Bio coming soon!

Coach Breeze’s parents had a gymnastics school in Porto Alegre, Brazil where he grew up and says that he “cannot remember a time I was not in gymnastics.” He went on to compete all the way through college (Brigham Young University) and he also competed at the Elite level as a National team member for Brazil. He has been coaching gymnastics since 1992 and joined our staff here at Rising Star in 2015 when he started coaching our competitive Boys Team. His favorite part of coaching is when he sees the look of surprise and astonishment a gymnast gets when they make a new skill “easily” on the first attempt. Which to him, as a coach, means that all the painstaking planning, diligent work and patient progressions paid off. In his spare time Breeze enjoys riding his bike, doodling, writing typewritten letters, playing guitar and receiving dog kisses.

Jacqueline grew up in Rhode Island and moved to Monterey to pursue a Master’s in TESOL at MIIS which she completed in 2019. She joined us in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and ran our Virtual Learning Program. She transitioned to coaching gymnastics after working our summer camps and helped incorporate the Sweet Peas curriculum to our program. She played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse all through elementary and high school, and played collegiate lacrosse at the College of Wooster. Her favorite thing about coaching is seeing the look of excitement and accomplishment on students’ faces when things click and they master new skills. She loves watching them make friends and learn life skills beyond the physical skills they use for gymnastics. She wishes she were a sea otter so she could splash in the sea all day, and that she could teleport so she could travel the world without spending time in transit. When she’s not at the gym, or at her other jobs teaching yoga and coaching lacrosse, she loves to spend time outside hiking or at the beach, and loves reading and hanging out with her cat.

Mara joined us in January of 2024 after moving to Monterey from Clements, California to pursue a degree in speech pathology at CSUMB. She practiced gymnastics for 14 years and was a member of a competition team. She coached in Stockton for two years before joining our coaching staff. Her favorite thing about coaching is that she gets to interact with the children and create a positive environment for them. She likes to make sure they go home with at least one new thing they learned each class. She wishes she were a sea turtle so she could explore the ocean, and wishes she had super speed powers so she could travel the world without driving or flying. In her free time she likes to hike, go to the beach, and spend time with her friends, ideally eating sushi.