- Joined
- Nov 3, 2006
I'm really looking forward to the return of S/B ( may his recovery be complete )...What an embarassment of riches !
And let's not forget about Samuelson and Bates. I really hope to see them back next year, and they could absolutely take 2nd spot. Shibutani's are really good, but they donot yet have the depth and maturity to be the top team quite yet.
Are the Shibs a top 10 team yet?
They might need to be this year to help the US qualify for three spots next year; and secure their third spot 2012 World team for themselves.
Why Japan has not gone more seriously into ice dance has been a mystery to me for some time..The problem in pairs ( difficulty in finding hefty enough men) I can sort of see, but ice dance ,one would think , should not be as problematic. They've had no reservations about sending other athletes abroad , so ... I don't get it.
...the situation is much worse for pairs than for dancers, I believe. At the moment, Japan has only one pair who are competing at the national level, while we have two senior ice dance couples and one junior. There used to be a very small number of male skaters in Japan, but there are a lot more nowadays and the number is growing due to the continuous success of Japanese male skaters at international level. Hopefully, the similar can happen for the pairs and dancers, but it may take time...
It is possible that Tran is not willing to give up Canadian citizenship. Certainly, that was a factor in one of the mixed teams not being able to go to the Olympics last year-the lady was unwilling to give up US citizenship.
In the case I'm remembering, if the lady was not a US citizen, she ceased to qualify for some of the college funding/or eligibility for programs (I forget which) that she was getting.
Interesting. You would think the pair skater situation is better than the ice dancers' in Japan. Japan has produced top female pair skaters who trained themselves abroad:
Kyoko Ina - No. 1 pair in US;
Rena Inoue - No. 1 Pair in US;
Yuko Kavaguti - No. 1 Pair in Russia;
Narumi Takahashi - No. 1 in Japan with a Canadian partner and trains in Canada.
If Japanese federation is truly serious about cultivating strong pair teams, they might do very well with offering and expediting Japanese citizenship to Marvin Tran, Narumi's partner.
As you can see from the above, Japanese ladies have proven themselves to be first-rate pair partners. It might be quicker to entice already promising male pair skaters from abroad than starting from scratch, so to speak. And you can do so by offering a citizenship to Tran. This will signify that Japan is serious, as Japanese are notorious for their unwillingness to accept immigrants as well as abdicating their citizenships.
Belbin/Augusto team sought the Michigan congress person/representative to expedite Tanith's US citizenship, just in time for the 2006 Olympics.
Given their contribution in building strong ice dance teams in the US, upside for offering Japanese citizenship to Tran could be just as great.
In the entries list, they already appear replaced by Mary-Beth Marley and Rockne BrubakerJust heard Jeremy Barrett's injured - a practice accident cut his leg - so Denney and Barrett are out of 4CC.
Jeremy posted on his Facebook that he had 42 stitches in his leg and didn't see that coming. I feel soo bad a day before they were supposed leave