In real estate the saying is Location, Location, Location. In gymnastics it’s Coaches, Coaches, Coaches and in particular experienced coaches! OGC is very fortunate to have some of the best, highly-trained and award-winning coaches in the country.

OGC only employs coaches with National Coaching Certifications (NCCP) from Gymnastics Canada (this is an important distinction when considering a facility for your children). Our philosophy is “We Teach Children Not Skills”. We are very proud of our coaches and their accomplishments, which are listed below. We hope you take a few minutes to read about our coaches.

Tobie Gorman
Women’s Head Coach and Program Director

Tobie started coaching in 1971 and the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre has been her home since 1976. Tobie is fully certified in Level 3 Women’s Artistic, Level 3 Choreography, a fully certified Level 2 Trampoline Coach and is working towards her Level 4 certification.

Tobie has coached at all levels of gymnastics including Kindergym, Recreational, Developmental, Pre-Competitive, Provincial, National and High Performance.  Tobie says she’s had the privilege to work with many talented athletes over the years and holds close to her heart our philosophy of “We teach children not skills”!

Tobie has had the honour to represent OGC, the City of Ottawa, Gymnastics Ontario and Gymnastics Canada on numerous occasions throughout her coaching career.  Career highlights include; Coach of the 2003 Canadian Pan American Team (Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic); the 2003 World Championship Team (Anaheim, California) and the 2004 Canadian Olympic Team (Athens, Greece).

Past awards include; 2001 Gymnastics Canada National Coach of the year, 2003 Ottawa Female Coach of the year, 2003 Ontario Female Coach of the Year, 2004 Gymnastics Canada High Performance Coach of the Year. In 2008 Tobie was awarded a Lifetime Membership to Gymnastics Canada!

Tobie can be contacted at ogc@rogers.com or 613-722-8698, ext. 300.

Lori Ierullo
Kindergym Program Director

Lori has been a member of the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre since 1971, first as a competitive gymnast, and then continued her love for the sport through coaching.  She was a competitive coach for 31 years, training many Provincial and National Champions culminating in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 where she, along with Women’s Head Coach Tobie Gorman coached Olympians Melanie Banville and Heather Purnell, before retiring from coaching in the competitive program in 2005.  

Lori has been the Program Director for our highly-regarded Kindergym Program since its inception in 1980.  In 2006, Lori received the Ontario Coaching Excellence Award for program development at the Grassroots Level.  OGC’s Kindergym Program provides gymnastics to children ages 8 months to 6 yrs and offers classes 7 days a week to an average of 700 children per week.  She brings to the program her technical expertise in gymnastics as well as her love for children and along with her experienced staff, has developed the Kindergym Program into one of the largest and most respected in Canada (OGC was named Club of the Year by Gymnastics Canada in 2004)!

Some of Lori’s accomplishments are; Bachelor of Physical Education (Honours), Ottawa University, 1980; fully certified NCCP Level 3 Artistic, Level 2 Trampoline; 2003-2004 Senior Women’s International Coach of the Year (Gymnastics Canada); 2005 National Coach of the Year (Gymnastics Canada); 2006 Ontario Coaching Excellence Award (Sport Ontario) and coach of 2004 Olympians Melanie Banville and Heather Purnell.

Lori can be contacted at lierullo_ogc@rogers.com or 613-722-8698, ext. 301.

Colin Richardson
Men's Head Coach and Program Director  

Colin has been with the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre since the fall of 1997 when he moved from Kingston to attend high school and train in Ottawa as a High Performance National athlete.  Colin has earned a Bachelor of Social Science with honours and is currently enrolled in a one-year intensive Bachelor of Education program. 

Colin is a veteran of eight Canadian National Gymnastics Championships; six as an athlete; one as a personal coach and one as the Open National Provincial Team Coach.  He is a fully certified National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) Level 3 Men's Gymnastics Coach, Level 2 Women’s Gymnastics Coach and a Level 2 Trampoline Coach.  Colin also has completed both the Gymnastics Canada and Gymnastics Ontario Risk Management Courses and has Emergency Level First Aid training. He has been our Men’s Head Coach and Program Director since 2006.

Colin can be contacted at crichardson_ogc@rogers.com or 613-722-8698, ext. 303.

Connie Groom
Recreational Program Director

People say that your “niche” in life will find you, which is what happened to Connie. In 1986 a local Gymnastic Club in Alberta was advertising for judges. Little did Connie know how this would change her life! A former gymnast and all around sports enthusiast, Connie went in to see what this was all about and within one year she was coaching Provincial Gymnasts, and a year later running the club. From 1987-1992 her primary focus was coaching mainly Pre-Competitive and Provincial athletes in many provinces across Canada.

Connie moved to Ontario in 1992 and from 1992-2003 she was a Program Director and coached Pre-School, Pre-Competitive, Level 3-5 and served as the Summer Camp Director. From 2003-2007 Connie was the Technical Director at a Club in Gatineau and coached Sport Etutide (Provincial Program). At the same time her talents were shared with the City of Ottawa, she was hired by the city as a sports specialist and ran a recreational gymnastics program.

