>  (Mon, Jan 16) Guest Blog - U.S. Intermediate Ice Dancing Champion Alex Shibutani

Guest Blog - U.S. Intermediate Ice Dancing Champion Alex Shibutani

Guest Blog

U.S. intermediate ice dancing champions Alex and Maia Shibutani helped out the media staff in St. Louis.

Notes from Monday, Jan 16

My family and I are packing our bags and getting ready to leave for St. Louis, when I receive word from Laura Fawcett, director of online services at U.S. Figure Skating, that they might be able to use my help “getting quotes” as part of the media coverage during the events. Sweet!

Thursday, January 13

We have arrived in St. Louis! From the taxi ride in from the airport, the Arch is very impressive – my Dad keeps saying how it’s so much smaller than he thought it was going to be. Humph…looks pretty big to me…things must get smaller when you get older.

As soon as we got near the arena, I called Laura and told her that I was around if she needed me. I also called Michelle Wojdyla, a sports writer and photographer whose work is showcased through U.S. Figure Skating and different skating publications around the world. Last year at U.S. Championships in Portland, I had the chance to shadow her for a whole day as she covered the event for U.S. Figure Skating.

Our hotel room isn’t available yet, but that’s OK as we are rushing off to watch the senior men’s and ladies short programs. On our way to the arena, we actually bump into a ticket scalper, which is kind of humorous since there are usually plenty of open seats, um, I mean tickets available, for the daytime events. Even more funny, there is a pair of police officers standing on the same block who are so busy making sure spectators don’t get run over by the arena’s delivery trucks (skating fans don’t stop for trucks when they’re on their way to the arena), that they leave the poor scalper alone.  

We’re inside the arena, and I see Michelle sitting in the designated media section. She is also sitting with Daphne Backman who maintains a website (ice-dance.com) dedicated to everything ice dance. Daphne’s such an ice dance loyalist – “once the dance events are done, the competition is over” as far as she’s concerned. Maia, (my sister) and I go over and say hello. They seem excited to see us, but then we realize that actually, they’re just shivering. We pull out some emergency hand warmers (Maia never goes anywhere without them) and they smiled like kids with candy on Christmas day.

Friday, January 13

When it comes to skates and equipment, anything can happen and usually does. Here at big nationals boy are they ready for it. Phil Kuhn, president of Harlick Skating Boots, tells me that there are three skate technicians standing ready for emergency repairs throughout the week. I am about to sit down with him to check the fitting of my new boots when he gets a call – Abigail Legg (senior ladies competitor) is having a heel emergency! The heel of her boot has come loose due to the fact that the screws inserted to keep everything together were too short.

My family and I are walking around the arena after junior ladies free skate when I get the call from Laura. She’s got a ‘mission’ for me. She comes jogging up from the media room and hands me my credentials. Then, to our great surprise she also hands one to Maia, who is thrilled! After going solo last year, guess we’re a team this year. Thanks to Abigail, Maia and I were able to go with Laura.

Maia is very excited as we walk through the door and down several flights of stairs to the media room. Laura and Michelle need us to work the mixed zone, getting quotes from the final two groups of senior pairs. Lots and lots and lots of them.

Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent give us our first quotes in the mixed zone after skating a great program and seem very pleased. Derek is sweating buckets! Man, these guys make it look easy but I can only imagine how hard it is to go through an entire pairs four-minute program. Tiffany and Derek used to train at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, and Maia and I used be on some of their sessions. When they practice their throws, we had to make sure we got out of their way because their throws are huge!

Rusty Fein is telling the media how he was able to convince Tiffany Scott to skate with him – 10 pages full of reasons how she could continue her success. If one of those reasons was that they could end up on the podium, boy was he right! It strikes me that Philip Dulebohn (Tiffany’s former partner) seems just as proud of Tiffany as part of her coaching team as when they were a team together.

With Rena and John doing the first throw triple Axel, it is all the rage downstairs in the media room. While not everyone in the media room knows the name of every move, there’s no question that something incredibly special had just occurred – meaning, every journalist in the room just locked in their ‘story’ from this event.

It had to be a really tough night for Katie (Orscher) and Garrett (Lucash). They were very disappointed during the press conference, and their sense of shock and frustration really came through. It was later that evening, though - after the medal ceremony, I saw them reaching up to the fans waiting along the barrier, signing autographs. I thought about how gracious they were to still be smiling through all their disappointment.  

Earlier in the competition one of the skaters suffered an injury. Midway through their program, Yuko Kawaguchi, skating with her partner Devin Patrick, came out of a jump and clutched her hip in obvious pain. You could tell that Devin suddenly had a lot going through his mind - worried that her injury could be bad enough that she should stop, while at the same time rallying behind her to continue. The program ends and I am relieved.

After their skate, she was carried from the “Kiss and Cry” and was immediately evaluated. Maia and I later got quotes from Dr. Christine Lawless, from U.S. Figure Skating, and learned that Yuko had been taken to the hospital, but just as a precaution. Later that evening, I saw her up in the stands, attending the dance event - so I am guessing everything turned out OK.

As a male in a partnership, I really felt for Devin almost as much as I did for Yuko. When my sister Maia was injured before junior nationals this year, it was almost as hard for me as it was for her. Maia had strained her hip and was off the ice until one week before our event, and it was very stressful not able to practice with her, and even more difficult figuring out how to skate with her once she began cautiously coming back to the ice.

Pairs is over - yet there is much more still to do! Maia left me so she could spend some time with our parents (who thought having us out of their hair would give them a moment of peace, and maybe even a chance at a real meal … of course, it turned out to be both short lived, and more like a prison sentence inside the arena… $7 nachos again, anyone?)

