BROOKVILLE, N.Y. — LIU women's gymnastics coach Randy Lane has a pair of new deputies to help lead the program.
Olivia Courtney has joined the Sharks as an assistant coach, with Liesl Jaye also coming on board as a volunteer coach.
Courtney arrives from Los Angeles and is a former US national team member and UCLA gymnast.
She has competed internationally and placed 10th at the 2008 US Olympic trials.
Courtney is an 11-time All-American, four-time Pac-12 individual champion, two-time NCAA Regional all-around champion, the 2011 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, and won UCLA Gymnast of the Year twice in her college career.
After college, she joined the entertainment industry as a stuntwoman and became a Junior Olympic gymnastics coach.
She has worked on many television shows and movies, including La La Land and The Simone Biles Story: Courage to Soar.
Courtney has eight years of experience coaching women's artistic gymnastics levels 3-10 and most recently worked as the head coach on beam and floor for levels 7-10.
"I am grateful for this opportunity and extremely excited to join the LIU family," Courtney said. "I hope to bring a fun and motivating presence while continuing to grow the happiness and success of the team."
Said Lane: "I am very excited to welcome Olivia as my assistant coach. Having coached Olivia during her collegiate career, I have had the privilege to see her flourish as an athlete and grow as a coach. I look forward to great success for the Sharks with Olivia as a part of the LIU gymnastics staff."
Jaye trained as a gymnast, dancer and aerial artist and now looks forward to utilizing her diverse experiences and choreographing skills to enhance the talents and success of the LIU gymnasts.
She competed in state, regional and national USAG competitions as a level 10 gymnast.
Afterward, she performed as an acrobat, dancer and aerialist in a variety of shows across the country, including Le Rêve, a Cirque-style show at The Wynn Theatre in Las Vegas. Her performance credits also include Broadway, the Cirque Holiday Spectacular, the international tour of The American Musical Theater Dance Company, the national tour of Hello Dolly starring Sally Struthers, the Carnival Mardi Gras Inaugural Cruise Ship, and many regional theatre productions.
In the past five years, when not performing, Jaye has coached gymnastics, taught aerial skills and choreographed floor and beam routines at Mid-Island Gymnastics in Hicksville.
She graduated from the University of the Arts with a bachelor of fine arts in dance in 2017.
She continues to fuse her knowledge of dance and gymnastics, largely through choreography that embraces a melding of these two disciplines. She welcomes the opportunity to choreograph routines for LIU's gymnasts.
"Liesl is a surprise addition," Lane said. "Her choreography has already brightened our team's overall floor presence. Her extensive background as a gymnast and performer will be an asset for our team's success this season."
