2014 - 2015

Director & Head Coach: Josh Montfort

Assistant Director: Ben Prescott

Assistant Coaches: Todd Supple, Angie Prescott, Sami Ahmed

Officer Body

  • President: Tim Crawford

  • Vice President: Andrew ‘Rex’ Kennedy

  • Secretary: Camille Vendemia

  • Treasurer: Diego Gatica

  • Historian: James Liu

Award Recipients

  • Best Act: Mixed Doubles Balancing - Emily Bjanes and Andrew 'Rex' Kennedy

  • Best Female Trouper: Emily Krohn

  • Best Male Trouper: Diego Gatica

Guests from denmark

This season saw the addition of a new coach. Graduating from the university and Troupe in 2013, Orsam “Sami” Ahmed joined the coaching staff while also attending the Marymount University physical therapy doctoral program. During his time as a member of the Troupe, Sami served as treasurer and was the recipient of the Best Trouper Award in 2013.

This season was certainly an active one. One week at the end of a balmy February was particularly arduous. Recalled by Gymkana President, Tim Crawford, “We performed at the halftime show of the Maryland-Wisconsin Basketball game on Tuesday (2/24/15), we were filmed by Fox 45 on that Thursday morning, we performed at Dayton Oaks Elementary School on Friday, and we performed at the Baltimore Health Expo on Saturday. And there were multiple truck loadings sprinkled throughout, as well as setting up the gym for a gymnastics meet that weekend and resetting it afterward. Waking up at 5 a.m. on that Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I got a taste of what it’s like to be an adult in the real world, and I’m not ready yet.”

In hindsight, the prior week’s cancelled school show due to frigid cold weather may have been a saving grace.

Following the university spring break one month later, Gymkana served as host to the National Danish Performance Team. These world-class athletes travel the world to perform their acrobatic shows and promote their mission. That mission is to contribute to and encourage exercise, cheerfulness and understanding in the world. Through their shows and workshops they entertain and inspire an active lifestyle and strengthen healthy living. Sound familiar?

This was not the first interaction between the two organizations. The National Danish Performance Team had visited the area before in the 1990s and were hosted by Gymkana to use their practice facility on campus. 

For this visit, Gymkana arranged a joint performance with the Danish team to be performed in Ritchie Coliseum at the University of Maryland. Gymkana opened the performance with a strong showing from vaulting, chairs, pyramids, mixed doubles balancing, and ladders. The NDPT then followed with a breathtaking program filled with dance and acrobatics.

Itinerary

  • 2/6/2015 - Clear Spring Elementary School - Damascus, MD

  • 2/13/2015 - Mount Airy Middle School - Mt. Airy, MD

  • 2/20/2015 - Julius West Middle School - Rockville, MD (Cancelled due to weather)

  • 2/24/2015 - UMD vs. Wisconsin men’s basketball halftime show - College Park, MD

  • 2/27/2015 - Dayton Oaks Middle School - Dayton, MD

  • 2/28/2015 - Fox 45 Health Expo - Baltimore, MD

  • 3/6/2015 - Hagerstown Community College - Hagerstown, MD

  • 3/13/2015 - Spring Garden Elementary School - Hampstead, MD

  • 3/27/2015 - Theodore Davis Middle School - Waldorf, MD

  • 3/28/2015 - Joint show w/ the National Danish Performance Team - Ritchie Coliseum, College Park, MD

  • 4/10/2015 & 4/11/2015 - Gymkana Home Show

  • 4/25/2015 - Maryland Day - College Park, MD