A B O U T
Meet our Team
Heidi Popov
Executive Director
Heidi began her career at Kawartha Gymnastics in 2015 as Administrator and was promoted to General Manager in August of 2020. She was named the 2024 Business Woman of the Year through the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce Excellence Awards.
Under Heidi's leadership, Kawartha Gymnastics has garnered prestigious awards including the 2024 True Sport Club of the Year Award from Gymnastics Ontario, the High Five Community Recognition Award with Five Counties Children's Centre, and the Platinum Winner for Family Recreation and Youth Sports and Recreation in the Community Votes Peterborough awards. Additionally, Kawartha Gymnastics was announced as finalists in the best Non-Profit category with the Peterborough Excellence Awards.
Heidi has a strong passion for sports management. Involved in sports her entire life, Heidi has been a varsity volleyball team captain, travel soccer club player and world champion jump rope athlete. Heidi is thrilled to be continuing her passion of enhancing the lives of children through sport at Kawartha Gymnastics. Prior to moving to Peterborough in 2013, Heidi was the Group Director at “UGot Active Kids” in Toronto where she led the company through programming, sales, and operations for over 2 years. Additionally, Heidi spent 5 years with Mosaic Experiential Marketing as a National Sales Manager for multiple fortune 500 companies.
Heidi’s vast background also includes being a Canadian Forces Naval Reserve veteran, a cast member and Canadian ambassador at Walt Disney World, and a Boutique Manager with Oceania Cruises. When she’s not in the office at Kawartha Gymnastics, you can find Heidi coaching local skippers through her organization “Jump Rope Kawartha” or designing jewelry with “Scarlett Leather”.
Allie Earle
WAG Director
Allie joined our coaching team last March and has been working with our high-level athletes several days a week. Allie is a dedicated gymnastics coach with a strong focus on enhancing athlete health and performance. She began her gymnastics journey at 18 months old with Gemini Gymnastics and achieved notable success by winning the 1999 Provincial Championships. Her early accomplishments ignited a lifelong passion for gymnastics, guiding her path as both a skilled athlete and an influential coach.
Allie’s coaching career started at 14, quickly advancing to become a Competition 2 Trained WAG Coach. Her expertise extends beyond gymnastics; she also competed provincially in trampoline and earned national recognition as a Cheerleading Tumbling Champion. In 2012, she started coaching at Gymworld in London, and a few years later, she was offered the position of Head Coach of the competitive program. In this role, she played a pivotal part in nurturing young gymnasts, instilling strong technical skills, discipline, and a love for the sport.
Passionate about holistic athlete development, Allie holds an E-RYT200 yoga certification, integrating mindfulness and body awareness into her coaching approach. Her focus on athlete wellness ensures her gymnasts are not only strong performers but also healthy and balanced individuals. Beyond her gymnastics accomplishments, Allie co-founded Oshawa Lady Hawks cheerleading, now known as Cheerstrong, where she continued to promote athletic excellence. She is also certified with the Wedding Planners Institute of Canada (WPIC), showcasing her versatility and talent for organizing memorable experiences.
As WAG Director at Kawartha Gymnastics, Allie plans to remain dedicated to fostering the next generation of athletes with a comprehensive approach that prioritizes both performance and wellness.
Ilysha Lock
Director of Operations
Ilysha started her gymnastics career from a very young age in her hometown of Midland, Ontario. She started in parent and tot and moving into competitive gymnastics when she was 3 years old. Ilysha competed with the Hurons Gymnastics Club in ODP and OCP for a few years before switching to the Barrie Kempettes Gymnastics Club to finish out her career in 2011 following an ankle injury.
Ilysha then took her passion for sport to track and field and competed with SSD track and field club from 2012-2019. She started her track and field career as a sprinter and hurdler, competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m events. Ilysha then moved to field events, throwing javelin and discus for many years.
Ilysha started coaching in 2015 at the Barrie Kempettes as a CIT. Ilysha is now an NCCP competition 2 coach Women's Gymnastics with additional certifications in Men's, Trampoline and Rhythmic Gymnastics. When she moved to Peterborough in 2019 to attend Trent University, Ilysha began coaching recreational programs at Kawartha Gymnastics and has held many titles at the club including Rec Assistant and Rec Director. Ilysha is now Director of Operations at KG.
Jessica Dunlop
Rec Assistant
Jessica joined the sport of gymnastics at Bluewater Gymnastics in Sarnia, Ontario at the young age of 3 years old. Participating in one year of competitive gymnastics before continuing to other sports including soccer in the London League and was captain of her Bantam Softball team. Jessica then went on to coach the Peewees and other Bantam teams at the age of 18. She grew up in Oil Springs, Ontario and moved to Peterborough in 2019 as a student at Trent University, beginning her post-secondary studies. Jessica graduated in April 2024 with a Bachelor Honours Degree in History. She is currently studying for the LSATs later this year. Jessica aims to return to her post-secondary studies in Law and become a criminal defense lawyer.
