The Skating Lesson Podcast Transcript Interview with Tai Babilonia Part I Jenny Kirk: Hello, and welcome to The Skating Lesson podcast where we interview influential people from the world of figure skating where they can share with us the lessons they learned along the way. I’m Jennifer Kirk, a former US ladies competitor and three-time world team member. Dave Lease: I’m David Lease, I was not a world team member, ABC Sports never did a fluff piece on me and my sister looking like twins! But I am a figure skating blogger and a current adult skater. Jenny: If at any point during this podcast you have questions or comments, really anything you want to talk to us about, send us an e-mail at [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter at twitter.com/ skatinglesson. Dave: Today, we are thrilled to welcome Tai Babilonia to the podcast. Tai Babilonia is a 1979 world champion with her partner Randy Gardner. Together, they are two-time Olympians, three-time world medalists, and five time United States national champions. Tai is also the subject of a TV movie about her life. [Tai arrives] Dave: All right, so Tai, welcome to the show. Tai: Thank you so much! I’m so excited, and I’m so proud of both of you, so thank you, thank you, thank you. Jenny: Thank you, Tai! Welcome. Dave: Thank you! Well, Tai, we’ve – Jen and I have both followed you on Twitter for a long time, and it just seems like there’s nothing that you don’t do. We see you writing poetry, we hear that you’re writing a book, you were skating with Snoopy I think the other day, you and Randy are skating together, you were naked in New York City for PETA, I guess… Jenny: Yeah, you looked really good in that, Tai, by the way! Tai: Thank you, thank you! I mean, I have – we’ll talk about that, that’s a whole ‘nother thing, but be sure to bring that up later on. Jenny: Okay! Dave: Well, what are you doing now? What is your life like? Tai: What is my life like? Mainly, it’s my son – he’ll actually be eighteen on the twenty-fifth of this month [January], so, that’s freaking me out just because it’s happening so quickly and there’s no more baby Scout – it’s Scout the young man and that’s a major adjustment for me. I’m trying to go with it and just be a supportive, grown-up mom about it, but you know, he’s slowly moving away, and it’s – you know, it’s difficult for me. So, that’s number one – it’s great, but it’s difficult. Writing, as you said, right now, working on tweaking the proposal, which will hopefully go out to different publishers and then hopefully get a book deal. So it’s a lot of writing, a lot of looking at old journals which is kind of scary. Lot of old pictures, I love writing poetry, so it’s a lot of writing, and I just – you know, even if I write just two lines either at night or during the day, as long as I write something, I’m happy. And, like you said, skating with Snoopy was a bucket dream of mine, bucket list dream of mine, and it happened with the help of a whole group of very influential people. But we got it together, and what was great was I did it – we did it here at home in LA. So that was so special and just one of those moments in my skating career, I mean it’s up there with making the Olympic team and performing with Richard Dwyer, another bucket list moment. So it’s all of this stuff that I’ve, you know, I have fought for, been persistent, but I’ve just – these are the things I’ve wanted to do. And they’re happening – we just gotta go after it. Dave: How often do you skate? Tai: Well, something like skating with Snoopy or Richard Dwyer comes up or even skating with Randy, we’ll go in maybe three or four times a week. We’re good for about twenty to twenty-five minutes and then we’re kind of done. So it’s not a lot – we don’t do a lot of the big tricks we used to do, but it’s really just maintaining what we have, keeping our balance, and – a lot of posing. Jenny: Well, it sounds like you’re definitely keeping yourself busy, Tai, which is wonderful. And I’m wondering, how much time do you have to follow current US skating? We have nationals coming up in just a couple weeks in Omaha, and I was wondering about your thoughts on the current US pair teams – the top three from last year, they won’t be in Omaha, a couple of them broke up, another team is injured. So what are your impressions about the current US teams? Tai: Well it’s so funny you say that – Jenny, I can’t – the thing is, once I got locked into one of the pair teams, just one, they either ended up quitting or ended up switching partners or ended up something – and then they were gone! So once I lock into one, they’re not there the next year. So I can’t – I lose track. And it’s a real turn- off for me, and I’m not putting anyone down, but there’s just something that – someone’s missing the point here in US pairs skating. And you know, it’s almost like musical chairs. I don’t like it. I try and voice my opinion to the people who are higher up, and no one seems to be listening. But the key to a great pair team is – you gotta stay together for at least five years. And that just doesn’t – nobody seems to get that. So that’s why you have what you have right now. And it’s too bad because the talent is there, they just don’t understand you gotta stay together. You have to stay together through thick and thin. And in my case, or in the case of Tai and Randy, when we did start to grow, 16-17, even 15, we stuck it out. We stayed together. You know, Randy and I are very similar in height, but Mr. Nicks – the brilliance of Mr. Nicks – was he figured out what our strengths and weaknesses were. And it worked, and we were fine. But you just – you don’t go look for a smaller partner, and you know, if the girl doesn’t get the jumps or the guy doesn’t get the jumps, you just kind of squeak it out. At least give it a chance, and that’s the beef I have with our pairs teams. I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated, and I hope don’t know if I am the only one who’s frustrated, but it’s kind of sad. Dave: Where do you think it comes from? Were the splits this prevalent when you competed? Where do you think it’s coming from now? Tai: Wait, what do you mean, where is what coming from? Dave: Like, the splits stemming from. You know, have the US pairs always split up like this? You know, was it musical chairs? Tai: No. Not back in the seventies and even the early eighties with the Carruthers, and Todd and Jenny. Something happened after that, and I don’t know if it’s because of the technical difficulty that some of the skaters can’t get it. Or something – the girls grow, and they’re not able to do the different lifts and the different twists. I’m not sure, but it’s – why can’t they get it? Why can’t they look back in the past at what we had, and it worked! I mean, we were winning, the Carruthers were winning! Kenny and JoJo were winning! The Militanos were winning! This is – these are the past champion figure skaters, and I wish, wish, wish they would reach out – the USFS would reach out to us past pairs skaters and let us talk to these young ones. They need to hear it from the champions. But no one listens. Part II Jenny: You know, you talk about this – what was the secret to your longevity with Randy because you were the longest ever pairs team still skating together even a handful of years ago. What was the secret to that longevity? What would you tell skaters if United States Figure Skating allowed you or wanted you to be in that role of talking to these young teams? Tai: Basically, it’s – you gotta have the same goals. That was key in our partnership, having the same goals. Knowing that a 12 or 13 or 14-year-old girl young team is going to grow. Do you know, Jenny, it happens. We’re women. We get boobies… Jenny: Yeah, we have those curves! Tai: We get curves, it all changes, and you know for a year, maybe even over a year, things are going to be off. That’s Mother Nature. But if you can get through it, that just shows that you are determined to be a great skater, be a great pairs skater or a solo skater.