kids so that the interest in our sport goes back up to what it used to be.
Sport and Art of Figure Skating
00:33:04
Speaker
It's a shame to kind of see it, take that dip, and really, I mean, it was the number one watch sport in the Olympic, in the Winter Olympics. And now, I mean, a lot of kids will say, hey, I want to watch those aerial snowboarding guys that are flipping and flopping all over the place and doing crazy stuff. I mean, that's a little generational thing, but still, figure skating still has that space of, and the only space really in the Olympics of, here's a sport,
00:33:34
Speaker
that is an art form. So you can draw people who just love music, people who love dance, people who love skating, people who love those different aspects, because we put it all into one thing. You know, you can go watch people jump, you know, high jump, long jump, this and, you know, whatever else there is after all of skiing and crazy stuff, you go fast, great, that's awesome.
00:33:57
Speaker
And if you know the sport, you know it technically a little better than the lay person who just watches it once every four years. But our sport is a little bit different from that. It really brings in a lot more people and a lot more interest because it's more entertainment at the same time as a sport. So that entertainment value, I think needs to be really harnessed a little bit more because it really makes it probably the most unique of all the sports in the Olympics.
00:34:24
Speaker
So you bring up a great point about correlating skating with dancing and things. So for instance, sports like gymnastics, for instance, are always like Simone Biles is raising the bar of what techniques can be done, right? And inventing her own moves and such. And so with women doing quads and guys pushing themselves further and further, is this force
00:34:45
Speaker
this compulsion to do the next best greatest physical task counterintuitive to helping to protect the dancers or the skaters from having a longer career because it seems like with like social media and with like the quick bites, I mean the clip of someone flying through the air, a quintuple I'm sure is coming up next, then like it's just going to be, you know, you already mentioned your hip replacement here already.
00:35:09
Speaker
Um, right. So like, is that, is that at odds with this idea? Because I think you're, you're totally right. I can still remember all everybody mentioned boy Tano and all the other famous scares in the past. Those names still resonate because we saw them so many times, but it's counterintuitive with this pull compulsion to have to push the sport further in a technical aspect where it's going to hurt the body. So how do we fight back against that? Yeah, you're right. I mean, it's, it's hard. You, any, any sport you want to push athletically, you want to push it.
00:35:39
Speaker
You know, okay, we're trying to run faster. We're trying to jump higher. We're trying to do all these different things in these other sports, but that's not the only thing our sport is about. Right. So I think that's, that's where we need to, we need to kind of curb that and say, Hey, look, here's, here's a level that bodies at some point, you know, and this may be something that happens over time with
00:36:02
Speaker
doctors and whoever else that physically look at the human body and what the after effects are of doing quadruple jumps for this amount of time. What is that doing? How is that deteriorating your body and is it doing it at a faster rate than what used to happen in the old days when we didn't do all those crazy things? I mean, you can look at older skaters that are even like generations before me.
00:36:28
Speaker
Physically, they're probably in better shape than I am because the demands on their bodies wasn't quite the same. Technology of the skates has changed over time, so that's helped. However, the physical body is what it is. Sure, you can get a little bit stronger, you can get a little bit this, a little bit that.
00:36:51
Speaker
the demand and on the technique of what you need to be able to do and the forces that are put on the body to do some of these bigger, crazier jumps.
00:37:02
Speaker
is so much greater, I think, than what the physical body can keep up with. And, and I think, I agree that they really need to look at, Hey, look, guys, this is, this is good. We're good here. Okay. Let's do this. I mean, if I, if I had it my way, I would, I would take a couple of jumps out of every program. You're going to remove a couple of jumps. I may take a spin out and, and,
00:37:28
Speaker
keep the length of a program similar, but allow them the freedom to be more entertaining and yet less physically demanding so that A, we're probably going to watch better performances because they're not just trying to jump themselves to death in four minutes. They're going to have a little bit of time to breathe and to entertain, to bring the audience in, to kind of wrap you into their performance and now make it more interesting to watch.
00:37:56
Speaker
I think they have to really look at that and go, hey, these kids can train this on a day-to-day basis a lot easier. Their bodies are going to last longer. They're going to stay in the sport longer, and it's going to create a more interesting event because now most people are skating very well.
