Silverstein/Forsythe

[Miss.Issippi]

Well I suppose that now Mids is over and no sign of Jaime and Brandon-we can assume that the rumors are true that they split. (Although, I for one have yet to see an official announcement) Are either one of them skating in Detroit, or did they just call it quits? :(
With only two senior dance teams having competed, they definately would have been going to Nationals.

[KBW]

Trillian has mentioned that it's basically for certain that they have split, though there will be no official announcement. She also said that Jamie is is taking some time off (I'm going off of memory here). It was a quick rise and fall, wasn't it? I'll always wonder what would have happened...

So the Silverstein VS Pekarek will not be, at least not this year. Hopefully Justin and Hilary will continue off of a great start (http://www.lilithofsherwood.com/Mids/Img_3819dancepod.jpg).

[quark]

Originally posted by Miss.Issippi
Well I suppose that now Mids is over and no sign of Jaime and Brandon-we can assume that the rumors are true that they split. (Although, I for one have yet to see an official announcement) Are either one of them skating in Detroit, or did they just call it quits? Brandon is still skating at Detroit, at least for now. I believe that Jamie is considering going to college in January. She's a wonderful person, and I wish her the best of luck in whatever she decides is best for her. Haven't heard anything about Brandon's plans, although I think he's doing some coaching.

[AxelAnnie22]

"Taking some time off....." That is what she has been doing for the last two years. I wish she would/could take some time on! :lol:

[speedy]

Fortunately, skating is NOT the center of everyone's every breathing moment. :roll: I hope Jamie finds happiness, be it in or out of skating.

[flippet]

Originally posted by speedy
Fortunately, skating is NOT the center of everyone's every breathing moment. :roll: I hope Jamie finds happiness, be it in or out of skating.

Well, yeah, but it is rather sad and frustrating to see such amazing talent and potential sit it out on the sidelines. I hope she's happier, and doing what's best for her, but it still sucks from the point of a fan of the sport, let alone a fan of Jamie's.

I was SO looking forward to seeing her skate again, no matter who with. :cry:

[Scott]

From what I understand it is true that Brandon and Jamie will not be partnered up anymore. This is really unfortunate because it will most probably be the end of Brandon'd career. It is going to be difficult for him to start over at this point. I also think it is unfortunate that he left his last partner for Jamie, moved to Detroit and then to have this break up occur even before the two could put one blade to ice in a competition. Seems rather odd and quire frankly I don't understand how something like this could happen. Also forgot in all this is that this so called partnership put a nail in the coffin of Jessica Joseph's career. Man, skaters sure know how to create an ugly mess, don't they?

[Icesk8dance]

Originally posted by Scott
From what I understand it is true that Brandon and Jamie will not be partnered up anymore. This is really unfortunate because it will most probably be the end of Brandon'd career. It is going to be difficult for him to start over at this point.

Why do you feel this would be the end of his career? There are several qualified girls he could team up with. A dancer of Brandon's caliber equally matched with the right girl would go through an adjustment periord, but certainly not starting over. I would love to see him competing again.

[Maximillian]

I wouldn't count Brandon out just yet. Since there are plenty more girls doing the dance then boys. I suspect that we'll see Brandon back soon.

[Scott]

I am not counting Brandon down and out but he is not in a good position. He will have to start all over again which means climbing up the ladder. How many times can he do this? And given thesituation with so many changes in partners I wonder if in fact other "potentials" might have pause before they invest a lot of time and money with him. I really think that what has happened with his latest venture really sucks because iot is not fair to him and as I said Jessica Joseph. Playing Monday Morning quarterback he should have remianed in New Jersey with her.

[Miss.Issippi]

Originally posted by Icesk8dance
Why do you feel this would be the end of his career? There are several qualified girls he could team up with. A dancer of Brandon's caliber equally matched with the right girl would go through an adjustment periord, but certainly not starting over. I would love to see him competing again.

Any suggestions? If he's aiming for what he missed with Jessica Joseph and Jaime Silverstein - Olympic team member and World team member - he probably needs to partner with someone who's got some success at seniors, someone who physically matches, and someone without a partner.
Plus, unless he plans to move again, someone in Detroit or willing to move to Detroit. That's kind of a tall order.
There's lots of us who'd love to see him compete again, but at this point I think Scott's seeing the true picture. Unfortunate situation. :roll:

[Itsirk]

What about Melissa Ralph? Or is she not up to his caliber? She's already in Detroit, so that would make it easier in that regard. I have no idea how they would match up physically and skating wise though.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by Itsirk
What about Melissa Ralph? Or is she not up to his caliber? She's already in Detroit, so that would make it easier in that regard. I have no idea how they would match up physically and skating wise though.

