Twin City Twisters

Last updated
Twin City Twisters
Full nameTwin City Twisters Gymnastics
NicknamesTCT
Sport Artistic gymnastics
Founded1987; 27 years ago
League USA Gymnastics
Based in Champlin, Minnesota
OwnerMike Hunger
Head coachSami Wozney
Members Maggie Nichols
Grace McCallum
Jessie DeZiel
Olivia Trautman
Abby Paulson
Website twincitytwisters.com

Twin City Twisters, commonly shortened to TCT, is an artistic gymnastics facility located in Champlin, Minnesota. A number of elite and collegiate gymnasts have trained there, including World champions Maggie Nichols and Lexi Zeiss, Olympic medalist Grace McCallum, and Pan American Games champion Jessie Deziel.

Contents

History

Mike Hunger opened the facility in 1987. [1]

The program was involved in the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal as Maggie Nichols and coach Sarah Jantzi were among the first to speak out about Larry Nassar. [2] [3]

In 2024, the organization hired Tom Farden, the former head coach of Utah Red Rocks, who left Utah after abuse allegations surfaced around the program. [4] [5]

Coaching staff

Notable alumni

The following gymnasts are TCT alumni:

Jessie DeZiel [9]

Grace McCallum [10]

Maggie Nichols [11]

Lexi Zeiss [7]

Abby Paulson [1]

Related Research Articles

Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the Code of Points used to score performances and regulates all aspects of elite international competition. Within individual countries, gymnastics is regulated by national federations such as British Gymnastics and USA Gymnastics. Artistic gymnastics is a popular spectator sport at many competitions, including the Summer Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Márta Károlyi</span> Hungarian-Romanian-American gymnastics coach

Márta Károlyi is a Hungarian-American gymnastics coach and the former national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. She and her husband, Béla, are ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania, Romania, who trained athletes in Romania before defecting to the United States in 1981. Béla and Márta Károlyi have trained nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists and many U.S. national champions, including Mary Lou Retton, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug, Teodora Ungureanu, Phoebe Mills, Nadia Comăneci, Kim Zmeskal, and Dominique Moceanu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USA Gymnastics</span> National gymnastics governing body

United States of America Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and training national teams for the Olympic Games and World Championships. The revised 2018 mission of USA Gymnastics is focused on "creating a culture that empowers and supports its athletes and focuses on its highest priority, the safety and well-being of the athletes." USAG sets the rules and policies that govern the sport of gymnastics, including "promoting and developing gymnastics on the grassroots and national levels, as well as a safe, empowered and positive training environment, and serving as a resource center for members, clubs, fans and gymnasts throughout the United States."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samantha Peszek</span> American artistic gymnast

Samantha Nicole Peszek is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, which won silver.

Rhonda Faehn is an American college gymnastics coach and former college and elite gymnast. Faehn was the head coach of the Florida Gators women's gymnastics team of the University of Florida for thirteen seasons, from 2003 to 2015. As a gymnast, Faehn competed at the 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and was named as an alternate for the U.S team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. Faehn also competed collegiately, earning a scholarship to UCLA, where she attended from 1990 to 1994. She is best known for leading the Florida Gators to twelve consecutive appearances in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's gymnastics tournament, and three consecutive NCAA championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Faehn left the University of Florida in 2015 to become the Senior Vice President of USA Gymnastics, the governing body of gymnastics in the United States. On May 17, 2018, USA Gymnastics parted ways with Faehn, who came under fire from survivors of former national team doctor Larry Nassar's abuse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics</span> College womens gymnastics team representing the University of California, Los Angeles

The UCLA Bruins women's gymnastics team represents the University of California, Los Angeles and competes in the Big Ten Conference. They compete in Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The team, coached by Janelle McDonald, has won 21 Regional titles and seven NCAA National Championships, most recently in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utah Red Rocks</span> Womens gymnastics team at the University of Utah

The Utah Utes women's gymnastics team, also known as the Red Rocks, represents the University of Utah and competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Pac-12 Conference. Home meets are held in the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. As of the end of the 2024 season, the Red Rocks have won 10 national championships, including nine NCAA Gymnastics championships, and been runner-up nine times. The Red Rocks are the only team to have qualified for every NCAA Championships and have never finished lower than 10th. The team was coached from its inception by Greg Marsden until his retirement after the 2015 season. Carly Dockendorf is the current head coach, after the release of Tom Farden in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabby Douglas</span> 2012 Olympic gymnastics all-around champion

Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all-around champion and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 2012 and the 2016 Summer Olympics, dubbed the "Fierce Five" and the "Final Five" by the media, respectively. She was also a member of the gold-winning American teams at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships.

