NorthWind Staff...

 

Our Director:

Peggy Simpson has spent most of her life in the world of Gymnastics, as an athlete, coach, head-coach and now owner/Director of NorthWind Gymnastics. Born in Germany and raised in Virginia, Peggy credits her first coach Al Rolsch, with instilling in her a passion for the sport. Peggy began her coaching career with the nationally acclaimed Tallahasee Tumbling Tots before moving to Alpharetta in 1982. Shortly thereafter she joined the staff of Roswell Recreation's fledgling gymnastics program. At that time, gymnastics classes were held in the basketball gym and participants would set up and put away all their equipment each day! Soon though, the popularity of the program outgrew the activity building and a marvelous new gymnastics facility was built, where Peggy continued coaching, guiding the Gymnos to many state championships.

Though she retired from Roswell in 1996, Peggy remained active in the sport as Vice President and then President of the Georgia Gymanstics Coaches Association. She has also been on the board of Georgia USA Gymnastics since 1997 and was elected State Chairwoman from 2002 until retiring from that position in 2008. Peggy's vision of a school of Gymnastics came to fruition in 1997 when she created NorthWind Gymnastics Center. Here she has seen her philosophy of gymnastics put into practice with its emphasis on fundamentals, conditioning and skill training tailored to the individual athlete. As Director, Peggy has recruited some of the finest gymnasts on the international scene to become coaches under her tutelage, providing them with the coaching tools and opportunity to pass on their knowledge and experiences to the next generation of champions.

 

Head Coach Elena Piskun:

Elena comes to NorthWind from Bobruisk, Belarus where she began training and competing in gymnastics at age 6. By 1991 Elena was an international gymnastics star, winning medals all over the world. In 1993 she won her first World Championship for Vault in Birmingham, England. Elena won her second World Championship on Uneven Bars in Puerto Rico in 1996. That year, she was the leader of the Belarus Olympic team sent to compete in Atlanta. Training and living in Roswell prior to the Games, Elena enjoyed the people, climate and surroundings here. The following year, she immigrated to the US for good and has since become a US citizen. In 1998, Elena joined the staff at NorthWind and soon became a head coach. Her enthusiasm for sharing the sport of Gymnastics with our young athletes has been rewarded with many accolades including 2005 and 2011 Georgia Coach of the year honors.

 

 

 

Liudmila Vitsiukova:

Liudmila has been an optional coach and head compulsory coach at NorthWind since 1999. She is safety certified and a professional member of USA Gymnastics. Liudmila was a Belarusian World Team Member in 1994, 1995 and 1997, as well also a member of the 1996 Belarusian Olympic Team. Liudmila and her husband have 2 sons ages 1 and 7.

 

 

 

 

 

Inesa Sharouskaya:

Inesa has been coaching compulsory and optional gymnastics at NorthWind since 2000. She is safety certified and a professional member of USA Gymnastics. She was formerly a member of the Belarusian Elite Gymnastics Team and was on the USSR Junior National team in 1987. Inesa has proudly coached many state champions as well as regional and national qualifiers.

 

 

 

 

Terri Smith:

Terri began coaching at NorthWind in September 2006. She is safety certified and a professional member of USA Gymnastics. She was an elite level gymnast from 1982-1984. After going elite, Terri attended the University of GA where she was a Gym Dawg from 1983-1987. She was a part of UGA’s first National Champion Team and was a three-time All American for the school on Beam and Bars. Terri coaches level 5, 6 and prep-optional. In 2007 and 2008, Terri’s prep-optional teams were the Region 8 Regional Champions and her level 5 team became State Champions in 2008. Terri and her husband have 3 children ages 19, 15 and 11. Terri’s daughter Ashley is a level 10 gymnast here at NorthWind.

 

 

Loren Simpson:
Loren has been in the gym since she was a young child, competing in all the USA gymnastics competitive levels 5-10. She was a regional and national qualifier in 1999 and 2000 and placed 6th on beam at the 2000 USAG National competition. Her gymnastics career then lead her to become a home state Georgia Gym Dog at the University of Georgia from 2000-2004. She completed on Floor and Bars throughout her 4 years at Georgia taking away 3, SEC team championships and making individual All-American at NCAA Nationals on bars in 2001. As a coach Loren has worked with compulsory level’s 4 and 5 and optional level’s 8, 9 and 10. She has been in and out of the gym as a coach since the age of 14. Loren is safety certified and a professional member of USA Gymnastics.

 

 

Heather Terrell:
Heather began her involvement in Gymnastics when she was 11 years old. She soon discovered her love for teaching. Heathers teaching background includes religious education, swimming, girl scouts and gymnastics. Heather has coached State, Regional and National champions in both artistic and rhythmic gymnastics. Many of her gymnasts have received college scholarships as well. Heather was involved in the Special Olympics for over 16 years. In 2000, her gymnast placed 4th in the world. In 2008, Heather was awarded the “Count On Me” award. Heather is excited to be a part of Team NorthWind.

 

 

Victor Piskun:
Coach Victor is the younger brother of Elena Piskun and has been coaching gymnastics for 2 years. He has been an integral part of our compulsory program on vault and bars and helps tremendously with our class program. He is tons of fun and very energetic with his coaching style. He was a gymnast in Belarus as well as a  soccer player and National Belarussian champion in tae-kwan-do. Victor moved to the U.S. from his native country of Belarus in January of 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

Grace Sharoun:

Grace is in her junior year at Mercer University. She is a former Team NorthWind member, competing in Optional levels for four years. Students love Grace's energy and excitement for gymnastics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In June of 1997, NorthWind Gymnastics Center opened its doors. For Director Peggy Simpson it was the realization of a lifelong dream: a private, dedicated gymnastics training facility for the children of the surrounding areas of Alpharetta and South Forsyth County.

 

Yearning to create her own business, Peggy began searching the area surrounding her home in Alpharetta for a suitable building for a small gym/training center. Soon she found the ideal location in Nine-McFarland business park at the intersection of Highway 9 and MacFarland Road, right in the center of the rapidly growing area now known as Milton. The 11,200 sq.ft. building was just the right size and had the clear-span high ceiling design necessary for housing a gym!

 

 

Construction was nearing completion when the lease was signed but since the space was originally designed as multiple office-warehouse units, the building has 8 front doors! Fortunately, the interior was completely open, allowing the configuration of offices, lockers and observation/concession areas, as well as the excavation and forming of our large in-ground Foam training pits and Resi-pits and our Australian-Bed in-ground Trampoline. Within a few weeks our lovely new gym was ready! With lots of help from family and friends, NorthWind Gymnastics Center was born!

 

By 2003 NorthWind was becoming too small for our growing programs and with the help of Craig and Jeannie Korac we added a new Lower Gym with 4500 additional square feet, in-ground trampoline and Resi-pits and another full-size competition spring floor. This new area has equipment specially sized for smaller gymnasts and has developed as the main training area for our younger athletes. Plans are nearly complete to excavate nearly a third of the space and cast a new, much larger Foam Traing pit. The Lower Gym addition gives us a total of over 14000 sq. ft. of training area!