skating for other countries

[kia]

Finding the right partner with whom you get along and some-one who has the same style, and ambitions can be difficult. In Western Countries, boys are often in short supply. Many Eastern block males cannot afford the high costs of skating and are now skating for the West and Western girls who cannot find a partner at home are skating for other countries. Immigration laws are different in many countries so for some it is easier to change citizenship than others. The present system while being good for the skaters allowing them flexibility with whom they skate is not completely fair, especially to those countries who develop their skaters to see them represent some-one else. With so many ice dancers and a number of the pairs partners skating for countries where they were not born or have ethnic ties, why doesn't the ISU hold a country of origin competiton for partnerships of different nationalitic origin. (This could be the skater, parent or grandparent.) Perhaps part of the prize money could be given to each federations from where each skater originates or nominates ties, to develop the sport and compensate the federations for either losing the skater or having to wait for clearance time for their skater.

[what?meworry?]

this is an interesting idea, after all, canada has regular "mix'n'match" opportunities.

but it's incredibly expensive to travel internationally to multiple hosted tryouts.

there used to be a partner search hosted by someone in france: le pat pair n skate. but, it no longer exists.

in checking the novice teams recently, i looked at both http://www.usfsa.org and http://www.ice-dance.com (which has usa and international listings for partner search services).
i noticed that there is a link, at both sites, to a partner search that offers the option of photos (as did pair n skate) and videos, which is a new idea: http://www.icepartnersearch.com and is available in english and french.

fyi, it's hosted by a competitive dancer, james (augie) hill.

[kia]

One does not need tryouts. Look at the composition of worlds-particularly dance. Over 50% of all competitors(17 out of the 29 competitors) have one half of the couple representing a country in which they were not born. Only 4 couples in the top 10 were both born in the country they represent. In pairs it is less. 30% of the couples have one partner who represent a country different to birth- but 7 or 8 out of the top 10 were born in the same country

[loveskating]

Originally posted by kia
One does not need tryouts. Look at the composition of worlds-particularly dance. Over 50% of all competitors(17 out of the 29 competitors) have one half of the couple representing a country in which they were not born. Only 4 couples in the top 10 were both born in the country they represent. In pairs it is less. 30% of the couples have one partner who represent a country different to birth- but 7 or 8 out of the top 10 were born in the same country

Motive: to fulfill your potential and to win
Reason it is possible: global economy in a world that is increasingly smaller and smaller and understands its own self more and more.

I love it. I couldn't be happier about it.