Meet the Staff
The Zone’s talented team of coaches, instructors, and admin support personnel are simply the very best! Every team member, including owners and support personnel, are Safe Sport certified and have passed a USAG background check, giving you the peace of mind that your children are protected while in our care. All coaches and instructors in addition to possessing the appropriate USAG teaching credentials have successfully completed the American Heart Association Basic Life Support (CPR ad AED) Program (certificates are on file).
Dan Howell
Owner
Dan purchased The Zone Athletics Center in August 2019. Dan has 30 years experience as a successful entrepreneur and small business owner in the Evansville Area. Dan’s love of gymnastics stems from his years as a “Gym Dad” watching his daughter Kassidy develop from a Pre-K gymnast to a sophomore on the University of Kentucky Women’s Gymnastics Team. His goal is to develop The Zone as a premier safe, family oriented training facility for boys and girls wanting to achieve basic skills or college scholarships in gymnastics, tumbling, trampoline or cheerleading.
Certifications
Jill Howell
Owner
Jill is an Evansville native who attended Harrison High School and USI where she earned both a bachelors degree in Business Administration and in Nursing. She has worked for the last 15 years as a Registered Nurse and is currently a PACU nurse at The Women’s Hospital. She shares Dan’s passion for gymnastics and although not involved in the day to day operations of the gym she manages the marketing side of the business. She and Dan are the proud parents of three children, Kassidy, Kane and Kyle.
Gennadii Samsanov
Head Coach
Girls Team Gymnastics
Gennadii Samsonov is a former USSR national champion (Master of Sport). As a gymnastics coach in Kyrgyzstan, Gennadii trained national and international athletes. He served as head coach of the Kyrgyzstan women’s team, preparing the team for the Youth Olympic Games and the World Cup in China. Since moving to the United States in 2003, Gennadii has trained Indiana State, Region 5 and National champions. Two of Gennadii’s former students are now on NCAA Division I gymnastics teams.
Svetlana Samsanov
Asst. Head Coach
Girls Team Gymnastics
Svetlana is a former USSR national champion (Master of Sports) and member of the Kyrgyzstan national gymnastics team. Her extensive background includes choreography, aerobics and gymnastics. She’s a former president of the Aerobics Federation in Kyrgyzstan. Since moving to the United States, Svetlana has trained Indiana State, Region 5 and National champions. Two of Svetlana’s former students are now on NCAA Division I gymnastics teams.
Denis Samsanov
Head Coach
Boys Team Gymnastics
Denis is a former champion gymnast and member of the Kyrgyzstan national team. After moving to the United States in 2003, Denis continued as a top competitor, earning state and Region 5 championships. He’s also a national championship qualifier. Denis went on to win as a coach, helping train elite athletes who, like him, have won state and Region 5 championships and ranked as national championship qualifiers.
Roland Vera
Head Coach
Cheer/Tumbling
JonnaWhitten
Coach
Pre K & Recreational Gymnastics
Ashley Jager
Head Coach
Tumbling & Trampoline
Ashley Jager is an Evansville native and former tumbling student of Roland. In addition to being our T&T Head Coach she was the Secretary of Indiana USAG Tumbling & Gymnastics from 2006 – 2009. Her background includes teaching preschool, recreational tumbling and recreational gymnastic classes. Ashley lives in Newburgh with her husband, Brian, and dog, Wrangler.
Sasha Loerhrlein
Head XCEL Coach
Andy Brown
Head Coach
Dryland Diving
Coach Andy Brown has been working with divers for over 15 years. He has coached divers from the elementary school age to the NCAA D-1 level. Over those 15 years he has had:
4 Middle School Conference Champs
2 Middle School State Qualifiers
9 High School Conference Champs
13 High School State Qualifiers
2 AAU National Qualifier
2 NCAA Conference Champs
5 NCAA Zone Qualifiers
1 NCAA Conference Coach of the Year
10 School Records broken
Candice Middleton
Tumbling/Pre K Instructor
Candice, who was a gymnast as a child, has two years experience as an assistant tumbling coach at another gym in Evansville. She is a student at USI, where she is about to graduate with a degree in psychology and health administration. She lives in Mt. Vernon, IN has 3 children, 2 of which are attend the Zone.
In her free time she loves to hang out with her children and visit family from out of town. When she graduates she plans to work with children with developmental disabilities and spend more time coaching at The Zone,
Maggie Franz
Instructor
Dryland Diving/Recreational Gymnastics
Maggie Franz is a Division I diver at the University of Evansville and calls Chicago home. She was a competitive gymnast for 14 years and has been diving for 8 years. As a part time instructor she brings a wealth of experience to The Zone.
Gracin George
Instructor
Gymnastics Teams
Gracin George’s passion for gymnastics started at age 5. Through lots of hard work and determination (and great coaching), Gracin went on to become a Level 3 floor state champion and a two-time Level 6 beam state champion. Now she coaches recreational and competitive gymnastics. In her spare time, Gracin is a high school student, varsity cheerleader and member of the swim and dive team.
Kaylee Ivy
Instructor
Cheerleading
Kaylee is a senior at Central High School and has been coaching cheerleading at The Zone for 2 years. She has been involved in cheerleading and competitive cheer since the age of 3. She is currently a cheerleader at Central and is very proud of being a coach and to be able pass on the knowledge she has for a sport for which she carries such passion.
Shelby Stevens
Instructor
Tumbling and Trampoline
Shelby is a senior at Castle High School and lives in Newburgh. She has been tumbling competitively the USAG Trampoline and Tumbling program for eight years. She has been coaching recreational tumbling classes at The Zone for nearly a year.
Sarah Jones
Instructor
Gymnastic Teams/XCEL
Sarah graduated from North High School with a 4.0 GPA in 2020. She started gymnastics at the age of 5 and competed through level 8 where she was Indiana State vault and floor champion. She qualified for Region 5 regionals every year she was eligible. In High School, she was a member of the Medical Professions Academy and was in the color guard and honors winter-guard program. Sarah plans to attend USI to study nursing and to continue her passion for gymnastics by coaching at The Zone.
Barb Garrett
Office Manager
Barb started her gym career in 1994 at another gym in Evansville. At this gym she taught gymnastics, dance and drove the ever popular tumble bus. In 1999 Barb moved to The Cheer Zone (the forerunner to The Zone Athletics Center). In support of The Cheer Zone she purchased and again drove the tumble bus and started taking over administrative duties. In August 2019 Barb accepted the position of Office Manager, when we adopted a completely new gym management software package. She immediately dove into this system and we are now starting to trust it and produce meaningful reports. In her spare time, Barb loves gardening, working in the yard and spending time making gymnastics and cheer outfits for her own business “Too Flippin Cute”.
Jonna Wilmes
Pro Shop Manager