About

Hi there – I’m Ali Stoffels, the founder of Rec Gym Pros!

I’ve been involved with gymnastics my whole life — as a competitive gymnast and then I began as a Coach-in-Training when I was 14 years old.  Despite my experience as an athlete, I very quickly learned that preschool and rec were my forte – I much preferred helping kids fall in love with the sport, rather than actually helping them get particularly good at it!

When I wasn’t coaching,  I was a camp counsellor. Years of summer camps left me with a passion for creative programming (why bother doing things the “normal” way?) and an overflowing binder of resources full of games and tips for working with kids.

In university,  my degrees hooked me up with a super specific understanding of leadership, group development, risk management and experiential education.  This ended up being very useful when I unexpectedly ended up back in the world of gymnastics as a Rec Director. I never would have predicted my return to gymnastics, but thanks to some serendipitous timing (and an empty bank account),  there I was! That’s where I’ve been ever since!

I spent almost a decade as a Recreational Program Director — two at Giant Gymnastics in Thunder Bay, Ontario and the rest at Milton Springers in Milton, Ontario.  During that time,  I oversaw the programs that served between 400-1300 participants each week and my amazing coaches who instructed them.  I’ve managed a smaller staff team of 15 and massive team of 75 – and in both cases, this was the BEST part of my job.  I loved being part of their journey to become the best leaders they can be.

Rec Gym Pros started as a (very) side hustle in 2016, and then eventually grew and evolved to the point where in January 2022, I made the leap to take it full time.

These days, you’ll find me out in the gymnastics world supporting the recreational gymnastics community in any way I can, both online and in person!  I’m a multi-passionate human so I’m at my best with a variety of projects on the go — but the main RGP stuff is leading rec coach training & education at gyms, speaking at conferences & events (including our own annual retreat, Refresh!),  teaching our Rec Director 101 online course and building a meaningful community of rec-minded leaders in our field over in The Collective.

When I’m not obsessing over gymnastics, you can find me tinkering in my garden, reading a book, playing volleyball or watching old seasons of Survivor.  Or, I might be inventing a new project or planning an adventure of some kind — I’m happiest when I have lots of projects on the go 🙂

Why I started RGP!

The honest truth?  When my coaches would come to me asking for pullover drills (or for whatever skill) – I would tell them my go-tos then send them 3 or 4 links to youtube videos I had found. This started happening more and more — and it got annoying to repeat myself over and over! So I wondered how I could make things more efficient and put these links in one place for them – like a nice little resource bank at their disposal!

Then the more I thought about it, and the more searching/resource gathering I did, one thing became abundantly clear to me:

Recreational & preschool staff are hands-down the most creative coaches in the gym. Collectively, our industry is brilliant and busting with innovation!  The internet is buzzing with amazing ideas from gyms, coaches and programs around the world.

But, unfortunately the recreational gymnastics community is also pretty isolated. We don’t get to go to competitions or training camps.  Even coaching conferences are generally geared towards competitive staff, so rec coaches don’t typically attend.  We don’t often have a reason (or time) to visit another gym.  We rarely get the chance to share our best ideas and inspire each other!

So, it was high time that recreational gymnastics resources & inspiration could be found in one place 😉

And not just for my own staff, but for anyone who was looking for it.

I wanted RGP to be a vehicle for connecting our community — coaches, supervisors, program directors, managers, owners — all in the rec & preschool stream.  We’ve grown larger than I ever thought – with more and more ideas being shared in different ways via our website, our email rountables, facebook and instagram.   We held our first ever event in 2017, a Rec Director Summit that brough folks together in real life to connect, share and learn from one another. It was an incredible experience and I was so humbled to share such a meaningful experience with other passionate people in our field.

That first event fueled the fire for me to realize how much I love bringing the rec gymnastic community of leaders together to uncover this magic that happens — there is such power in the connection, support, creativity and enthusiasm that “our people” just ooze and it’s wildly inspiring when we come together.

In 2018 we ran our first annual Refresh Rec Retreat — a weekend conference held at a summer camp in Ontario, Canada, designed specifically for rec & preschool coaches, managers & gym owners.  It was a total blast with relevant speakers & sessions, engaging professional develop, community building and so much more.  We continue to run this event annually every June!

A main pillar of Rec Gym Pros has always been coach training & education.  I’ve been presenting at big conferences since 2014 and I travel to clubs all over North America to work with their staff to develop their coaching & leadership skills.

Since going full time with Rec Gym Pros, we’ve worked especially hard to support the managers & owners as well — developing an online course that we run twice a year called “Rec Director 101” to help those new in the role to learn key skills to confidently lead their programs & staff teams.

Our newest venture is The Collective — our online community that’s made for (and by) rec gymnastics pros.  It’s designed to make meaningful support, education, resources, ideas, inspiration and so much more available at your fingertips all year round!

I am so excited for the future of Rec Gym Pros – and I’m so glad you are here too!  Thanks for being part of this community!

Work with Me!

I am passionate about helping preschool and recreational coaches step outside their comfort zones to get creative with programming and tap into their potential for leadership. If you are interested in working with me, I would love to discuss opportunities for me to work with your staff and/or support your recreational programming.  I have perpetually itchy feet, so I’m happy to travel to you!

Check out this inquiry form to see what we offer and fill it out to get in touch 🙂