# This Week in Skating / Interview with Maura Sullivan Hill

An episode of [This Week in Skating Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1621874792), 9 Oct 2025, 36 min.

Audio: https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/e1feb336-9d89-40e3-9b00-9368955bd70b/stream.mp3

In this episode, Daphne and Gina chat with figure skating journalist Maura Sullivan Hill, who is the author of the new book, "Legends of Women's Figure Skating," which comes out on Nov. 4, 2025. To learn more about Maura's book, visit her website at https://www.maurasullivanhill.com/book You can preorder the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Bookshop. --- This Week in Skating is hosted by Gina Capellazzi, Daphne Backman and Matteo Morelli is a cooperative project between Figure Skaters Online and Ice-dance.com. New episodes are available every Tuesday. Website: http://www.thisweekinskating.com Email: thisweekinskating@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisweekinskating Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thiswkinskating Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinskating Thread: https://www.threads.net/@thisweekinskating Patreon: patreon.com/ThisWeekinSkating Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/this-week-in-skating-podcast/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hi everyone, I'm Vincent Joe.
[0:01] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Hi, I'm Kathy Reed.
[0:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I'm Allison Reed.
[0:04] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Hi, I'm Ashley.
[0:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Hi, I'm Grace.
[0:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We're from the Hidden X.
[0:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Welcome to this week in Skating, the weekly podcast bringing you to the latest news from the world of figure skating.
[0:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here are your hosts, Daphne, Gina, and Mateo.
[0:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Our guest today is a good friend of ours and we're excited to welcome her back to the podcast.
[0:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: This time to talk about a special project she's been working on.
[0:44] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Mara Sullivan Hill is a freelance writer and editor for Alumni Magazine's College at University websites and new sites, but she is also a figure skating journalist.
[0:56] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You have probably seen her byline at figure skaters online,
[1:03] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But this year, Mara has been working on a book.
[1:06] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I have it in my hands and titled Legends of Women's Figure Skating.
[1:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we are just a few weeks away from it being released.
[1:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we're excited to welcome Mara back to this week in skating to talk about her book and to wish her a happy belated birthday because her birthday was just her day.
[1:24] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So Mara, have you heard day?
[1:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Hello, thank you so much for the birthday wishes and for having me on.
[1:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm so excited to be back.
[1:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I love listening to Twiz, but it's an honor to be here recording with you guys.
[1:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Well, I'm excited to talk about this book because I know you've been working on it a very long time.
[1:48] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we both got our copies ahead of time and I've looked at it and it's wonderful.
[1:55] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It is wonderful.
[1:56] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I can't wait to show it to my mom.
[1:58] \[SPEAKER_01\]: She's going to love it because it's really just such a great mix of current and past favorites.
[2:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Thank you.
[2:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Thanks for saying that.
[2:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's something we were really intentional about.
[2:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We wanted to make sure that we included all of, you know, the best legends and familiar faces of our sport and then also give some face time to those legends in the making those skaters looking to make the Olympic team for Milan.
[2:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So we'll see.
[2:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Some old favorites like Dorothy Hamill and Peggy Fleming are in there, but then we also have our world champion, Alyssa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabella Vito are in there as well.
[2:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So it's a good breadth of skaters in there.
[2:42] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So before we really dive into this book, let's get started with, how did you first get started in skating?
[2:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Oh my goodness, I haven't thought of it this well, you know, like most people, I went to Disney on ice and I loved it and I started skating around on the hardwood floors at home in our dining room and then I saw it on TV, I saw Cristiano Gucci and Nancy Kerrigan and Tony Harding and Medori Edo doing triple axles and I called them triple accidents.
[3:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's sort of a fairly dope.
[3:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I would be like zipping around the floor and I would say I'm going to do a triple accident to my parents.
[3:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's probably good.
[3:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I didn't actually have an accident and crash into anything.
[3:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But so I loved skating, watching skating in that way.
[3:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So that's how my parents were like, we got to sign her up for lessons.
[3:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We have to get her on the ice.