Following her move to Peterborough, Jessica began coaching at Kawartha Gymnastics in 2021. She is Competitive 1 trained and has coached multiple athletes within our recreational classes from Babynastics to our Advanced Recreational. Jessica began her current position in January 2024 as our Recreational Assistant. Jessica continues to actively coach Advanced Rec classes, as well as organizing our PA Day, March Break and Summer camps as well as private lessons and testing for our Advanced Recreational Program.
Amber Knight
Cheer Director
Amber started her cheerleading career at a very young age in a club similar to our own. Like many cheerleaders, she was a competitive gymnast before discovering the sport, while training one day. She saw girls stunting and was instantly hooked. She spent three years in both competitive cheerleading and gymnastics before deciding to pursue cheerleading at a higher level, during this time she also competed in power tumbling and trampoline. Since training at a higher level she has competed at competitions such as the All-Star Cheerleading World Championships four times, the first being in 2017. She has also been to the Collegiate Cheerleading World Championships with her high school team, where they won a bronze medal in their division in 2018.
Amber began coaching in 2018 at Ultimate Canadian Cheer as a CIT and is now a level three certified cheerleading coach. When she moved to Peterborough in 2021 to attend Trent University, she started helping out with the cheerleading program at Electric City Cheer. She has since become the Head Cheerleading Coach in the spring of 2023 and has recently been promoted to Cheer Director!
Karlie Keating
Administrator
Karlie has been involved in competitive sports her entire life. She grew up playing hockey and soccer, competing at high levels for the Peterborough Ice Kats and the Peterborough City Soccer Association. Karlie was the Captain, for both sports, for multiple years throughout her sports career. She led her hockey team to multiple silver and bronze medals at the OWHA Championships. Throughout high school, Karlie also fit time in to play on the high school hockey team, soccer team, and field hockey team. She competed in OFSAA for all three sports, multiple times!
Karlie joined our Administrative team in February 2023. She went off on maternity leave after having her second daughter and returned to the gym August 2024. Karlie comes from a medical background previously working as an RPN, a medical receptionist and at a public health lab. Karlie left the medical field looking for somewhere to pursue her passion in sports, and joining the KG team was exactly what she has been looking for! She enjoys being a part of an exceptional club heavily focused on our community. When Karlie isn’t working, she is spending time with her husband and two daughters.
Jessie Legros
Program Assistant
Jessie began her gymnastics journey at the young age of three in Parent & Tot classes, advancing through the competitive program for three years. She then competed for a year and excelled in floor tumbling. She left gymnastics to explore other sports including baseball and dance, but her passion for gymnastics eventually drew her back to the Advanced Recreational and Adult Open Gym programs to maintain her skills and stay connected to the sport she loved.
Jessie graduated with honours from the Fitness and Health Promotion program at Fleming College, where she was awarded the City of Kawartha Lakes Award in 2019. She went on to serve as Recreational Coordinator at Champions Gymnastics until 2023, then ran a successful in-home daycare business. Missing the gym community and her passion for coaching, she joined Kawartha Gymnastics in September 2024 as a Competitive 1-trained coach, working with both competitive and recreational athletes from Parent & Tot through Advanced Recreational classes, and offering private lessons.
She began her role as Program Assistant in February 2025, working part-time hours. In this position, she works closely with the leadership team to fulfill delegated tasks and contribute to the overall efficiency of the organization. She continues to coach competitive and recreational classes and will transition to full-time once her son starts school in September. During the day she cares for her four-year-old son, and in the evenings she can be found at Kawartha Gymnastics coaching and supporting the program.
Madison Putman
Rec Coordinator
Madison has a strong passion for sport management. Growing up in Pickering, she competed in soccer as a goalkeeper her entire life at both the provincial and league1 level while also playing for Whitby FC. At the age of 17, she continued onto the United States where she played NCAA soccer while pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Sport Management.
Following university, Madison continued on to Germany where she played professionally for a few years. Unfortunately, a major shoulder injury and three surgeries later her playing career ended and she found her way to Peterborough with her family where she quickly became the Game Day Manager of Electric City Football Club and Head Goalkeeper Coach at Trent University for the Women's soccer team and now has taken on the Recreation Coordinator role here at KGC.
Madison is a very athletic person who is very excited to start her journey on the gymnastics side of things and learn something new everyday.