Before Maia left we met Christine Brennan, a columnist for USA Today, and Meri-Jo Borzilleri, a sports reporter who works for the Colorado Springs Gazette. I also got to meet Bill Plaschke, a sports journalists for the LA Times, who is often a participant on ESPN’s “Around the Horn” talk show.

The only time when you are allowed to clap if you are working as a member of the media is when you are on break. I made sure to take a “break” in order to watch the performance of a team that we train with and look up to in Colorado Springs, Trina Pratt and Todd Gilles. They are great people and very fun to watch. They gave their performance of the year, and I was able to make the most of my “professional break” and cheer like a madman.

Looking at the podium, Maia (who skates out of the SC of New York) nudged me as it looked like two prominent clubs had plenty to be proud of – Arctic FSC … and SC of New York… with two teams each.

Back downstairs at the press conference … not only did Tanith and Ben deserve to win the gold in senior dance, when it comes to dealing with the media, they win the gold there as well. From the most knowledgeable to the newest journalist in the sport, Tanith and Ben have smiles and patience for everyone. On and off the ice, it’s like watching a master class.

After the press conference wraps up, I notice that the skater’s have left their “press conference” water bottles on the table. Michelle thinks I should have taken one to sell on eBay, Olympian finger prints and all! Who needs autographs and posters?

Phew… the end of a really fun but super long day. Maia and I are practically nodding off into our dinner at Houlihans … the only place still open for dinner after 11 p.m... Slogging off through the Union Station mall to our rooms at the Hyatt, we hit the sack and sleep like babies.

Saturday

Speaking of babies, according to Maia, the Olympic gold medal for coolest baby goes to Kristi Yamaguchi’s newborn. Backstage with her baby in a front-loading carrier, her hands are barely free but she happily agrees to an autograph request from Maia, signing her paper using Maia’s back as the “desk.”

From what Maia and I have seen, the ABC broadcast booth is a very active place when the cameras aren’t rolling. New faces include Katarina Witt and Kurt Browning. Kurt is hilarious – from the waist up, he’s wearing his snappy jacket and tie. But on his feet, he’s wearing what look like sneakers! Good for jogging in place – something he is doing a lot of in order to stay warm in the freezer known as the SavvisCenter. Terry Gannon keeps busy, putting on and taking off his warm ski cap during the filming and commercial breaks.

Filled to the brim with skaters, Section 112 can be counted on to start ‘the wave.’ After a few false starts, one manages to make it a few times around the arena just as the men’s free skate is getting under way.

In the morning, Maia and I feel tons better and ready for the next day. As soon as I get up, I get dressed to go downstairs to the lobby. Phil Kuhn, from Harlick, has graciously rescheduled my appointment and I am about to try on my brand new boots. Ahhh! They are really light and definitely the most comfortable I have ever had. They are also not as thick and are easy to bend in. Oh well, no more excuses about not being able to point my toes and bend my knees in the morning!

After the boot check, I call Laura: “Hey Alex, (static) (shouting) how are you? (In background …) Yes I want that printed up. Yes. It needs to be before men’s long program….Sorry, Alex just hold on one second….Hi, are you there? I was wondering, do you think you could come for the last group of senior men to do some quotes? I’m not sure though if you would want to come downstairs during the senior ladies….Yeah,…Its gonna’ be bad (crazy like). Oh gotta’ go, bye….Wait, you’ll need passes. OK, I’ll be up in a sec to get them to you.”

She comes running up in less than a minute, we get our credentials for the day, and in a flash, she is racing back downstairs to face head-on the chaos that senior men and ladies will bring.

The senior men’s event is especially fun for Maia and I to watch this year, as rinkmates Parker Pennington, Ryan Bradley and Ryan Jahnke are all skating well. Maia and I are talking casually about the event as we walk down the stairs when we are almost flattened by two reporters running the opposite way. Here we go. We rush into the media room and no sooner than we walk in, we’re given tape recorders and are on orders to tape quotes from the top senior men. We then hand the tape recorders over to a transcriber, Doug, who then distributes the quotes to members of the media for their stories.

Timothy Goebel is in the mixed zone looking downcast and disappointed. “…I just wasted the last four years of my life.” Ugh… He walked out and the room got quiet for the first time since yesterday.

The men’s press conference is packed. Several people are sitting on the floor. Cords, pagers, computers and cameras litter the room.

The press conference takes about an hour and a half it seems, and then we said goodbye. We entered the makeshift office and Laura is in her swivel chair, bracing herself for what is to come...senior ladies final [Laura Fawcett's note: Alex gracefully omits the part that half the people on the event level, including myself, are suffering from the “Savvis Center Sickness” – a horrible 24-hour+ flu that has sent many to medical and left many at the hotel during crucial events – it was a rough week. We all looked pretty pale and scary]. We are thanking her when suddenly …”FOOD!” There is a surge of new life as members of the media rush forward towards the hospitality table – happily grabbing rolls, pasta, brownies, soda, anything they could get their hands on. I was not too surprised, but Maia just gasped in awe as the stampede continued and the endlessly working members of the media rushed to grab a spot in line. Hey, at least there was no cutting.   

Back upstairs in the arena for the ladies event, and for the first time all week, it wasn’t freezing. All the body heat from the biggest crowds of the week really made a difference. Made it harder to find our parents, too. Thank goodness for cell phones.

What an awesome two days, working with Laura and Michelle. Maia was thrilled to have the chance as well. Competing or not, I guess Maia and I will always be running around together at nationals.

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