[3:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And you skated all the way through college, right?
[3:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, I did.
[3:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I grew up competing in the Boston area, you know, recreationally.
[3:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I loved it.
[3:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I went to school at Notre Dame where I skated on the Syncro team and I still miss Syncro.
[3:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I love when you guys cover Syncro and any Syncro coverage when we get.
[3:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So yeah, I skated all the way through college and I still dabble now doing more ice dancing.
[4:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: My knees like that better.
[4:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: than jumping.
[4:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I also coach I coach at the Nashville for your skating club and the Nashville skating academy here where I live in Nashville.
[4:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, how did you venture into coaching?
[4:18] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'd always coach growing up, we would help with learn to skate.
[4:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You got to do that to a certain age.
[4:22] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You could be a learn to skate helper.
[4:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I'd always coach learn to skate.
[4:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I was working remotely actually before COVID.
[4:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So it was more novel than.
[4:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And it was kind of lonely.
[4:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I want, I miss having coworkers.
[4:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And so I went to the rink and applied to teach learn to skate and learn from a lot of great coaches.
[4:40] \[SPEAKER_03\]: This was in Oak Park, Illinois.
[4:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, shouting out a lot of people I learned from there, and it just grew from there from learn to skate coaching, and now I teach from three-year-olds to adults, I've got kids really getting into competing for the first time in the past year or so seeing them get that that bug and start enjoying it, so, um, it's such a joy to share my love of skating.
[5:04] \[SPEAKER_03\]: As a coach, and that's what made this book so much fun, I got to combine two things I love writing and skating.
[5:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So how did you get involved in figure skating media?
[5:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Oh my goodness.
[5:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I emailed Gina out of the blue and she was so kind and supportive to me.
[5:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I thought I love skating.
[5:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm a writer.
[5:25] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Maybe figure skaters online could use some help.
[5:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think you had a there's a form, right?
[5:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Is there a form?
[5:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, it's a form or an email address, at least something on there.
[5:33] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, so if anybody is interested, it's, yeah.
[5:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Do it.
[5:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's wonderful.
[5:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's such a supportive environment.
[5:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And it's so much fun to cover the events.
[5:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I remember being so excited when you replied.
[5:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I was kind of like, I don't know what'll happen.
[5:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Maybe they have what they need them.
[5:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And it's been just so much fun.
[5:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I've learned so much from both of you about covering skating.
[5:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Just being able to share about this sport we love is great and see the events up close here from the athletes themselves.
[6:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's been such a great opportunity over the years and without having those articles out there online.
[6:12] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The publisher wouldn't have found me.
[6:14] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So there's no book without the work that I've done with you guys and the opportunities you've given me.
[6:20] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's really funny because before we started recording the podcast, we had to have like a hour to catch up with each other first because we haven't had the opportunity to do that in so long, but we will get to do that coming up in St.
[6:36] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Louis because Moira is going to be
[6:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yes, at your fourth.
[6:42] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, for national flight, Nashville, Columbus, and we did a little remote in 2020.
[6:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Does that count all those Zoom?
[6:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, that counts, but your fourth answer is better.
[6:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah.
[6:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And this is your second Olympic one, but mine is cold.
[7:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, which I think we're all excited for.
[7:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, it's a normal thing.
[7:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We are.
[7:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I know you were very excited about Nashville because you live in Nashville, then Nashville Nationals, but that was...
[7:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: one crazy nation experience.
[7:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's the one snowstorm we get a year here.
[7:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's always in January and it happened for nationalists.
[7:26] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yes, it might as well have shut down the city like you couldn't get any transportation and and I had to walk from our hotel and it was yeah, we've covered that on our own cover that on because I was the one who's
[7:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Saw you both come back, but she's putting it into the arena.
[7:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Probably.
[7:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[7:46] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[7:47] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[7:47] \[SPEAKER_01\]: We were trudging through snow up and down sidewalks.
[7:52] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah.
[7:52] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It was an adventure, but I would go back there again for a national.
[7:56] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I thought Nashville did a great job hosting.