00:38:16
Speaker
doing cleaner, better performances. The competition is a little bit tighter, a little bit closer. And now it's like, okay, who's going to win today? Right. So it's not like, all right, this guy can survive because he can do the most jumps. Well, okay. That's interesting to a certain level if it's just a jump competition, but that's not what our sport is. That's other sports. Our sport brings in other things and, and, and we need, we need to harness those other things that make us unique.
00:38:44
Speaker
and really set us apart from just being an athletic sport. We have that entertainment value to it. You guys definitely have an entertaining value to it. I find watching ice skating competitions just so healing. I know it may not be like that for the actual athlete, but for the viewer, I could watch it for hours.
00:39:06
Speaker
This brings me to my next question, Julie, not to put you on the spot, but I would love to know how you have used ice skating in your life because you shared a little precious story before the podcast began and how you and Todd connected through ice skating.
00:39:23
Speaker
Sure, my pleasure. Really, my entire life was all about ballet. I started at three and a half, and that was my world. My sister was the ice skater, and I did not want to go ice skating. That was not my place. Didn't like the ice skating rink, but I always loved the aspect you're just talking about, which is the artistry. I could watch ice skating for hours because I was really looking at the artistry. I go back to Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill and Michelle Kwan.
00:39:51
Speaker
and Todd and Brian Boitano and Paul Wiley and the artistry that they brought to the skates. I was in awe of it, but I never had any desire to even try it, to even go that route until a friend of mine introduced me to Great Park Ice in Irvine back in 2019 when it first opened.
00:40:11
Speaker
went there and I did a little public session and I looked at the website and they were starting up learn to skate classes and I went oh my goodness that's that's hysterical me going to an ice skating class and I went oh well what the heck I can do that on a Thursday night and I went to the beginners adult level one and went this is kind of fun okay well maybe I'll try two and maybe I'll quit after that you know I don't know I don't know where this is going but there is something very freeing about it Todd mentioned that before
00:40:40
Speaker
So I went to the ice rink and there on the boards on the side of the board was the listing of who the coaches were in level two and level three were combined at the time and it said Toddy and I was like I knew he coached there but I was like I'll probably never meet him and lo and behold he was our coach for level two and level three.
00:41:00
Speaker
And instantly, you know, I just was, you know, one, I was felt very privileged to be having my coach at the very beginning level of where I was be taught, but he was so instrumental in really his technique and what he showed to us and the way he described it and the way he just really demonstrated it and.
00:41:22
Speaker
you know, he had such a bond with his adult skaters. And another coach that I took later on said, you know, we love teaching adult skaters because they want to be there. And so that was something that we all had as a common bond. But that's where it went. I then, you know, I took the class twice and Todd passed me, which I still am surprised, but I went on to 456 and went on.
00:41:46
Speaker
I take an Edges class, I have a private coach, I have no desire to compete, make a test. You know, that might be in my cards, but just to do it for the fun of it. But it really is so freeing. And the one thing I'll say is during the pandemic, when Great Parks Ice finally opened and we were able to kind of peek back into our regular lives, it was very different back then. We only had, I think, I don't know how many skaters on the ice, but
00:42:13
Speaker
You know, we could only go in and, you know, 15 minutes before the session had to go right into the rink, put our masks on, you know, skate with masks and everything. But that for me was my, for emotional wellbeing, just helped me clear my head of everything that was going on in the world and just the uncertainty of where we were going. And for that hour, I was in my own mental euphoria of just a wonderful place and a safe place.
00:42:42
Speaker
So that's kind of how it all began and how I met Todd and I've just been hooked on it ever since and it's very addicting. So you've been involved with athletes in the arts for 10 years since we started this whole thing and then your background in dance and seeing the aspects of dance and skating and such. And so now you're getting a chance to actually do it yourself and be trained by one of the best skaters ever from the United States.
00:43:08
Speaker
How does it change your perspective on how to take care, how to help with the wellness of figure skaters? Well, absolutely. I mean, you know, people had said to me when I, you know, when they first found out like, what, you're ice skating at your age? And, you know, why? And I said, well, you know, some people say, well, it must be so easy. You've taken dance all your life. Of course, it's just ice skating is just dancing on ice.
