Skyliners boasts direction from an extraordinarily experienced and dedicated Coaching Staff.
Josh Babb
Former Canadian Junior Ice Dance Champion and nationally and internationally recognized choreographer, Josh leads our Junior team and is the Director of Synchronized Skating for the entire organization.
Jenny Gibson
A Michigan native who has competed for both Team Elan and the Crystallettes leads our Novice team. Jenny adds a unique analytic and technical perspective to the coaching staff.
Natalie Martello
Natalie Martello, a lifelong national and international synchronized skater, is coach of the Juvenile team and assistant coach for the Novice team. Natalie was a junior world bronze medalist and a US junior national champion in synchronized skating. She was a member of Team USA for 5 years.
Nina Newby
Skyliners are delighted to welcome Nina Newby as our Intro, Beginner and Preliminary lines coach. Nina created and coached the hugely popular "Men n Sync" - the first men's competitive synchronized skating team in the U.S., featured in The New York Times and The Today Show. Nina is a USFS Gold Medalist and was a Silver Medalist in the 1990 US Professional Championships. She attended the American Ballet Theatre School and the Alvin Ailey School of Dance. Nina brings great enthusiasm and a wealth of experience to the team.
Sarah LeBlanc
Hailing from Lexington, Massachusetts, Sarah was a skater for the Hayden Synchronized Skating Teams for 9 years where she won 8 National Titles. She skated on the Haydenettes for four seasons and was the Captain for Team USA 1 at the first ever World Synchronized Skating Championships in 2000. She started coaching for Skyliners while she was a student at Fairfield University in 2001. In 2004 she became the Head Coach for our Preliminary and Juvenile teams, and Assistant Coach for our Novice team. Sarah took last season off to concentrate on a career change outside of skating, and is back this season as the Coach for our Intro, Beginner and Preliminary lines.
Jocelyn Cox
Jocelyn Jane Cox is a double gold medalist and former National competitor in both Pair and Ice Dance. She has her Master Rating in Moves in the Field from the Professional Skating Association and has helped numerous competitors reach the U.S. Championships. She holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Among other publications, her freelance articles have appeared on icenetwork.com, in Professional Skaters Magazine, and on her own website, Current Skate of Mind.
Kim Navarro
Kim Navarro is the 2008 and 2009 U.S. Bronze Medalist in Ice Dance. She represented the United States at the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Kim graduated, cum laude, from Columbia University with a degree in English and minor in Dance. She is also a certified Pilates mat instructor.
Melanie Hodges
Melanie Hodges' extensive ballet teaching syllabus encompasses elements of the Russian, European, and American schools, along with her own dance education from her years at the Joffrey Ballet School, North Carolina School of the Arts, Texas Christian University (BFA in Ballet and Modern), Southern Methodist University Our Staff (MFA, Full Graduate Scholarship in Ballet, Choreography, and Performance), STEPS and Broadway Dance Center in New York City.
A former professional dancer with the Milwaukee Ballet and Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet, Ms. Hodges also has Broadway performance credits that include Cats (Victoria), Chicago, 42nd Street, and Hello, Dolly! to name a few. Since then, she has kept a level of excellence in her teaching that she feels is crucial for her students. Not only is she a renowned ballet and modern teacher in her own right, but a highly sought after choreographer. Her reputation as one of the most knowledgeable and progressive teachers in the industry precedes her.
Deborah Roche
Dr. Deborah Roche has been working with Skyliners for 2 years as the team Sport Psychologist. She received her PhD in Counseling Psychology in 2003 from the University of Buffalo. She began working in collegiate athletics in 1999 at the University of Buffalo as a student intern. She continued her training as an intern at the University of Pennsylvania and after graduating in 2003 was hired as the Assistant Director for Student Services for Athletes at the University of Delaware. In 2007 she returned to New York to begin her company, Counseling and Sport Psychology Services where she works with teams, individual athletes, administrators and coaches on improving sport performance and addressing clinical issues in sport.