[7:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I would definitely that would be exciting if we could host something else.
[8:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I know they're doing big renovations or happening
[8:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: in a couple years, it'll be shinier and ready to host again.
[8:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Okay.
[8:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So you kind of touched on it a little bit because you said the publisher wouldn't have gotten a hold of you without you being involved in figure scares online in the other outlets that you've written for.
[8:29] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So how did this opportunity happen to write this book?
[8:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was the most exciting email I've ever gotten for sure.
[8:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The editor was doing some research on skating journalism, skating writers, so she found some of my other writing and reached out to me to see if I'd have any interest in it.
[8:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I thought, of course I do, this is amazing.
[8:53] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So, and I know
[8:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's a very fortunate unique situation in publishing.
[8:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I know lots of people spend years pitching and searching around.
[9:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I was very lucky that the publisher found me with this idea for legends of women's figure skating.
[9:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's a series that they have.
[9:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They did a gymnastics version legends of women's gymnastics before the Paris Olympics.
[9:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I know there's a lot of gymnastics skating fan overlap.
[9:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So that's already out if you would want to check that one out.
[9:22] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And so they came with this idea on a topic that I loved.
[9:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I felt like I had a good background.
[9:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They came to me looking for 28 skaters.
[9:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I thought of 28 off the top of my head immediately.
[9:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I was excited to have the opportunity.
[9:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I'm going to ask about that and I had told you I was going to ask you about this 28.
[9:45] \[SPEAKER_02\]: How did you narrow it down to the 28 that are in that book because I looked through and I was like, okay, yeah, yeah, I wouldn't have included that.
[9:55] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I would have included that.
[9:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But then I was like, oh, what about this one and what about that one?
[9:59] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So how did you make that hard decision and get it down to those 28 that are in the book?
[10:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: it was very hard.
[10:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was the hardest part of the whole process and and probably there's people missing or people that others might have included maybe they'll give me a part two that we can we can add those folks in but it was hard.
[10:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I will admit I asked the publisher if we could I could have a few more than 28 but I understood we have our constraints or page limits
[10:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: you know a broad definition of the term legend.
[10:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I didn't want it to just be a list of Olympic champions.
[10:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's obvious that obviously makes you a legend in skating, but I wanted to think about other skaters who impacted the sport in different ways.
[10:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think of
[10:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Sasha Cohen is from the U.S.
[10:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: is someone she's a multiple world medalist and Olympic silver medalist and she also had such a great impact.
[10:58] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think about her spirals, her flexibility, her spins.
[11:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That really influenced how skaters are performing out on the ice today.
[11:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So she's someone I wanted to get in there.
[11:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I also included Mabel Fairbanks who I learned about from this skatingly yours fund through US figure skating.
[11:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That sport skaters who are black indigenous or people of color out on the ice supporting them.
[11:22] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I dug more into her background through that and she's someone who she didn't compete.
[11:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Unfortunately because she wasn't allowed to because of the color for skin at the time she was skating in the
[11:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: 19, 1920s and 1930s, but she's someone who had a huge impact as a show skater and then went on to be a coach of these great names, Ty Babylonia, who we know she's one of her early coaches, she as a coach really wanted to give opportunity to other skaters from diverse backgrounds.
[11:53] \[SPEAKER_03\]: spread skating, you know, make it more accessible.
[11:56] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So she had a huge impact on the sport that was maybe outside of medals, but wanted to make sure that that young readers know about her as well.
[12:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So it was thinking about legend in a, in a broad sense.
[12:09] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, I mentioned this before.
[12:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think it's a great mix of past, present, um, and even future, because I mean, Isabel, Evita, you mentioned in the book,
[12:21] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I mean, she's still relatively young in the figure skating world, so she could go on to do even more than what she's already accomplished.
[12:32] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So also for me as a fan of skating for most of my life, it was great to see who you included, because there is some that, you know, Linda Fradiani is not one that people probably think
[12:51] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So it was great to see her included.
[12:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I thought about her, their skaters at my ring, they still, they call it the fradiani spin.
