Administraton

Lyle Guthrie, Executive Program Director & Men’s Elite Head Coach

In 1986, Lyle founded an all-boys club and a short time later expanded to include a girls program. Then in 1999, he purchased land and in 2000, Lyle fulfilled the dream of building his own facility and opened the door for business at our current location. He has been teaching gymnastics since 1979. During this time, Lyle has developed and trained many state, regional, and nationally ranked gymnasts. For the past 25 years, he has annually had levels 5 – 10 gymnasts on the Arizona All-Star Teams. In 2004, he had a gymnast earn a position on the Region 1 All-Star Team and they won the JO National Championships that year. Lyle has also had the pleasure and privilege of coaching—through the Elite level--his son, who earned All-American status on the pommel horse at the 2005 USAG Collegiate National Championships.

Karleen Guthrie, Office Manager

Three years after Karleen and Lyle were married, they opened their gymnastics school. She was in charge of administration and filled in as class assistant training and studying the fundamentals of gymnastics. Two years later, when the gym expanded to include girls, Karleen was AZOG’s 1st girl’s instructor. Then when the girl’s program began to grow, she relinquished her position to a more qualified coach. Although administration is her main focus, she will occasionally fill in as a substitute instructor.