Marina Veronica Barragan
Veronica Barragan is a Sports Ambassador and a Tourism Ambassador of Mar del Plata, Argentina. She worked for 18 years for a social and health government national institution, combining it with the Speed Officiating activity. As an International Judge, Mrs. Barragan has composed the Jury and has been Chief Judge at competitions like the Youth Olympic Games, World Games, World Championships, World Skate Games, Continental Championships, World Indoor competitions, Ice Speed Skating Championships and has been a lecturer on national, continental and international judging seminars. Veronica expects to continue contributing to the sport in education on judging and technical matters. For this Academy edition, she will conduct these lessons: Judges Duties & Missions and Fair Play & Discipline.
Gianluca Basile
Gianluca graduated with a Bachelor of Business Engineering and currently manages the development for business applications in an international pharmaceutical company. Former basketball player, he approached the world of skating during university: after a couple of years of competition, he suddenly joined the local judging team in 2007. He held many competitions both at local and national level when he had the opportunity to join the international team in 2019 during the academy in Rome. The international referee career sees him as a judge in the European Championship (Pamplona, 2019), in World Championship (Ibague, 2021) and European Cup (Geisingen and Santa Maria Nuova, 2019).
Lesson: Start Procedures - Jury Criteria
Daniel Charlet
Daniel Charlet has been working in races offices as a secretary for nearly 20 years after finishing his professional career in Speed earlier. He lives in Groß-Gerau, Germany and has been organizing the international Kriterium in Groß-Gerau as one of the most important European races. As a Bachelor of Science, he has been working in the consulting area since 2011, currently as VP for Technical Transformation. His lessons will cover the management of race offices as well as the position of the secretary within the jury.
Paula Falvo
Paula Falvo has a degree in Superior Technique in Olympic Sports at USAM. In addition she is an Olympic Academist, has participated as IT Project Manager in the Argentina Olympic Committee in courses and training since 2017. Paula currently develops sports programs for federations and municipalities through FIEPS (International Federation of Physical Education and Sport). She is in charge of the School Physical Education and Sport session.
Ms. Falvo Participated in the promotion of the first PRACTICAL MANUAL OF ED. PHYSICS for 1 and 2 cycle, in 2021. Last year, she took part in the World Skate Games - Argentina as a Protocol Manager. For this Academy edition, she will conduct the lesson on OVEP (Olympic Values Education Programme).
Sylvia Frey
Sylvia Frey is an English Teacher in an early childhood and elementary school. She has been teaching for nearly 23 years, and being School Principle for the last 13 years. She is also president of the School Principals Association of Málaga, and the vice-president of Andalucia, Spain. Ms. Sylvia Frey has been a Speed Judge since 2017, participating in many National Championships. She has been a trainer and examiner for Speed Judges and has been part of the team that worked on the last Spanish Speed Skating Rulebook. She became an international Judge in 2022.
Tosha Hill
Tosha Hill has loved roller skating since she was 3 years old and learned to skate. She has been involved in the sport of Speed Skating in some aspects for over 40 years, first as a competitor, then as a parent of two athletes, a coach, and eventually becoming an official. Initially certified as a Tabulator/Secretary for indoor and outdoor speed skating and then moving on to become a Meet Director and became an International Judge in 2022. During the past 8 years, she has held the head position of Meet Director for both Indoor and Outdoor US National Championships. In addition to her work in competitions, Tosha has held positions on Speed & Officials’ Committees as well as Rules Committee within the sport. She enjoys educating others about the sport and mentoring new officials. Tosha strives to ensure fairness within the sport and to uphold the principles of good sportsmanship amongst athletes, spectators, and coaches. Outside of skating, she is wife to her wonderful husband, mother to 2 great young men and grandmother to 2 amazing children. She is a Project Manager within the Financial payments, identities, and digital infrastructure industry and holds an Associate of Arts from Gainesville State College / University of North Georgia.
Irmelin Brigitta Otten
Irmelin Otten is a 2nd State Examination of teachers in Germany. She is a teacher at the elementary school, in different subjects, like mathematics, history and sport.