MyKayla Brooke Skinner Harmer is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 2020 Olympic vault silver medalist, competing as an individual, and was an alternate for the 2016 Olympic team. Skinner competed at the 2014 World Championships where she contributed to the U.S. team's gold medal, also winning an individual bronze medal on vault. She won 11 total medals at the USA National Championships during her senior career. She also competed for the University of Utah's gymnastics team and was a two-time NCAA champion while also setting Pac-12 records for conference honors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simone Biles</span> American artistic gymnast (born 1997)

Simone Arianne Biles Owens is an American-Belizean artistic gymnast representing the United States. With a total of 37 Olympic and World Championship medals, she is the most decorated gymnast in history and is widely considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. With seven Olympic medals, she is the ninth-most decorated female Olympic gymnast, and is tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Nichols (gymnast)</span> American artistic gymnast

Margaret Mary Nichols is an American former collegiate artistic gymnast. She was the ninth NCAA gymnast to complete a Gym Slam, the first to do so for Oklahoma, and the first NCAA gymnast to have achieved it twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oklahoma Sooners women's gymnastics</span>

The Oklahoma Sooners women's gymnastics team represents the University of Oklahoma in NCAA competition and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Sooners have won nineteen conference championships, 15 NCAA Regional championships, and have appeared in 21 NCAA National Championships. In 2014, the Sooners won the program's first-ever team national title in the first-ever NCAA gymnastics championships tie, tying with Florida with a score of 198.175. The Sooners have had eighteen individual national champions, 202 NCAA All-Americans, and four Honda Awards.

Thomas Farden is a South Korea-born American college gymnastics coach. He began his career as the assistant coach of his alma mater the Southeast Missouri Redhawks women's program in 1999, and was promoted to head coach in 2003. After his departure in 2009, Farden briefly served as an assistant coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks for the 2010 season. In 2011, Farden became an assistant coach for the Utah Red Rocks team; a position he held until 2015 when, following the retirement of long-time leader Greg Marsden, he was made the co-head coach with Megan Marsden. After Marsden's retirement in 2019, Farden became the sole head coach of the program. In November 2023, the school put him on administrative leave.

Maggie Elaine Haney is a former American gymnastics coach, having been suspended for eight years by USA Gymnastics in April 2020 due to her abusive conduct. She serves as the head coach at MG Elite Gymnastics, Inc in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. She is best known for coaching 2016 Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez and 2018 World champion Riley McCusker.

Kara Eaker is a retired American artistic gymnast. On the balance beam she is the 2018 Pan American and 2019 Pan American Games champion and a two-time United States national silver medalist. On floor exercise she is the 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist and the 2018 Pan American bronze medalist. She was a member of the American teams that won gold at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships, the 2019 Pan American Games, and the 2018 Pan American Championships. She was an alternate for the 2020 Olympic team.

<i>Athlete A</i> 2020 documentary film directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk

Athlete A is a 2020 American documentary film about the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal. Directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, the documentary follows a team of investigative journalists from The Indianapolis Star as they broke the story of doctor Larry Nassar sexually assaulting young female gymnasts and the subsequent allegations that engulfed USA Gymnastics (USAG) and its then-CEO Steve Penny. It was released on June 24, 2020, by Netflix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Howard</span> American rhythmic gymnast

Jessica Howard is a retired rhythmic gymnast. Howard is a USA Hall of Fame gymnast, three-time National Champion and international medalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Winter Cup</span> Artistic gymnastics competition

The 2021 Winter Cup was an artistic gymnastics competition held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. In past iterations it was only for men’s artistic gymnasts, however, this competition was the first time that women’s artistic gymnasts were included.

The 2022 Winter Cup was an artistic gymnastics competition held at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco. Like the previous year it included both men's and women's artistic gymnastics.

Lexi Kay Zeiss is an American artistic gymnast and a member of the United States national gymnastics team. She was part of the silver medal winning team at the 2022 Pan American Championships and was the alternate for the gold medal winning team at the 2022 World Championships.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mike Hunger". Utah Utes . Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  2. Frederick, Jace (July 17, 2018). "Minnesota native gymnast who was first to speak up about Nasser sex abuse to be honored". inforum.com. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  3. Frederick, Jace (July 19, 2018). "Maggie Nichols' courage — going public about Nassar's sex abuse — helped transform gymnastics". St. Paul Pioneer Press . Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  4. Vejar, Alex (November 21, 2023). "Utah gymnastics coach Tom Farden is out as Red Rocks boss after months of controversy". The Salt Lake Tribune . Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  5. Sikdar, Disita (July 4, 2024). "After MyKayla Skinner, Former Coach Gets Brutally Slammed By Gymnastics Community For Getting Into Twin City Twisters: "This Sport is So Toxic"". essentiallysports.com. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  6. Furlong, Josh (May 9, 2024). "Carly Dockendorf adds former club coach Mike Hunger as newest Red Rocks assistant". KSL . Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  7. 1 2 Karwowski, Alex (April 5, 2024). "Aspiring U.S. Olympics team gymnast Lexi Zeiss training in Champlin". The Star Tribune . Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  8. "Rich Stenger Bio - University of Minnesota Official Athletic Site". www.gophersports.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-16.
  9. "Jessie DeZiel". Nebraska Cornhuskers . Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  10. "Olympian Grace McCallum Inspires Gymnasts at Twin City Twisters". CCX Media. August 4, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  11. Clayton, Ren (January 21, 2024). "Former Minnesota gymnast Maggie Nichols hopes new book will help sexual abuse survivors". CBS News . Retrieved June 10, 2024.