Eastside Gymnastics Academy

* ^{Coaches availble to do private lessons. Click on coach and e-mail directly.}

Recreational Instructor

Coaches: Fireflies, Walkovers, Flips, Middle School Girls

School: Inglemoor High School class of 2010

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Double Full (she also loves attempting any beam mount or dismount)

Did you know: Coach Amy loves country music and is a devout vegetarian? She believes that if everyone became a vegetarian the world would be a much better place!

Amy, on top of being one of our top gymnasts and a great coach, is a hard working student and an aspiring journalist. She takes a variety of AP, IB and honors classes and is also a member of National Honor Society at Inglemoor High School. She is co-editor-in-chief of her school’s news paper and was also the captain of their girls’ gymnastics team last year, her second year on the team. Amy began gymnastics at seven years old and went on to become the Washington State Level 8 bars silver medalist. She qualified for state twice, competing for the Inglemoor Vikings, coming in 7th place on bars in 2008. She does a great job passing her knowledge on to our recreational girls!

Front Desk Receptionist

School: Bellevue College, currently planning to transfer to the University of Washington and major in communications

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Forward Roll :)

Did you know: Aurora was accepted to Harvard University?

Our “parent coach”, Aurora, is the “go to” girl! Her duties include accepting payments, answering questions, making sure things are generally tidy, as well as other general clerical duties and of course giving out Band-Aids and taking care of our booboos! Aurora helps create a happy, friendly gym atmosphere! We are very glad to have her as the liaison between our parents, coaches and administrators.

Girls Team Head Coach

Also Coaches: Tumbling and Trampoline

School: Western Washington University

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Double Layout

Did you know: Coach Ben loves to build computers?

E-mail for private lesson: coachben@gmail.com

Coach Ben is originally from Everett, WA. He started gymnastics at age 5 and has been coaching competitive gymnastics teams since high school. Ben was a competitive trampolinist and competed level 10 on the trampoline and double-mini trampoline at national championships in 2006 and 2007. Ben is a member of the National Association of Womens Gymnastics judges and holds certification to judge up to Level 8. He has coached competitive boys, girls, trampoline & tumbling and cheerleadering in both Washington and Nevada. Coach Ben is also a reservist in the United States Marine Corps.

Boys Team Coach

Also Coaches: Grasshoppers, Dragonflies, Ringers, Flairs, Walkovers.

School: Bothell High School, 2004.

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Full Twisting Kovacs on high bar

Did you know: Coach Casey can dislocate his shoulder?

E-mail for private lesson: casey@eastsidegymnastics.com

For the past 6 years, Casey has been coaching gymnastics at a wide range of skill level and style. After participating in gymnastics as a child, Casey began coaching in 2003 and has now worked with a range of children from recently walking, to competing level 7, as well as everything in between! He has also had experience coaching soccer, little league baseball and track.
Casey is now one of our competitive boys coaches, working with levels 4-7. His diversified experience and ability to work with a variety of students is greatly appreciated here at EGA.

Girls Competitive Program Director

Coaches: Girls Team

School: BYU, Dance, Theater, Coaching

Favorite Gymnastics Move: An illusion on beam

Did you know: Coach Colleen's passion is modern dance?

E-mail for private lesson: colleenl@eastsidegymnastics.com

Colleen Long is now EGA’s girls’ competitive program director. She has over 25 years of teaching and coaching experience and growing up, she competed collegiately for Brigham Young University before studying dance, theater and coaching. Colleen has coached gymnastics from the preschool level through level 10. During her tenure as a coach, she has produced teams and competitors who have competed at the local, state, regional and national levels. Her favorite events are beam and floor. Colleen is married and has three boys and loves hiking and kayaking.

Marketing Director

Coaches: Grasshoppers, Dragonflies, Flyaways, Aerials.

School: University of Washington, Public Health, class of 2008

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Round-off Back Flip with a jump rope, crossing arms behind knees, and Front Aerials.

Did you know: Coach Colleen has competed and/or performed with her jump rope team in Belgium, Ecuador, Australia, Canada, the British Virgin Islands and South Africa?

Colleen helps with coaching and with marketing at EGA. She works with our Tiny Tots and other girls’ recreational classes and is thrilled to be working with our younger exhibition teams in the coming year. Colleen has taken gymnastics classes at EGA since 4th grade and uses the tumbling skills she has developed in her competitive jump rope routines. She has been coaching and working with children for approximately ten years. This year she has continued to train with her jump rope team while working full time at EGA.

