With Parental Guidance, Kuchiki’s Rating Soared Thanks to New Partner : Goodwill Games: Taking advice to heart, Canoga Park resident joined Sand of Thousand Oaks to form No. 1 U.S. figure skating duo.

As a matter of fact, father really does know best. And mother, too.

At least in Natasha Kuchiki’s case.

Although Kuchiki didn’t want to hear it, her father, Sashi, and her mother, Denise, had some advice for her a year and a half ago:

Break up with your partner.

Think a soon-to-be teen-ager ever had heard that one from her parents before?

But this had nothing to do with Kuchiki’s personal life. The advice concerned her figure skating career.

Natasha, then 12, had been skating pairs with Simi Valley’s Richard Alexander. Her parents, both former professional skaters, thought it was best for that relationship to end.

“It was time for us to move on,” Denise said while sitting in the stands at the Tacoma Dome on Friday. “It was a personal feeling.”

But one they knew would not be shared by their daughter.

“We made the decision at (the 1989) nationals,” Denise said. “But we didn’t tell her there. We took her home and sat her down.”

Her reaction was what they expected.

Natasha was scared. “I told her, ‘Believe in mommy and daddy,’ ” Denise said. “ ‘We want what’s best for you. Just try. Believe in us and you’ll see. Do you want to go somewhere?’ ”

Natasha said she did.

“ ‘Then listen to us.’ ”

So Natasha swallowed it. Did she have a choice? Besides, she really did want to go somewhere--Albertsville, France, in the Olympic year of 1992.

Could Alexander help take her there? Kuchiki’s parents thought not. The question was, who could?

The Kuchikis had no one in mind.

Then along came Todd Sand: tall, handsome, an experienced skater. And he, too, was looking for a partner. There was only one minor problem--Sand was 25, about twice her age.

They tried out together anyway.

Fifteen months later, they are skating’s Odd Couple.

And top-ranked among U. S. pairs teams.

Friday night at the Goodwill Games, they held the same position. They placed fourth, behind the Soviet teams of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, Natalia Mishkutenok and Arthur Dmitriev, and Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov.

But were they happy about it?

Yes and no.

They were pleased by their effort in Thursday’s short program, but less than enthusiastic about their free-skating performance Friday. “We could have done much better,” said Kuchiki of Canoga Park.

The couple appeared a little out of unison during tandem double-axels at the start of their routine and Sand fell later in the routine while attempting another double.

Still, the second half of the program went off without a hitch.

“I think if someone would have told us we’d be fourth before we got here, we would have taken it,” said Sand of Thousand Oaks.

So, too, would their coach, John Nicks, who has worked with the national champion duo of Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, among others.

Nicks was asked if he felt Kuchiki and Sand had established themselves in the wide-open field of U. S. pairs.

“I don’t think it’s open at all,” Nicks replied. “I think they clearly showed here that they’re the best U. S. pair at this time.”

And, probably, the near future.

Nicks was quick to point out that Kuchiki and Sand have been together only 15 months and their training lately had been interrupted by a back injury sustained by Sand.

But to the mothers of the two skaters, the Goodwill Games performance simply re-established a fact they claim to have known right from the start.

“I knew exactly what we had on our hands the first time I saw them on the ice together,” Denise Kuchiki said. “They’ve really been on the ice together for a very short time and improved an awful lot. What’s nice about that is that there is still plenty of room for improvement.”

Indeed, they have come a long way since Todd announced to his mother early last year, “I’m trying out with this little girl.”

“He actually put it that way,” Doris Sand said. “He didn’t even refer to her by name at that point.”

Now, Doris Sand said, her son treats Kuchiki as if she were his younger sister.

Kuchiki’s attitude has warmed as well. With Sand around, it looks as though she’ll be going places.