Our Staff

Gymnastics is one of the best individual sports to help children build self-confidence, flexibility, agility & body control. Students work & develop skills at their own pace in a fun and active environment. The Recreation Department is proud to have as gymnastics instructors Trish Merck, Deven Pressley, Paul Daniel, Cathy Campfield, Rachel Satori,  Marci Phillips, Dr. Vladimir Zaglada, Juli Lanni, Chris Wise, Tina Davis, & Susan Seibert.

Deven is the director of our after-school gymnastics program & was formerly the Director of Gymnastics at the North Georgia Activities & Fitness Center in Dawsonville. Deven has over 17 years experience teaching gymnastics and is certified through United States American Gymnastics & is an accredited professional in safety and skill evaluation with USAG. She is the head coach of our level 2 & 3 competitive team and has been with the team since its inception.

Cathy has been involved with the sport of gymnastics for over 30 years. She was a competitive gymnast for 11 years, qualifying for National Championships five times. Cathy received a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Nebraska where she graduated with a degree in engineering. Cathy  teaches gymnastics and is a nationally ranked level 10 gymnastics judge, judging competitions throughout the state. She assists all levels on the competitive team and has been instrumental in the development not only of the program, working with CRPD since it began, but helping the booster club in putting together top notch events and solid parent group.

Dr. Vladimir Zaglada is one of the Architects of the Soviet Gymnastics Dynasty. Graduated from the Lvov's Institute of Physical Culture Moscow, Russia, where he specialized in Sport Acrobatics, Pedagogical Sciences, and is a former Senior Professor of the Central Institute of Physical Culture. Author of two books, "Programmed Learning in Gymnastics" and "Women's Floor Exercises" which are translated into Japanese, Italian and the English languages. In recent years Vladimir worked with other National Coaches preparing Russian gymnasts for the Olympic games. In 1989, he became the first President of the Dynamo Moscow Gymnastics Club. Former Technical Director for the British Gymnastics Men's Artistic Team. We are honored to have Vlad's expertise in working with all levels and the boys team.

Kevin Robins has an impressive coaching history, with a desire to implement a special needs gymnastics program for autistic and downs syndrome children, a dream shared by Deven and Trish. Kevin's expertise led to the creation of gymnastics and exercise programs throughout the South, many of which included rehabilitative services for handicapped children.    His gymnastics background covers everything from summer camp programs to ladies gymnasts through level 10.  He has brought teams to AAU State and Regional championships.

Rachel Satori graduated with a B.S. in Education ( Health Promotions) from Auburn University. She coached at the Alpharetta Recreation Dept. for 5 years, and was also a member of the first State Championship gymnastics team at the Roswell Recreation and Parks Dept. She is the head coach of the AAU Prep Op team.

Marci Phillips has coached at our gym for 5 years. She is currently attending North Georiga University, majoring in physical therapy. While she was at West Georgia College, she also was a coach for West Georgia gymnastics, where she was the head coach for their Prep Gold team. Marci will be working primarily with the level 2 and 3 girls teams.

Julie Lanni - has coached at our gym for 2 years, is a senior at Central and is on their gymnastics team. Julie passed her judges exam this summer and will be judging meets through the year. She will be working primarily with the girls 2, 3 & 4 teams.

Chris Wise - was a competitive gymnast for 6 years. He was a member of the national and 2 time state championship gymnastic teams while in high school in Ohio. He was an after-school instructor and an assistant coach for the girls competitive gymnastics team for Forsyth County Parks and Recreation for 2 years before joining our staff last summer. Chris is an instructor of boys gym, tumbling, boys pre-team, and assistant coach of our boys competitive team. He is a USAG Professional member and has a BS degree in Architectural Engineering Technology from the University of Cincinnati.

Tina Davis attended North Georgia & State University where she obtained both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Early Children Education. She has 12 years of teaching experience. Tina works with the pre-team classes.

Trish Merck is the director of our pre-school gymnastics program and is the former co-owner of Cyndi's School of Fitness in Cumming. She has over 28 years of gymnastics teaching experience and is USAG safety certified, a USAG professional member, and has completed the KAT (Kinder Accreditation for Teachers certification program). Trish is a graduate of Auburn University where she competed on the gymnastics team, and majored in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. Trish has been with the CRPD program since its beginning.