Our Team
Get to know us
THE TEAM
The team at Twisters Gymnastics is comprised of 4 office staff, 29 coaches, 3 of which have participated in the Olympics as an athlete or coach, 7 Board of Director members and multiple local sponsors and businesses. As a team we work together to keep our facility operational, with safety being our top priority. This team effort allows us to better serve our athletes at the highest standard of cleanliness, experience and professionalism.
Women's Head Coach
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Katrina Penner Loat
Recreational Director
Katrina
Katrina is our Recreational Director. They have been coaching for 15 years and have been a part of our Competitive, Interclub, and Gymnaestrada Programs. Their favourite event to coach is beam, and their favourite part of coaching is watching their athletes succeed in their goals! Katrina was part of our Gymnaestrada team that participated in the 2019 World Gymnaestrada in Austria, and a fun fact about them is that they have a large camera collection!
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Kara Kiers
Interclub, Xcel, Gymnaestrada Coordinator
Kara
Kara is our Gymnaestrada & Interclub Coordinator. She has been a coach for 10 years and was an Interclub and Gymnaestrada athlete here at Twisters as well. Her favorite events to coach are floor and beam, and she loves to see the excitement when her athletes get new skills. Kara was a part of our Gymnaestrada team that participated in the 2019 World Gymnaestrada in Austria, and a fun fact about her is that she has been to 26 countries!
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Ken Ikeda
MAG Coach
Ken
Men's Competitive Coach. Ken Ikeda has been a strong presence in gymnastics for 19 years and has competed as a Senior National Athlete for 16 of those years. Ken has competed in many International Meets including the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Ken has coached competitive athletes for 15 years and he is a level 4 certified coach.
Mits Ikeda
MAG Coach
Mits
Men's Competitive Coach. Mitsugu Ikeda graduated from Chukyo University in Japan with a degree in Physical Education. He attended 10 World championships as one of Team Canada’s coaches. Mits was the head coach for the 1999 Pan American Games team and was the head coach for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Jonathan Osers
MAG Coach
Jonathan
I started competitive gymnastics at Twisters when I was 9 years old. At age 13 I began competing at a national level and finally retired from competition at age 27. At age 17, I started coaching at Twisters and began to coach full time for the Men’s Competitive Program at age 19. Now in 2021, I have been coaching for more than 14 years. I have coached EVERY age group from 2 years old to 65 years old and have enjoyed them all. I am NCCP Level 3 certified in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics and have competed theory and technical portions of NCCP Level 3 in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. I enjoying teaching gymnastics: breaking down something complex into parts that are easily understood and less intimidating. I aspire to be kind and fair to those that I coach and I place a large emphasis on learning about the tricks and how to be an athlete. I love the fine arts. I love the constant learning about the human mind and body and most of all I love the positive interactions that I get to have with those in and around Twisters every day.
AJ Clark
Men's Pre-Competitive Coach
AJ
AJ is one of our Men’s Pre-Competitive coaches. Though he is new to coaching, he is not new to gymnastics; AJ was a gymnast for 10 years, competing in both our Men’s Competitive and Boys Interclub programs. His favorite event to coach is floor and he loves having the chance to pass on old knowledge from his time as an athlete. A fun fact about AJ is that he got straight A’s all through school!
Stephania Illiesu
WAG Coach
Stephania
With over 40 years in the international field of gymnastics as coach, choreographer, national and international presenter and course conductor. Stephania holds her Masters Degree in Physical Education, specialized in Gymnastics and brings years of excellence in Gymnastics to Twisters. As the winner of the National Coach of the year 2001, Stephania's International coaching experience in Canada, Australia, Romania and Singapore to name a few, Stephania has brought gymnasts to National and Olympic level success including but not limited to:
NATIONAL CANADIAN TEAM COACH:
- Pacific Alliance/Rim- Honolulu/Hawaii and Vancouver/Canada -2004-2002
- Pan American Games- Santo Domingo/Dominican Republic 2003
- World Championship- Anaheim/USA-2003
- Pre- Olympics - Athens/Greece-2004
- Olympics- Athens/ Greece-2004
- American Challenge- USA-2004
- Five Countries Event-Holland-2004
Paula Melger-Iida
WAG Coach
Paula
Paula has been a part of the gymnastics community since she was 4 years old. She competed with Twisters Gymnastics Club, earning provincial awards several times and placed in the medals at every competition. She has also been awarded choreography and artistry awards during her time as an athlete for floor Paula hopes to share her knowledge in the sport to the future generations of athletes!