Beside being an International Artistic Judge, she has been working for over 20 years in Speed Skating: she has been Chairwoman in Germany, Chairwoman WSKE, and is now president DRIV and vice-president in Europe. Finally, she has been working for years in all disciplines, mainly focusing in the education of judges and coaches.
Santiago Socorro
Santiago has a degree in Pharmacy and Works as a Study Coordinator in the Digestive Area at the Hospital General Universitario de Málaga. Previously he worked as a Clinical Research Assistant in several companies. He has been a Speed Judge since 2013 working in a lot of national championships. He worked in some international championships (World Roller Games 2019, European Speed Skating Championship 2021 and African Skate Games 2023. The lessons that he is going to conduct during this course are the Speed World Hour Record & Marathon Races.
Marina Veronica Barragan
Veronica Barragan is a Sports Ambassador and a Tourism Ambassador of Mar del Plata, Argentina. She worked for 18 years for a social and health government national institution, combining it with the Speed Officiating activity. As an International Judge, Mrs. Barragan has composed the Jury and has been Chief Judge at competitions like the Youth Olympic Games, World Games, World Championships, World Skate Games, Continental Championships, World Indoor competitions, Ice Speed Skating Championships and has been a lecturer on national, continental and international judging seminars. Veronica expects to continue contributing to the sport in education on judging and technical matters. For this Academy edition, she will conduct these lessons: Judges Duties & Missions and Fair Play & Discipline.
Antonio Eduardo Becali
Antonio Becali has a degree in Physical Culture Specialist and Master in High Performance Judo. He got the degree in White and Red Belt Judo 7th Dan, since 2010, endorsed by the International Judo Federation. Currently, he is the coach of the National Men's Judo team of Cuba. Academically, he serves as Doctor of Physical Culture and Sports Sciences and he is an Associate Professor and Honorary Academician of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. During his long sport career, he has worked as a Coach of the National Women's Judo Team of Cuba, achieving a total of 146 Gold, 47 Silver and 60 Bronze medals in different competitive scenarios such as the Olympic Games, the Grand Prix, 6 World Championships, Pan American and Central American Games. Antonio Becali is also the author of several books about Judo and sports training. He has been awarded with several decorations, such as the Orders to "MERITO DEPORTIVO" and the "CARLOS J. FINLAY", which has been awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.
Pascal Briand
Pascal Briand has a Sports Teacher Degree and a University Licence in Top Sport Training and Motricity. At the moment, he holds the position of Speed Product Manager for Poweslide. As a sportsman, he has been awarded 8 times as an Inline Speed Skating World Champion and participated in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Games competing for the discipline of ice skating. He has multiple interests, including the management of numerous youtube pages dedicated to the discipline and he has also published 3 books talking about his sports career. He is passionate about skating in general, he dedicates his life in making the sport and activity better all around the world. With his unstoppable desire to help people skate better and faster, he shares his knowledge with no limits to make the world keep rolling on skates as much as possible.
Victor Hugo Carpio Quintana
Victor Hugo Carpio is a Medical Surgeon, with a Master's Degree in Health Management and a Diploma in Sports Medicine from the IOC. He served as a doctor for the Peruvian Delegation from 2012 to the Rio Olympics Games in 2016. He was responsible of the Anti-Doping Program of the Pan American and Para Pan American Games Lima 2019. Currently, he is the Peruvian National Anti-Doping Organization Manager, Anti-Doping Commission Pan American Sports Confederations - ACODEPA President, “Red Iberoamericana de Lucha Contra el Dopaje” – RILD Secretary, member of the Medical Commission of Panam Sports and CONMEBOL Medical Officer. Victor is also an advisor for the Pan American Weightlifting Federation, and actively collaborates with organizations in the region in the fight against doping in sport.
Huang Chin - Lung
Huang started roller skating in 1979, and participated in figure skating first. He has won pairs skating gold medals in two national championships. He started inline speed skating in 1990. In 1995, he led team Chinese Taipei to win the first world medal. 2000 won first world gold medal, the 2009 World Games won four gold medals, and the 2013 World Games won the gold medal again.Became a member of the World Skate Speed Technical Committee in 2014, until now! Switched to Ice Speed Skating in 2016 and led two skaters to qualify for Speed Skating in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018
Specialty: Double Line Training System: Perfect body control, everyone has a chance to win.
