Staff
Coach Soda Persi
Owner / Head Coach
Coach Soda is a mom of five - four sons that all did gymnastics when they were younger and a daughter that is currently on team.
Coach Soda has been teaching gymnastics for 40 years and 32 of those years have been in South Pasadena.
When she was in high school she and a friend started a gymnastics program at a park next to her school . It served the community by giving kids a healthy and low cost after school activity.
She was a competitive gymnast herself from age 10-18 and helped her highschool team ,
Eagle Rock , to win four out of six LA City Championships .
Soda also had the wonderful opportunity to serve as Head Coach for Maccabi USA women’s gymnastics team and helped the Junior and Senior teams win Gold at the 2019 Pan American Games .
She is also an award winning Choreographer and infact was nominated by Broadway World for Best Choreographer of 2019 and Best Choreographer of the decade for her work in theatre .
Coach Bruce Waggoner
Team Coach
Coach Bruce has been coaching for over 40 years and 12 of them have been with Coach Soda. When he isn’t breathing chalk and catching flying gymnastics he volunteers at local High schools sharing his love of science and space. Coach Bruce started working with Coach Soda because he realized they shared the same philosophy about gymnastics being for everyone and that it’s about helping children create a joy and enthusiasm for healthy living, not just bringing home medals. Did I mention he also works full time at JPL? Yes, Coach Bruce is not only our most patient coach but he’s also a rocket scientist!
He has helped gymnasts win local , state, national and world titles .
https://www.latimes.com/socal/la-canada-valley-sun/lvs-yvolunteers060310-story.html
Coach Vanity Orduno
Team Coach / Team Coordinator
Vanity was a competitive gymnast for 13 years.
She was also a competitive cheerleader for Cal State University of Northridge. Currently Vanity is working on her Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology Sports Studies .
She started coaching in 2018 and absolutely fell in love with it.
Vanity has known Coach Soda since she was 10 years old and although she was competing for a different gym Coach Soda always cheered her on and treated her as one of her own.
Coach Leilani
Coach Leilani participated in recreational gymnastics for two years when she was younger and did cheer throughout high school.
She has helped develope many recreational students into Preteam and team candidates. Leilani’s patience and attention to detail have helped many girls become gymnasts.
Her favorite gymnast growing up was Gabby Douglas. Leilani is currently in college, studying to become a Pilates instructor and eventually a RN . Her favorite food is Sushi.