Chantel Vander Zwan
WAG Coach
Chantel
Chantel is one of our WAG coaches. She has been a coach for 6 years and was an athlete in our Girls Interclub and Gymnaestrada programs, and was a part of our Gymnaestrada team that participated in the 2019 World Gymnaestrada in Austria! Her favorite event to coach is bars, and she loves the challenge of helping each athlete with their own strengths, weaknesses and fears and watching them overcome difficulties and develop confidence! A fun fact about Chantel is that she has two dogs and loves to spend time with them!
Marissa Engh
wag coach
Marissa
Marissa has done gymnastics since she was 5 years old! she has been so passionate about the sport and continues to do it to this day. she is a level 10 athlete at our gym and hopes to continue her journey.
Chiyoko Ikeda
Recreational Coach
Chiyoko
Chiyoko is one of our recreational coaches and mother to Richard and Ken Ikeda and Julie Isfeld; as well as wife to Mits Ikeda. As a National level gymnast in Japan she brings years of experience to our recreational gymnasts.
Coach Chiyoko is very popular with our Pre-school and kinder classes.
Yosuke Nitta
Recreational, Interclub, & MAG coach
Yosuke
Recreational and MAG coach
Tristan Fast
Recreational & Interclub Coach
Tristan
Tristan is one of our Recreational and Interclub coaches and has been coaching for 5 years. He is also currently part of our Men's Competitive program and competed on Team BC in 2021! His favorite event to coach is floor and his favorite thing about being a coach is teaching his athletes skills that he learned when he was younger. A fun fact about Tristan is that he enjoys baking when he is not at the gym!
Sarah Powell
Recreational & Gymnaestrada Coach
Sarah
Naya Thomas
Recreational Coach
Naya
Naya is one of our Recreational coaches. She is new to our coaching team, but is not new to coaching or gymnastics. She has been coaching for 3 years and was a Competitive gymnast for 11 years! She loves coaching beam and seeing her athletes have fun and learn new skills. Naya was awarded All Around Gold and the Beam Award at the 2019 Ogopogo Competition and she holds the record for the longest time training at her old gym!
Kennedy Fast
Recreational Coach
Kennedy Fast
Kennedy is one of our Recreational coaches, and has been a coach for 3 years. She has also been a part of our Women’s Competitive team for many years and competed at Nationals in 2019! Her favorite event to coach is beam and she loves helping her athletes learn new skills. In her spare time, Kennedy enjoys building Lego!
Emily Payne
Recreational coach
Emily
Emily is one of our Recreational coaches. She has been coaching for 1 year, and has been a gymnast for many years here at Twisters. She is currently training in our Xcel program as one of our Xcel Gold athletes! Her favorite event to coach is floor, and what she loves about being a coach is seeing the excitement in her athletes when they get the skill they’ve been working so hard on. Emily has learned French as her second language and a fun fact about her is that she went to Trapeze school when she was 12 years old!
Raven Weighell
Recreational coach
Raven
Raven is one of our Recreational Coaches, she has been a coach for 12 years. Her favorite events to coach are bars and vault, and she enjoys being able to help her athletes achieve their goals. Raven was a competitive equestrian vaulter while cross training as a gymnast and competed internationally in vaulting, and a fun fact about her is that she loves math, physics, and video games!
Carissa Vander Zwan
Recreational Coach
Carissa
Carissa is new to our Recreational coaching team, but is not new to gymnastics. She was a gymnast for 10 years and competed as a part of both our Girls Interclub and Women’s Competitive teams! Her favorite event to coach is floor, and she loves being able to help her athletes share in the experience of them achieving new skills. Carissa placed in the top 8 at BC High School Track and Field in the Junior Girls 100 meter, and she loves going hiking and watching the sunset!