Andrea Chirico
Andrea Chirico has a Bachelor's Degree, a Master's Degree, a Ph.D., and a Specialization in Psychology and Psychotherapy in the section of Sports Psychology. Andrea is an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) at “Sapienza” University of Rome. He has different research interests in the areas of Health and Sport Psychology, with a particular focus on the processes involved in people’s “self-regulation” of health behaviors. He made more than 50 publications in the areas of Sport Psychology, Health Psychology and Psychometrics. He carried out collaborative activities in research in Australia, Switzerland, Spain, France, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, the United Kingdom, the United States, and, of course, Italy. At the moment, he is a project investigator for two Erasmus+ Project on Antidoping, and two projects granted by the Italian Ministry of Health.
Edgar Enrique Galeano
Dr. Galeano has a degree in Medicine from the National University of Colombia since 1996 and a postgraduate title as Sports medicine Specialist from El Bosque University since 2001. He worked from more than 15 years with the Colombian Sports Institute and the Colombian Olympic Committee as Sports Medicine Physician for multiple National teams of almost every Olympic sport. He has certified experience, made on the training field and competitions working with Colombian Olympic medalists and elite athletes who participated along four Olympic Cycles, also including skate sports, part of the World games Cycle, like inline Speed Skating, and Hockey. Recently in 2021, exploring and learning about Ice speed skating with Colombian Athletes. He was in charge of the Physiology lab for the High-Performance Centre located in Bogota Colombia, assessing athletic training in intermediate altitude for international level athletes. Nowadays, Doctor Galeano is working with University Athletes and collaborating publishing investigations about describing physiology profiles of Colombian athletes, specifically world level Elite Cyclists.
Lerga Nicolay Garikoitz
Garikoitz Lerga Nicolay es Técnico en Radiología, Entrenador Nacional Nivel III (Patinaje de Velocidad) de la Real Federación Española, Profesor de Esquí y Snowboard. Fue patinador desde los 5 años, compitió en 15 campeonatos del mundo como patinador consiguiendo dos medallas (plata y bronce). En 2009 comenzó como seleccionador de España y continúa en el puesto. Al día de hoy Garikoitz ha conseguido superar varias veces los récords históricos en medallas de España bajo su cargo: medallas en mundiales y 2 veces campeón de Europa. También se le ha otorgado la Medalla de Plata al Mérito Deportivo, concedida por el Comité Olímpico Español y la Medalla de Bronce al Mérito Deportivo, concedida por la casa real española. En la World Skate Academy, imparte las lecciones sobre: Speed Skating at an Early Age y Teamwork. Individual Results, Everyone's Work.
Andres Gonzalez Gutierrez
Andres Gonzalez is a Professor of Physical Education, he has done Postgraduate studies in Sports Management. He worked at the High Performance Department of the National Institute of Sports of Chile (2012 – 2014), he is currently the head of the Doping Control Department at the Chilean National Commission, from 2015. During this period, he has been involved in multiple sporting events at the doping control and prevention area. Andres has participated in the training and improvement of anti-doping personnel in countries of South and Central America, highlighting the training and evaluation of Doping Control Officers for the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games. He also made part of the Independent Observers Group at the World Anti-Doping Agency for the Pan American Games in Lima 2019, and Doping Control Coordinator at the South American Games in Asuncion 2022.
Juan David Gonzalex Perez
Juan David González Pérez is a Colombian-Ecuadorian coach who has been the national coach of the Ecuadorian national team for 14 years. He was born in Medellin, Antioquia and was a member of the Colombian national skating team in 1996. He studied Systems Engineering, Sports Technology and a master's degree in Physical Activity, Sports Training and Sports Management. He was linked to the Austrian Skating Federation as a coach and to the Colombian Skating Federation as a commissioner of minor categories. He has a great ability to perform any role whether administrative, managerial or sporting and is in charge of giving the talks: Applicable ideas to implement a sports process in level 1, specific means of training with resistances for level 2 and complementary means for training in speed skating: the use of the bicycle in level 3.
