World Skate Academy

Marie Gaudy is a USARS Elite Coach from the USA and has been a certified coach for 50 years. She has coached skaters in Dance and Figures at the World Championships since 1980, her skaters winning medals in both disciplines. In recent years, Marie has also been working with World Skate and the ATC in updating the dances and dance rules each year. From 2018 she has been a speaker at World Skate seminars, including her current role as speaker of the World Skate Academy for the dance classes.

Mario Lago got a Degree in Communication Sciences at Fernando Pessoa University in Porto. He has been an International Skater in Dance Couple and Free Skating from 1984 to 1988 and Portuguese National Champion in the above mentioned disciplines from 1980 to 1987. He has 36 years of experience as a coach of Free, Figures, Dance and Solo Dance specialties. He has also been International Judge since 2003, taking part in three World Championships and nine European Championships. Mario is a Level 3 World Skate Academy Coach for the Dance discipline. He has worked as National Portuguese coach from 2005 to 2021, specialized and responsible for Dance Portuguese Teams development since 2010. He is also a technique/skating skills Developer and Technical Consultant at Sport Institutions in several European countries. He was Selected in 2022 by the CDP - Portuguese Sport Confederation, for the title of “best Portuguese coach of the year”. He won the Award “Coach of the year” in 2022 by the FPP - Portuguese Federation for Roller Skating.