KT Coates

President - KT Coates

KT is the owner of Vertical Dance, the winner of the IPC contribution to the industry award 2012, the President of the International Pole Sports Federation, The Chair of Pole Sports UK, a Level 5 PDC certified instructor and a Level 3 REPs instructor. She has been in the pole industry for over 16 years and is one of the pole industry's pioneers and a leading authority in pole fitness and instructor training programs.  She has helped to raise health and safety standards within the pole industry, is responsible for the push to get pole sports into the Olympics and getting official recognition for it as a sport. As President, KT will be overseeing the technical committee as well as co-ordinating the smooth running of the IPSF alongside the Vice-President.

Kate Whitley

Vice-President - Kate Whitley

Kate has been involved in pole since 2008 when she took over Dance Inspires which is a successful pole school in Oxford. From the outset she got involved in national and international events using her management, communication and business skills built up throughout her career and has excellent people skills. She recognised the importance of having standardised regulations in the pole industry firstly to provide a high level of safety and excellence to students but also for school owners too. This led her to the position of Ethics Chair in the first year of the IPSF and writing all the ethical regulations. Kate was an organiser of the WPSC 2012 and has dedicated many hours to the vast amount of paperwork, research and communication needed to fulfill this role.  Her charity work through pole (including organising a Kilimanjaro trek for seven people) has added up to nearly £15,000 for worthy causes and she continues to give her time freely to the IPSF as she believes the future for pole sports is fantastic.Kate firmly believes in the goal of getting pole sports into the Olympics one day, however long it takes.  She has co-ordinated the IPSF for the last two years and been an integral member of the federation in both an administrative and supportive role. and will continue to do so as Vice-President.

Natalia Wojciechowska

Accreditation Co-ordinator - Natalia Wojciechowska

This is what Natalia does best - search, check and make contacts and try to understand the legal situation of organisations. She has run Pole Dance Sport Association in Poland  for some time now  along with a pole dance studio and has been in the pole dance business (with serious commitment) for over 3 years now.  Within that time she has founded Association, created one of the best pole dance studios in the country, created a programme of instructors courses, made contact with many people from the pole dance world, organised the first official Pole Dance Championships in Poland and is now working on the regional Championships and founded the Pole Dance Cup, which will take place (for the second time) in July. Natalia also gives a lot of interviews about pole dance for different media and is now ( as an Association) preparing the first book about pole dance in Polish language. This position will enable Natalia to help the IPSF offer national accrediation status around the world to help pole sports progress towards international recognition as a governing sporting body. Natalia will be working closely with the Federation Representative and the Competition Representative to acheive these goals.

Ingrid Jerac

Competition Representative - Ingrid Jerak

Ingrid was born in 1970. in Zadar, Croatia where she went to ballet school. When she  discovered pole dance she felt challenged to learn it and and share it with her students. Ingrid did an instructor training course with KT Coates and became the 1^st Croatian certified pole dance and fitness instructor and member of IPDFA. Her love for dance in general and pole dance pushed her to create 2 shows which were presented at the National Theatre in Zadar. Ingrid has also participated in numerous tv shows where she could promote pole dance and is a founder of the Croatian Pole Dance & Fitness Competiton. The competition is recognised by IPDFA and IPSF.Since 2011 Ingrid has been living in Zagreb, Croatia where she teaches. One of her big delights is judging at pole dance competitions. She has judged at the French Pole Dance Competition 2011 and also at the Worlds Pole Sport Championship in London 2012 where she became a certified pole dance/sport judge. In 2013 Ingrid is invited to be a part of jury team for the Pole Dance Cup 2013 in Warshaw, Poland and video entry judge for Australian Pole Championships. This position will mean that Ingrid will be able to work towards developing an international criteria for competition accreditation so that athletes can guarantee the competitions they enter are reputable and eligible for the WPSC.

Olga Strom

Federation Representative - Olga Strom

Olga Strom is the founder and President of the Czech Pole & Aerial Sports Federation and also the  founder and 1st Vice-president of the European Pole Sport Union. She is a manager in life and work and focuses on big international projects: people management (up to 25 people), including management of multinationals teams; successful negotiation, increase of loyalty and relationships with key persons on customer side, quality improvement. Gained and managed contracts in MIO $. In 2008 Olga found her new passion – pole. From the 2010 she is a certified instructor of pole sports and from 2011 she has spent all her free time for the non-profit Pole Sport federation in Czech Republic as a founder and president. She is responsible for getting pole sports officially recognised as a sport and for creating a strong pole community in her country and  the organisation of the Czech Championships using her communication and managing skills. Olga has becomean accredited international judge and judged on national and international competitions. She has a strong will for judging and development of pole sport and hopes to help with progress in pole sport and community not only locally in Czech Republic but also worldwide. This position will enable Olga to focus on developing accrediatation criteria for countries to each have a national Federation.

