posted by slider11 at 5:47 pm EDT on 4/23/20
"I know that Mervin Tran is Canadian and has been skating with Olivia Serafini, a US girl, for the last year. I am not into the break-up game but Mervin will struggle to get US citizenship by the next Olympics. Granted, the US will be lucky if they keep 2 pair teams at the Olympics so his chances of getting to the Olympics are slim. But right now, Kirsten M-T and Mike M are the only strong pair in Canada. Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud are promising juniors who had a strong Nationals and 4CCs. But who knows how that will go. Mervin might be a good match for Lubov who worked so hard to attain her Canadian citizenship. Maybe Mervin and Olivia are just skating for the international experience and know the Olympics are a long shot. But Mervin and Luba?"
I watched some of labgoat's links in her thread on the 1993 Worlds. In the pairs event, Underhill and Martini were the commentary team in some, and Sandra Bezic commented other skates. It tickled me to hear even Bezic raving about the several new high-level partnerships in that event, and saying things like, sometimes "the right partner" makes all the difference. Now at least since 2014, Bezic has been all about remarks encouraging pairs to stay together.
One of the brand-new (less than one year) partnerships in that event was Jenni Meno and Todd Sand. They practically stormed the podium, and were a possible threat to. They came in 5th at that Worlds. One thought that occurred to me was, Meno and Sand will have no trouble instilling the belief in Alexa and Brandon that a new team can make the Olympics in less than 2 years. That's exactly what they did, in 1994, Lillehammer. In 1992, they'd fallen in love at Albertville Olympics while competing against each other with their previous partners.
PS: After reading this before posting it, maybe it belongs in the "Random Thoughts" thread!
I think Sandra's comments were in regards to the fact that a number of the teams in the pair event were new pairings and many seemed to be more promising than previous partnerships. Kovarikova was quite the find for Novotny, Menzies & Bombadier clicked right away as did Meno & Sand (although I felt for Scott Wendland & Natasha Kuchiki who were both very good). In fact Novotny & Ingo Steuer and Lloyd Eisler had had several partners as did Calla Urbanski - the most recent pairings in all cases where the most promising. One partnership in the event that would not last was Kazakova & Sukhanov- can you imagine if Oksana did not skate with Artur Dmitriev??
I say the following without an ounce of snark or ill feeling, so don't assume anything other than genuine curiosity.
I'm not sure what Mervin's international situation is.
How many countries has he represented? Three? Do all of them have to release him before he can find another partner? Does he want another partner?
Considering he's a talented male, and they're in short supply, why has he changed up so much?
... Does he want another partner? ...
... Do all of them have to release him before he can find another partner? ...
This is just from memory (of secondary sources, at that), so it could be incorrect.
Mervyn Tran, a Canadian, was recruited by the Montreal coaches to skate with Takahashi for Japan. Takahashi had been training in Montreal, and they continued to train there. I believe the Japanese fed paid their expenses.
Takahashi dumped Tran because she wanted to go to the Olympics, and needed a Japanese partner. There was no question of Tran getting Japanese citzenship; it's very difficult, and they/he didn't even live in Japan.
He was released by Japan to then skate with Natasha Purych for Canada. It was a very brief partnership that didn't work out.
He then teamed up with his good friend Marissa Castelli to skate for the US. He was released by Canada. Their main training base was in Montreal, and I believe he didn't even apply for a green card for several years. I was surprised when he announced he was applying for a green card, as he didn't seem to realize that to get US citizenship he not only required a green card, but had to actually LIVE IN THE US for many years, which would mean leaving his long-term coaches.
I was a surprised as anyone when he left his old friend/partner and his old supporters/coaches to skate with Olivia. No change of country this time, but a change of coaches, partner, and residence all at once. In many ways, it was the biggest change of his career.
So three countries represented, four partners, two? sets of coaches, two countries of residence.
I mean, so many! Another of Sandra's comments that stands out to me was in regard to Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval. Someone had mentioned that their relationship was very conflict-ridden. Sandra said, "It takes more than hard work to make a pair." Words for the Ages!
According to Wiki, Scott Wendland became a coach after Jenni ended their partnership. Natasha Kuchiki went through difficult times -- in July 1992, soon after Todd ended the partnership, Natasha had a tryout with Rocky Marval, but then Calla and Rocky decided to reunite. The next year, they broke up again, and Rocky and Natasha skated together for a year or less. When they didn't make the Olympic team, Rocky reunited with Calla and they turned pro.
Yikes. I didn't know any of this at the time, but retroactively I feel for Natasha. The really happy ending, though, is that she had a long and (as it sounded) happy career in various shows, among them Disney where she played the leads: Belle, Jasmine and Mulan. She finally retired from touring in 2015.
It just shows how long the USA, at least, has had a history of partner switches. It's hard to argue with Meno/Sand's success, but Ouch! I'd never seen the 1993 pairs World event. I liked M/S better then, and in the Olympic year, better than I did once they started focusing more on romantic/married themes. Hm! Sounds familiar.
From Jenni and Todd's IG, shots of some of their skaters doing off-ice training. One shot could be called "Treetops" ... another is a gorgeous silhouette effect
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_0Pv8CpJ9r/
From Ashley's IG, here are "flippity doo daas," she and Timothy learning new moves. Please be kind -- they're experimenting, not polishing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CALPffXje5-/
Ashley has her caption for this one, but I call it "Second Story Window"
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAMAlXrDQgu/
I didn't realize that Brandon had made his way from Florida to California to begin training in person. The height of that twist is an encouraging sign. (Ref: the link to Jenni and Todd's page.)
Brandon has been living with Alexa and Chris since near the beginning of April, I think, although it might have been longer. They've been fairly quiet about it. Post #397 in this thread shows a video that Ashley put together with music, featuring 6 US pairs in a sort of "your last move is my first move" game. Alexa and Brandon showed an impressive jump and lift.
And I agree about this being encouraging. I figured Alexa and Brandon would have a great twist. Brandon always showed strength, getting Haven plenty of height. And just as importantly, Alexa has a fabulous "push off" technique. It was a matter if their technique would match, and apparently, no problem.