[13:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They're, I hear fradiani almost, you know, every week at the ring.
[13:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I was trying to think about those, the elements and things that are still part of skating today.
[13:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, although you will, you'll see there's no Denise Bielnann, I know the Bielnann's spin is so prevalent and that was one that was hard to leave on the cutting room floor, um, but I learned the spin's named after her but she didn't invent it.
[13:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So that, that made it a little easier to, to leave it behind.
[13:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That was news to me.
[13:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I assumed she'd invent it, but doing some research.
[13:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That was not not the case.
[13:33] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So I think you can definitely have a book too.
[13:37] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I love it.
[13:37] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think if we wait, maybe
[13:40] \[SPEAKER_01\]: another four to eight years and then see what skating looks like at that point you could definitely have a book too because that I think there are some that are not on the list.
[13:51] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But for me, if when I was thinking about who, who would I put on a list, I went and looked to see if they were on your list and they were on your list already.
[14:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I'm sure, you know,
[14:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I like that it was also not just the U.S.
[14:13] \[SPEAKER_02\]: skaters, yes.
[14:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: We're based in the U.S.
[14:17] \[SPEAKER_02\]: and this is a U.S.
[14:18] \[SPEAKER_02\]: publishing company that you wrote the book for, but you included skaters from Japan and Korea, even there was a Russian skater you included in the book as well.
[14:29] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So it's not just...
[14:32] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Are you a skaters that were all familiar with the ones that we've grown up watching in the ones that were still covering today?
[14:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: There is a good mixture of skaters from all over in the book.
[14:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, thank you.
[14:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, I'm glad that you noticed that and that was something we wanted to be sure to do include those international champions and legends as well.
[14:56] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So maybe you could talk about a little bit the process of writing this book, like how, what was the first thing you had to do and how to, like,
[15:07] \[SPEAKER_02\]: How long did it take?
[15:08] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Almost tons of stuff.
[15:09] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Sure.
[15:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was pretty quick.
[15:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They reached out to me in the fall last year and it was due on Tax Day, April 15th.
[15:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's stuck out in my mind.
[15:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I did the bulk of the work January through April last year and the first thing was that list.
[15:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Figuring out who the 28 we're going to be and we did leave.
[15:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, some wiggle room knowing worlds were coming.
[15:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, I think Alyssa Lou was on my list already, but she surprised us with that world title and got herself on the cover after that competition.
[15:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, so the list was was part one, and then I also found all the photos.
[15:50] \[SPEAKER_03\]: which was so much fun to look through all these great images of past champions and so I got to choose options for all the skaters from the typical sources where the the publisher gets their photos from and then the designer made the final choices and made a beautiful book with all the the colors and coordinating with the dresses and all of that.
[16:14] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, and that was fun.
[16:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was a little challenging.
[16:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm I'm always drawn to a beautiful spiral photo, but I didn't want to have 28 spirals in the book, so making sure it was a good picture of them.
[16:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was maybe a recognizable dress or moment, and then also that there was some variety within the images, so they didn't all look the same.
[16:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, and then, and so that, those were kind of the first two steps, and then I had to get writing, and I remember I was talking a lot about it.
[16:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I was so excited.
[16:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I said, I'm writing a book, I'm working kind of book, and then I thought, I've got our buckled down and do the little ugly guy get going.
[16:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, and so then I was able to, just put my head down and write it, it was 300 to 500 words for each bio, which goes really fast when you think about the lives of some
[17:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I had to do a lot of trimming and editing once the drafts were done and then we we edited it.
[17:12] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But the publisher or copy editors, all that and then it was off.
[17:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So it was it was a fast process and in its own way.
[17:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was I was a little sad when I turned it in because I had so much fun writing it.
[17:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I thought, oh, I'm a little sad the process is over, but I'm so excited to share it now with everyone.
[17:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: and 300 to 500 words is not a lot nothing right it's not it's you're like oh man that was 300 already and it's like one paragraph or two paragraph some because I work I get that all the time we've got to trim that down you have so many inches you have so much of a word count
[17:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: you know.