Recreational Instructor

Coaches: Grasshoppers, Dragonflies, Ringers, Walkovers, Flips, Flyboys.

School: Woodinville High School, Class of 2012

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Full Twisting Butterfly

Did you know: Cory can solve a rubrics cube in under a minute!?

Cory, a freshman attending Timbercrest Jr. High, has been doing gymnastics with us for 12 years now! He began in our Tiny Tot program at age three and has worked his way to the Saltos, our boys exhibition team, which includes many of our top gymnasts. He continues to spend much of his time at the gym, now coaching in our Tiny Tot program, as well as our beginning girls’ recreational classes, not to mention his own workouts with the Saltos! Cory says he is “heavily addicted to gymnastics” and has a “need to be upside-down for a certain amount of time ever week”. Not only is Cory a valuable member of our gym community, but an outstanding student and community member as well.

Programming Director

Coaches: Flyboys, Flairs, Saltos, Girls Team, Adult Gym.

Work/Education: Bothell HighSchool, Microsoft, Weathervane, courses in engineering.

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Diamidov and Planche on parallel bars.

Did you know: Coach Jason is an excellent guitarist and has 9 guitars of his own, and has also studied classical, jazz, and rock?

E-mail for private lesson: jason@evergreenathletics.com

Jason’s coaching is essential here at EGA. He is one of our top coaches, with over 20 years of experience coaching gymnastics! Jason also competed in men’s gymnastics, starting in junior high school. In 1988 he took second overall at the state meet, where he placed first in the rings, his favorite event.
Jason now coaches our boys’ exhibition team, as well as many of our specialty programs like adult gymnastics, Redmond High School gymnastics, and tumbling classes for our partner programs, cheer and jump rope. He is also great with our Tiny Tots and recreational students. Jason is definitely our “super coach” and can be seen throwing and/or catching any gymnasts that comes his way! As our programming and operational director, he also schedules and coordinates our coaches and programs and makes sure projects around the facility get done.

Boys Team Coach

Also Coaches: Ringers

School: AA degree @ North Seattle Community College. One year @ UW

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Double Twisting Jäger aka. “The Crockett”

Did you know: Coach Crockett studied Japanese, photography and graphic design? He has also traveled with the UW team to compete in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Japan.

E-mail for private lesson: jeffcrockett@eastsidegymnastics.com

Coach Crock has 5 years coaching experience ranging from preschool to assistant coach of the UW Men's team. He competed as a junior for 12 years and was a four time Junior Olympic National competitor. He moved to Seattle from Boise in the fall of 2000 after he graduated from Centennial High School. Coach Crock competed for the UW men’s team for 5 years. During which he became a 20 time Collegiate All American, and 8 time Collegiate National Champion on various events and the All around. He was the UW assistant coach from ’06 to ‘09 and received collegiate assistant coach of the year all three years.
Jeff is the only one in the world who has performed “the Crockett” a double twisting laid out jäger in February of 2006, winning the first ever New Skills Challenge held at the Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas.

Executive Director

Coaches: Grasshoppers, Dragonflies, Walkovers, Fireflies, Flips.

School: Western Washington University, Business Management, class of 2008

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Strong Bear Walks and the Whirly Whirl!

Did you know: Coach Julia still holds a national jump rope record that her and her team set when they were 12 years old?

Julia is our Executive Director and plays several important roles here at EGA. She is a great coach for our younger gymnasts, and also keeps our families informed and the books in order. She took gymnastics classes at EGA from fourth grade until she was a senior in high school and has had many years of experience coaching and working with children through competitive jump rope. She is excited to work with our youngest exhibition teams, the Fireflies and the Flyaways, in the coming year. Julia does a great job of encouraging and guiding our staff and our students.

	Recreational Instructor Coaches: Parent and Tot, Grasshoppers, Dragonflies. School: Interlake High School, 1991, Bellevue Community College, 1991-1993. Favorite Gymnastics Move: Round-off Double Back Flip. Did you know: Keri worked as a Mariners ball girl for two years?
Keri has recently joined our coaching staff as a member of our Tiny Tot coaching team. Her interest in coaching with us stemmed from her children’s involvement in gymnastics, both of whom are now taking classes at EGA. Keri has also had experience coaching various levels of softball. Her experience coaching and working with children is very valuable in working with our Tiny Tots!

Girls Team Assistant Coach

Coaches: Girls Team

School: Bachelors Degree in Physical Training and Sports Instruction, USA National Safety Certification and Membership, Day Care Teacher Degree

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Round-off double back dismount on beam

Did you know: When Coach Marina was 7 years old she was selected to participate in a popular local TV show called “Morning Excersices”?

