The three leading U.S. ice dance teams - Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker - have trained together at the Ice Academy of Montreal (I.AM) for four years. However, their connection goes back much further, they've known each other for 10 years or more. During a recent group call, the dancers referred to each other not just as friends and teammates, but as family.
Madison Hubbell and Evan Bates have the longest history. The two skaters grew up training in the same ice dance group in Michigan.
"We met [in the] early 2000s," Bates recalled. "I was 11 or 12, and Madi was probably 9. She skated with her brother Keiffer, and we were best friends growing up. Sleepovers at each other's houses, driving to skating together. The kind of friendship you would have with your elementary school friends. We've been in this skating world for so long, and have that kind of bond that's rare and special and valuable."
"I've spent way more time with Evan--and the other skaters--than most of my family members," Hubbell said.
By the time Hubbell and Bates were in their early teens, they were at the rink for 30 or 40 hours a week, year-round.
"There was a lot of hide-and-go-seek in the locker room, with all the lights off," Hubbell laughed. "And we played a lot of Euchre."
Meanwhile, Chock, Donohue, and Baker were training at different dance schools in the Detroit area. From 2006-10, the dancers saw each other frequently at junior international events and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships®.
"It's crazy to think that we've spent so long weaving in and out of each other's lives. All the different scenarios, competitions, training environments," mused Donohue.
In 2011 and 2012, they settled into their current partnerships. Hubbell and Donohue trained alongside Hawayek and Baker in Detroit with coaches Anjelika Krylova and Pasquale Camerlengo. Chock and Bates were based across town with coach Igor Shpilband.
Hawayek, the youngest, found friendship and support from her training mates.
"I moved away from home when I was 13," Hawayek said. "So the people in the rink really did become like an adopted family. They started out as idols and role models [for me], because I'd never been to an elite training center. Zach was the first person, other than the actual coach, to give me a partnering lesson. And Madi Hubbell did my makeup for the first few years. When Jean-Luc and I moved up to seniors, we traveled with Madi Chock and Evan to probably three-quarters of [our] competitions for the first two years. They were so gracious, showing us the ropes."
In 2015, Hubbell and Donohue moved to Montreal to train with coaches Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and Romain Hagenauer. Chock and Bates, and Hawayek and Baker joined them in 2018.
"I'm so happy we're all training together now," Baker said. "It used to be that Madi [Chock] and Evan were 30 minutes away from us. Now, we're all like seven minutes away from one another. It's nice to have those friendships and make these memories, with the ice dance family around us."
Hubbell reflected on how she got to know Chock better after the move. Before then, the two had mainly seen each other at competitions, where everyone had their "game face" on, so to speak.
"Madi was someone I had never trained with before," Hubbell noted. "And, while all my interactions with her had been very pleasant, I didn't feel like I had a super-deep bond. Because she was my direct competitor. She had beaten me; I had beaten her. She was this very strong, beautiful woman who went on the ice, and I was like, 'Wow, she's got her stuff together!'"
"I felt the same way about you!" Chock said, laughing.
"There's a huge difference between respecting somebody for what they present at a competition, and going through your daily routine with these people," Hubbell said. "I've seen them at their best; I've seen them at their worst. And it's so much more relatable. We understand now that every competitor goes through the same stresses that we do."
Hawayek said that training with her teammates has affirmed her respect for them. "When I see the other teams, it's not just about them checking in and doing their run-through. I can see that they're not only committed to being the best athletes, but the best artists, the best storytellers."
Earlier this year, the group relied on each other as they competed under unusual conditions at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 in Stockholm. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no audience at the event, and many safety protocols.
"With the COVID-19 testing, we had to get so many tests before we could travel," Chock said. "And just consulting each other--like, 'Oh, I went there,' or 'This place was really good'--was really helpful. Each of us has the other's back."
"It was comforting, knowing we were going through this together," Baker added. "In general, it's nice going to events with these two teams. Especially when we're on the ice together [for practice], because we know the ins and outs of where teams take breaks, what elements they might [skip], or what they're going to warm up. And it's comforting just having those friendships. Like at Nationals [U.S. Championships], when I'm lacing up my skates and having those pre-competition nerves, then I look at Zach, or I see Evan, and it's reassuring. It's like, 'Okay, another day in the office.'"
The group continues to support each other while working on new programs for the Olympic season. "It's mostly just consoling each other and our sore muscles from the creative process," Chock said, with a chuckle.
Hubbell, meanwhile, is also planning her wedding to Spanish ice dancer Adrian Diaz. The process has brought into focus her closeness with her teammates.
"For years, I was like, 'We'll have a tiny little wedding,'" Hubbell said. "Then you start writing the list of the people whom you'd like to have at your wedding. And these skaters that I've grown up with--I can't imagine doing that next step without them. So you realize just how important they are. We have become family over the years."
"The friendship will last a lot longer than the skating career," Bates added. "The most important part of all this is not so much the result of the skating competitions, but the people you meet and the places you go."
