2011 National Pairs Champions end partnership; Coughlin to skate with Caydee Denney | Page 8 | Golden Skate

2011 National Pairs Champions end partnership; Coughlin to skate with Caydee Denney

CARA

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Country
United-States
:rock: I heartily approve of both, especially the part about forcing little boys to take up ice dancing. They may not like it, but we know what's good for them. Keeps them off the streets. Teaches them how to be polite to a lady (rule #1: don't drop her on her head during a lift.) :yes:
:laugh::laugh:
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
How far along are Caitlin's singles jumps? (ie- Can she lutz?)
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I was wondering the same thing, whether she can switch to singles if things don't work out on the pairs end.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Maybe Max Aaron should learn pairs. He comes from a pairs skating family and he is young and strong. Any young male skater who has height and size should strongly consider going into pairs. It gives them a much better shot at going to GP events, Worlds, and the Olympics.

Isn't Max Aaron only 5'6" though? That's quite short for a male pairs skater, the only girls he could partner would be someone like Polina Agafonova or Yasmin Siraj, if they don't grow anymore. Even Rockne Brubaker is 5'9"..
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Isn't Max Aaron only 5'6" though? That's quite short for a male pairs skater, the only girls he could partner would be someone like Polina Agafonova or Yasmin Siraj, if they don't grow anymore. Even Rockne Brubaker is 5'9"..

What about one of those aged-out Junior men who are in their twenties, like Tyler Harris, Chris Knierim, or...

(I'm still holding out for Bryce)
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Maybe Max Aaron should learn pairs. He comes from a pairs skating family and he is young and strong. Any young male skater who has height and size should strongly consider going into pairs. It gives them a much better shot at going to GP events, Worlds, and the Olympics.

It's not necessarily that easy for male singles skaters to just transition into doing pairs.

Height and size issues aside (it's pretty obvious that the average build of a male pairs skater is VERY different than the average build of his singles counterpart, especially when it comes to upper-body strength), there's quite a steep learning curve for the aspiring male pairs skater, even more so than for a ladies singles skater who transitions into pairs. As a male pairs skater, it's not just about learning how to spin and jump in unison--you're also ultimately responsible for the safety of your partner on dangerous elements like lifts and twists. Expecting a dude who has no pairs experience at all to quickly be able to shoulder that responsibility and learn how to instinctively react when something like a lift goes wrong is quite unrealistic. These things take time and experience, particularly under CoP when you can't just do things like the simple lifts of yesteryear--to get the levels, everything must have a difficult variation or another, which heightens the possibility that something will indeed go wrong and further steepens the learning curve.

That's probably why we tend to see more ladies singles skaters going into pairs than men these days--if a male skater made the switch, he probably won't be ready for competition for at least a season or two (or even more).
 
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blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
http://www.teamusa.org/news/2011/06/15/powerful-denney-coughlin-taking-risks/42864

He and his partner of four years, Caitlin Yankowskas, decided to end their partnership after the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships in May. The two were no longer happy together.

Sappenfield, who is also Coughlin’s longtime coach, asked Coughlin to try out with Denney before he made any major decisions. Sappenfield believed that after a lifetime of skating Coughlin was finally reaching his potential and that he was capable of more.

Program notes:

2011/2012 SP- East of Eden
2011/2012 LP- Nessun Dorma
 
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Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
"no longer happy together" - they were better actors than I thought, then, because they looked pretty dang excited at Worlds.
 

Kitt

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Country
United-States
Well they'll all be skating this weekend at Skate for Hope in Ohio, including Caitlin as a single (I presume). Should be pretty interesting.
 

clairecloutier

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 27, 2003
In this interview, Coughlin states that he went, within one week, from a firm resolve to retire to a sudden, out-of-the-blue, supposedly never-before-considered decision to restart his whole career with a new partner. I find this completely and totally implausible. Then there is the vague comment that he and Caitlin "were no longer happy together." Really? It sure didn't seem that way at Nationals or Worlds.

The article reeks of a public relations ploy attempting to build support for this new pair, who came together under very strange circumstances. Clearly Coughlin is aware he's not looking too good coming out of this and is seeking to repair the damage.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
In this interview, Coughlin states that he went, within one week, from a firm resolve to retire to a sudden, out-of-the-blue, supposedly never-before-considered decision to restart his whole career with a new partner. I find this completely and totally implausible. Then there is the vague comment that he and Caitlin "were no longer happy together." Really? It sure didn't seem that way at Nationals or Worlds.

The article reeks of a public relations ploy attempting to build support for this new pair, who came together under very strange circumstances. Clearly Coughlin is aware he's not looking too good coming out of this and is seeking to repair the damage.

Considering the vitriol they've received from fans (and probably insiders) thus far, this move is not surprising.
 

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Coughlin broke up a viable partnership. I can believe he/she/they were no longer happy, regardless of their public face. The article definitely reads as a public relations ploy, but I don't think it's unfair.
 

colleen o'neill

Medalist
Joined
Nov 3, 2006
No, I don't think it's unfair either.. what can we expect them to say after all , we couldn't stand each other ,so I dumped him/her when I saw there was another prospective partner available ?...or I'd been secretly keeping my eye open for about 6 mo's ?..or whatever... we wouldn't want them to stay together being miserable ,surely.

I hope Caitlin can find a partner that looks a better match for her.
 
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