[17:53] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Very little.
[17:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's really like a profile of a skater that you would write for a website.
[17:58] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's not long.
[18:00] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Any of like Anne's shorter articles would barely fit in that.
[18:05] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So I'm thinking about that too.
[18:08] \[SPEAKER_01\]: One thing that has come out of this for me as a huge ice dance fan is if I had to pick 20 ice dance teams to put on a list, how on earth would I do it?
[18:22] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I don't I don't know, but I might test myself to see yes make your lens what I would do.
[18:30] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, I think I should just just test myself and see what I would do.
[18:37] \[SPEAKER_01\]: How I would characterize it because it feels like a big number.
[18:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yeah, but then you think about all the great skaters over the years.
[18:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It's it's not there's so many yeah.
[18:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so when I looked through the book, I was already, like, as I told you, you know, you're familiar with these names.
[18:57] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So the information that you had in the book, yeah, I knew that, but there were things that I learned in the book, one in particular, the first skater in the, I believe, because they go an alphabetical order,
[19:13] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And I did not know she had polio and I didn't know she her father created a ring outside in her backyard.
[19:20] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Those were things I didn't know and so I was like, oh, so there are things in this book for, you know.
[19:30] \[SPEAKER_02\]: we as we say the fans who follow the sport religiously that they're going to find that they're going to learn.
[19:37] \[SPEAKER_02\]: How did you find that?
[19:40] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Did you were learning things as you were researching the book?
[19:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah.
[19:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You know, researching the skaters for the book?
[19:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Definitely.
[19:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And that made me so happy when you said that that's such a knowledgeable skating journalist like yourself.
[19:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I can hear that.
[19:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I can only say that I'm, you know, now let's you all learn something, but no, that made my, that just it made me happy to hear, oh, she learned something new.
[20:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I think part of that is thinking about the, the audience for the book, it could be any skating fan, but we were thinking about kind of middle grade readers as the main target.
[20:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And thinking about their lives and what they might be interested in,
[20:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So we wanted to include how some of these skaters grew up or how they got on the ice like their dad making a rink in the backyard or some of the other ways they started learning to skate or saw Disney on ice like I did.
[20:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So we wanted to think about their entry points to skating and maybe I know you guys always asked that question in your interviews but maybe sometimes that gets lost in the the Olympic glory of some of these.
[20:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: skaters.
[20:45] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I definitely, I learned, and that's why I enjoyed the process so much.
[20:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I learned more about these skaters that I was familiar with.
[20:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I think one of the fun ones was Peggy Fleming, learning more about her childhood growing up.
[21:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She was really outdoorsy, more, more rural, and I think of her,
[21:06] \[SPEAKER_03\]: doing the commentary, looking all glamorous, like in the 90s when I was watching this jaded.
[21:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I just found to think about her as a little kid climbing trees and, you know, what she was doing before before she got on the ice.
[21:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I definitely, I learned a lot was going through a lot of old skating books and history books and the world figure skating, Hall of Fame, a museum website is great.
[21:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: There's a lot of good bios on there.
[21:32] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I definitely
[21:35] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yeah, that's where I was learning a lot was there how they got into skating, you know, obviously I knew who was the Olympic champions and who won this medal and that medal, but it was the background that I was finding like, oh, I didn't know that I don't think I knew that.
[21:51] \[SPEAKER_02\]: which was great and I told you also that I was finding some more influence by others in the book.
[22:00] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So some of the newer skaters or the ones who maybe are still competing or the ones who just retired not too long ago.
[22:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: they were inspired by you know somebody else in the book.
[22:15] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It was just it made it feel like a family feel in the book because it was like oh they said they were influenced by this one who's in on this page in the book and it just all felt connected.
[22:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, definitely.
[22:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I'm glad that came through even in the alphabetical order when I was organizing it in my mind.
[22:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I put it by year, all this to most current.
[22:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But we thought alphabetical made the most sense.
[22:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: If someone's just picking it up and they want to look for.
