Tatiana Payne met up with synchronized skating Assistant Coach Haley Gram (left) and Head Coach Hannah Pulley (right), two of her former skaters, during a competition at the Skating Club of Boston this past winter.
Founding figure skating coach returning to Liberty to lead synchronized team
Tatiana Payne, the Club Sports senior associate athletic director who started the figure skating program in 2010 and coached the synchro team for 12 seasons, returns to Liberty after working remotely for the past four years.
Former Liberty University figure skating and synchronized skating Head Coach Tatiana Payne, who also serves as senior associate athletic director for Club Sports, is returning to the helm of the synchronized skating team this summer.
"The last season I coached synchro was when COVID hit in 2020, so it has been six years, and I am looking forward to getting back into it," said Payne, who continued in her Club Sports administrative role remotely after she and her family moved to New Hampshire in Fall 2022. "I felt a nudge of the Holy Spirit to come back for the betterment of the Club Sports department as a whole. There are a lot of people who have done an amazing job to help it function as effectively as possible with me being remote."
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Payne as an assistant figure skating coach in 2020
Payne, 40, has over 35 years of skating experience and nearly 25 years of coaching experience. A native of upstate New York, she spent her younger years training under many internationally renowned coaches in Montreal, Quebec, and Lake Placid, N.Y.
She served as Liberty's synchronized skating head coach from 2008-20 and founding head coach of the Lady Flames' figure skating team from 2010-15 before staying on as its assistant coach from 2016-23. She continued to serve as the figure skating and synchronized skating teams' liaison, attending a number of their competitions in the New England area while helping to coach Great Bay Figure Skating Club members in Dover, N.H.
A professional member of U.S. Figure Skating's Professional Skaters Association and a registered CER Category A, Level IV-ranked coach, Payne joined the USFS Collegiate Committee in 2020, discussing policies and procedures for collegiate synchronized skating and intercollegiate figure skating.
During her time as head and assistant coach, Payne played a key role in Liberty hosting five U.S. Figure Skating Southeast sectional competitions at the LaHaye Ice Center.
In April, Payne returned to Liberty for a visit and had the opportunity to sit down with outgoing Head Coach Hannah Pulley as well as meet a few of her incoming recruits for the 2026-27 season.
"It was great seeing the culture that she and Assistant Coach Haley Gram have built, and I look forward to continuing that," Payne said, noting a few weeks after that meeting Pulley told her she was not going to be able to return as the head coach. "God's hand and His timing are perfect. I didn't plan to move back with the intention of coaching, but I am more than happy to step into that role and serve as best as I can. We've got a great group of girls for this upcoming year, and I'm excited to see what we all can accomplish together."
Gram will continue to serve as an assistant coach. Payne will also assist the figure skating team headed by Courtney Kirschke with support from former Head Coach Dawn Harter and Olivia Walker, who works on the skaters' dance routines.
"It will be a very smooth transition, as we all work together very well," Payne said, noting she and Gram stepped onto the ice to work on choreography for next year's synchronized skating routine and Emily Hughes — her former assistant who succeeded her as head coach — watched on while her oldest child was skating. "I want to involve as many people as I can, and I really value their feedback and involvement."
She expects to return six skaters and to bring in at least that many recruits, with more likely to be added after the Aug. 27-30 Synchronized Skating Boot Camp and tryouts at the LIC. Additional recruits for future seasons could be identified at Liberty's Synchronized and Figure Skating Prospect Camp from July 18-19.
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Payne is interviewed for a synchro segment on LFSNÂ in 2015.
"It's going to be a great year," Payne said. "Half our team will be freshmen and half will be returners, so it will be a building year. Next year, we hope to have really high-level skaters to return for the 2027-28 season. For now, we are focusing on establishing our team culture and really having a lot of speed and power out on the ice."
She hopes the team can move from the Open Collegiate division back up to the Collegiate division for the 2027-28 season so that they will again be eligible to compete in the U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championships.
"The majority of our team members are already high-level skaters, with everybody on our roster more closely related in their skill sets, so hopefully we will be able to accomplish some higher-level elements as a team," Payne said. "Their skill sets will determine what we put into the program, which will immediately impact our score at competition."
"Everybody coming in has previous synchro experience, and I love that — to not have to do as much teaching of the basics," she added. "Hopefully, that will lead to more cohesion as the year goes on."
She is most looking forward to adding flair to Liberty's synchronized skating performances, which can be much more elaborate than individual figure skating routines.
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Tatiana with husband Joshua Payne and daughter, Elora, 4.
"That's what I'm most passionate about," Payne said. "I am hoping to bring some really cool synergy to the team by working with a former student-athlete from the LU Dance team. We want to bring creative dance movement into the program so that it's fun, exciting, and engaging for the judges. We have a really great program planned for this year, that is really upbeat and dancey. I like the edgy programs that hit harder."
The team's dresses are being designed by Iconic in Montreal, owned by Matthieu Caron, who has designed dresses for several Olympic figure skaters as well as costumes for Stars on Ice programs around the world.
This season, the team plans to perform at the Nov. 20-22 Boston Synchronized Skating Classic in Norwood, Mass., the Dec. 4-6 Dr. Porter Classic in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Jan. 23-27, 2027 Eastern Synchronized Skating Sectional Championship in Reading, Pa., as well as during intermission of a Division I men's hockey game and at PraiseFest at the LIC.
Payne and her husband, Joshua, have already registered their daughter, Elora, for the Learn To Skate program offered at Liberty.
"She is going to be 4½ soon, which is around the age when I started skating," said Payne, who got Elora onto the ice at age 2½. "I am excited to bring her into the Liberty University family and hope that she learns to love synchronized skating like I do and will learn to lean into all the girls on the team to experience that."
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterPayne (left) and Emily Hughes (right) worked with the Lady Flames on a Hunger Games-themed program in 2018-19.Â
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