Joseph Hanna
Joe Hanna is the leader of the indoor inline speed skating program for World Skate. He has been coaching in the USA for 40 years on an advanced level having accomplished many goals in his career including being an Elite level coach for USA Rollersports and leading many successful programs throughout the USA. Joe was born and raised in the USA but speaks three languages fluently including English, Spanish and Arabic. He works for the Astro Skating Centers as a Corporate food and beverage director as well as leads the speed programs for Astro. Mr. Hanna has a Bachelor’s degree in Radio Television and broadcasting from the University of Central Florida. He has been an International level coach as well as Team Manager for TEAM USA. Joe has taught the Indoor classes for World Skate in the past years.
Tosha Hill
Tosha Hill has loved roller skating since she was 3 years old and learned to skate. She has been involved in the sport of Speed Skating in some aspects for over 40 years, first as a competitor, then as a parent of two athletes, a coach, and eventually becoming an official. Initially certified as a Tabulator/Secretary for indoor and outdoor speed skating and then moving on to become a Meet Director and became an International Judge in 2022. During the past 8 years, she has held the head position of Meet Director for both Indoor and Outdoor US National Championships. In addition to her work in competitions, Tosha has held positions on Speed & Officials’ Committees as well as Rules Committee within the sport. She enjoys educating others about the sport and mentoring new officials. Tosha strives to ensure fairness within the sport and to uphold the principles of good sportsmanship amongst athletes, spectators, and coaches. Outside of skating, she is wife to her wonderful husband, mother to 2 great young men and grandmother to 2 amazing children. She is a Project Manager within the Financial payments, identities, and digital infrastructure industry and holds an Associate of Arts from Gainesville State College / University of North Georgia.
Miguel Jose
Miguel Jose is the founder of the National SpeedSkating Circuit, where he has made a significant impact on the speed skating industry. With 30 years of active participation in the sport, he has gained invaluable experience as an athlete, coach, and business owner. As an athlete, he has achieved great success, winning the US Indoor National Championships five times. He has used this experience to become an exceptional coach, leading his team to be one of the top teams in the nation for over a decade. His expertise in both skating and coaching has earned him a reputation as a highly skilled and respected member of the industry. Miguel's passion for speed skating led him to establish the National SpeedSkating Circuit, which has become the premier pro league for professional indoor speed skating. As the owner and operator, Miguel has worked tirelessly to provide a platform for the best skaters in the country to compete and showcase their skills. Mr. Jose's commitment to the sport of speed skating is reflected in his personal life as well. He is deeply invested in the industry and is constantly looking for ways to improve it. With his dedication, hard work, and expertise, Miguel is a driving force in the speed skating community, and his contributions will continue to have a lasting impact on the industry.
Patricia Leazier
Patricia Leazier graduated with her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Secondary Education with certifications in biology, chemistry, earth/space science and environmental science from Shepherd University. Additionally, she graduated with a Masters of Science degree in Forensic Science from National University and a STEM Graduate Certification from Bridgewater State University. She has taught high school science for 25 years. Patty began her coaching career in 1997 in inline speed skating and has recently included roller derby to her coaching credentials. She has coached 15 USA National Team members, 3 USA National Team alternates and one athlete who attended the Lima 2019 Pan American Games. Her athletes have earned five gold, one silver, three bronze medals at the World Inline Speed Skating and Roller Derby Championships and one bronze medal, in speed skating, at the Pan American Games. Patty established her speed skating program (Fast Forward Racing) in 1999. During her 26-year career as a coach, Patty’s athletes have collected over 100 outdoor and indoor titles and more than 200 placements. Her team has had several top 10 team finishes at the United States Championships and in 2014 her team finished second overall at the indoor national championships. Internationally, her athletes have competed at the Pan American Club Championships (held in the US) and the Trois Piste Race (held in France); with three athletes attaining international titles and more than 30 securing placements. In 2017, Patricia was awarded with the SRSTA (Society of Roller-Skating Teachers of America) Teacher of the Year Award. Patty served as the manager for USA’s National Team in 2022 and as the assistant coach in 2021.
