Karen has been coaching gymnastics for over 18 years now and loves working with all of her students! She teaches classes starting at Parent/Tot up through Pre-Developmental Team classes. Karen started as the Recreational Director when BIG opened in 2006 and not only trains coaches and does scheduling for classes, but is the go-to person for everyone at the gym! She is certified in CPR and has worked at many other local gyms in the area.
Big Staff
Karen Schmidt
Recreational Program Director/ Coach
Dana Poncin
Team Coach & Choreographer
Dana has been coaching gymnastics for 9 years. She started out as a gymnast herself and competed for 13 years. She was a 3 time Level 10 National Qualifier. She started coaching at BIG in 2006 and coaches both compulsory and optional girls. She is also our in-house choreographer. She has choreographed routines for high school, college, and competitive club gymnasts. Before BIG, she coached Level 8 -10 State and Regional Champions 2002-2006. She attended coaching classes at the Olympic training center and has trained National Team members. Dana is one of our most talented coaches and one of the most talented choreographers around! She has invented two skills that are now in the National Code of Points (Concannon 1 and Concannon 2).
Visit Dana's new website dedicated to personalized USAG regulation timed music at
www.gymsoundsmusic.com.
Jessica Tario
Team Coach
Jessica has been coaching gymnastics for over 12 years. She began as a gymnast, herself, at the age of four. She was a gymnast for 14 years and ended her career as a Level 10. Coach Jess previously coached at Gym-Kinetics for six years where she was a level 4-6 floor and beam coach. She has also trained gymnasts for the Special Olympics. At BIG, Coach Jess coaches beam for levels 4-7. She is a one-of-a-kind coach who never fails to get results! Since she has been at BIG, she has coached three Level 6 Team State Champions. We are very proud to call Coach Jess one of our own.
Matt Delk
Team Coach
Matt’s interest in gymnastics began as a freshman in High School, when he began competing in Men’s gymnastics. He competed in all of the events, but his favorite was High Bar. In his third year of competition, he was a State Finalist in the High Bar event. Gymnastics has been a large part of his life ever since. In 2000, he began coaching gymnastics, and eventually took a Head Coach position with Powerhouse Gymnastics in Port Orange, Florida. During the summers of 2002 and 2003 Matt spent his time coaching for Bela Karolyi in Karolyi’s camp. In 2005, Coach Matt moved back to Illinois, and began working at a local gym. In 2008, Matt made the move to join Balance Institute of Gymnastics. Besides being a certified Gymnastics Coach, he is also a certified Personal Trainer through the International Fitness Professionals Association. Coach Matt believes in positive motivation in coaching, and he is happy to be a part of the BIG Gymnastics family.
Kara Kapernekas
Team Coach
Kara has been working at BIG since September of 2009, but has been around the sport of gymnastics since the age of five and has a great deal of coaching experience. She competed from the age of seven through 22. She became a level 10 gymnast at the age of 12. She was a two-time, Level 10 National qualifier. At the age of 14, she became an elite gymnast for four years. She was also a member of the Elite National team. She received a full athletic scholarship to the University of Illinois-Champaign, where she majored in Marketing. At U of I, she was voted Most Valuable Player, Most Consistent Beam and was also, two-time team captain. She is in the record books for receiving a 9.950 on Floor, a 9.925 on Beam, and 39.375 in the All Around. She was also named to the All BIG TEN Conference Team, two times.
Kara Gagan
Team Coach
Kara has been around gymnastics all of her life, starting classes at the age of three. Once Kara turned five, she was picked to be in a developmental gymnastics program and then from there started competing at seven. She was a level 9 at the age of 11 and qualified for Level 9 Nationals during her first season. She competed as a level 9 for 1 year on the track to becoming a level 10, when she encountered a back injury. She competed as a level 9 for two more years, before her injury ended her competitive career. During her high school years, Kara stayed active in sports. She did competitive dance and was the captain of her high school dance team. Kara has been coaching since the age of 16 and has been a “BIG” coach for four years. Kara is BIG’s compulsory floor coach and loves coming to work each and every day. She finds her job challenging, yet rewarding and loves to see her gymnasts reach their personal goals. When Kara is not at the gym, she is at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where she is completing her degree in Biology.
Laura Highland
Optional Bar Coach
Coach Laura started gymnastics at the age of 5 and was competing by the age of 6. She was on the fast path and reached Level 9 by the age of 9 and was a Level 10 gymnast at the age of 11. At the age of 13 years, Laura was the Illinois State Bar Champion. She was continually asked to attend High Tech Camps during her high level career and began getting recruited by college coaches during her sophomore year of high school. Also, during her sophomore year, she went to Level 10 Nationals. After high school, Laura attended the University of Illinois where she received a full athletic scholarship. Laura graduated from U of I in 2005 with a degree in Speech Communications. She then coached summer gymnastics camps for three years at her Alma Mater. Laura joined the BIG family in February of 2010 and has coached everything from recreational classes through our Level 10 team. Currently, Coach Laura is the Head Bar Coach for our Optional Team.