[22:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You know, Tara Lipinski, they'll go to L or they'd search it alphabetically.
[22:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I'm so glad that still came through.
[22:51] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And it was cool.
[22:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Sometimes it was the skaters coming up one after the other.
[22:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They were inspired by each other.
[22:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I think about Lou Chen from China.
[23:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: She saw Peggy Fleming in the documentary on TV.
[23:03] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And that's how she found out about skating and got into skating.
[23:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So yeah, there's all those connections, for sure.
[23:11] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, we had Lara Nakigutman on our podcast recently, and it was a really fun to listen to her talk about Carolina Costner and how she saw her to Reno, Olympics in 2006, and that she's hoping to inspire skaters of the future at the
[23:33] \[SPEAKER_01\]: by skating at this Olympics coming up if she shows in.
[23:36] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So, seeing Karolina's name when I look through the book, it just reminded me of that because again, you don't really know who you could be inspiring by just going out and doing something you love definitely.
[23:53] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think for the younger readers of this book who might be skaters themselves to read through and see everybody started in learn to skate or started at the very beginning and they can maybe get some inspiration for their own skating and their own dreams from that.
[24:11] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Somebody started out on an ice rink in their backyard.
[24:14] \[SPEAKER_02\]: That's what they made.
[24:16] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yes.
[24:19] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And so you said the photos.
[24:21] \[SPEAKER_02\]: You got to pick through the photos.
[24:23] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Where did the photos come from?
[24:25] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Brutie, did you?
[24:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They are, there's a couple websites that the publisher we purchased the photos from.
[24:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Not as well known as like Getty or the one of the big sites.
[24:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: a couple websites and that some of them had like historical records and things like that for some of the older photos and I think it is it's Peggy's that's it's black and white which was a little bit of a bummer because it's her famous shark char truce dress but it's a black and white picture
[25:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, so we did, we bought the photos and, and the Mabel Fairbanks photos came from her estate from A Toy Wilson is in charge of her estate because her photos weren't on some of these, these photo archives because they, she wasn't in competitions.
[25:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So appreciated his help so much getting photos of Mabel and making sure she was included.
[25:22] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Well, in the back of the book, there is the Skating Terms Glossary, which, of course, these words for us are in our vocabulary, skaters, it's in their vocabulary all the time, but why did you decide to include a skating term's glossary in this book?
[25:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And whose idea was it?
[25:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, we have to give credit.
[25:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was my mom's idea.
[25:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: My mom is one of my most helpful proofreaders in my writing career.
[25:50] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Both my parents, my mom's netter, my dad's a sports journalist, so there's a lot of influence on me from them.
[25:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: very grateful to them.
[26:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And so we were talking about that short word count.
[26:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And it was a little tricky to be defining things over and over again.
[26:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I wondered how clunky it might be for the reader.
[26:12] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They might think they just told me what that was a page ago.
[26:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I was talking to my mom about it.
[26:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And she said, what about a glossary?
[26:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And then I wouldn't have to define triple axel through your four times in the book.
[26:27] \[SPEAKER_03\]: who also should be listening to this.
[26:30] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So that's how that came about.
[26:31] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And luckily there was room.
[26:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We had enough pages.
[26:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I don't think the gymnastics book had a glossary.
[26:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I asked, hey, I think this will be helpful to the reader.
[26:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Can we put a glossary in there?
[26:42] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I think it was helpful to me.
[26:44] \[SPEAKER_03\]: On the word count, I think it'll be helpful to younger skaters and newer readers to have that in the back there.
[26:50] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You've added the glossary to be able to help anyone who's
[26:57] \[SPEAKER_01\]: who is your audience for this book?
[26:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: The audience, the publisher and my editor and I, we were thinking about is those middle school readers, that's who we were writing for.
[27:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: When we were thinking about how to structure the bios and the kind of terms and language we were using.