00:43:36
Speaker
like oh no no no it's not that at all but you know I definitely know that the balance part from dance has helped in the ice skating aspect of it. The grace of ballet is always going to be something that will be to the benefit of a new skater and I highly suggest that all skaters take ballet
00:43:59
Speaker
I take ballet at Great Park Ice from one of the best Russian ballet teachers around who was from the Bolshoi Ballet and has taught many of the top skaters in the world ballet. But really from the health and wellness perspective, it is a different
00:44:20
Speaker
Animal a different beast because you know my goal of course is not to hurt myself and with dance i knew how to take care of myself i knew you know my limitations and of course i'm you know much more passive when it comes to the skating world of it but
00:44:38
Speaker
There are some similarities. I mean, there's definitely similarities of really not pushing yourself over those limits of your capabilities.
Transition to Coaching
00:44:46
Speaker
But I'm in all of those who do push the envelope, even in the dance world today. But like Todd said, you wonder where they're going with their potential injuries down the road if they don't really take care of their bodies and really listen to their bodies.
00:45:03
Speaker
So Todd, when there's an adult that comes in, I'm just thinking for myself, if I want to get back into ice skating in, I don't know, 30s, 40s, do you put a limit on how much
00:45:18
Speaker
one can perform and the kinds of things they can do as a coach. Like, would you be telling me I can't do certain things? Or if I was, you know, I'm just curious. Like, I worry about the injury aspect. I'm just starting to think about if I want to make this as part of my longevity and an activity that gives me healing powers and, I don't know, allows me to have more grace in my life, like, what do I need to know and where do you tell people
00:45:45
Speaker
If any, there's a limit. Is there a limit? Well, I think first day, we don't go for the back flip. That's where we first start. We'll stick to getting the skates on, get on the ice, and start feeling comfortable. It's going to vary. Obviously, anybody who has previously skated as they were younger, they almost immediately, like riding a bike again, same kind of concept, they immediately have a sense
00:46:15
Speaker
of what this animal of skating and gliding and the skates and the balance is all about. So they start with a learning curve that's much higher than somebody who has never stepped on the ice before. If you have an adult that's never stepped on the ice before and they're getting off for the first time, they have just absolutely no concept of what's going to happen when they step on the ice the first time.
00:46:39
Speaker
And what, what the, I mean, the, the bottom of the blade is, has a curve to it. So you have a rocking motion back to forward, let alone it's a skinny little blade that tips easy from side to side. So there's a lot of other movements that they're not used to just in skates in general, even before you even step on the ice and becomes a slippery surface.
00:47:01
Speaker
But like Julie was saying, when she's on the floor and she's dancing, there's, there's a sense of, okay, I have my balance, I have my bearings, I know. And somebody can go and just go dance and learn how to pick that up. And there's obviously many levels to that world because I'm not going to get to a level of doing dance at any high level. However, there's a specific different kind of balance because you're just in your shoes and you're on the floor.
00:47:28
Speaker
And now we're going to take that floor and make it slippery. So let's put some water on that dance floor and all of a sudden you got some flat soled shoes. Now go out there and try and dance the way you did before. Now, oh my God, hold on a second. This is crazy. So there's a very different level of
00:47:48
Speaker
let's get on the ice and let's see if we can just walk just baby steps, you know, and it's, it really, it really becomes that. And it's funny because there are a lot of adults that will get on the ice for the first time and feel that, Oh yeah, I can do this. No problem. I got it. And they'll take a two steps and they're like, Oh God.
00:48:08
Speaker
I don't have it. I got to figure this out because this is a whole different deal. And again, with anything, with any sport or any activity that you've never done as a child, if you're doing it as an adult, there's an unknown and there's always that fear of getting hurt.
00:48:28
Speaker
Right. So if I went and played a sport that I've never done before, and it's a, let's say it's a contact sport. Yeah. I'm going to be afraid. I'm going to get annihilated by somebody who's already done this before. Right. So it's just a different thing. And you're, when you're a kid, you're fearless and you go out there, okay, do it. You fall down. Well, you're falling from this high as opposed to falling from 60. The impact isn't quite as great.
00:48:53
Speaker
Then you bounce back up because kids are made of rubber. They just bounce right back up and there they go. The bones don't break as easily as they do for all of us. It's baby steps. It really is. It really comes down to getting on there and really getting a sense for holding onto something and really feeling what's happening with your feet and how to try to balance. That's the number one thing is how do I balance on these things?
