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Email Us
gym@kauaigymnastics.com
CLOSED on Monday, January 16th for MLK Day
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CLOSED on Monday, January 16th for MLK Day |
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Our Coaches
Head Coach / Co-Owner: Jack Leonard Jack brings over 37 years of experience teaching physical education and coaching gymnastics to Kauai. He’s a past 9-time National Champion who graduated with a degree in education from Ohio State where he was also a Cheerleader. He has coached all levels from 3-year old beginners to Olympians, earning two National High School Coach of the Year Awards (once for men; once for women). He was assistant coach of 3-time Olympian Dominique Dawes. He also ran a success after-school gymnastics program called Jack Leonard Gymnastics (JLG). At its peak, JLG taught gymnastics and fitness to over 300 kids a week. Jack brings his depth of personal gymnastics experience to bear on how he coaches every gymnast to succeed. To view a longer history/bio about Jack, click here. Jack’s philosophy is to break down a trick into many, many parts so it can be more easily understood and executed. He’s an expert at being able to assess where a trick is going wrong and convey it to the gymnast so they can fix it.
Coach / Co-Owner / Head Administrator: Kay Leonard
Kay's path to gymnastics was a little different than Jack's. Before Jack
and Kay were married, Jack was the gymnastics coach of Kay's son, who was in
Junior High (now called Middle School) at the time. Two of her daughters
were also in gymnastics -- one took classes with Marge and Greg Weiss (the
parents of Michael Weiss,
the skater) and the other was on a team coached by Jack (Rockville H.S. Varsity). Jack and Kay were married in 1983. Her four
children were teenagers. Jack had just started Jack Leonard Gymnastics, so
Kay became the "behind-the-scenes" administrator while she worked full
time as E.V.P./General
Manager of a medium-sized video production/multimedia company based in Virginia. After
19 years with that company, Kay "retired" to work from home as a satellite
communications, a/v coordinator, and marketing consultant under the moniker of
"Lagniappe Services" (it means "a little extra").
She started coaching with Jack at JLG and continues to do so at Kauai
Gymnastics, coaching Tots through Advanced Beginners. Her many years of ballet as a child
come in mighty handy! Believe it or not, she also was in a Hula Troupe (in
MD) when she was 10! Besides coaching, Kay is the "Paperwork Queen" at
KGA. She is also a
Home Stager and has
her real estate sales license, working out of
Aloha Island Properties
(contact kay@alohaisland.com). Kay and Jack have 8 grandchildren, 2 of whom live on Kauai.
Coach: Lucia Kerr Lucia comes to KGA via Madison, WI, although she lived on Kauai first when she was small. In 2006, after 12 years of living in Madison (her mom's home town), her family traded in cold blasts for warm breezes and moved back to Kauai. Lucia has a long background in gymnastics and dance. She took gymnastics for six years at Madtown Twisters in Madison, then continued at the High School level. She also took two years of Tap and Ballet at Kehls' Dance School. Her hobbies are running, surfing, guitar, gymnastics and reading. Lucia works with Tots, Beginners and Beginner Plus gymnasts at KGA.
Coach: Tristana Fernandez Tristana worked at KGA for a short time at the end of 2008 and we're happy to welcome her back permanently, as her move here is now complete. She has a strong background in dance and was instrumental in choreographing many of the team members' floor routines last fall. She will continue in that role again this year. She is also Assistant Coach of Kula and Hoku, and one of the Assistant Coaches for Iki. Besides her background in many forms of dance, she was a competitive gymnast and she worked for North Shore Gymnastics Academy, Kauai (the KGA predecessor) and Dynamic Gymnastics in Spokane before coming here. At our new space, Tristana will co-run our Parents and Tots program, too. She's the proud mom of Tessa, who is also a gymnast!
Coach: Lani Johnson Yes! Lani is back from her mainland adventure! Past Kula Hui member and coach, Lani moved to San Diego and then Portland in 2010, where she worked at several gyms. We are happy to have her back and teaching classes and teams. She also adds her creative touch to our gym camps.
Assistant Coach: Jazmin Morris Jazmin has been a member of KGA for so many years, it would take too long to even figure it out! She is currently a member of our Kula Hui (highest level team) and is now an Assistant Coach for our Iki Hui and a few of our regular classes.
Assistant Coach: Nelson Acosta Anyone who has watched Waimea H.S. Cheerleaders in the last 5 years knows Nelson. A 2010 graduate of Waimea H.S., he was a fixture on their cheer squad and a stand-out tumbler. He won the award for "Outstanding H.S. Cheerleader" in 2010. Nelson is also a staff member for (AAA) All Attitude Athletics "Cheer with ALOHA." He has joined our staff to help all the cheer tumblers attain the skills he displayed.
Assistant Coach: Mark Bonilla Mark Bonilla is a 2009 graduate from Kapaa High School and a former Kapaa Warrior Cheerleader. Known as The Banana Man by his friends, Mark works two jobs, attends Kaua‘i Community College and still goes back to help his Kapaa Warrior Cheerleaders in any way he can. He won Cheerleader All-Star two years in a row and is also a Staff member for (AAA) All Attitude Athletics “ Cheer with ALOHA”. Mark has been a member of KGA, first as a tumbler and now as an Assistant Coach and knows the gym in and out. His goal is to help our gymnasts and cheer tumblers attain and better their tumbling/gymnastics skills. Mark is always energetic and is famous for giving our gymnasts happy nicknames.
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Send comments/questions/suggestions/concerns in regards to this website to: webmaster@kauaigymnastics.com Kauai
Gymnastics Academy -- Where It's FUN
to be FIT!
NEW LOCATION: 4224 Hanahao Street, Lihue,
Kauai, Hawaii 96766 MAILING ADDRESS: (no mailbox at the gym): 6134 Kala Kea Place #4, Kapaa, HI 96746 808/245-8863 or 808/634-8697 |