[27:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: definitely a kids book in that sense, but I think it's also it's for skaters themselves who are maybe looking for some of that inspiration that I was talking about and I think fans of the Olympics who may be turning tune in every four years and they watch skating and they get into it
[27:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think it's a great way to revisit some of the past champions and then learn about at least our three American skaters who are looking to make the team and start getting excited for the Olympics coming in February.
[27:48] \[SPEAKER_02\]: What do you hope fans or people who pick up your book will get from your book?
[27:54] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think it goes back to what we were talking about earlier about everyone started somewhere and learned to skate or on a pond or they started at the beginning with a love for the sport.
[28:07] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And these 28 have gone on to incredible achievements and their legend status.
[28:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I hope that readers can
[28:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: look at it and see the whole of their journey.
[28:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Maybe some adversity things that they overcame on their way to their achievements and maybe see themselves a little bit and see see some inspiration.
[28:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think about my my students on the ice.
[28:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: um, a couple of whom who've asked me if they're in the book.
[28:37] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I said, maybe not yet.
[28:38] \[SPEAKER_03\]: We're going to work on we're going to keep working and you'll get legend status.
[28:43] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But maybe they can see themselves in some of these skaters and some inspiration and motivation for their own journeys.
[28:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: So we have our copies, but when does this book come out and how can people get it?
[28:57] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, it comes out November 4th, which is one month and one day it's coming so fast and you can get it online, Amazon, Barnes and Noble bookshop if you want to support your local bookseller.
[29:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: You can get it any of those spots.
[29:15] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I put a page on my website that has links to all those
[29:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, so I, that's on, it's just my whole name.
[29:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: More a SullivanHill.com and there's a page on there and pre-orders are awesome.
[29:28] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I've heard so many authors say that over the years and now I'm saying it too, but they are really helpful.
[29:35] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And it's a great holiday gift too, I think, for with the Olympics coming in February, can give it to the skater in your life, get them excited about the games.
[29:45] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Well, we'll definitely put all those links and where people can get it in our show.
[29:50] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Also, worry about that.
[29:52] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And we, of course, are looking forward to taking our copy and having you sign it inside of us.
[30:00] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Oh my goodness.
[30:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Thank you.
[30:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I will be so honored to do so.
[30:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And it will be great to all be in person and be together there soon.
[30:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It'll be great.
[30:10] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's gonna be great.
[30:12] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And here I have an idea.
[30:13] \[SPEAKER_02\]: I was going to ask you if you have any more plans to bread it books, you know, maybe the legends of men figure skating or ice dancers, Daphne, you can take the photos.
[30:25] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Mara can write the profiles.
[30:27] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And there is the legends of ice dancers book.
[30:30] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Okay.
[30:31] \[SPEAKER_01\]: That sounds great.
[30:32] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Got a letter to publish or no.
[30:33] \[SPEAKER_01\]: If I don't have the photos, I know the people will.
[30:37] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yes.
[30:38] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Oh my goodness.
[30:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Honestly, when I was looking through some of these typical sites, I thought, well, if somebody's missing, I know who to call or who can help me.
[30:48] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I think to look ahead to the Olympics, maybe a men's Olympic champion from the US, a dance Olympic champion from the US, I think there could be interest in both of those books.
[31:01] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Yes, and since we have you here, we were going to ask you how you're feeling about this Olympic season as a skating journalist.
[31:10] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I thought you might.
[31:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I thought you might.
[31:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm excited.
[31:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think 20, 22 feels like a minute ago in some ways.
[31:19] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I'm getting excited as all these early competitions are happening and seeing the clips and seeing the programs.
[31:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm so excited that you get to go be their in-person, Gina.
[31:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm going to want all the details from that.
[31:34] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I'm excited to watch.
[31:36] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think not to be only U.S.
[31:39] \[SPEAKER_03\]: biased, but it's a really exciting time for U.S.
[31:41] \[SPEAKER_03\]: skating to see what what which athletes are going to make the team and what they achieve.
[31:46] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I can't wait.
[31:47] \[SPEAKER_02\]: any particular skaters or programs you've been really liking right now.
[31:52] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I'm excited for this is not women skating.
