Full-Time Staff

Michaela Chelberg
Executive Director
Michaela grew up in Norfolk, NE and received a Biology degree with a minor in coaching from UW-River Falls. She was hired at Mini Hops in 1999 and is currently the Executive Director and Adaptive Program Director. She enjoys gardening, biking, and hiking. Michaela coaches because she wants to make a lasting impact.

Ellie Rowland
Marketing Director
Ellie is the Marketing Director, who started at Mini Hops in 2020. She has degree in Marketing from the University of St. Thomas. Ellie is a former colligate track athlete and she was a professional mascot for over 6 years.

James Letzring
Facilities Manager & Coach
James grew up in Grand Forks, ND and has a B.A. in biology from Metro State University. He is currently the Facility Manager and coach, he started coaching in 1996, but came to MHG in 2002. He has a daughter and two sons, all who are gymnasts at Mini Hops.

David Ward
Lead Team Director
David began coaching in 1991 and came to Mini Hops in 2015. He is currently our Competitive Team Director but has worked in our Mini-Hoppers and progressive programs previously. David coaches because he loves to help athletes realize their potential. Fun fact: He loves to fish!

Stefny Kolesnikov
Mini-Hoppers Director & HR Generalist
Stefny is currently Lead Recreational Director and HR Generalist. She has been at Mini Hops since 2009 and coaching since 1991. She speaks Russian and has two amazing kids (both were MHG gymnasts). Stefny says that teaching is her calling. Serving others and sharing what she knows to enhance others’ lives is her mission.

Keyla Kraus
Xcel Team Director
Keyla is our current Xcel Team Director, who has been coaching at Mini Hops since 2007. Fun fact: Keyla was a competitive JO gymnast with MHG. When she is not coaching, Keyla enjoys spending time at the cabin, traveling, and solving puzzles. Her favorite part of coaching is sharing her knowledge and passion for the sport with her gymnasts.

Kris Wilner
Academic Preschool Director
Kris is our Academic Preschool Director, but is trained to work in many other departments. Kris has been at Mini Hops since 2018, but has been coaching since 2010. Kris enjoys getting to teach the next generation as well as introducing them to the world of gymnastics early on.

Julien Lang
Girls, Boys, and Adult Progressive Director
We were very fortunate when Julien Lang moved here from France and joined our team in 2016. He is passionate about fitness, gymnastics, and teaching children all about exercise as well as all the life lessons that come with working hard to be their best. Julien is extremely creative and has a knack for solving all sorts of problems in innovative ways. He and his wife are wonderful parents to three amazing sons who are all athletic, smart and talented in so many ways.

Raye Kennedy
Camp and Performing Arts Director
Raye has done a lot since she began her coaching career here at MHG in 2018! She created and transformed both the Performing Arts Program, Performance Team and the Camp Program into amazingly inclusive, innovative vessels for students to grow, learn and blossum into their best selves. She is extremely creative, caring and hardworking; an amazing teacher to all! Outside the gym, Raye enjoys time with her loving partner, Jason and their sweet dog. She also enjoys traveling, sight-seeing and Mardi Gras!

Dani Anderson
Adaptive Coordinator
Coach Dani is from Waterloo, Iowa and received a degree in Leisure, Youth, and Human Services at the University of Northern Iowa. She is the oldest of five siblings and grew up playing lots of sports. She works in almost every program at Mini-Hops, but she mostly loves working as the Adaptive Coordinator, promoting inclusive gymnastics to all individuals with differing abilities. Her favorite food is grilled cheese.

Kostya Kolensnikov
Boy's Team Director
Konstantin “Kostya” Kolesnikov began gymnastics at the age of 7, earned the title of All-Around Champion at the Russian Cup, was a member of the USSR/Russian National Team, and has a Bachelor of Science with an emphasis on Physical Education as a Gymnastics Coach. He has coached all levels of gymnastics, including several Olympians. He was the University of Minnesota Men’s Gymnastics Teams Assistant coach and in 2021 he was recognized as a USA Senior Coach of the Year by USA Gymnastics.

