Which Female single skaters could switch to pairs or ice dance?

StitchMonkey said:

.... As for personal assistant roles, well I bet if you asked pairs and ice dancers a lot of couples would be able to point to one party that fulfills that administrate side. I suspect if you asked them "who is the personal assistant?" they would often have an answer and lead to very amusing conversations. Think about a marriage. Do couples usually do things right down the middle, or does one often handle more of the administrative side of things - I'd expect partnerships to be very similar. We should suggest Michael Buck ask the partners this. I bet a lot of them would have very cute answers about the division of labor and authority and decision making.

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Just another word thing , but I really don't like the ring of "personal assistant." "Administrator" is a tad better to my ear, although I think you mean a lot more than that as well.
(No offense to personal assistants, whose contributions can be critical, no question.)

As I mentioned above, Tessa would be an example of a skater who leads the way regarding the partnership's off-ice stuff ... whereas Scott had/has a stronger role on ice.

In any case, it does make perfect sense that each partner would have her/his own strength/weaknesses and greater/lesser interests.

Turning back the clock: Myra Klarman is a wonderful photographer in Michigan who years ago (pre-Vancouver) had nothing to do with skating and had never heard of Tessa and Scott.
Around 2008 (IIRC), Tessa and her mother chose Myra to take professional photos of Tessa/Scott together on and off ice. The only problem was that Myra balked, b/c she specialized in photos of one person. Tessa and Kate persisted, and eventually persuaded Myra to accept the job. Myra proceeded to fall in love with Tessa/Scott's irresistible personalities, friendship, looks, etc.
Myra has blogged several times about what turned into a series of Tessa/Scott photo shoots over the years. And it is clear from Myra's blogging that Tessa is the partnership's leader in this arena -- e.g., coming up with creative ideas for concepts, communicating with Myra, etc.
(BTW, it has been a match made in heaven. Myra's photos of T/S invariably have been gorgeous.)

(My opinion is that unless you mean one emergency load in a very specific and rare situation, Meaghan would find a way to "train" Eric to get his own laundry done, instead of babying him by doing it for him. YMMV.)

noidont said:

Proklova would make a killer pairs skater. She is still very young. It might just happen in the future.

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I've actually been thinking about it for a while. I really want her to give it a try some day

noidont said:

Mirai is too tall for pairs?
Proklova would make a killer pairs skater. She is still very young. It might just happen in the future.
Whatever is going on with Gosviani?

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Mirai could skate pairs but she'd need a tall partner. Same goes for Gosviani who I believe is taller than Mirai at about 5'5".

Proklova, Hannah Miller, and Karen Chen all strike me as good pairs prospects, not just because of size but also because they are all flexible, dynamic, and very strong physically.

Mariya Sotskova and Polina Edmunds would have lovely lines and lyrical movement styles if they tried ice dance, though I would presume both will stick with singles.

Also, not to harp on the Canadian ladies, but the top 2 ladies this year are both petite, feisty, flexible, and dynamic. I think Gabbie or Alaine could both do well in pairs and when only focusing on a few jumps, they might be able to clean up their jump quality which currently hurts them a bit in singles.

andromache said:

If Anna P. struggles to stay among the top ladies in Russia after this upcoming season, I'd like to see her switch to pairs so I can see her continue to grow and develop as a skater. I think she has enormous potential to improve her sophistication on the ice, and it'd be a shame to see her career cut short by the depth of the field in Russia.

Pairs skating is being pushed technically, and it might help Russian pairs skating in the long run to recruit some of their "weaker" single ladies for pairs. Then again, I assume most of the strongest pairs teams start pairs in their early teens so I don't really know how feasible it is for 16-18 year old ladies to switch disciplines and see a lot of international success. I enjoyed Valentina Marchei as a singles skater, but it turns out I wish she had switched to pairs years ago.

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Pogorilaya mentioned in an interview that she received many invitations to skate pairs when she was younger and considered that option before she got injured, but after her injury recovered she had grown a lot so she wasn't really seen as a prospect for pairs. In other nations, her height might not be a huge factor, but in Russia with such a deep pairs field, a girl of 5'5"-5'6" is just too big, there are so many other talented ladies that are much smaller.

I do wonder about Julia though, she's considerably shorter than Anna and has a lot of qualities that would work well in pairs. Obviously, I won't count her out for a comeback in singles, but idk, she definitely seems intense enough for pairs and her tough combos like 2a-3t-2t could give her an advantage over other teams if she could find a strong partner.

Unfortunately, most of the Russian ladies who would be open to considering pairs are quite tall - Gosviani, Artemieva, Kaumova, etc. Ice dance I think would be hard to start so late in life, but who knows. Maybe Staviskaya would stand a better chance if she represented Ukraine, she was born there so maybe she has dual citizenship.

Are there any hopes to see Christina Gao in pair or ice dance?

Unlikely. She is at Harvard, taking a full course load, and seems to be interested in a career in medicine.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Gao

dorispulaski said:

Unlikely. She is at Harvard, taking a full course load, and seems to be interested in a career in medicine.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Gao

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Always from the article of Wikipedia. I read that, during 2014-15 season, Christina has performed in US Championships, Cup of China and NHK Trophy.
She doesn't seem to retire.

naplesskater said:

Always from the article of Wikipedia. I read that, during 2014-15 season, Christina has performed in US Championships, Cup of China and NHK Trophy.
She doesn't seem to retire.

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Yes , and during her first semester at Harvard, Gao qualified for the GPF :yes: (2012, IIRC) .

Sackie said:

Canada's # 4 lady this year would have a better shot at making it out of Canada if she switched to pairs. She is a lovely skater but will not get any international assignments since she doesn't have the tech content. Of course with the number of good pairs in Canada she wouldn't make it to worlds but she might have a better chance to get some international assignments.

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And she has a name.

Why not post it???

silverlake22 said:

Also, not to harp on the Canadian ladies, but the top 2 ladies this year are both petite, feisty, flexible, and dynamic. I think Gabbie or Alaine could both do well in pairs and when only focusing on a few jumps, they might be able to clean up their jump quality which currently hurts them a bit in singles.

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Why would they do that? In singles, even if Osmond returns in full form, they'll still have a 50% chance each of getting Worlds, and GP assignments besides. In pairs, assuming they could even find a partner, they'd be... 5th in Canada? Canada is weaker in ladies than pairs, and Canada isn't lacking in pair girls who can jump.