USFSA Online Article about Paul Binnebose

[Catherine M]

I enjoyed reading about what Paul is now doing and what a wonderful outlook on life he has. Wish him the best as hopefully he develops into a fine coach:


http://www.usfsa.org/news/2002-03/binnpaul-3yrslater.htm


Catherine

[Debbie S]

Paul used to coach at my rink - I think for just 1 or 2 days a week. He had a terrific personality, great sense of humor, and his students loved him. I was wondering recently why I hadn't seen him there in a while - now I know why. I'm sure his former students miss him - his new rink is lucky to have him.

[flippet]

Thanks for sharing! It's so nice to see Paul doing so well, after such a frightening time. And though it's sad that he had to retire, it's nice to know that he came back so far--that he could do basically what he'd been doing before--that only side effects were stopping him, not physical inability.

He's a treasure to the sport, and life in general, that's for sure. :)

[Oracle]

It's great to know that he is doing so well. He's a remarkable young man & deserves the very best that life has to offer. Good luck with the surgery, Paul!:)

[Louis]

On a tangential note, I hear that Binnebose's former partner Laura Handy is now skating with Jeremy Allen. I assume they'll compete at Nationals this year but don't know for sure.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by Louis
On a tangential note, I hear that Binnebose's former partner Laura Handy is now skating with Jeremy Allen. I assume they'll compete at Nationals this year but don't know for sure.

Interesting news--it's about time Allen had a new partner; I'm amazed it took this long. How tall is Allen? Handy needs a tall partner since she's about 5'5" herself (though with a slight build), and I never thought she and Hunt matched well in that regard. (Otoh, Binnebose, being tall even for a pairs skater, was a great match for her...*sigh*) As far as whether Handy & Allen compete at nationals, it'll probably depend on whether they registered before the deadline last week.

As for the Binnebose article, it was great to have an update on him. I don't believe I'd heard anything since over a year ago when he was supposedly trying out partners, so I didn't realize he'd stopped training. I'm not surprised, though--it's what I figured would happen eventually. I was a huge fan of Paul's skating, and I'm still truly bummed that we'll never see him reach his full potential.

[Aaron W]

Glad to hear things are going well for Paul. Sounds like he has quite an upbeat outlook on life, despite all the problems he's had to overcome in the past 3 years. Good for him! :)

[Leela]

Thank you for posting that link. I'd just recently thought about him---wondering how he was doing. He's so incredibly lucky to have made such a miraculous recovery from that dreadful accident, and still have so many possibilities for the rest of his life. I wish him all the best. There is "life after figure-skating"!! Good luck with the surgery--hope it will remedy the lingering facial problems.

[sk8pics]

Originally posted by Trillian
Interesting news--it's about time Allen had a new partner; I'm amazed it took this long. How tall is Allen? Handy needs a tall partner since she's about 5'5" herself (though with a slight build),

I actually think Laura is more like 5'3", which is several inches taller than a lot of the other female pair skaters, so she seems really tall! Jeremy is around 5'9" or maybe 5'8". I saw them practicing together quite some time ago and they looked good together.

I don't know if they plan on competing at nationals, but it was towards the beginning of the summer that I saw them, so if they want to compete I'm sure they could have made the deadline for registering.

Pat

[AxelAnnie22]

What a wonderful outlook Paul B. has. Certainly puts my problems in perspective.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by sk8pics
I actually think Laura is more like 5'3", which is several inches taller than a lot of the other female pair skaters, so she seems really tall!

Laura's USFSA bio listed her height as 5'4" or 5'5" for some time, so I'd imagine it must be accurate--I can't imagine a female pairs skater describing herself as taller than she actually is, or not making sure the figure was corrected if someone else listed it incorrectly. (I've heard of some taller ones who are so sensitive about the height issues that they'll, for example, take off their shoes when being photographed next to their partners off the ice.) A lot of female pairs skaters in the U.S. are 5'2" or 5'3" and Laura is definitely slightly taller than that--though she has a very slender build and probably isn't any heavier than some skaters who are a little shorter.

People tend to like to see a 9-10 inch height difference between partners these days, which was one reason Paul was a great match for Laura in that regard--I believe he's about 6'2".

[DBZ]

On a tangential note, I hear that Binnebose's former partner Laura Handy is now skating with Jeremy Allen.

Also slightly off-topic: I apologize if my memory is playing tricks on me, but weren't Paul and Laura engaged at one point? I could have sworn I heard it on TV when they were still skating together. Maybe I'm thinking about another pair team.

Anyway, it was nice to get that update on Paul. I hope he continues to excel in whatever endeavors he chooses.

[bleu]

thanks for posting.

this article makes you think why they say pairs skating is the most dangerous of the four discipline.

I agree he has the right attitude and hopefully all goes well for him.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by DBZ
Also slightly off-topic: I apologize if my memory is playing tricks on me, but weren't Paul and Laura engaged at one point? I could have sworn I heard it on TV when they were still skating together. Maybe I'm thinking about another pair team.

I'm pretty sure they were dating for quite a while, but I don't think I ever heard they were engaged. I don't know who else you might be thinking of, though.

[pattern99]

It's so great to hear that Paul is doing so well.
*patt99*:D

[Jack]

Laura and Jeremy don't have much of a height difference between them, but I think with the strength of these two sakters, it won't matter too much this year. I also don't see them staying together for more than a year, this partnership seems to be more of a convience pairing than a real long-term thing (they are both from U of D, it would be logical to skate together for the year just to get out there and be seen) I truely believe that Laura Handy is one of the most talented pairs skaters in the world right now, I don't think she's working anywhere near her potential. Just watch her skate, everything looks effortless with her, she is so dang strong. Jeremy ain't no slouch either, we just haven't seen him for a while. I do hope that both she and Jeremy find partners this year that suit them a bit better, though.