Does anyone know? Juvenile Pairs...

[HazyRigby]

I'm curious...I saw a picture of the Juvenile Pairs Champions, Kylie Gleason and Tyler Toth, on the USFSA website. They looked so cute (and had such good form on the pose they were in!) that I'm interested in opinions about them. I know it's early in their careers, but can anyone enlighten me? How likely are they to stay together? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Thanks!

[Sylvia]

Here's another photo of Gleason/Toth from the April 2002 "Ice Chips" club show in Boston:
http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/reports/2002-icechips/gleason-toth-1.jpg

According to their Bio at "Unseen Skaters," she is 13, he will be 14 in July, and they are coached by Elena Valova:
http://www.geocities.com/unseenskate/biography/gleason-toth.html

I haven't seen them skate in person, but it's almost impossible to predict the future of such young pairs at this early stage. Whether or not they stay together depends on so many different factors, such as money, focus, communication, their families, adolescence, will she outgrow him? will they "get" the difficult jumps?, etc. Only time will tell. Remember how Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler were hyped in their national televison debut at the 1995 Olympic Festival at the ages of 11 and 13...

[Trillian]

Here's something that may interest you. Taylor previously skated with Alyssa Murray, and there was an article about them which I happened to bookmark at the time. (Good thing I'm too lazy to delete my bookmarks.)

http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19991024skaters2.asp

[BringontheRain]

I saw them at Ice Chips this year and was amazed! They seemed so awesome for Juvenile! She is tiny!!!!

[HazyRigby]

Wow, thanks for the information, everyone!

Trillian, that was a great (and very interesting) article...thanks for the link! Has anyone any idea of why he split with his first partner? Sounds as if they were a match made in heaven, though I suppose many have thought that about other pairs that have split...

[Trillian]

I'm not sure why Murray & Toth split, but at that age, any number of things can be a factor. One of them may have progressed more slowly in terms of skills, she may have outgrown him, one family or the other may have moved away (Taylor is representing a different club now), etc. Or there could have been some kind of personal or "professional" conflict between them and their families, despite the rosy picture painted in this article. They did compete for one more season before splitting and IIRC their results didn't improve, which is reason enough for some teams to decide to split.

Alyssa Murray is still competing in pairs, at any rate. She and Anthony Giunipero were 10th in the juvenile final round at this year's junior nationals.

[HazyRigby]

Thanks, Trillian! Wow, you really are a fountain of information....

[reindeer]

Their coach is Valova of Valova and Vassiliev---True?

[Sylvia]

Yes, it's the same Elena Valova.

[reindeer]

Thanks-I found some great photos of them on the Skating Club of Boston webpage under Ice Chips 2002 photos by Tracy Marks.