What sports require partners and auditions?

[FigureSpins]

The news about Caitlin Yankowskas & Joshua Reagan doing pairs together made me stop and think about what a production it is for figure skaters to find partners for both pairs and dance.

What other sports have that type of need?  I would think ballroom dancing, but are there other sports or activities?  Do they have the try outs and requirements?

[Skittl1321]

I think it is pretty difficult to find someone who is a good match for synchronized diving and 2 man luge.  For diving, most start with someone at their local club though.


Is it difficult to find a good match for doubles tennis? Or doubles rowing?  I would think it is easier to find A partner- but it isn't just about A partner, but a good one.  I bet Caitlyn could have had a partner sooner, being as she is one of the best pairs ladies in the country- she wanted the best possible match for her.  (Same for men- they often have the pick of girls, but many times the girls have little or no experience.)

[jjane45]

At the elite level, skater without a partner usually sit out from competition, as they are normally not trained to compete in singles / dance at the same time. Where as in diving, tennis, luge there are more options?

[Skittl1321]

At the elite level, skater without a partner usually sit out from competition, as they are normally not trained to compete in singles / dance at the same time. Where as in diving, tennis, luge there are more options?

Being able to compete doesn't making finding a partner easier though.
I know elite tennis players and divers usually compete solo as well- but do they in luge?  It was my understanding it is a pretty different skill.  None of the luge-ers on the USA luge site are listed under both singles and doubles.   I don't know if someone who lost their partner would be able to just start doing singles.  Maybe in lower level events? (So no longer on the national team? Skaters do this though- Jessica Dube skated singles while looking for a new partner)

[SynchKat]

is there pairs synchronized swimming?  I think there used to be.  I also have a friend who used to be a competitive doubles badminton player and she had to try out and move to where her partner trained.  She only competed in doubles. 

I guess for "doubles" sports there is beach volleyball as well.  if you want to stretch the point I guess riders test our different horses to find one with whom they are compatible.  Now those must be interesting try outs. 

[Query]

I asked my current coach whether she could help me find a Dance partner. She only has male Ice Dance students. She said none of the coaches she knows well would be interested in that - coaches tend to want most of their students to pay the coach to dance with them. Obviously, that won't work for high level "amateur" competitive couples, but the coaches that specialize in that only work with a small number of other coaches.

She would like to start an ice dance class, which sounds like a good place to meet partners - but she teaches at rinks that don't have enough skaters to support a commercially viable ice dance class. The few adult ice dance classes I've found deal with the imbalance by not teaching partnering.

The fact that the vast majority of skaters are ladies doesn't help. USFSA allows men to skate pairs with men, and ladies with ladies - but they can't compete against the usual man/lady pairs. AFAICT most ladies don't want to be part of a female/female pair. Dance couples must have one lady and one man. (USFSA technical rules 5020, 6011.)

There are doubles events for kayaks and canoes. But it's easy to meet your partners - for safety reasons, people tend to paddle in groups, and often use training partners. Plus, rivals in singles events can get together for doubles events - and for mixed doubles, they still show up at the same competitions. I don't think the paddling styles are as incompatible as ice dance styles - though in canoes, the front and rear paddlers generally agree to switch sides with the same number of strokes between.

Two of the biggest things that make it easier in paddling are that there is no major reason you have to take from coaches of the opposite gender, so you can partner with other students of the same coach more easily, and there is no PSA to tell coaches they can't recruit other coach's students. It is done all the time, and it isn't considered unethical.

I don't have good solutions to these issues. Just saying.

[SynchKat]

I asked my current coach whether she could help me find a Dance partner. She only has male Ice Dance students. She said none of the coaches she knows well would be interested in that - coaches tend to want most of their students to pay the coach to dance with them. Obviously, that won't work for high level "amateur" competitive couples, but the coaches that specialize in that only work with a small number of other coaches.

I can see the logic in the bolded but it could also mean they double up on lessons.  Teach the team and the individual. 

Hope you can find yourself a partner.

[jjane45]

Coaches working with young skaters or those who no longer actively partner students will have high incentive to pair students up and prepare them for competitions. With adults I could see it being trickier.

[FigureSpins]

is there pairs synchronized swimming? 

Yes, it's called "Duet" but the competitors are also part of a larger team.

In the US, partners attend the same college or synchro club and compete together as part of the larger team and these duet teams.  Interesting - thanks for the suggestion.  I had forgotten about that event.
www.usasynchro.org/

Couldn't find a tryout site like partnersearch.  I wonder if it was created out of frustration, lol?

I wasn't sure if the "doubles" sports like tennis and volleyball involved tryouts for the partners.  Seemed more like they met at clubs and decided to compete singles and doubles.  (Watching too much Frazier, lol.)

ETA: Actually the Frazier situation might be accurate:
http://www.alohaballclub.com/beach_volleyball_blog.cfm?editorial_id=76

Seems like people can look for Volleyball (and tennis) partners through their Clubs.  Then again, it's a different sport - each game is unique, not that you have to memorize a routine and consistently perform it each time. 

[Skittl1321]

I wasn't sure if the "doubles" sports like tennis and volleyball involved tryouts for the partners.  Seemed more like they met at clubs and decided to compete singles and doubles. 

I think at the higher levels though it is more complicated than that.  Sure there might be someone around who will play with you, but to find the best match- you're going to have a search like skaters do.  Most pairs skaters seem to do the same thing when they start- find someone local who wants to give it a try.  Then they look nationally for a 'real' partner, as the kids at your club likely aren't your best match.

I know when we went to Diving Nationals, the synchronized divers were often announced as representing different clubs, so one had obviously moved to train with the other.

[Query]

My former coach taught the male partner of a husband/wife dance pair. The female partner took from the coach's own partner. That way, they had a compatible style. They moved the same ways, in the same detailed positions, at the same times. Perhaps the couple went to the coaches in the first place with the idea they would dance with their spouses, and the coaches knew that ahead of time.

I wonder if one of the benefits for competitive skaters of using a really high end coach is that a qualified partner of the opposite gender might have the same coach, or might have a coach who the skater's coach already works with. Plus those coaches expect their students to find partners.

[turnip]

A few years ago I went to a skate camp where one of the coaches was the former skating partner (dance) of my coach at the time. They'd obviously been taught by the same coaches for years, and their own teaching style was very similar as a result!