Aaron Vanderwall
TNT Program Director/Coach
Aaron is an Exercise Expert to say the least. If you have a question about the human body, exercise, fitness, or physiology, he could rival Google! He earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology & Masters of Education in Applied Kinesiology (Sport and Exercise Science). He has been a personal trainer and soccer coach for several decades, so we feel we won the lottery when he joined us in 2016! Aaron joined us when his daughter, Aubrey, started tumbling here as a baby, now she is a member of our girls competitive team.
Aaron is currently the Director of both the recreational and competitive Trampoline and Tumbling programs and he is the Director of the Mini-Hoppers program as well! Aaron loves coaching because as says, “I enjoy sharing my love of sport and movement with my students and watching them reach their goals as they figure out new skills and competencies.”
Aaron’s family, including his wonderful wife, Kelly, enjoy getting out in nature and/or the community, as well as traveling to new Micro-breweries whenever they have time.

Kristin Wemm
Girls Team Assistant Director
Coach Kristin was a gymnast for as long as she can remember; competing throughout her childhood and adolescence. She had been coaching and judging gymnastics almost her entire adult life and has a true passion for teaching gymnastics in a way that is healthy both mentally and physically. MHG welcomed Kristin in 2016 and have been amazed and thankful for her contribution to the Girls Competitive Programs ever since! Outside of the gym, Kristin has a wonderful husband, Skylar, is a “pet-mom” to her sassy cats, rides her motorcycle and loves to exercise.

Kelly Blake
Pre-Team Coordinator
In 2018, Kelly joined the Mini-Hops Girls Team coaching staff and quickly became the Pre-Team Coordinator, helping the youngest athletes to determine if gymnastics is the sport they want to pursue as they learn to work hard and stretch themselves to the limit. She is amazing with the youngest of athletes and can give the incremental challenges that lead them to success. Kelly was a gymnast growing up and was a strong competitor for Lakeville North High School and is happy to use the sport she loves to teach young athletes the value of sport in learning life lessons. When Kelly is not at the gym, she is either being an amazing mom to her son, Caleb or spending time at another gym for her own workouts! In the recent past, she was training and competing as a power lifter!

Paula Rawlings
Girls Team Coach
Paula was a high school gymnast for 4 years and then started coaching in 1993 in Vancouver, Washington. When shes not coaching she loves the outdoors; hiking, trail running, kayaking, paddle boarding etc. She loves to use her creativity to help athletes achieve their skills.

Nong Quang
Boys Team Coach
Coach Nong was born in Nanning, China and trained his entire life as a gymnast, ultimately becoming a member of the Chinese National Team; earning the highest ranking as an international and national competitor. He earned the prestigious title of Junior Asian floor, pommel horse, and rings champion and his team earned the second place title of that competition as well! He coached for six years before immigrating to the US, where Coach Nong worked at Chow’s Gymnastics in Iowa for over a decade before joining the MHG Boys Team Staff in 2015. He is wonderful coach of ages 4 and up, from beginners to the highest level of competitive gymnastics. He recently helped a long-time Mini-Hops gymnast, Mark Fu, to be recruited to compete for William and Mary!
An interesting fact is that Coach Nong is a soccer fanatic; he has loved that sport since he was a child. When he is not at work, he enjoys time with his beautiful wife, LiYing, daughter, Lisa and son, Derek.

Doug Price
Boys Team Coach
Our proud and loud “East Coaster”, Coach Doug has been coaching gymnastics since the late 70s or early 80s. He has coached EVERYTHING, from tots to teens, birthday parties to high level competitive gymnasts. The majority of his experience is working with boys’ competitive teams, and he has guided many athletes to National Championships and had several gymnasts earn a spot on the US. Junior National Team. Currently, he is coaching Solen Chiodi who competed to earn a spot on the US. Junior National Team in the summer of 2022. In his spare time, Coach Doug enjoys playing guitar, is creative and talented wood worker and he is an amazing cook!

Bridgit Abuzzahab
Coach
Coach Bridgit began at Mini-Hops as a Mini-Gym Assistant Coach in 2015. Since then, she has continued to learn and grow as a teacher throughout the years and now she coaches ages 5 months to 12 years; she LOVES kids, and it truly shows! Her smile is contagious, and the kids are instantly drawn to her loving and caring personality. Bridgit is a huge K-Pop fan and her cat, “Ember” is so sweet that she waits by the door for Bridgit to get home every day!