MIKE HAUSER
GIJO Director & Recreational Coach
Mike coaches everything from recreational classes to our GIJO and USAG teams. Mike has experience coaching many children activities and flourishes in a teaching environment. Mike graduated Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois in 2008 with a degree in Special Education. Mike has a lot to bring to our program bringing experience in from other sports. He has coached speed training and hopes to bring that into the training of our gymnasts. In addition to his coaching experience, Mike has also worked at Park Districts in Champaign while he was at school. He looks forward to meeting all of your gymnasts., and to bringing his extensive knowledge of sports and children’s activities to our gym.
Melissa Gramann
Team Dance Instructor and Rec Coach
Melissa comes to BIG with over 30 years of dance experience. She has trained with The Elmira-Corning Ballet (New York), The Northwest Ballet Company, The Minnesota Dance Theatre, Lou Conte Dance Company and The Ruth Page Dance School. Melissa has also taught tumbling and dance for the Minneapolis Park District and local preschools. She currently teaches recreational classes and team dance at BIG. She looks forward to sharing her love of dance and gymnastics with all of her students.
Lauren Reiken
Recreational Coach and Marketing Manager
Coach Lauren has worked at BIG for over four years and works both in the office and in the gym as a Recreational Coach. She teaches many different classes ranging from three and four year olds to Big Shots and grade school classes. Lauren works as the Publicity Chair for the Booster Club and as the Marketing Director for the gym in addition to her office and gym duties. She is also the Meet Assistant for BIG's Annual BIG Dream Classic meet. Whether or not Lauren is in the gym or in the office, you can normally find her at BIG; it is like her second home!
Donna Rufa
Parent-Tot Guru
“Miss Donna,” as most of the kids call her, is lovingly referred to as “Parent-Tot Guru” because teaching movement education to children is her great passion and love. She believes that to see the faces of her students light up and smile is her biggest reward. Miss Donna’s way of teaching is through games - so the children feel like they are playing a game, not “doing” or “learning” a skill, although they are. She knows that little ones are extremely intelligent, so she doesn’t teach down to them. She chooses to teach in a way that allows her students to comprehend and learn while developing their gross motor skills. She believes that there is nothing more exciting than the sound of laughter, squeals and singing from a large group of toddlers! Miss Donna’s professional accomplishments include, but are not limited to: USA Gymnastics Safety Certification, USA Gymnastics Kinder Accreditation for Teachers (KAT), USA Gymnastics Rookie Coach Certification and CPR/First Aid training, and she comes to BIG with many years of experience in coaching gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and swimming to young children. Miss Donna is a proud Mom to Lindsay and Christopher, and she is also proud to consider her students at BIG a part of her extended family.
Christy Klobach
Recreational Coach
Coach Christy is a mother of 4 kids and has 2 daughters on the BIG Team and another on the competitive track. She is very familiar with the ins and the outs of this sport being at different gymnastics competitions on a monthly basis. Christy has always been athletic, participating in Cheer and Poms in high school. She also has worked many children's summer camps throughout the years and has served as the Dance Coordinator for different elementary school events. Christy teaches everything from 3 year old classes to the new Cheer classes that she has helped develop. BIG is very excited to call Coach Christy one of their own.
Stacy Borsellino
GIJO and Recreational Coach
Coach Stacy has an extensive amount of experience coaching USAG gymnastics. She predominately coached floor and beam and has had many state champions! She has also taught recreational classes from parent and tot through tumbling and pre-developmental team classes. She also has 3 competitive gymnasts herself and knows the ins and outs of the sport! At BIG, Coach Stacy coaches everything from GIJO to three and four year old classes.
Gina M. Pongetti
Physical Therapist
Gina is a physical therapist, and certified strength and conditioning specialist, and she is certified in Active Release Techniques. A gymnast for over 14 years, Gina now serves on the National Health Care Network for USA Gymnastics, and treats gymnasts at various events around the country and the world. She writes for magazines such as Technique, Inside Gymnastics, and the USECA newsletter. Gina has been a health care presenter at National Congress in conjunction with Nationals for many years.
Gina treats athletes in their gyms in order to avoid lost time in driving, and to really maximize their rehab time. Her love of gymnastics and years of experience allow her to provide one-of-a-kind, sport-specific care. Gina also owns and choreographs for Adagio Gymnastics and regularly shares her knowledge of gymnastics with other OccuSport physical therapists.