US Sailing Team strengthens Olympic staff

US Sailing team strengthens Olympic staff © US Sailing

The US Sailing Team is excited to announce that James Lyne has joined the Team as the High Performance Coach. Lyne has coached teams and athletes to 16 World Championship titles in 7 different classes within the sport, including Olympic classes. He also served as Head Coach for American Magic in the 35th America's Cup. Lyne brings a highly analytical approach to coaching, using data to identify opportunities for improvement.

Lyne's responsibilities with the Team will including overseeing athlete strategic plans, analytics and performance reports, and a system of measuring athlete and coaching performance. James will set metrics against which both athletes and coaches' performance will be measured.

"James Lyne is one of the top coaches in the sailing world today. We are very lucky to have him join the US Sailing Team," commented Executive Director Paul Cayard. "James has been involved with our Olympic Development Program for years. Now we will extend that successful model vertically. I want to thank Quantum Racing for their support in bringing James on board."

"It's an exciting time to be joining the US Sailing Team," said Lyne. "We have a young and very talented sailing team that is hungry for success on the Olympic stage. I am looking forward to help provide the framework and performance focus that's essential to making gains on the racetrack."

Luther Carpenter continues with the Team as a senior coach, assisting Lyne and coordinating the education and upskilling program.

Also joining the Team is Sport Psychologist, Jessica Molher. Molher is currently a sports psychologist at The US Naval Academy. Molher is a sailor and loves the sport. "I am excited to join the US Sailing Team and working with these talented athletes," she said. "I also look forward to working with the coaching staff to increase their knowledge and practices so they can best support the sailors."

In operations, Sally Barkow (Olympian 2008) moves from Nacra 17 coach to Head of Operations. A multi world champion and Olympian, Barkow knows that the USST is a performance driven team. Her actions come from that mindset. "Sally is uniquely qualified to lead our operations" continued Cayard. "Over the past three months, she has grown into this job working closely with Leandro Spina, Director of Performance."

"We are making progress both on the water and shoreside," said Cayard. "However, we have a long way to go, and the hill is steep."