All coaches at Liberty Gymnastics are safety certified and first aid trained. Coach education classes are held in-house on a monthly base by highly experienced senior staff mambers to improve the quality of coaching and increase technical expertise. Constant curriculum development is important to us in order to achieve learning for the success of all learners.

Rick Blake

Hi. My name is Rick and I teach at Liberty because gymnastics is one of the greatest things people in life can experience.

Watching Luke Skywalker in the movie "The Empire Strikes Back", flipping in the air with Yoda on his back, inspired me. I wanted to learn how to do a front flip. I signed up for gymnastics classes.

After a while, I worked my way on to team. My favorite event was floor, and I enjoyed pommel. Pommel was a little easier for me because I had long arms. P-bars was my scariest event. I worked with those fears, a little at a time and learned a great deal ... as with many things in life.

When I graduated from College Park High School, in Pleasant Hill, I joined the Air Force! I served 5 years, mostly at Travis Air force Base in Fairfield, where I worked on the C-5 Galaxy cargo plane as an environmental specialist. I was the guy who could make it snow on a plane. After the Air Force, I enrolled in an adult gymnastic class, and started coaching soon afterwards.

I am generally a quiet person. I do most of my talking and explaining on the floor while coaching gymnastics. I am analytical, and love to come up with ways of teaching and motivating students. I focus on positive reinforcement for the children I coach. I enjoy getting kids to perform something well. My general approach with kids is that they can do gymnastics. It may not be just now. A kid may ask me if they can do something, and I might say "yes, but not now", and bring them to the point of "Yes you can try this", "You can do this" and "You did it". Gymnastics is an ever-growing experience. Gymnastics is a technical, psychological, and social experience that is fascinating to me, as with most coaches. I love it when someone says "I did it!"

P.S.
I learned a back flip faster than a front flip. Expect something and get a whole lot more ...that's gymnastics in a nutshell.

Andrea Finkbeiner

Hi, my name is Andrea.

I have been involved in gymnastics since age 5. A Japanese worker on my dad's farm taught me a handstand against the wall and a one arm cartwheel. From that moment on I was more on my hands than my feet trying to break a world record in handstand walking in the barn's aisles. At this point my mother decided that it was time to put me into gymnastics classes. Unfortunately, the German village I grew up in was more equipped for cross country-skiing than gymnastics. Therefore I competed cross-country-skiing while still attempting a career in gymnastics. I even started to take boy's gymnastics classes because only two days in the gym was not quite enough for me.

At age sixteen, I was being asked by the teacher to assist him during PE classes to teach gymnastics and grade my fellow students (probably not such a good idea). At age 17, I started to teach my own gymnastics group of 8 girls in a gymnastics association.

After finishing high school, I decided to get a Bachelor's degree in Sports Education, Mathematics, German, and Psychology. During this time I started helping a famous tumbling performance group with their gymnastics skills, and I took over that group independently four years later. At the same time I took my B & C coaching license at a sport school located in Germany.

With the completion of my bachelor's degree and three years of substitute teaching, I was determined to learn more about teaching gymnastic across the ocean in the United States. I have been teaching gymnastics here ever since and am momentarily in the process of topping off my educational background with a Master's degree in education.

Terri Nuno

Hi. My name is Terri.

At age 15 I was asked to become an assistant dance coach at Nor Cal Gymnastics Camp, the oldest camp in California. After spending two weeks with gymnasts and coaches I was hooked on gymnastics. Darcy Heath a gymnast, coach, and sports psychologist, offered me a job at her own gym. I excitedly accepted. I began working with very talented young gymnasts and choreographing for their exhibition team.

My dance career also continued to grow into numerous jobs teaching, choreographing, and taking me as far away as Korea.

Upon returning from Asia in 1992, I met my husband and spent the next five years starting a new family. I enrolled our oldest son in gym at age 5 and was approached to start coaching. This was the start of a long yet rewarding partnership with three other great coaches- Andrea, Rick and Peter.

Through thick and thin we held together as colleagues and friends and later decided to help build Liberty Gymnastics Training Center. It has been an exciting endeavor, producing State Champions Regional Qualifier and a reputation of beautiful gymnastics. The dream continues as I am seeking a master's degree in education to help grow Liberty into a ground breaking club that teaches children to be well rounded and whole individuals.

Amanda Donner

Hey!

I'm Amanda and I have been doing gymnastics since I was 11 years old. I competed for 3 years before reaching Level 7. I am currently taking the veterans class and the adult class here at Liberty because I just can't give it up!

I Love coaching! I have been coaching since I was age 15 and have taught kids ages 2 to 14 years old. Watching kids improve, grow, smile and have a good time is the greatest feeling.

I grew up in the Bay Area. I moved to NY for a year right after graduating from high school. Now I'm back - loving California more than ever!

Gymnastics for me is not just a sport, but also my center and my place to let everything go. The gym is my favorite place in the world. It's a place where I'm a challenged and motivated. Much of the staff here are people that I consider my family. They have all been there for me not just to coach me but also to support me in all other aspects of my life!

Overall I just love gymnastics, doing it, teaching it, learning more about it, watching it, EVERYTHING!

Susanna Ciaramitaro

Hi!

My Name is Susanna Ciaramitaro, and I'm eighteen years old. When I was a kid I was always really fascinated with tumbling and acrobatics, though I regarded it as sort of far off thing that I could never do. It wasn't until I started gymnastics myself that I found that with some hard work I could learn to tumble, swing and flip as well!

I'm from a family of six children. I love being in a big family! I never run out of people to talk to and to do fun stuff with, and having little siblings looking up to me is such a great challenge. One of my sisters has Down's Syndrome, hence I also enjoy working with special needs kids.

I coach here at Liberty Gymnastics for the pure love of gymnastics and working with kids. These are two of my favorite things! To work with someone on a skill for a good amount of time and to eventually achieve that goal is so rewarding, and to see someone get excited about gymnastics and what they are learning is so exciting!

Rolando Esparza

Hi!

I love teaching gymnastics because it's a challenging, fascinating, and rewarding sport. It is a wonderful and priceless experience helping young children conquer their goals. Falling, going backwards, and defying gravity are some of the fear factors that make the sport challenging.

Knowing the fact that the gymnast is building confidence and is trusting the instructor is rewarding. I was born in Mexico, in the summer of 1973. I was six years old when I first saw a picture in a dictionary about gymnastics. I knew I had to try it, but where? It was 1995, in Ventura County when I finally enrolled in a gymnastics adult class. I was tumbling in no time while at the same time training for the L.A. Marathon, my first one in 1996. I will never forget my coaches.

Liberty Gymnastics Training Center
2330-A Bates Ave., Concord, CA 94520
phone: (925) 687-8009
info@libertygymtrainingcenter.com