Tony Muse
Tony Muse was a member of Team USA Speed Skating from 1985 to 1996 and again a few times later as marathon team member. He lives in West Des Moines, Iowa. Tony is a 19 time world speed champion, a multiple time world speed medalist and a multiple time national champion. Besides, He has also been a member of Team USA Roller Hockey, Team USA Roller Derby as Captain of Team USA Roller Derby and a 4 time world Champion Roller Derby player. Mr. Muse has trained many past international skaters / Olympic champions. Along with his brother (Mark), coached Team USA members Whitney Emrick and Zach Stopplemoor. He also has been a featured coach at international coaches conferences for speed skating. Tony is a member of the USA Roller Skating Hall of Fame as a speed skater. He is a licensed USA Soccer coach, a licensed High School Football coach and coached high school football multiple years.
Massimiliano Presti
Massimiliano Presti began his career as an Inline Speed Skating athlete and competed from 1994 to 2009, winning many national, continental and world titles. After retiring from competitions, Massimiliano dedicated himself to the coaching activity, working for some Italian clubs. He currently serves as Head Coach of the Italian National Speed Team, having obtained prestigious results with his own teams worldwide. Massimiliano has received the gold award for Athletic Value by CONI thanks to the activity he has been carrying out both nationally and internationally.
Raffaella Spada
Raffaella Spada is a Medical Doctor, specialist in Sports Medicine and Health Statistics, Doctor of Nutrition Sciences. Lecturer at the National School of Sport and Health. Lecturer of "Nutrition and Sport", Master's Degree Course in Food Sciences & Human Nutrition at University Campus Biomedico, Departmental Faculty of Human and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, Rome; collaborates with the Institute of Sports Medicine CONI Sport Lab Sport and Health as a specialist in Sports Medicine and as a nutritionist, working on the nutritional evaluation of Olympic athletes, clinical activity and education. In addition to sport's nutrition directed towards elite athletes, her specific areas of interest are in the preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative aspects of physical activity and nutrition. For many years she has also focused on relationships between nutrition, health and the migratory process together with the health aspects of differing cultural cuisines. Author of numerous scientific and popular publications.
Orlando Valencia Estrada
Orlando Valencia Estrada, from Colombia, began speed skating at the age of 9 years old, becoming national champion in all categories from infant to senior. In 1991 he achieved his greatest international triumph as an athlete, being runner-up in the 5k relay event in the world skating championship in Oostende-Belgium; additionally, he won gold in the Pan-American that same year. He retired from competitions in 1993 and began his process as a coach in 1995, starting in clubs and serving as coach of the national team of Antioquia, his native department, and finally Assistant coach of the Colombian National Team between 1995 and 2001, achieving in 2000 to win the first world championship in the history of Colombian skating. Also, being in the Colombian National Team. Between the year 2010 and 2011 he was directing the Dominican Republic National Team and between 2015-2016, and resuming in the year 2021 to date, he is appointed as head coach of the National Federation of skating of Guatemala participating in the best results in its history. Academically he is a professional in Physiotherapy graduated in December 2000 with multiple courses in sports training. In addition to lecturer in some sports training courses given for skating in Colombia.
Carlo Varalda
Carlo Varalda has obtained a Ph.D in Sport, Exercise and Ergonomics, two Degrees in Physical Education and a Master’s Degree in Posturology. Since 2011, he has got the license as Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. From 2017 to nowadays, he has been the Strength Coach and Athletic Trainer of the Italian Short Track team. Since 2003, Carlos has also been the owner of the performance center iLAB, playing the role of Functional Evaluator and Strength Coach, creating programs for many individual athletes and team sports. As a sportsman, he has trained athletes who have participated in the Summer Olympic Games (Beijing, London and Rio) and the Winter Olympic Games (Pyeongchang). Moreover, Carlo has trained athletes to participate in the Winter Olympic Games held in Beijing in 2022. He has also published scientific articles about Strength and Functional Evaluation and some books on Training Theory, Methodology and Weightlifting.