[31:56] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I should be saying a women skater, but I've seen clips of Jason Brown's River Dance.
[32:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: come return the return of River dance.
[32:04] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I'm excited for that.
[32:05] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I saw in 2014 I was there in the audience.
[32:09] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Not as a journalist yet.
[32:11] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I didn't know what was to come.
[32:13] \[SPEAKER_03\]: But I remember thinking that was the best thing I'd ever seen in person.
[32:17] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So I'm excited to see that.
[32:20] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, I decided for the the 90s rhythm dance.
[32:24] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I think that will be fun.
[32:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, I think this by Skirl's one is my favorite so far.
[32:29] \[SPEAKER_03\]: That's my, uh, that was my jam back in the day.
[32:33] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Um, so yeah, just excited to watch all of it.
[32:39] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It is, um,
[32:41] \[SPEAKER_02\]: It's the excitement building at your rank in Nashville.
[32:44] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Like I know, my rank just opened up for the fall.
[32:48] \[SPEAKER_02\]: And some of the college students are already, they were watching the qualifier on their phone.
[32:53] \[SPEAKER_02\]: But is it getting exciting in Nashville as we're getting closer to the Olympics?
[32:59] \[SPEAKER_02\]: Is like the skaters talking about it?
[33:01] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Definitely.
[33:02] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, our skaters who are they're that are in the NQS that are out on the circuit competing themselves.
[33:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: They're definitely excited and plugged in and I think to it's trickling down to our younger to the learn to skate skaters people are remembering all of the Olympics is this year and we're excited.
[33:21] \[SPEAKER_03\]: that often there's a big influx into skating.
[33:23] \[SPEAKER_03\]: People watch it on TV and want to give it a try.
[33:26] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So we're getting ready for that, that influx of people and we're excited for sure.
[33:32] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, I feel like this is the time of year or every four years that people get excited about skating because sometimes I can forget that not everyone follows it as closely as we do.
[33:51] \[SPEAKER_01\]: what they do, they get excited about the Olympics, they get excited, watch skating and again, little kids will see skating and beg their parents to let them try.
[34:03] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So it's going to be interesting.
[34:06] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You don't know who will take the ice and be really good at it and end up being someone that we talk about like in 50 years from now.
[34:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Yes, that's so true.
[34:17] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's exciting to think about.
[34:19] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and talking to us today and we're excited for the book to come out and for people to be able to get it.
[34:29] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And as Jeanne said, we will share all the links that people can use to purchase it.
[34:36] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I did go check Amazon.
[34:38] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's already there for pre-order.
[34:39] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So you can go and check it out.
[34:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And yeah, we both look forward to seeing you in January.
[34:47] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I know it'll be here before we know that.
[34:49] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Oh my goodness.
[34:50] \[SPEAKER_03\]: Thank you so much for having the on and asking so many wonderful questions about the book.
[34:55] \[SPEAKER_03\]: It was fun to talk about it and reminisce on the process a little bit.
[34:59] \[SPEAKER_03\]: And I'm so excited for people to get to have it in their hands.
[35:04] \[SPEAKER_03\]: I know you guys had got those early copies, but
[35:08] \[SPEAKER_03\]: so excited for people to hopefully enjoy it and it'll be part of the excitement of the Olympic season that we were all talking about.
[35:16] \[SPEAKER_03\]: So thank you as always for the support and the opportunities and so excited for more in the Olympic season.
[35:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Thanks for tuning in to another episode of This Week in Skating.
[35:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Remember, you can keep up with us throughout the week by visiting our website at www.thisweekinscading.com.
[35:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Connect with us on social media for additional updates.
[35:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You can find us on Twitter at This Week in Skating without the ease or Facebook, Instagram, and Threads at This Week in Skating.
[35:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You got a burning question or feedback for Gina Daphne or Mateo?
[35:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Reach out to us via social media or drop us an email at thisweekonscading at gmail.com.
[35:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if you're really enjoying the show and want to support us further, consider joining our Patreon community at patreon.com slash this week in skating.
[35:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Until next time, have a nice week!

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