Meet
The Team
Sportlinx360 is a close-knit team that brings different experiences to help you achieve your goals.
Sportlinx360 was born from the personal experience of Jesica Umansky, who was also a student-athlete in women’s volleyball at George Mason University from 2001 to 2006. Jesica led the Patriots to two CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) championships and graduated with honors in Systems Engineering. In the 2005-2006 season, she was an assistant coach in the GMU and thus learned in detail the rules for the recruitment of student-athletes. Before the United States, Jesica played in Argentina and Brazil and after university, professionally in Spain, Switzerland and Italy. In 2011 Jesica was one of the assistant coaches of the Peruvian Women’s National Volleyball Team with which she participated in various international competitions such as the South American Cup and the World Grand Prix. In 2013 he obtained a Master’s degree in Sports Economics and Management at Il Sole 24 ore Business School in Rome, his current city of residence.
Elitza Krasteva joined Sportlinx360 in 2013 after practicing volleyball for more than 20 years, 10 of which as a professional athlete in Italy. She has always combined sports with study and during her volleyball career she graduated in Languages and International Communication in 2005 at the University of Roma Tre and then later also obtained a master’s degree in Modern Languages for International Communication at the same university in 2012. She also works as a translator in English, Italian, Bulgarian and Spanish. She was born in Sofia (Bulgaria), but grew up in Rome, where she still lives.
Danna Gomes is a 4-time NAIA Volleyball All-American and graduated from Park University in Parkville (USA) with a degree in chemistry. During his 4 years in college he earned several accolades such as: 4 times All Conference, 3 times All Region, record for most assists in school history (5,545 assists), 3 times All-Academic, 2015 Freshman of the year, 2017 Setter of the year, 5 times Conference Setter of the Week, 2018 NAIA All-Tournament Team and, last but not least: 2018 Women’s Volleyball NAIA National Champion. Danna played volleyball in Brazil from 2006 to 2014 until she was approached by Park University to continue her volleyball career but also school in the United States. After graduating in 2019, she was offered another opportunity to continue her studies and also play volleyball by coming to Italy and obtaining a Master’s degree in Sports Management from the Olympic Management Institute. Danna joined the Sportlinx360 family as an intern in 2020 and at the beginning of 2021 she officially joined the team as a Consultant, she currently lives in Rome but grew up in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and is fluent in Portuguese, English and Italian.
Rodrigo Ribeiro was born in Brazil and has been playing volleyball since he was a child. He graduated in Law from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (Brazilian university) in 2018 and is also a former collegiate volleyball player (Park University), reaching the final 4 at the NAIA National Tournament (2015). Rodrigo moved to Rome, Italy in 2020, where he earned his Master’s degree in Sports Management from the Olympic Management Institute and began his career as a volleyball coach, now becoming a licensed volleyball coach in Italy. In 2020, he did an internship at Sportlinx360 and became a full member in 2021, specializing in men’s volleyball and football.
Margherita Bianchin is an FIVB beach volleyball player and member of the Italian national beach volleyball team. After graduating from Classical High School, she took a year off to figure out what her future would look like. Thanks to Sportlinx360 he left Italy in 2015 and played indoor for 2 years at St. John’s University, NY. Her talent and passion for the game of beach volleyball led her to transfer to Florida International University, in Miami, where she became a 2-time All-American. She graduated from FIU with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, a secondary degree in General Marketing and two master’s degrees (Sports Management and International Affairs). She joined the Sportlinx360 family in 2020 as an intern, and shortly thereafter became a beach volleyball coordinator. He is fluent in Italian and English. Her goal is to pass on the love of the game and the same great experience she had in college as a student-athlete thanks to Sportlinx360.
Gary Preston has over 10 years of experience as a college volleyball coach in the United States at the NCAA Division I/II/III level. Most notably, in 2017, Gary helped bring Hunter College’s men’s volleyball program to the Elite 8 of the NCAA WII National Championships. In women’s volleyball, in 2018, Gary served as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith and the team won the Heartland Conference. In 2019, Gary was an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman University (NCAA DI) and in 2020-2021, he was a head coach at Mercy College (NCAA DIII). In addition to collegiate volleyball, Gary coached full-time for Brooklyn Elite Volleyball Club in 2020-2021 and in London in 2018 as an assistant with London Orcas, making it to the finals of the Women’s Super 8. Gary also had an intense collegiate-level setter career at New Jersey City University, during which he was named Second Team All-Skyline Conference in 2014. Gary is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Sports Management at Rome City Institute.
Social Media and Communication Manager, Valentino has been part of the Sportlinx360 team since 2017. Through PSM Sport – an agency specialized in communication applied to sport of which he is Admin – he coordinates and manages all activities related to social, branding and ADV. With a degree in Sports Management, he was able to combine his two passions in a single job.
