Girls Team Staff

Coach Bubba has been part of the Emerald City family for about 5 years and brings over 30 years of dance experience to our program.   Part of the family, as in her son, Dalton, is also a level 5 gymnast on the boys team.  Bubba was a level 8 gymnast herself and a competitive dancer growing up.  Coaching the girls pre-team and working alongside Coach Jana brings Bubba the greatest joy in the gym.  Helping kids find passion in something is what drives Bubba every day.  She hopes to be able to continue teaching the girls optional gymnastics choreography for their floor routines and coach pre-team each year.  Participating in gymnastics and dance herself taught her life skills like discipline, work ethic and kindness to teammates which she enjoys watching develop in her own son and hopes she can pass on to her students.

As a proud graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School, Coach Bubba now coaches the Shawnee Mission East Lancer Dancers.  In 2013, the dance team won the Large Varsity Jazz NDA National Championship.

Coach Bubba earned a bachelor’s degree in Management from Baker University.  She and her husband Andrew have 2 kids, Dalton and Delaney, and 3 dogs.  Her dream is to one day travel to Italy and Greece with her husband.

Nikki was welcomed to Emerald City family in March, 2018.   She is primarily the compulsories coach for the 2018-19 season and brings 20 years of coaching experience to the team.  Nikki also coaches girls recreational classes and is the Media Strategist for the gym managing the website and all social media.  Before Emerald City, Nikki experienced coaching the Xcel team program for Region 3.  Since relocating to Lenexa from Chicago, she has enjoyed getting to know her new Emerald City family and coaching so close to home.  In the summer, 2017, she was accepted as a team coach for a week at FlipFest, an elite gymnastics training camp near Nashville, Tennessee, ran by Olympians John Roethlisberger and John Macready, coaching alongside Olympian and UCLA team member, Kyla Ross.  FlipFest is an awesome, positive learning experience that she hopes to expose her own team kids to next summer.

While attending the University of Colorado, Nikki coached recreational and pre-team girls gymnastics at Colorado Aerials from 2003-2006 in Colorado Springs.  At her time with Colorado Aerials, she accompanied the boys team for two weeks to California (northeast of Los Angeles) to Camp Woodward, another premier elite summer gymnastics training camp ran by former Olympians.  Besides learning from some of the best in our sport, Nikki was a gymnast until 17 years of age, when she decided to turn her love for the sport in to coaching.

Nikki has 3 daughters, ages 22, 19 and 15.  Besides coaching, she works part-time as a paralegal and hopes to attend law school someday.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from UMKC and master’s degree in Business Administration from MNU.  Nikki has experience as a newspaper reporter and editing and cherishes her time studying abroad in Central Mexico at the Universidad de Guadalajara. She spends her small amount of spare time traveling with her daughters and seeing the world.  Nikki loves the family atmosphere at Emerald City and finding creative new ways to show recognition and appreciation for our team girls, team families and the entire EC staff to assist in the already inclusive, positive culture that is Emerald City.

Senna came to Emerald City at the age of 14 and competed for 2 years as a Level 7 & 8 gymnast.  She competed in high school gymnastics and recently graduated from Johnson County Community College with an associate’s degree in liberal arts.  Senna is currently working toward a degree in social work at the University of Kansas.  She began coaching at Emerald City over the summer and she loves working here as she feels that the staff really makes you feel like you’re part of the family.

Through the years Senna won many competitions including gold on bars and vault at Pink Ribbon and won first place on every event one year at the Land of Oz meet.  During her high school competition years, Senna won 2^nd place all-around at the Kansas State gymnastics meet her first year as a varsity gymnast in 2011.  Although bars is her favorite event, she was most proud to be able to do back flips on high beam as well as doing double fulls on tumble trak.

Senna loves coaching because she gets to help gymnasts develop their skill and strives to individualize her coaching style to bring out the best in every athlete.  One of her biggest dreams in life would be to make a meaningful difference in at least one person’s life.  As a younger coach, Senna loves that she is still able to demonstrate quite a few of the skills to assist the gymnasts in learning and refining their skills and techniques.

In her spare time, Senna loves drawing and photography.  She says art is her thing and enjoys it immensely.  When she was 2 years old, Senna and her older brother, Jonathan, also a former high level gymnast here at Emerald City, were adopted from the Philippines.  When asked where she sees herself in the next 10 years, she replied, “In the Olympics, just kidding, I’m retired.”

Russ brings 35 years of gymnastics experience to our family at Emerald City.  He began in gymnastics with the Community Education program at Kansas State University, learning and training there for 7 years.  In 1990, under the tutelage of the Karolyi dynasty of Romanian and USA gymnastics, Russ learned and coached while Bela trained and crafted the USA women’s gymnastics team for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.  Russ assisted or coached many national and international women’s team all-around champions and all four event titles.  He later went on to conduct clinics across the country and in Mexico.  Russ spent 10 years coaching team gymnastics in Mexico.  One gymnast he is most proud of is Stephanie Moore, a gymnast he single-handedly trained and eventually won the level 9 regional championships, in 1990.  While he misses all of the animals at the Karolyi ranch, he received the most enjoyment out of seeing children reach their potential.

In his outside of the gym, Russ enjoys driving his Mustang and listening to rock ‘n roll music.  One of his biggest dreams in life is to go to Mars on the ‘Enterprise.’  In the next 10 years, Russ sees himself as ‘older and with a team family of coaches and gymnasts.’

Cara brings 22 years of coaching experience to Emerald City. Of the 4 years she has been with Emerald City, she led the Xcel Gold & Platinum teams to the USAG Xcel Regional competition in the 2017-18 season.   Cara has 4 years of specialized coaching in Tramp & Tumbling and attended Regional and National competitions with those gymnasts each year.  She also coached Competitive Cheer Tumbling for 4 years in the Topeka area.  Her love for the athletes and the sport is what drives Cara every day.

A graduate of Topeka High School, Cara continued her education at Allen County Community College and Washburn University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Sports Medicine with an emphasis on athletic training and sports injury rehabilitation in 2012.

Proud mom of 4, Cara has her hands full between coaching, being a Mom and her full-time job working in the banking industry. She is also the proud fur Mom to Bumpy Face Johnson, her American Pit Bull.

To contact Cara, email emeraldcityks.cara@gmail.com.

Coach Dustin is a rare commodity in the world of gymnastics.  With no personal gymnastics background, Dustin was introduced to the sport while assisting a girl’s high school gymnastics team.  He was recruited by our very own Sean and never turned back.  Immersion and his love for kids has kept Dustin with Emerald City for 4 years.  During that time, Dustin learned the boys program, later worked with the Munchkins program and has grown in to an integral piece of the Girls Gymnastics Team, steadily working in to an Uneven Bars Specialist under the tutelage of Coach Russ.  He is still a vital asset, and one of the most versatile pieces to the Emerald City puzzle.  Dustin loves coaching as he loves bonding with the gymnasts and helping them through their struggles and triumphs in the sport.

During high school, Dustin played football and ran track.  He graduated from Shawnee Mission South in 2014.

In his spare time, Dustin enjoys working out, checking himself out in the mirror and generally being active.  Dustin recently earned his EMT Certification and has hopes to join the Police Academy.  He loves to watch KC Roller Derby competitions and is part of the men’s cheerleading/groupie group called the ‘Knockout Boys.’

One day Dustin hopes to regain his full head of hair, only originally lost by Coach Zach shaving it off.

To contact Dustin, email emeraldcityks.dustin@gmail.com.