Above: Jenni Meno-Sand (left) with two-time World medalists Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier and her husband and fellow coach, Todd Sand.
By: Kristen Henneman
Three U.S. Figure Skating coaches and service providers have been honored through the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Coach of the Year Recognition Program for their positive impact on the lives of skaters, on and off the ice.
Jenni Meno-Sand was named USOPC 2023 Olympic Coach of the Year while Caroline Silby, Ph.D., CMPC, was selected as the USOPC 2023 Service Provider of the Year and Garrett Lucash was recognized with the USOPC 2023 Doc Counsilman Science and Technology Award.
“U.S. Figure Skating is unbelievably excited for and proud of our three coaches and service providers, who are more than 100% deserving of these honors,” said Heidi Thibert, U.S. Figure Skating director of coach development and education. “Jenni, Caroline and Garrett embody the five U.S. Figure Skating core values of excellence, integrity, respect, resilience and community, pouring their hearts and souls into their skaters – showing how much they care about them both as athletes and people – and continuously working to ensure the sport of figure skating continues to grow and is a positive experience for everyone they work with.”
Each coach and/or service provider was selected by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee for their accomplishments during the 2023 calendar year. Honorees are chosen by an independent selection panel of coaching and sport education professionals.
Read more about each honoree and how they made a difference on the sport of figure skating below:
Jenni Meno-Sand: 2023 Olympic Coach of the Year
As an athlete, Meno-Sand was known for her determination, hard work and positivity. Now, the three-time Olympian, three-time World medalist and three-time U.S. champion looks to instill those principles in her athletes.
As a coach, she has continued to excel, leading multiple pairs teams to incredible success in 2023.
At the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier earned silver, becoming just the seventh U.S. pairs team to win multiple World medals and the first since Meno-Sand and her partner Todd Sand, who claimed a pair of bronze medals in 1995 and 1996 and silver in 1998.
Earlier in the year, Meno-Sand coached two of the teams that stood on the U.S. Championships pairs podium, including Knierim and Frazier – who won gold and broke the record for the best-ever pairs short program score – as well as Sonia Baram and Daniel Tioumentsev, who secured pewter.
Baram and Tioumentsev went on to clinch the World Junior title.
Kicking off the 2023-24 season, Chelsea Liu and Balazs Nagy claimed bronze at 2023 Skate America at just their second international event as a team.
Meno-Sand becomes the second U.S. Figure Skating Coach to win Olympic Coach of the Year and first since Frank Carroll in 1997.
Caroline Silby, Ph.D., CMPC: 2023 Service Provider of the Year
Established in 2019, the Service Provider of the Year is presented to a National Governing Body or High Performance Management Organization affiliated service provider such as a strength and conditioning coach, physical therapist, sport psychologist, dietician, or other that has made an impact on their NGB.
Over the last 30 years, Silby has helped thousands of U.S. skaters, showing compassion and prioritizing each athlete’s well-being. She has provided direct mental performance service and mental health referral not only for their athletic performance and at competitions, but in their everyday lives.
Silby has also led and grown the reach of sports psychology at U.S. Figure Skating, making U.S. Figure Skating one of the leading National Governing Bodies in addressing contemporary sports psychology and mental health challenges, supporting athletes, coaches and parents on awareness, education and execution.
Silby becomes the first member of U.S. Figure Skating to be honored with the 2023 Service Provider of the Year award.
Garrett Lucash: 2023 Doc Counsilman Science and Technology Award
Garrett Lucash becomes the first U.S. Figure Skating coach to win the Doc Counsilman Sport Science and Technology Award since Heidi Thibert in 2009. The award recognizes a coach who utilizes scientific techniques and equipment as an integral part of their coaching methods or has created innovative ways to use sport science.
Lucash co-directs Athlete Centered Skating, a skating program that is deeply founded upon sports science research that includes athlete development, motor skill acquisition and psychology.
His book, “A Constraints-Led Approach to Figure Skating Coaching,” was released in 2022 by world-renowned sport science publisher, Routledge. Garrett applies the constraints-led approach – a leading approach to motor skill acquisition, to beginner, advanced and expert level figure skating – in his own coaching. Lucash also interviewed Team USA coaches to include their anecdotes in the closing chapter.
As a coach, Lucash’s best known athlete is Maxim Naumov, who earned the U.S. pewter medal in 2023. He was also a National Development Team coach for the fourth straight year in 2023.
In 2023, Lucash served as chair of the PSA Sport Science Committee and member of the U.S. Figure Skating Sport Science and Medicine Committee. He was honored with the PSA President’s Award of Excellence in 2022.
To learn more about the USOPC Coach of the Year Recognition Program, visit https://www.usopc.org/coaches-awards.
