Our People
Elizabeth Lilla – Founder
Elizabeth has been involved in gymnastics for nearly her entire life. After retiring from competition while in high school, Liz caught the coaching bug and never looked back! She coached at a local gymnastics club all through college. Upon earning her doctorate in occupational therapy from Creighton University, Liz decided to chase her dream of opening a gymnastics club, where she could share her love of the sport with as many children as possible. In January of 2007, she founded Metro Stars Gymnastics with a total of 5 students. Things picked up from there, and by the year’s end, Liz had a growing program. She was named the Nebraska Occupational Therapy Association’s “Practitioner of the Year” for developing the Special Stars Program here at Metro Stars Gymnastics. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her four children, Katie, Juliette, Samantha, and Charlie, as well as reading, and running.
Erik Lilla – Founder
Erik began his gymnastics career shortly after completing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Nebraska. Invited by Elizabeth to do running drills with some compulsory gymnasts, he quickly fell in love with the sport of gymnastics. Shortly after that, Erik served as the Nebraska State TOPs Manager and had the opportunity to take his athletes to the national TOPs test at the Olympic Training Center in Houston, TX. Armed with a passion for sharing the sport of gymnastics with as many children as possible, Erik founded Metro Stars Gymnastics in late January 2006 with five students. In 2015 Erik was selected by the Midlands Business Journal as one of their 40 Under 40 entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals for his role in the growth and development of Metro Stars Gymnastics. Erik holds the prestigious Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (C.S.C.S.) credential offered by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (N.S.C.A.). In his free time, Erik enjoys spending time with his wife and four children, Katie, Juliette, Samantha, and Charlie.
Rebecca Kettelhake – General Manager
Rebecca became a coach at Metro Stars in 2010 drawing experience from performing baton for 5 years and 6 years in competitive dance. She became the Xcel Team Director in 2015 and the General Manager in 2022. Rebecca has worked at all levels of Metro Stars, from birthday parties through all levels of coaching and now staff leadership. Rebecca loves the farm and hates the dark, two facts that make it easy to relate to her gymnasts!
Amanda Stine – Guest Services Director
Amanda’s position as Guest Services Director obscures the fact she was around tumbling sports well before she joined the Metro Stars team in October, 2022. She was asked to be part of the National Cheerleading Association when she was 18, nearly 5 years ago (we assume)! When you get a chance, give Amanda a smile on your way by the front desk – her favorite part of being Guest Services Director is the friendly faces she sees every day while helping families.
Emily Kilcoin – Developmental Director
Emily has coached competitive and recreational gymnastics for 15 years after spending 8 years as a competitive gymnast! For over a year and a half she has applied her expertise to guiding Preschool and Recreational Girls classes in her role as Developmental Director. Interestingly, Emily owns the Harry Potter book series in five different languages. Still, she has yet to weave Defense Against the Dark Arts into the Preschool curriculum.
Taylor Churchill – Xcel Team Director
Taylor spent 8 years competing in gymnastics, 7 years competing in cheer, and 2 years as program director for the Fremont Flyers gymnastics program. Her role with the Flyers gave her an opportunity to coordinate the competitive Xcel team and help shape their coaching staff. Taylor joined the Metro Stars team in 2022, and is using her position to expand our Xcel Team coaching resources. That is exciting! However, not everything about her is exciting – Taylor would just eat spaghetti every day, if she could.
Avery Newman – Boy’s Director
Avery joined Metro Stars as a Director in 2022, and became the Boy’s Program Director in early 2023. Avery’s background as an athlete was in Cheerleading and Dance, which creates a strong foundation for coaching tumbling. While at Metro Stars, Avery has coached virtually every type of class offered, excelling in mastering new skills as well as connecting with athletes through humor and compassion. Outside of the gym, Avery is a bit of a cat person – having 15 all time at last count. Surely, no more than 5 or 6 at a time…surely!
James Hubbard – Director
James hails from Arkansas where he originally fell in love with coaching tumbling and cheerleading – in fact, he became head coach at his first gym! He joined Metro Stars in 2017 as a part time coach while he worked as a Department Manager at Old Navy. In 2018, James committed to Metro Stars full time, taking the role of T&T Director. He helped the program grow and later took on the challenge of being the Preschool Director. Today he is a multipurpose Director, like a swiss army knife that can spot back tucks. It seems really important to James that we mention he can still tumble, despite his advanced years. It is unclear which definition of ‘tumble’ he means.
Amy Williams – Marketing Director
Amy has a degree in Visual Communications, 20 years of experience in product and graphic design, as well as 6 years of experience in marketing. She shares her creative influence through the cool graphics and images that show up on Metro Stars signs, printed materials, and apparel. Amy has taken the Metro Stars image from ‘middle school art project’ to a cohesive and recognizable aesthetic that helps to illustrate that we at Metro Stars take fun pretty seriously – and boy are we proud of how she makes us look! Outside of Metro Stars, Amy and her husband, Jeff, have two teenagers at home so please comfort her when you see her.