00:49:23
Speaker
And then I'll figure out how do I get moving? All right. So, I mean, putting those two aspects together. But as Julie says, you know, I mean, the first time you get on and maybe you skate a little bit on public sessions before taking some classes. So you had a little bit of an idea, but a lot of these people, it's hard to get going, but once they do and they feel that movement, they feel that glide and
00:49:49
Speaker
They have that sense of like, wow, this is really cool. This is, and it's a freeing moment of like, Ooh, I can just kind of cruise around here. This is really fun. And it really is one of the things about skating. I think that a lot of people gravitate towards at any age, doesn't matter if you're under old.
00:50:08
Speaker
Is just that freedom of that movement and being able to do it and effortlessly do it once you learn it But effortlessly do it that you can't get anywhere else, you know, I mean dance you you keep moving You have to keep moving You can't just take one step and keep moving if you're gonna take another step On the ice one step and you're gliding and you're off and going and you can just hang out there as long as you want For the most part. So it it's really unique in that respect. I
00:50:34
Speaker
So then with your storied career and all the success you had as a performer and an athlete, now being coach, there are a lot of folks who are really good in their playing career and then they become coaches and they're terrible. Magic Johnson try coaching the Lakers was terrible.
00:50:51
Speaker
Um, other guy, Steve Kerr is amazing. So how did you negotiate the transition from being a, an athlete to a coach and how, how do you translate that into being a good coach after being coached for all your life? It's, it's a challenge actually. It's, it's interesting because it's.
00:51:10
Speaker
having been a skater and watching my coach at the time, or my coaches at the time, dealing with other skaters and parents and the whole bit, and never just watching it from the outside, never having to be a part of that whole concept when you are a part of that concept as a coach.
00:51:28
Speaker
Oh, so this is all the stuff you used to talk about at the deal with just teaching me. Okay. I mean, there's always, there's a learning curve with anything. I mean, as a skater and you can be the best skater in the world. And like you say, be a terrible coach or just be an okay coach, be an average coach. And some of it comes down to what's your desire.
00:51:49
Speaker
And what desires do you have as a skater now becoming a coach? Do you want to be the best coach in the world? Do you want to be a great coach and help kids get to a certain level? What is your level now in that aspect, I guess, of your skating life? And I mean, I'd like to take kids to the Olympic Games and get them there and help them achieve their goals like my coach did for me.
00:52:19
Speaker
I don't, it's maybe weird to say, but I don't see coaching as being a defining role in my part of the skating world. I enjoy doing it. I love teaching the kids, teaching the adults and different people and helping them to get better.
00:52:39
Speaker
Um, but I don't want it to be the all encompassing, like it's my life, you know, I mean, cause it is, I've got two kids, I've got, you know, my family here. And so I've got other things that happen in my life, you know, that, that I really want to have as, as much of a focus on. So I don't want it to just be this and that's it. I have other things and my son's in music, my son's an actor and different things. So I think I want them to.
00:53:04
Speaker
And I want to be there to help them and support them and do that kind of stuff as well. So it's, it's hard because you can't, unless you're 100% engaged all the time in one thing, you're, you're going to.
00:53:17
Speaker
It's going to be this going to be tunnel vision. And I don't want the other aspects of my, my family life to suffer because of just being all in, all in on, on that. I mean, I did it as a skater and it was different at that time because I didn't have a family. So now it's, yeah, I'm, when I'm at the rink, I'm all in on what they're doing, but it's, there's a different level to it. So it's, um, no, I, I, I like, I work with a lot of other people, students, like they are the head coach and I work with a lot of those kids. I have my own students as well.
00:53:46
Speaker
Um, but I, I don't like that number to get too big to where I feel like I just have no time for anything else other than I'm just dealing with what they do on the ice and then trying to manage their careers, like 10 different careers off the ice and what they have to do for everything. Like to me, that's a little woo. So your brain gets a little crazy at that point. So I want to, again, we talked about balance. I want to keep that balance of work, family, all that stuff.
00:54:14
Speaker
Do you get people refer to you specifically for certain aspects of skating? Like I need you to see coach Todd because he'll help you with this. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. And that's why I say, you know, there's other, other coaches at the rank, other people that'd be like, Hey, can you take a look at my students? This mover, that mover, these things or whatever. And I'm so sure, whatever. If I got time in my schedule and we can make it work. Great. Perfect. I'll help them out. So I, and I enjoy that because it's, I can help them get better at something, whatever it may be. And then their coaches work with me.