Marina Mamedova began taking gymnastics at six years of age and was a two time State Champion in Baku, Azerbaijan. She is now coaching alongside Colleen Long and Jason Farr for our competitive girls’ program. Marina was awarded the title “Master of Sport” in Russia in 1977 and participated in the opening of the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. She taught artistic gymnastics and aerobics in Russia for almost 14 years and immigrated to the USA with her husband and two sons in 2003, where she has continued to train gymnasts of all levels. She has also taught preschool level gymnastics and worked specifically with young gymnastics demonstrating outstanding talent to develop their skills at a young age.

Recreational Instructor

Also Coaches: Dynamics, Rocketeers, Tumbling, Twisters, Middle School Boys.

School: Woodinville High School, class of 2007 - Cascadia Community College.

Favorite Gymnastics Move: the Tkatchev Salto and the Full Twisting Marinich

Did you know: Coach Matt loves cars so much that if he could choose to be ANYWHERE, it would be in the drivers’ seat of a Caterham R500?

E-mail for private lesson: mwatson@eastsidegymnastics.com

Coaching a variety of classes, including one of our exhibition teams, the Rocketeers , as well as many recreational classes, Matt is an important member of our coaching staff. He is also the assistant coach to Inglemoor High Schools’ gymnastics team, who trains with us at Eastside Gymnastics. Matt also enjoys practicing and performing with our boys’ exhibition team, the Saltos. His time away from the gym is often spent playing soccer, dirt biking, snowboarding, or in the garage with a wrench and his car or dirt bike.

Girls Level 3 Team Coach

School: BS in Health Education from University of Utah

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Front aerial sequence on beam

Did you know: Nancy's favorite sound to listen to is the giggling of babies and little kids?

E-mail for private lesson: nhershgold2@comcast.net

Nancy as recently joined the competitive coaching staff after being a L3 coach for several years and recently leading her L3 team to 2nd AA in the 2010 WA State L3 Championships. She was a competitive gymnast growing up and won 2nd AA in the State Championships in SLC Utah. She was awarded the HS Athlete of the year in Gymnastics and the Outstanding in Excellence Award for Gymnastics in 1979. Nancy was also a member of the University of Utah cheerleading squad who ranked 3rd Nationally in the Ford Collegiate National Championships. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Education and works full time as a Liability Claim Specialist for State Farm Insurance, which she had done for the past 24 years. She is married and has 3 children, a dog, a parrot and 2 pet rats. She loves gardening and kayaking but her passion is working with young girls who love the sport of gymnastics as much as she does.

Recreational Instructor

Coaches: Parent & Tot, Butterflies, Grasshoppers, Dragonflies

School: Art Institute of Seattle: Animation; Kinder Accreditation for Teachers (or KAT)

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Tsukahara. (It was his vault when he competed)

Did you know: Coach Partick spent many years sword-fighting in a heavy and light fighting style, and actually fell into gymnastics by accident, during a swords practice?

Coach Patrick, the director of our Tiny Tot program, has been working in gymnastics for approximately 17 years now. He has been a wonderful addition to our staff, and his varied experience in entertaining through theater studies, Medieval Re-enactment, juggling, and storytelling, has been a great contribution to his fantastic ability to entertain and instruct our youngest gymnasts. His background in competitive gymnastics as a youth, coaching women’s competitive gymnastics (Compulsory level 4 and 5) in the J.O. Program, along with many years working with preschool and recreational gymnastics, gives him a great understanding of the progression of learning for young gymnasts. We are thrilled to have him on our team and enjoy watching our Tiny Tots learn from him, not only gymnastics, but social and behavioral skills that will last a lifetime.

Recreational Instructor

Also Coaches: Butterflies, Walkover, Flips, Aerials.

School: Home School through high school, Received Events Coordinating Certificate, 2007; CNA License, 2008; Business Management Certificate, 2009.

Favorite Gymnastics Move: Round off Whip 1/2 Front Flip.

Did you know: Shelly started her own photography business called One Last Shot Photography?

Shelly was one of our youngest exhibition team members! She joined our youngest exhibition team at 5 years old and was already a member of our most advanced girls’ team, the Dynamics, at age 8. Shelly also competed in high school gymnastics through Bothell High School, qualifying for state on floor her freshman year! She also competed on vault at state her junior year and competed vault, beam and floor her senior year. Shelly’s experience and knowledge of gymnastics are a great benefit to her coaching here at EGA!