Nia Pearce

Athletes Representative - Nia Pearce

Nia declares she is a Pole Addict; she loves everything about pole: The gymnastic abilities, fitness gains, the confidence boost when you finally reach your goals, she loves it!  Nia has taught pole for over 5 years and is constantly moving and evolving with this great industry. Her other passion is enjoying life, putting a smile on a friends face and generally being a chipper little bean. Her view is ‘It’s Nice to be Nice’.  Nia is thrilled to have the position of Athlete Representative. Last year was such a great experience and she really enjoyed working behind the scenes. She may not speak a thousand languages but she can read people and when tension is high back stage, she knows when it’s time to lend a shoulder to cry on or a motivating boost!  Being diplomatic certainly helped the role and the fact she loves listening to people also helped when it came to the athletes as they each had a different fear and concern! Listen, embrace the situation and deal with it. As the Athletes Representative, Nia will get a chance to do it all over again at the 2013 WPSC as is proud to do so.

Ekaterina Romanova (Blacky)

Ethiics Co-ordinator - Ekaterina Romanova

Ekaterina has been in the Pole Industry for the last 12 years. Pole dancer and choreographer, then pole athlete (Elite), pole sport judge, pole studio co-founder and pole sport instructor (Elite) – this is her way in Pole Industry. She began competing outside Russia in 2009 and became the first Russian silver medalist at Pole Art 2009. For the last 4 years she has been teaching pole sports to elite athletes, judging all big competitions, taking part in developing and improving judging and scoring systems in Russia. Ekaterina has 3 objectives: to get pole sports recognised as an Olympic Sport, to issue fair, clear and strict rules for pole sports competitions and to see pole athletes being recognised and respected the same as any other sportsmen. She sees that her objectives and ambitions match the IPSF mission. Ekaterina will be focusing on ethical considerations for all aspects of IPSF policies to ensure a sense of fair play as stated in the International Olympic Charter for sporting activities.

Amiee Lawson

Events Co-ordinator - Aimee Lawson

Aimee has been in the Pole Industry since 2005. She has created a successful and well-loved company (Northern Pole Dance) in Newcastle upon Tyne and strongly believes in the work that the IPSF does for the pole industry. For the last 5 years she has hosted an amateur pole competition (Northern Pole Princess) in Newcastle upon Tyne which has been attended by competitors around the UK. As well as hosting this competition she launched the very successful UK Pole Showcase in 2012. Aimee is extremely familiar with marketing and promotion for pole events, having hosted and/or been involved with many of the UKs most loved pole events. She has excellent links and relationships with many people and businesses in the industry and  frequently travels overseas to be involved,  mainly as a judge.  Aimee will be working with the Events Representaive and Marketing Representative to co-ordinate a two pronged approach for the IPSF, Firstly the WPSC and secondly to increase IPSF membership worldwide.

Petra Larson

Events Representative - Petra Larsson

Since 2000, when Petra introduced the Nordics to ‘exotic’ training such as strip aerobics and pole dance she has been passionate about teaching others this great form of training. Being an aerobics instructor since age 16 and a past pro-basketball player (including the Swedish National Team and in the USA) fitness and health has always been a big part of her life. She is at the moment running the largest studio in the Nordics and is the organiser of the annual Battle of the Pole, pole dance competition as well as the Swedish Pole Dance Championships and the founder for the Swedish Pole Dance Federation in 2010. Petra has been a judge in the European Championships 2011 and 2012, Czech Championships 2012 and The World Championships in London and Zurich 2012 as well as the Swedish Championships 2012. She was the first to conduct instructor training in chair and pole in the Nordics, and her winning style of combining tough classes with inspirational choreography makes her a unique teacher. With over 5 000 classes, 20 teacher trainings and more than 700 bachelorette classes the least you can say is that she has experience! She has been in numerous TV-shows such as Let’s Dance/Dancing with the stars, Sofis Mode/Sofis Fashion, ToppHälsa/ToppHealth and so on and is a well-known health and fitness profile in Sweden. Petra will be focusing on strategies for increasing awareness and membership of the IPSF worldwide.

Shophie Logan

Marketing Representative - Sophie Logan

Sophie has a keen interest and University education in marketing, so the role of marketing representative will not only perfectly combine her experience and knowledge but do so along with her passion for pole. She has founded and run the University of Essex pole dancing club for the past 15 months, and understands the importance for clear and direct promoting and the difference that it can make to potential success. The club has helped her develop her ability to adapt to changes, expanded her skills in communication and broadened her knowledge of the pole and fitness industry. Sophie's skills will be a valuable benefit for the IPSF as the need to market events, policies, accreditations and the WPSC continues.

Cindy Cojimans

Judges Representative - Cindy Cooijmans

Cindy is the mother of 3 lovely sons a butcher’s wife and a dedicated pole teacher!