00:54:45
Speaker
that kind of stuff. So I like that part of it too. Yeah, that's fine. So I don't know if this is, I'm going to try and ask this the right way, but when it comes to someone who's been ice skating their whole life, they start young, they're doing this all throughout their teen years, maybe early college years. And, you know, from your personal experience to now your coaching experience, how did you find your sense of identity outside of ice skating?
00:55:15
Speaker
because and maybe you ice skating was your world and that was what it was all about.
00:55:22
Speaker
But I guess now coaching others, are you encouraging this exploring their sense of identity? It sounds like with your own kids, you're not forcing them into ice skating because they're doing it. No way. They're doing activities, which is so great. But I think they're, again, with the ice skaters that I've worked with, it's like ice skating is everything, everything.
00:55:47
Speaker
As a skater, I was very much that way, early in my career, as I was younger. I was like, oh, I want to skate whenever I do this. And that's what I did. I mean, I did, it was very different back then because there's, homeschool wasn't a thing when I was young and still in high school or grade school.
00:56:08
Speaker
Now it's homeschool. Everybody's homeschool because I want to focus on whatever it may be. If they're doing gymnastics, skating, golf, tennis, whatever it is, it's focused on whatever thing they're doing very narrow and schooling is there too. I like how it ended up playing out for me and being where I went to school and did my skating before and after.
00:56:34
Speaker
I had the social aspect of being around other kids that were not in the skating world and getting a better sense of what real life, if you will, or what their lives were like.
00:56:50
Speaker
There was the interaction of, hey, what's your day look like? You go skating, you do this, you do that. Hey, what's your day look like? You do these things, and you're in the football team, or you're in the band, or you're doing this, you do that. So there was more understanding between each other of other worlds and other things besides just, hey, what did you do on the ice today? That kind of stuff. And everything wasn't just skating, skating, skating all the time.
00:57:15
Speaker
Of course, you bring in social media and you bring all that stuff. So everybody knows everything about everybody nowadays and sees what everybody's doing because everybody's like, oh, I got to post it now and everybody's got to see my life and all that stuff. And so that brings in a whole different level of trying to stay connected.
00:57:33
Speaker
Not the same. Like, to me, social media is fun, kind of, but you're not as connected the same way as a personal interaction. You know, to me, the personal interaction between people is much more important and much more valuable, I think, especially for kids. You know, they pick up certain things from each other. I think a lot easier when it is that
00:57:57
Speaker
face-to-face and in a group setting with other kids.
Future of Figure Skating in the US
00:58:01
Speaker
I think that's something that's with other kids in, I guess I will say from various walks of life, if you will, that have other interests besides just what you're interested in too. I like that about what I had as a skater and person.
00:58:22
Speaker
like you talk about with my, with our kids. You know, my youngest is into music. He loves piano and violin and anything to do with music, to be honest with you. I think of an instrument like, oh, okay, let's play this. Okay, let's do that. Let's play that.
00:58:39
Speaker
He's got that brain, I don't know, he didn't get it from me. And then, you know, my oldest is into, he wants to be an actor and he's working at a place now, trying to scare people in the whole bit and doing that for the haunted houses. So he's finding what he's interested in. And, you know, fortunately, I guess, maybe neither one of them really took an interest that much into skating, which I kind of like because then there isn't that living,
00:59:07
Speaker
in the shadows, living in, you know, having to live up to certain things because, you know, your mom and dad were both skaters. They both achieved certain accomplishments. And, you know, they can go and do their own thing in their own lives. And it's what they want to do. And they've figured it out on their own with what they were really interested in doing. And that's, I mean, my parents did that as well for me and my brother. And I was interested in skating. And we did it. We skated. My brother got interested in tennis and some other sports and stuff.
00:59:37
Speaker
You know, the kids will kind of figure out what they gravitate towards and what they like and what their interests are.
00:59:44
Speaker
And, uh, you know, there, I mean, there are a lot of kids that skating is a part of their life and a big part of their life, but they're also another things. I mean, there's some kids that, uh, one of the Canadian skaters, Eric Bradford, I mean, he is a brilliant pianist and, and I mean, he's composed songs for himself and for other skaters that they've used at the Olympics. I mean, it's, it's, uh, a, he obviously was a great skater himself as an Olympic medalist, but, uh, he's got other stuff. Yeah. It's really pretty interesting how that.
