Twelve-year-old Natasha Kuchiki cried for two weeks when she found out she had a new pairs skating partner who was twice her age. But once she adjusted to the idea, it didn't take Kuchiki and Todd Sand long to pose a legitimate threat to the defending national champions.
The reason Kuchiki cried was "because my parents didn't really tell me until a couple days after Nationals that I had broken up with my other partner," she explained. "It was just kind of weird."And while Sand didn't shed tears over the prospect of a partner half his age, he wasn't exactly sold on the idea either. "It was interesting, a little different," he admitted. "But after we started skating and I saw the potential . . . well, it's not an issue anymore."
At the time, the two were skating under different coaches, but through a kind of "skating pipeline," they got together under the watchful eye of coach John Nicks.
"Natasha's crying started in late April, but we were working hard by early May," he explained. The pair, along with their coach, worked long hours for several weeks. "I wanted to do it right from the very beginning," Nicks pointed out. "And there wasn't just coaching to be done. There was a lot of mediating and psychological work to do, too."
But six weeks after putting the two together, Nicks knew he had a winning combination. "It's outstanding that they've done so well in so short a time," he noted.
But considering the pair's background, perhaps it's not so outstanding.
Kuchiki, whose parents both skated with the Ice Capades for more than a decade, laced up her first pair of skates at the ripe old age of 1. She did manage to put off skating lessons until she was 5, but competition soon followed. Just turned 13, she already has several years of experience in both pairs and singles competition. Off-season, she attends junior high school and enjoys typical teen hobbies like bicycling and getting together with her girlfriends.
Sand, 25, has a lot of years of skating experience, too. He has also skated in singles, as well as pairs. And he spent two years in the early '80s skating for Denmark.
Sand is busy off-season as well. He's a junior in college and holds down a part-time job, as well as continuing to train and stay in shape. If Kuchiki and Sand finish in the top three after the free style program Friday night, they will automatically qualify for World Team competition later this year. However, an age restriction exists limiting participants to age 14-years and older.
Although Nicks claims he isn't saying anything about that until final results are tabulated Friday night, he vaguely refers to an "obscure rule" that could possibly qualify Kikuchi as an exception.
For now, though, he wants the pair to concentrate on the final night of competition. "They've made a remarkable rate of improvement," he pointed out. "And," he said, smiling and directing his next comment directly to the pair, "I sure hope it continues."