I'm not sure what Melissa's technical abilities are at the moment, but I'd feel pretty certain she has the talent to get up to top senior level caliber in the future. I would imagine this prospect has at least crossed the minds of both skaters, although I'm not sure how they'd match up in terms of height since Melissa is petite for dance and Brandon is fairly tall. There's probably nine or ten inches difference between them, which is a bit much. Their styles might mesh well together, though, which could make up for an iffy physical match. (Brandon and Emilie Nussear had more than typical difference in their height and looked good together.) At any rate, probably wouldn't hurt both skaters to explore other options (and as I understand, both of them are doing just that), but it's something to think about anyway.

[Icesk8dance]

Originally posted by Miss.Issippi
Any suggestions? If he's aiming for what he missed with Jessica Joseph and Jaime Silverstein - Olympic team member and World team member -

I feel the mistake Brandon made was picking a "name" rather than a well matched partner. He and Jessica were a terrible physical match and the situation with Jamie was a risk at best. Brandon is still quite young and it would be a serious loss to US dance for him to quit. I can think of a few available girls at the senior level who would be a great match. Jessica and Jamie made their marks in dance with their former partners, Charles and Justin, and it doesn't mean they will have the same success with anyone they team up with just because they are a "name."

[Scott]

Originally posted by Icesk8dance
I feel the mistake Brandon made was picking a "name" rather than a well matched partner. He and Jessica were a terrible physical match and the situation with Jamie was a risk at best. Brandon is still quite young and it would be a serious loss to US dance for him to quit. I can think of a few available girls at the senior level who would be a great match. Jessica and Jamie made their marks in dance with their former partners, Charles and Justin, and it doesn't mean they will have the same success with anyone they team up with just because they are a "name."

You are dead on in that the mistake was going after a name rather than the perfect match. I just wonder ifBrandon has it in him to pick up. move on to another location, and strat thius whole process all over again.

[Miss.Issippi]

Originally posted by Itsirk
What about Melissa Ralph? Or is she not up to his caliber? She's already in Detroit, so that would make it easier in that regard. I have no idea how they would match up physically and skating wise though.

Melissa Ralph did very well with her last partner, she has International experience and lives in Detroit. Actually, why did Melissa and her last partner break up? I thought there were high hopes for them to win the Jr. title this year.

[Gwasshi4life]

They were not getting along at all. Thats why they called it quits.

[Gary Cochran]

Originally posted by Miss.Issippi
Melissa Ralph did very well with her last partner, she has International experience and lives in Detroit. Actually, why did Melissa and her last partner break up? I thought there were high hopes for them to win the Jr. title this year. Melissa and Brandon have known each other since their training days at Simsbury. IMO, with the extensive training Melissa has had from Igor Shpilband, she could easily jump into the senior ranks with Brandon. However, Melissa and Brandon may have very different goals.

Brandon is at an important crossroads with respect to decisions about his skating future. He has to decide how much skating really means to him, and how to best accomplish his goals. He chose a wonderful skater as his new partner a couple of years ago, Jessica Joseph. The fact that they didn't accomplish what they hoped to accomplish must have been frustrating for both of them. For whatever reasons the match with Jaime Silverstein didn't work out, he must be a little concerned over how to make his next decision.

Melissa actually has lots of options, like junior vs. senior competition and going to University vs mixing education with skating. I'm not addressing the issue of her finding a suitable partner, and we all know how difficult that can be! Finding a new partner can impact all branches of the decision tree. Melissa has the talent to be a senior skater, but she's unknown on the international circuit. She may want to remain a junior for a while longer. She has 2 years of international junior eligibility after this year, and she may want to take advantage of that learning curve in ice dance. We'll know a lot more about her decisions within a few months. Including me.:D She's been accepted at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), but she's applied to other Universities.

Melissa and Ryan would have been the favorites to take the junior ice dance title this year. The breakup of an ice dance partnership is sorta like no fault divorce; at least one partner knows when it ain't gonna work any more. Personal relationships, coaching disagreements, and stress of not achieving partner expectations can all lead to conditions that destroy any desire for partners to work together to resolve issues. The USFSA is aware of the difficulties of keeping teams together, but so far they don't have any answers.

-Gary

[Gwasshi4life]

Well put Gary. :)