She is a very active member of the pole industry. Besides teaching pole and making the Pole Move Box. Cindy was also a very important part of the WPSC 2012 and part of the organisational team.

She is very interested in all that goes on in the pole industry and keeps up with all the new moves that are being invented, the technique behind a move, the difficulty, flexibility, strength of a move and the naming process that comes with it. She also enjoy various ways to combine moves together etc. Cindy has judged in several small and large competitions all over the world as well as helping with organising pole competitions and events. This position will mean that Cindy will be an integral part of the process in ensuring that judges for the IPSF are trained to an excellent standard for both international and national competitions worldwide. She will also represent them to ensure they are treated fairly and respectfully when involved in IPSF activities.

Florenza Pizanis-Ellis

Youth Representative - Florenza Pizanis

Born in California, Florenza now lives in Germany. She started pole dancing as a fun activity, and immediately discovered it offered her a unique and perfect balance between strength endurance, flexibility, elegance and creativity. Not only has she become very passionate about the sport, but also  very excited to get more involved helping it developed and expand in a respective manner, especially where youth are concerned. Florenza feels her experience working with youth in competitive sports could be of value. She is a professional dance teacher/ballet master, choreographer, pole dance instructor and Rhythmic Sports Gymnastics trainer and judge. She has also worked in two competitive sports at national and international levels (up to Olympic qualifications) and has seen the outcome of faulty judging systems and the harsh politics that go along with it. Florenza has experienced firsthand, the effect inconsistencies and injustices can have on hard-working and determined youth. She would like to help prevent much of this happening in its infancy.

Having competed internationally and knowing the pressure one’s under to succeed unnecessary pressures should be avoided and criteria developed to ensure a healthy great start. As Youth Representative, Florenza will be be working in all these areas as well as continuing to develop a scoring system that enable young people to grow into healthy successful adult athletes.

David Lacagnina

Scoring Representative - Davide Lacagnina

Davide was born in La Spezia, in 1976 and has been a gymnast since 1982. He has multiple regional titles (from 1988 to 1999),North Italian Champion (1994). In 1996 he began a career in aerobic gymnastic and became seven times national aerobic champion (1996,1997,1998 in two categories,1999,2000 and 2010 with his team). He was in the National Aerobic team from 1996 to 2000 and  participated in three World Championships of aerobics (1997.1998 and 2000), best finish: 7th place in 1998; three World Cup (1997,2009,2010) best finish: third place (bronze medal) at the World Aerobic Grand Prix 1997 (Prague).In 2009, he won 7th place at the Suzuki World Cup in Tokyo in the mixed pair category with Alessandra Marchetti. Davide has been a certified fitness instructor from 1996 (Reebok certificated), gymnastic coach (Italian Federation of Gymnastic) personal trainer, coach of the national team of Pole Sport FISAC-POLEXGYM (Italian Federation of Sports Acrobatic and Choreographic),EPSU international judge ,aerobic gymnastic national judge. He has judged national and international pole completions and have been very active in creating a scoring system for the IPSF that is based on a code of points. This position will mean he will be constantly assessing and evaluating how the biomechnics of the body can be safely scored in international and national competitions.

Ekaterina Gostevskikh

Masters Representative - Ekaterina Gostevskikh

Ekaterina has been in Pole industry for the last 5 years. She used to be a fitness instructor for 10 years, but got tired and after 6 months of pole training she came 3^rd in one of the first Russian Pole Sports championships (2009) and opened her own studio. Since 2009 she has been running a pole studio in Saint-Petersburg. Since 2009 she has taken part in organising and judging local and national competitions. She took part in the elaboration of the Russian National Pole Sports rules and scoring system in 2012. In addition to that her students have successfully performed in international events, thus she has travelled a lot and examined many foreign scoring systems. Ekaterina has a degree in management, interpreting and fitness. All this experience helps her to analyse and improve existing judging systems. Ekaterina will be ensuring that athletes in the masters category have the correct scoring system as well supporting them in IPSF competitions.

Tim Trautman - Honorary Member

Honorary Member - Tim Trautman

Tim created the IPSF in early 2010 to take pole sports to the ultimate level, the World Games and the Olympics. It was the culmination of an adventure that began in 2006 when Tim joined with Lizz Schofield to create Studio Soiree in Salt Lake City, Utah which became the largest pole fitness studio in the world. At Soiree, Tim had the pleasure of seeing so many women discover their inner beauty while refining their outer beauty that it changed his life. In early 2009, he assisted in the creation and operation of the Pole Fitness Association and started the PFA's Olympic Committee to study what it would take to get pole sports in the Olympics. From his research, it was clear that what was missing in the pole industry was a dedicated organization unlike any that existed. Thus, he left the PFA to start the IPSF and spent the next year planning and putting the IPSF together as well as recruiting the industry's best and brightest leaders to make the IPSF what it is today.