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About Our Team
Meet your coaching team.
There’s one thing we look for in every GSA coach. Their heart has to be in it. Our coaches came to the special-needs community through their careers, their education, or someone in their own family. That connection matters. These are the people who’ll get to know you on the gym floor.
What our coaches bring to the floor
Our coaches bring experience in special education, respite, behavioral support, and athletic development. New coaches go through Golden Strength Foundations before taking on more responsibility with our athletes. We want the coach beside you to know why we do things here and when to try a different approach.
Say you’d like to watch a teammate take the first turn. That tells your coach something useful. We can give you a good spot to watch, show you what’s coming, and ask when you’d like to try. And if you’re the one ready to go first? We want to know that about you, too.
See how a first visit can work →What our athletes teach us about coaching
Picture two athletes working on a change of direction. One wants a quicker cut on the soccer field. The other wants to join a game of tag with friends. Both deserve a coach who takes that goal seriously.
Our work with kids and athletes with different support needs gives us more ways to teach that soccer player. If a spoken cue doesn’t click, a coach might put two cones down and show the turn. Our speed background helps us spot the next challenge in that game of tag. Once an athlete is moving comfortably between the cones, they might be ready to react to a teammate instead. The goal belongs to the athlete.
Our founder, Henry Aviles, brought 20 years of athletic coaching to Golden Strength Academy. He created the Golden Strength Adaptive Specialist (GSAS) certification to teach coaches how to bring these two worlds together.
Learn more about GSAS Certification