John Dickey
Boys Team Coach
John is a self-described student of the sport, always thirsty for more knowledge from his peers and students. His education background is extensive with an Exercise Science degree as well as a BS, secondary science Education from CO state University and three years of classroom teaching experience in grades 7-12.
John himself started relatively late in this sport at 10 years old in Marina, Huntington Beach CA and finished up his collegiate competitive career with the University of New Mexico achieving NCAA national ranking on pommel horse for 3 seasons.
In 2013 John was the Head Gymnastics Coach at a club in Tampere, Finland where he designed training programs and optional routines to maximize scores on each event for each gymnast. Coached at the Finnish national team training camps and traveled with the team to all competitions including international competitions.
John not only enjoys gaining knowledge, but he also loves sharing it as well. John believes that this technical sport allows us as coaches to develop all the right character traits during an athlete’s gymnastics journey; honesty, dedication, personal accountability, work ethic, grit, and much more.
John takes his coaching seriously, but when he is not digging into the code of points, he likes to ride bike, write music and recently replaced training for marathons with body building. A FUN fact about John is that he built his own “Tiny House” with no formal drawings or plans.

Joey Ray
Coach
Joey is an incredible person who cares deeply for others and is passionate about dance of all sorts and gymnastics for all. He was a gymnast at the University of Minnesota and then went on to hold a career in dentistry for 30 years, and he has recently decided to follow his passions of ministry and teaching dance and gymnastics. Joey is an extremely open, honest and caring person and has a pure love of helping others by “mining the gold” of each person. Coach Joey is an excellent addition to our teaching team!

Becky Schneider
Team Coach
Becky has been coaching at MHG since 2012 and she is truly passionate about gymnastics and teaching! She has coached most levels from parent/child classes all the way up to competitive girls’ teams. She is a “Jill of all Trades”, helping as a customer service member, preschool coach, academic preschool teacher, girls school age and upper level recreational and team coach. We are grateful to have such a caring, hard-working, kid-expert among us! In her spare time, Becky enjoys horseback riding, is a beautiful and talented singer and loves playing with her sweet and funny cats!

Ricia Weber
Coach
Coach Ricia has an extensive history in gymnastics as both an athlete and a coach. In addition, she earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and a Master’s in Social Work from University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She moved to Minnesota in August of 2022 after a successful directorship at the YMCA in Eau Claire where she increased the enrollment from practically zero after covid shutdowns up to several hundred students! She loves to coach all ages and levels, from parents and babies up to level 8 gymnasts, because she understands and is passionate about the sport of gymnastics and using it to develop amazing humans.
Part-Time Staff

Jean Juneski
Bookkeeper

Dan Anderson
Girls Team Coach

Ahkirrah Collier
Coach

Alieshia Frink
Coach

Alissa Brandt
Coach

Andrew Hyde
Seasonal Coach

Ava Anderson
Coach

Ben Devolve
Assistant Coach

Cass Hanson
Coach

Coral Assaraf
Customer Service

Cris Lilligren
Coach

Cristina Schonert
Team Coach

Cyndi Boyd
Academic Preschool

Ella Camp
Coach

Ella Schisler
Coach

David Alvarado
Sterling Karate Coach

Elliott Lang
Assistant Coach

Erica Hyde
Seasonal Coach

Fia Haley
Coach

Gabi Gahlon
Coach

Goldina Lee
Coach

Hannah Rowland
Seasonal Customer Service

Hyde Rocha-Morgan
Coach

Jacquelin Downs
Coach

Josie Klimmek
Seasonal Coach

Kaia Meyer
Coach

Katie Bowe
Seasonal Coach

Kylie Godfredson
Coach

Landon Essig
Coach

Laura Hyde
Seasonal Coach

Lilly Cook
Coach

Lisa Nong
Coach

Maddie Hovis
Coach

Maddie Michaels
Coach

Madison Bryan
Coach

Marina de Albuquerque Marcon
Coach

Meela Kolesnikov
Coach

Miia Barrack
Coach

Miranda Wolf
Assistant

Nasim Tajik
Coach

Nicole Nelson
Adaptive Coach

Nikolai Kolesnikov
Seasonal Coach

Nina Miller
Coach

Norah Madson
Seasonal Coach

Peter Sterling
Sterling Karate Coach

Quinten Kolness
Coach

Rachel Mansky
Coach

Reuven Anderson
Boys Team Seasonal Coach

Samantha Ajsenberg
Coach

Solen Chiodi
Coach
Volunteers
- Adriana Stoltman
- Amy Gillespie
- Hannah Walker
- Jennifer Bocklund
- Jessica Blindauer
- Kacey Reed
- Kelly Wente
- Morgan Masiak
- Rachel Mansky
- Samantha Howard
- Sarah Klobe
- Shannon Torgerson
- Sonia Bendjemil
- Sophia Silva
- Talia Willmert