The new year brings with it some big changes for one of the longest standing teams in Texas Acro. While World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) might be best known for their prominence in women’s artistic gymnastics, the gym has a storied history in acrobatics as well, and is one of the earliest member clubs of Texas Acro.
The WOGA acrobatics program was founded by Brandi Lewis Wren at the Plano location back in 2005. Brandi was at the helm for eleven years, coaching Texas Acro’s first senior elite men’s pair and numerous state, regional, national and international medalists. When she retired from coaching in 2016, Brandi handed the reins to former Belgium national team coach, Slavik Kosakovskyy, who continued the tradition of WOGA acro excellence and added even more state, regional, and national titles to the gym’s legacy.
As of January 2023, however, there is a new face in the Plano gym, and it’s one very familiar to Texas Acro fans. Aubrey Rosilier, world silver medalist and former AGSA athlete, was recently named as the new head coach for the WOGA acro team, and she is looking to share her knowledge and love of the sport with the next generation of acrobats.
Aubrey started acro at age 11 after five years competing in artistic gymnastics. Her first partnership was as a base in an 11-16 women’s group with her younger sister, Abby, at Aerial Athletics in San Antonio, TX, coached by Jennifer Banowsky. The following year she moved to women’s pair, and competed as a women’s pair base for the rest of her ten-year acro career. In 2014, she changed gyms to AGSA and was coached by Vladimir Vladev in two different partnerships, moving from Jr Elite to Sr Elite in 2017. She retired from competition in 2021 and transitioned to the role of college student at UT Austin studying economics.
When asked about her favorite career highlights, Aubrey said, “Definitely winning the silver medal at my last World Championships in Geneva, Switzerland in 2021. My partner and I had worked together for 5 years through my knee injury and the COVID-19 lockdown, so winning that medal seemed like the perfect reward for all of our hard work.” Besides being the first US women’s pair in history to win an all-around medal at the World Championships, Aubrey and her partner, Emily Davis, won numerous awards and medals together and were recognized by FIG as World Class Athletes.
Now that her competitive acro career is behind her, Aubrey is passionate about passing on her love for the sport to the next generation. “As an elite athlete, I always knew that I wanted to coach younger acrobats to grow into the best athletes and people that they can be.” She describes her coaching philosophy as one based on respect, which is how she was coached throughout her acro career. She believes in incorporating light-hearted moments when possible, helping young athletes to enjoy their journey and build a passion for the sport, and hopes to teach her athletes that success in acro is the product of a huge amount of determination, focus, and hard work every day in the gym.
What’s next for the WOGA acro team? Aubrey says her goal is to grow the program in the upcoming years and to continue the tradition of a team that is competitive on both the national and world stages. She excited about the move to North Texas and looks forward to directing her passion into this new chapter of her acro career.