Connie was hired by the Ottawa Gymnastic Centre in August of 2007 as the Recreational Program Director. Connie is happy to be at OGC where she is coaching again. She says “It’s in the blood and the coaching shoes are not ready to retire yet”.

Connie holds numerous certifications they include; fully certified Level 2 Artistic (partial Level 3) and Level 2 Trampoline; High Five Trainer; New Foundations Learning Facilitator and Quest 2 Asser. Connie is also trained and certified in First Aid/CPR & AED.

Connie can be contacted at cgroom_ogc@rogers.com or 613-722-8698, ext. 302.

Debbie Cogliati
Competitive Coach

Debbie has been employed by OGC for 31 years. She is currently coaching in the Girls Competitive, Developmental and Kindergym Programs.

She has an honours degree in Human Kinetics as well as a Primary/Intermediate Teaching degree. Debbie is also a fully certified Level 2 Coach in both Women’s Artistic and Trampoline, and partially certified as a Level 3 Coach in both disciplines.

She has coached 10 Provincial Champions throughout the course of her career. Debbie has been involved with Gymnastics Ontario as a Team Manager to athletes traveling to Nationals for the past fifteen years. She has also been selected as team coach for numerous teams representing Gymnastics Ontario at various meets both in Canada and the United States for the past seventeen years.

Lynne Ethier
Developmental Program Coordinator – Tiny Tumbler, Petite Elite and Girls Competitive Program

Most of our coaches have been involved with gymnastics for a very long time, in Lynne’s case it was since she was 3 years old.  Lynne started out as an athlete and competed at the provincial level for the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre and then moved on to become a coach.

She has been in her current position for two years. Originally Lynne was hired as part of the women’s competitive team and grew into her recent role because of her past experience and expertise as head coach, and for her leadership skills.  Lynne manages our Tiny Tumbler and Petite Elite programs, her responsibilities include; overseeing the programs; the recruitment of new athletes; the assessment of coaches and athletes and the overall success of the programs.

Both the Tiny Tumbler and Petite Elite programs have proven to be a very successful platform for a number of athletes climbing up the gymnastics ladder, wanting to become Provincial and National level champions.  Lynne’s philosophy is best summed up in the following quote;

"Satisfaction lies in the effort not the attainment. Full effort is full victory."
Mahatma Gandhi

Lynne can be contacted at lethier_ogc@rogers.com or 613-722-8698, ext. 224.

Melanie Major
Program Coordinator – Level 3 - 5

Mel started coaching ten years ago, and absolutely fell in love with it! She is fully certified Level 1& 2 in Artistic Gymnastics and Trampoline as well as Level 3 technical and theory. Mel is currently coaching at the Competitive (Level 5-7) and Pre-Competitive level (8 yrs old), in a developmental group (Tiny Tumbler) and some Kindergym groups!  As a coach, she wants her athletes to challenge themselves and feel proud of their accomplishments.

Mel is completing her second year as the Level 3-5 program coordinator for the Girl’s Competitive Program.  Her main goal is to help make the program successful and memorable for all the level 3-5 families.  Some of her key responsibilities include; the management of the coaches and the administrative duties of the program.  Keeping the lines of communication open with the parents, athletes and coaches is one of Mel’s top priorities. 
There are 23 athletes in the Level 3-5 program. Mel is proud to say that the girls have fun while improving their skills in a safe environment.
Our level 3-5 gymnasts compete up to four times a year at invitational competitions. The girls train from September to June and try-outs for new members are held in the spring.

Mel is supported by three terrific coaches; Valerie Abassi, Amanda Pepin and Christie Newman. Their knowledge, experience and passion help make this program a success!  This program does not just teach gymnastics; the girls learn to have good sportsmanship, great work habits, perseverance and a higher self-esteem. 

Mel can be contacted at mmajor_ogc@rogers.com or 613-722-8698, ext. 227.

Mandy Rymal

Coach

Mandy is a fully certified Level 2 coach in Artistic Gymnastics and Trampoline. She has been coaching at the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre for three years and is currently coaching one of the Pre-Competitive groups. She is also pursuing her PhD at the University of Ottawa in Human Kinetics with a specialization in sports psychology.

Amanda Pepin
Tiny Tumbler & Petite Elites

Amanda graduated from Carleton University with a degree in Geochemistry. She is certified Level 2 Artistic Gymnastics and Level 1 Trampoline. Amanda started in gymnastics as a six year old and continued in the Masters program. She has been coaching for 16 years with experience in the Kindergym, Adult Recreation and Competitive Programs.

She loves coaching gymnastics because it gives her an opportunity to help children/youth develop self confidence, self discipline and a healthy lifestyle - all of which she thinks are important traits to carry with them into adulthood. We think Amanda is right!