Writing a story about figure skating!

Hey guys!! I'm new to this site, first post and all. I've always liked
figure skating since my mom did, but it's transitioned into a great love the
past few years.

I started a story on figure skating the summer of 2013 (I'm an artist) and
have researched a lot, but honestly there are some things that I just need
to talk to people about rather than google because it seems impossible to
really search for.

Right now, the question on my mind is about competitive skaters who switch
off from types of skating- DO any of them do that? For example, do pairs
skating one season, ice dancing the next? Possibly compete separately one
year...?

My story is about pair skaters Ira and Noelle and it starts when they are
16. They're both already figure skaters ofc but they don't actually skate
together until then. And something significant about them is that they are
nearly the same height- by the time they're 19, Ira grows a few inches, but
at 16 they are about 5'4.5" and 5'5.5" lol. But they can pair skate together
because of her light frame and his really strong upper body strength.
I'm thinkin the coach wasn't gonna pair them for pairs, but ice dancing, but
they wanted to do pairs and WOAH they could do it.

That being said, they are obvs more realistically suited to ice dancing
which I DO want to have them do- so maybe they compete in that at first...?
Like, can they compete in more than one discipline year to year or would
that be too difficult?

I suppose they could switch in a few years? Maybe the coach puts them to ice
dance but they decide to do pairs even though the odds aren't good with
their height?? BUT I do want them to go the Olympics eventually. And that
would probably be with ice dancing tbh- but they are three ish inches apart
in a few years and Randy Gardner and Tai Babilonia did it...

This post is getting too long and prob TLDR lmao. I initially posted this with a link to my gallery of my figure skating stuff but apparently you can't post links in your first thread lkfjgd
I feel like I can't insert images...?

Interesting. No, only a few go from pairs to dance or vice versa. Two separate skillsets are needed.

PS: Some of us are old and don't know textspeak, so can you stop these abbreviations? TLDR? lkfjgd? Help me out. Thx.

What country will your characters eventually be representing in ice dance at the Olympics?

If the answer is the U.S., then as sixteen-year-olds, they should be making a firm commitment to ice dance now, IMO. I think it would be quite unrealistic for them to switch to ice dance at age nineteen or so, and expect to make the Olympic team within the next three or four years. The U.S. has a lot of bench strength in couples who have been working their way up the ranks of ice dance for far longer.

(Or maybe you are suggesting that they would switch back and forth within the span of a few years from ice dance to pairs and back to ice dance? That sounds even more far-fetched, IMO.)

With all due respect, you really don't sound like you know enough about figure skating to be writing a story about it.

Because even someone with a basic knowledge of figure skating should be able to figure out that ice dance and pairs are two entirely different skillsets.

Some singles skaters switch between singles and pairs, or even do both. It's extremely rare, though. But there is no way an ice dance team could switch back and forth with being a pairs team.

I have seen pairs teams where they are close in height. One of my favourite teams - the boy doesn't look like much at all, he looks far too slender to be a pairs boy - but they are good.

karne said:

... But there is no way an ice dance team could switch back and forth with being a pairs team. ...

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Thx, karne. I was wondering about that.

I know that there have been a few individuals who have switched btwn pairs and ice dance -- such as Belbin -- but I didn't know whether an intact partnership of two skaters together ever had switched from one discipline to the other.

Yes, but IIRC, Belbin made a permanent switch, didn't she? Started in pairs and then went to ice dance - and she was still young when she did that - and then never went back?

That doesn't seem to be what the OP wants to write about - the OP seems to want to write about them making this change every season.

karne said:

Yes, but IIRC, Belbin made a permanent switch, didn't she? Started in pairs and then went to ice dance - and she was still young when she did that - and then never went back?

That doesn't seem to be what the OP wants to write about - the OP seems to want to write about them making this change every season.

Click to expand...

Strongly agree that the whole switcheroo thing would make the plot extremely implausible.

The only skater I know who went elite pairs to elite dance was Tiffany Stiegler, but she was an AMAZING skater. Only someone as talented as she would make the change. I never understood why she didn't team up with Jerod Guzman, he had strength and an artistic sense... hmmm.

They should switch categories just once. It would be more credible.

chapis said:

They should switch categories just once. It would be more credible.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I think it's plausible to make one switch (ice dance to pairs, from what I'm gathering?), and still improve enough to make the Olympics.

As for height difference, it's difficult for a modern-day pairs team to have only three inches between them. However, if he has very good upper body strength, I can buy it. (The key point here isn't whether it's possible in reality, but whether it's plausible to the reader).

Depends what level they are at.

The switching business takes place at the novice level at the latest, other than Tiffany Steigler. There is a pairs boy competing as a dancer this year, Jeffery Fishman. He and his partner finished last in novice dance this year. It is not the same skill.set.

karne said:

With all due respect, you really don't sound like you know enough about figure skating to be writing a story about it.

Because even someone with a basic knowledge of figure skating should be able to figure out that ice dance and pairs are two entirely different skillsets.

Some singles skaters switch between singles and pairs, or even do both. It's extremely rare, though. But there is no way an ice dance team could switch back and forth with being a pairs team.

I have seen pairs teams where they are close in height. One of my favourite teams - the boy doesn't look like much at all, he looks far too slender to be a pairs boy - but they are good.

Click to expand...

lol that sounded pretty rude, yeah- there's a reason I'm asking this question because I don't know enough; I know they require different skillsets, but I wanted to know if it ever happened where they switched off.

I talked with a single skater actually who did both pairs and singles- I don't believe at the same time, though, which would be a lot more difficult.

But anyway, that's what I wanted to know, because the change will be definite, I just need to figure out how it'll happen... If they go from pairs to dance, or dance to pairs (competitively).

