USFSA, PSA Announce 2011 Coach of the Year Nominees

[FigureSpins]

Does the PSA give out a seperate set of awards to ISI coaches? A local coach said he was up for a developmental coach of the year award at this week's conference.

Usually, the ISI and PSA have separate conferences. This year, they had a combined conference, but they had two separate welcoming receptions and awards dinners. The ISI awards dinner was on Tuesday night; the PSA's on Wednesday night. I didn't go to the ISI awards dinner, so I'm not sure who won what there.

[Sylvia]

Josh Babb - this is the first time a synchro coach has been nominated for one of these awards, yes? That's a big deal.

I think synchro is represented every year in the nominations? It's a great recognition for Babb, though! Here's a new article about him:
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news

Babb's two award nominations were for 2011 USFS/PSA developmental coach of the year and Paul McGrath choreographer of the year. Although he didn't win, he says he was surprised and honored to even be in contention with choreographers like Lori Nichol, Cindy Stuart, Marina Zoueva and Igor Shpilband.

"I assume it was for my work with the Skyliners," Babb says. "[The junior team's] long program this year was pretty special. It was to Phantom of the Opera. They were asked to perform at the exhibition gala [at the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships] in Greensboro. It was pretty cool. It was the first time they'd skated for that size of a crowd, with spotlights and everything. They ended up getting a standing ovation."
...
In addition to his work with the Skyliners, Babb also does choreography for freestyle skaters and teaches edge classes. He does a good deal of seminar work for synchronized skating and some seminars on musical interpretation for singles, pairs and dance.