AMERICAN TWISTERS, INC.
COCONUT CREEK, FLORIDA

American Twisters Gymnastics was founded in May 1986 by Tim Rand. Tim rented a small facility in Pompano Beach, Florida. Tim's mission for American Twisters was to provide fitness and physical activity to children of all ages in a safe and fun environment while promoting gymnastics as the ultimate physical activity for children. The program began with just 45 team athletes, a dream, and a vision for American Twisters to be one of the top competitive programs in the USA promoting quality training, a great facility, with the highest caliber of coaching staff. In 1989, Toni LaFleur, of the well-known LaFleur gymnastics family, married Tim and became his partner at American Twisters Gymnastics. From there the gym continued to grow rapidly as gymnasts from all over South Florida were turning to American Twisters for first-class gymnastics training. In 1992, The Rands opened Twisters of Boca Raton. In 1994, Randy Sikora, who had been coaching under Tim at American Twisters for several years purchased the Boca gym. By early 1994 the program at American Twisters had grown to over 600 class students and the facility was expanded. Just three years later Tim and Toni built a new facility across the street Pompano Beach. By this time, American Twisters had become a USA National Team Training Center and a nationally recognized team winning state, regional, national, and international titles at all levels of gymnastics. In 2002, American Twisters moved to its current facility in the Lyons Technology Center. Tim and Toni decided to sell American Twisters to Randy in 2006 and retire in order to spend more time with their two daughters and grandson. Tim and Toni enjoyed a blissful year of retirement until Tim tragically passed away in August, 2007. Today, both Twister Gymnastics of Boca Raton and American Twisters carry on Tim and Toni's tradition of excellence serving over 2000 students per week. Twisters is the premier children's activity center in South Florida, featuring gymnastics classes, dance, cheerleading, camps, parties, open gyms, and more! Noteworthy Accomplishments of American Twisters - American Twisters qualified at least one athlete to JO Nationals every single year from 1989 - 2004 and 2009- 2014 (Many years qualifying 5 or more to JO Nationals) American Twisters qualified 12 athletes to the USA National Team between 1991 - 2004 American Twisters has had over 70 athletes receive athletic scholarships to major universities. Our Mission & Philosophy Mission: To develop happy, healthy, responsible kids! At Twisters, all attitudes and behavior should reflect our philosophy that we welcome all children at all times and must make certain they feel appreciated and have innate worth. Our mission to help build happy, healthy, responsible kids must include following a set of principles aimed to do a greater good for all people we work with and serve, both in and out of Twisters. We must make mistakes everyday and must feel comfortable and justifiable in helping one another to realize our mis-doings while being open to criticism, admitting mistake, apologizing and navigating ourselves and those around us back on course. A paramount part of the growth process is doing and saying the wrong thing/making mistakes; in doing so we learn. This is expected, appreciated and welcome at Twisters from staff, students and clients (parents). We must all strive to aid all people we associate with in having the greatest overall experience everyday. The professional, safety-certified staff at Twister Gymnastics Boca Raton teach thousands of children per year. Many of our students take gymnastics alongside another sport to help develop the strength, flexibility and coordination required to be successful in that sport. Many of our students have moved on to become successful soccer players, dancers, divers, basketball players, cheerleaders, etc. A lot of the lessons learned at Twisters have less to do with gymnastics and more to do with self-confidence; a strong sense of self-worth; learning that they can face a challenge and succeed; the ability to overcome obstacles and realizing they are stronger, braver and more capable than they had ever imagined! Zsuzsanna is the All Stars program manager at Twister Gymnastics of Boca Raton and a recreational coach for American Twisters in Coconut Creek. She has been a part of the Twisters family since 1996! Zsuzsanna earned her PH.D. in Physical Education in Budapest, Hungary in 1986. She is a USA Gymnastics University Advanced Teacher and Professional Member. Her passion is her family and her work. "I believe that the essence of life is to continually learn and teach. I'm fortunate to come to Twister Gymnastics every day and do exactly that. My teaching philosophy: Learning is FUN!" Sara Kelly is the Xcel Program Director and one of the optional team coaches. She has been a part of the Twisters family since 2015. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a degree in communications. She also competed as a Division 1 collegiate gymnast for UMass. She is a vegan Ironman triathlete and loves her 6 year old Pug, Kieran. She loves working at Twisters because her co-workers and the athletes that she works with every day help her to learn and grow both personally and professionally. Ashley is a compulsory team coach and has been a part of the Twisters family since 2006. She will graduate high school in 2018 from Calvary Christian Academy. She competed in gymnastics at American Twisters from 2006-2011; she then became a coach. After competing in gymnastics, she was a varsity cheerleader for football, basketball and competition. Ashley loves working at Twisters because she loves to teach girls gymnastics and invest in them to become a better gymnast and person everyday. Angela has served as a Recreational Coach for Twisters since 2014. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Columbus State with a degree in Sport and Fitness Management. She has been coaching gymnastics for almost 25 years and is also a Nationally Certified personal trainer, Group Fitness Coordinator, RKC kettle bell instructor and has a masters aquatic fitness certification. She is a mom of two children who bring her joy every day. She loves teaching at Twisters because it brings her joy to help children not only physically with their strength, coordination, body awareness and flexibility, but to also help build their self-esteem and confidence in themselves as individuals (and most of all HAVE FUN!) In her free time she enjoys fantasy football, church, the beach, yoga, movies, traveling & amusement parks. “GO BUCKS!”