Sandpiper said:

Agreed. I think it's plausible to make one switch (ice dance to pairs, from what I'm gathering?), and still improve enough to make the Olympics.

As for height difference, it's difficult for a modern-day pairs team to have only three inches between them. However, if he has very good upper body strength, I can buy it. (The key point here isn't whether it's possible in reality, but whether it's plausible to the reader).

Click to expand...

I know, I always have a problem with that though because I want it to be possible in reality. Even if the reader has no idea. And the average reader WOULD have no idea...

Anyway, I've decided then they might make the switch once. Or there could be no switch... I'm just having a hard time deciding then if I want the main goal to be pairs or ice dance, since I love both of them.
I just think dance would be more plausible because of the height difference, and yet I like the fact that it's unusual.

golden411 said:

What country will your characters eventually be representing in ice dance at the Olympics?

If the answer is the U.S., then as sixteen-year-olds, they should be making a firm commitment to ice dance now, IMO. I think it would be quite unrealistic for them to switch to ice dance at age nineteen or so, and expect to make the Olympic team within the next three or four years. The U.S. has a lot of bench strength in couples who have been working their way up the ranks of ice dance for far longer.

(Or maybe you are suggesting that they would switch back and forth within the span of a few years from ice dance to pairs and back to ice dance? That sounds even more far-fetched, IMO.)

Click to expand...

U.S.!
Yeah, they make a very firm commitment to competitively skating at the beginning, so I might not have a switch at all...

I think I am just having a very hard time deciding between pairs and dance right now.

Okay, basically I think I need to make a commitment to pairs or ice dance and it's just so hard since I love them both.

Because on one hand, the story could go a certain way where they'd both done pairs skating but not ice dance and it's a new thing for them that they turn out to be great at.

On the other hand, they could have done pair skating and are now back into it with each other and the fact that they are close in height makes them unusual...

golden411 said:

Strongly agree that the whole switcheroo thing would make the plot extremely implausible.

Click to expand...

It wasn't necessarily every season of course, that'd be way too much switching. But I was considering having them switch more than once. Not anymore though, considering the responses...

maybelletea said:

U.S.!
Yeah, they make a very firm commitment to competitively skating at the beginning, so I might not have a switch at all...

I think I am just having a very hard time deciding between pairs and dance right now.

Click to expand...

I knew before that your characters are making a firm commitment to competitive skating in general.
To be clear, I was saying that they should be making a firm commitment to the specific discipline of ice dance, if that is the discipline that you choose for them.

As for the possibility of one switch btwn disciplines (I see in your most recent posts that maybe you will be abandoning this idea):

maybelletea said:

..
I talked with a single skater actually who did both pairs and singles- I don't believe at the same time, though, which would be a lot more difficult.

Click to expand...

Skating both pairs and singles -- at the same time -- is a known phenomenon (as karne mentioned above).
Not saying that it is easy, but it is not unheard of.

LiamForeman said:

The only skater I know who went elite pairs to elite dance was Tiffany Stiegler, but she was an AMAZING skater. Only someone as talented as she would make the change. I never understood why she didn't team up with Jerod Guzman, he had strength and an artistic sense... hmmm.

Click to expand...

So I'm thinking now I might need to commit to pair skating and not have them do ice dancing at all, since they were pair skaters with other people in their competitive skating lives anyway.

Decisions are hard omg.

golden411 said:

I knew before that your characters are making a firm commitment to competitive skating in general.
To be clear, I was saying that they should be making a firm commitment to the specific discipline of ice dance, if that is the discipline that you choose for them.

As for the possibility of one switch btwn disciplines (I see in your most recent post that maybe you will be abandoning this idea):

I still don't know whether it would be a realistic scenario for an intact partnership to switch from pairs to dance (or vice versa) -- e.g., two skaters competing together as a pair partnership; then both skaters switching to ice dance -- and the same two skaters competing together as a dance partnership.

I've never heard of a real-life partnership doing so. I raised this question earlier in your thread, but I don't think anyone has answered.

I know only of examples of an individual skater switching btwn disciplines -- and having a different partner for her/his pairs career than for her/his ice dance career.​

Skating both pairs and singles -- at the same time -- is a known phenomenon.

Kristi Yamaguchi was a prime example.
More recent examples (I'm sure there are more): Robert Przepioski of the U.S.; Julianne Seguin of Canada; Kiri Baga of the U.S.​

Not saying that it is easy, but it is not unheard of.

Click to expand...

Right, but because of this firm commitment, they'd be making a commitment to either discipline.
Ooh thank you for the names! I'll look them up. The only one I know is Kristi (of course).

I'm thinking I may (sadly) abandon ice dance as an element of the story, as much as I am fond of it. Because it would make the most sense for them to only pair skate competitively, and the element of the unusual would be their height, which was really what I was going for in the beginning anyway when designing this.

If I can give links now, here is my gallery with all the stuff to do with this story! http://maybelletea.deviantart.com/gallery/45819531/Figure-Skating-Story
But I of course have a lot of information written elsewhere.

karne said:

With all due respect, you really don't sound like you know enough about figure skating to be writing a story about it.

Because even someone with a basic knowledge of figure skating should be able to figure out that ice dance and pairs are two entirely different skillsets.

Click to expand...

Needless to say, just because someone doesn't have enough knowledge about something doesn't mean they can't write a story about it. It's called research, and it's what every writer does when attempting to make something real.

If I didn't care about how it worked, I wouldn't be on this forum.

And also, you're wrong because despite the fact that pairs and dance are very different, people with a basic knowledge DON'T necessarily know about being unable to switch between them. I talked to to do people at my local rink who used to do competitive figure skating, and they thought pairs and dance would be easier to switch from than single and pairs or dance.