01:00:13
Speaker
crossover happened for him and, you know, music was a thing for him and still is. So, yeah. So as we're wrapping up the show here, I wanted to ask just kind of like your, your take on the Olympic program as we're getting a couple of years away from the next winter Olympics in Italy. So how is the state of figure skating in America now and how can we get better in the next few years to compete at the highest level against Russia and Japan and all these other countries?
01:00:42
Speaker
I mean, that's kind of a loaded question too, because there's so much up in the air with the decision that's still ending upon whether or not the medals and the this and the that and what happens with the Russian team and the Olympics and all that. So, I mean, there's a lot going on there. As far as the American team, you know, we have
01:01:05
Speaker
the only skater in the history of the sport to, you know, perform a quadruple axel. Um, he's our national champion now, Hylia Malinan. And, uh, you know, I mean, he's, he's kind of the top guy. He's, he's taken the seat, uh, from Nathan Chen, who was the top guy for many years. And now he's kind of filled that role of the, here's the next guy. That's the guy to beat going into the next, the next Olympics. And, um, you know, I mean, there's other guys out there and, and.
01:01:33
Speaker
specifically Japanese skaters who are very, very good right now, who will also give him a run for his money. So it's going to be interesting to watch for that over the next few years. He's really the top guy. I mean, Jason Brown is a beautiful skater, wonderful skater, technically not up to the same level as a lot of the other guys, but he makes up for it, almost makes up for it.
01:01:55
Speaker
in what he does and the quality of the other things that he does. I think if you take those two skaters, your Ilya with his technical ability to be like way up here above everybody else, and then Jason who's way up here above everybody artistically and in the quality of the elements that he does, somehow finding that skater
01:02:17
Speaker
that can maybe bring this down a little bit and bring this into it. And here you go, you got the perfect skater, if you will. That's where I would like, I would love to see the sport go in that direction to where we're still pushing it athletically, but not too crazy. But we're really focusing on the quality of the product that we're delivering and that the skater is delivering on a day-to-day basis.
01:02:45
Speaker
being able to physically train on a day to day basis. Um, I mean, our ladies, we've got a little, a young little girl, Isabel. Um, she's our national, our new national champion last year. She's a really good jumper. She's, she's going to be one that's good content. I mean, it just depends, like I said, on what happens with, with some of the Russian skaters. And I mean, they've been dominant.
01:03:07
Speaker
in the world of women's figure skating for many years. So, you know, what does that look like? Who knows? We'll see. Hopefully there's a decision someday. December coming up, something like that, whenever the next thing is. Going after a while, yeah. But, you know, and our pairs has always kind of, it's been good, Brandon, Alexa, world champions, but we've kind of struggled to be on par with the Russians and the Chinese teams who haven't been there,
01:03:36
Speaker
per se in the last couple of years, but, uh, could be back and, and, you know, we got to kind of push a little bit there. Our dance teams have been pretty strong for many years, uh, with Charlie and Merrill and then, um, Madison and Evan and some of the others. So it's been super tiny. So we've had some really good dance teams over the last several years. And I think we've got a couple of teams now that are still pretty strong. So.
01:03:59
Speaker
So, I mean, we're looking good. I mean, we look good as a team as a whole. And, you know, hopefully there's some new faces that might kind of creep in there and, you know, make it run for the games. You know, it's kind of up in the air for a few spots. So, it should be interesting to watch some of the skaters and see who steps up over the next few years.
Conclusion and Gratitude
01:04:20
Speaker
Is it safe to say that if the American team had the same moxie and determination in skating as Julie, that we would be able to clean out all the medals and just walk home with everything?
01:04:38
Speaker
Buzzy, Julie, you got a very high expertise there in that opinion. Thank you, Todd. Yes, of course. Well, Julie, Todd, I just want to thank you so much for the bomb of our hearts for being on the show today. Todd, your passion is so infectious. I want to go out and skate tomorrow.
01:04:55
Speaker
about the Detroit Skating Club and follow your near footsteps. And after following a few times, I'll just sit back and just brag about talking to you on this podcast. But thank you so much for being on the show. We really appreciate it. And best of luck with everything in the future.
01:05:09
Speaker
Thanks for having me. Yeah, I enjoyed it. It was great. And that wraps up another episode. We'd like to thank our sponsor, School Health, again for supporting the show. And if you like what you hear, please click subscribe and leave a review. For Yossi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas. And this has been the Athletes in the Arts podcast.