So was I. But will Spencer be able to train full time with his military service commitment? It did seem to me that Oly season was their last hurrah but it is good if they decided to continue. The pairs seem to be dropping like flies these days.
Oh, this is interesting news about Timmy. I suppose he was in Colorado specifically for tryouts. Perhaps he's committed to training in Boston, which would mean whomever he partners with would need to be willing to relocate to Boston.
I'm hoping that Spencer will continue to skate. I always liked him as a single skater, and I did enjoy him and Emily when they got 5th. So him having a stable income for training is great. Not sure what can be done for Emily's ankles other than more support with wrapping or the boot? I will say when they have good and consistent training they do well. So I hope that USFS supports them a little more financially as well.
USFS primarily distributes money according to an envelope system, although there are a few other sources such as the “Skatingly Yours” award for people of color.
Timmy relocated to Boston from CA to be with his girlfriend. Unless they’ve broken up I don’t see him leaving the Boston area.
Stars on Ice is nice from a confidence-boosting perspective, but I think the military sponsorship is a bigger financial boost. Spencer has not "joined the army" in the usual sense; he is in a program the military uses to build good will through sponsoring athletes. He may have some obligations to the army once he stops competing, but I think the military thing is more of a career-lengthener than a career shortener.
My experience is from 20-ish years ago, but the soldier-athletes (and coaches) I knew in WCAP had both a regular army unit and the WCAP unit. Their orders were to be with WCAP to train/compete, but they did occasionally get activated for duty with their regular unit and have to join them instead.
There's footage of her practicing on her IG and on MMPairs IG.Apparently, they have both moved on. They were trained by their parents. As time passed, it seemed as if Maria was outgrowing her older brother, Ivan, physically. Possibly, they were committed to skating together, and when things stopped working well, they decided to move on rather than look for other partners. This is only my speculation.
You are probably correct in comparing the program Spencer joined to the one Della Monica And M. Guarise joined in Italy. However, Spencer did have to attend Basic training, which took him away from ice training with Emily in Boston for six months. And he does have further commitments that he has to fulfill.
I didn't realize Spencer had been away from training for six months. What I remembered was that basic training is about 10 weeks. I'll listen to his interview and poke around the internet to try to find more information.
I am not that sold on their connection, it is their weakest point (SS would be the strongest). I am trying not to read too much in it but Spencer looks like he does not want to be on the ice with Emily at all. I saw no compassion towards Emily from him during/after their disastrous FS in Prague. I wonder what their relationship is off the ice and how its influenced by that Emily's boyfriend is training alongside them. I could be wrong, I would be happy to be wrong but something is not ok there. It should not impact on my enjoyment of their skating but it does, unfortunately.
What?!?!Nica Digerness is back training at WASA's MMPairs!
I read that the 3,jump sequences will no longer be allowed.
Will an Euler count as a jump between two bigger ones?
Right. That's what I heard, too. Three-jump sequences in pairs I've never liked. Very few teams can do a 3-jump sequence consistently and smoothly. Focusing on doing a 2-jump combo and the single jump requirement well is more than enough for pairs teams, IMO. Trying to manage 3 jumps in a sequence is often disruptive to the flow of programs, not to mention how excruciating it is watching teams trying to eke out 3 jumps, where the last jump becomes an error, or the entire pass falls apart.
Hopefully, this means Nica's expensive bone-related operation was a success!