Makaila Gatt
Recreational & Xcel Coach
Makaila
Makaila is one of our Recreational coaches. She has been coaching for 1 year and has been a gymnast for 10 years. She is currently training in our Xcel program as one of our Xcel Gold athletes and placed 2nd on bars in a recent competition! Her favorite event to coach is floor, and she loves to see her athletes improve and watch them as they accomplish new skills. A fun fact about Makaila is that she enjoys reading in her spare time!
Emily Butte
Recreational coach
Emily
Emily is one of our Recreational coaches. She is currently training in our Women’s Competitive Program, and has competed in the BC Winter Games! She has been a coach for two years, and loves being able to share her gymnastics knowledge with her athletes - especially on floor. While Emily loves gymnastics, she also loves to play lots of other sports!
Gabi Spring
Recreational Coach
Gabi
Gabi is one of our Recreational coaches. She has been coaching for 6 months and has been a gymnast at Twisters for many years in our recreational and Gymnaestrada programs! Her favorite event to coach is beam and she loves making connections with her athletes and watching them succeed in their goals. A fun fact about Gabi is that she opened her own custom cake business when she was 14, and she loves being outdoors!
Maya MacDonald Garcia
Recreational & Gymnaestrada Coach
Maya
Maya is one of our Recreational and Gymnaestrada coaches. She has been coaching for a year and is currently training in our Women's Competitive Program and has been a gymnast for many years. Maya’s favorite event to coach is floor and she enjoys being able to teach others something she loves. A fun fact about Maya is that she is bilingual, and enjoys theater and acting, and has even performed in front of talent scouts in New York!
Prayerna Sohal
Recreational Coach
Prayerna
Prayerna is one of our Recreational coaches and has been coaching for one year! She has been a gymnast in our Recreational program for 9 years and is currently an athlete in our Tramp & Tumble class. Her favorite event to coach is floor and she enjoys helping her athletes learn new skills and seeing their smiles when they are successful. Prayerna is in all the honors classes at her high school and her name means "Inspiration"!
Vanshika Baidwan
Recreational Coach
Vanshika
Vanshika is one of our Recreational coaches. She is new to our coaching team, but is very experienced in gymnastics. She has been a gymnast since she was 6 years old and is currently training in our Xcel Program as one of our Xcel Gold athletes and even received the “Brilliant Bars” award at a recent competition! Her favorite events to coach are floor and bars and she loves being able to help her athletes develop and achieve their goals while passing down her knowledge of the sport. A fun fact about Vanshika is that she used to be a district-level public speaker and has won 2 spelling bees!
Erin Devlin
Recreational Coach
Erin
Erin is new to our Recreational Coaching team, but has been a gymnast since she was 3 years old. She trained in our Recreational program as well as our Xcel program! She loves coaching vault, floor, and beam, and enjoys getting to know her athletes while helping them with their skills. Erin made her grade 9 volleyball team and was the Libero on the team, which is a specialized position!
Quentin Foster
Recreational Coach
Quentin
Quentin is one of our Recreational coaches. Though he is new to coaching, he is not new to gymnastics as he has been a gymnast since he was 5 years old. Quentin has been a part of our Men’s Competitive program for many years and placed in the top 3 on floor at every competition he went to last year! His favorite event to coach is floor and he loves being able to help his athletes improve. A fun fact about Quentin is that he enjoys Jazz music!
Marin Lesurf
Recreational Coach
Marin
Marin is one of our Recreational coaches. She is a new coach, but has a lot of experience as a gymnast! She has been an athlete at Twisters in our Recreational, Gymnaestrada, and Xcel programs. She is currently in our Xcel Program competing in Xcel Gold and in a recent competition she placed in the top 3 on Bars! Her favorite event to coach is floor, and she loves watching her athletes go from needing help with a skill to being able to do it on their own. A fun fact about Marin is that she played the violin for 5 years!
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Twisters would love to receive your resume if you are interested in coaching opportunities. Email to info@twistersgymbc.com or fax it to us at 604-850-1504
rECREATIONAL COACHING
Recreational Gymnastic Coaches
Twisters Gymnastics has a long history of promoting growth and development with their coaches. If you are interested in becoming a coach please contact our Recreational Director Katrina Penner-Loat at recdirector@twistersgymbc.com
- Must be age 15+
- NCCP Level 1 certified or willing to get certified
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