Roger Harrell

Roger comes to The Cave with over 20 years of experience in gymnastics, and over 15 years of coaching experience. His passion for fitness is contagious. His technical knowledge and scientific approach help to refine everything we do. Roger holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and spent several years working on enormous processing plant projects, ore refinement systems and chemical weapons disposal facilities. Throughout it all he has kept a hand in coaching and training and has finally dedicated full time to his true passion. Roger has been involved in CrossFit since the early days and is also the gymnastics curriculum writer and core competency expert for the global CrossFit community.

• Level 3 CrossFit Certification
• Founder CrossFit Gymnastics Certification Program
• Co-Founder CrossFit Marin

Russell Bruel

Russell is our resident kinesthetic genius. A lifelong gymnast and coach, Russell's understanding of the mechanics of movement and his patience will bring you to new levels of ability.

• Level 1 CrossFit Certification

Nick Wise

Nicholas Wise has an extensive martial arts background, having studied various forms of self defense since 1985. He holds black belts in two styles, and has been coaching students of all ages in practical self defense and martial arts since 1999. He has worked in a several public safety sectors, including security and emergency medical services, and recognizes the importance of being able to transfer skills learned in the gym to real-world situations. He discovered CrossFit in 2007 and quickly came to see the importance of general physical preparedness to surviving violent or extraordinary situations.

• Second Degree Black Belt (Nidan) in Judo
• First Degree Black Belt (Shodan) in Hawaiian Jujitsu

Amanda Norton

Amanda has been an athlete her whole life. Starting at 4 years old, Amanda's parents enrolled her in gymnastics classes because they couldn't keep her on her feet. Gymnastics became a huge part of Amanda's life, as she competed for over eight years, winning a few State Championships and one National first place on the floor exercise. Injuries became an issue for Amanda, and so she slowly phased out of competition and into coaching. This time proved particularly challenging, because nothing could replace gymnastics.

She went on to study at UCLA, earning a degree in World Arts and Cultures with a focus in Dance Studies, while also taking pre-medicine classes. Amanda soon found that dance could be used to help her transition out of gymnastics. Then came CrossFit...

CrossFit put Amanda back in the gym and reintroduced her to gymnastics. She now feels better than ever, without any injuries or lingering pain. She wishes she had CrossFit while she was a competing gymnast because she feels she would have been better and stronger.

Now she is one of our gymnastics and CrossFit coaches at The Cave. She has always been a part of the family, however, because Russ used to be one of her gymnastics coaches. Aside from her life at The Cave, Amanda stays active in the community as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, as well as the Director of a free Jr. Lifeguard Program for kids. She is currently in school to further her career in the medical field, and working hard to put her name on the map of the CrossFit community. Already starting to make a mark as a 2012 Northern California regional qualifier to the CrossFit Games.

JB Douglas

JB was born in southern California and raised in San Pedro. His Mother, Father, and Brother are a big part of his life. Growing up he can remember this need to constantly challenge himself. He did this in many ways: gymnastics, skateboard, sliding down the stairs in cardboard boxes, snowboard, surfing, Rope swings, basketball, baseball, swimming, making up obstacle courses, climbing trees, beach, volleyball and of course monkeying around. In high school he focused on basketball and played 4 years on the varsity team for Palos Verdes High and loved it. He is still very close with his coaches and teammates from that time.

JB Moved to Sonoma County in 2006 and attended Sonoma State University where he earned a business management degree. In 2010 he started an internship as Director of marketing at Rohnert Park Gymnastics where they had a brand new parkour class. One thing lead to another... and when he graduated in 2012 it was clear his passions were movement and inspiring movement in others. JB believes that God has a plan for him and it involves sharing his innate ability for movement with others.

Since working at the Cave JB has picked up slack lining and an interest in CrossFit. The Cave also helped him train for American Ninja Warrior 4 where he made it to the finals in Las Vegas falling on stage 2 on the unstable bridge. With the ANW 5 season currently in production, wish him luck, as you will see him training for the course.

Fun Fact: Summer of 2006 between HS and College JB traveled to 14 countries in 6 weeks with friends and family.

Amy Dockus

Amy joined The Cave after spending a year in Africa (12 different countries), working for 8 different non-profit organizations. She worked in orphanages, with street children in the Kampala slums, taught kindergarten and art classes, helped coach a girl's soccer team in the Kibera slums, helped build and paint schools, photographed people and schools for fundraising and social media back in the US and did a large-scale art project/mural with a village school in Northern Uganda. Her outreach and working with children were clear indications that she was a good fit for The Cave.

Even though she works in an administrative capacity at The Cave, she is no stranger to physical pursuits. She was a strong soccer player from an early age, often playing on boy's teams because the opportunities for girls were limited. She was an All State player in high school and was recruited to play Division 1 soccer for Villanova University (graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, double major in English and Communication Arts). You'll find Amy taking work breaks to jump in on a CrossFit class or go for a run. Prior to her work in Africa, Amy worked in a variety of service and management positions, including being a product development manager for Restoration Hardware. Loving the idea of being surrounded by health conscious people, she chose to join The Cave as part of a healthy lifestyle choice. We are thrilled to have her running the office.

Andrey Pfening

Andrey Pfening was born in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and raised in Samara, Russia. He descends from a modest family in San Francisco, USA. He spent the first 5 years of his life in Samarkand, later 6 years in Samara, and now it's been 8 years since he resides in San Francisco.

San Francisco was his first city that he used as an obstacle course for practicing the physical activity that is called "parkour," also known as "the art of movement." Andrey was inspired by David Belle's (originator of parkour) physical abilities and his philosophy, as were many other practitioners of parkour. Andrey began practicing at the age of 16, and to this very day he still continues his journey of life as a traceur (practitioner of parkour).

Before parkour Andrey was motivated by his father (who as a young man was on a cycling team in Samarkand) to ride bicycles. Even though Andrey developed a strong interest in parkour, he still enjoys cycling, and from time to time goes out to bike around the Bay Area.

Amy Harris

Amy Harris has been working with young children for years. As program director for other facilities she has developed progressive developmental programs for our little ones. Utilizing music and directed play Amy will help your children develop their motor skills. With a deep love for helping to develop confidence through movement she knows how to properly encourage and reward children for broadening their experiences. Amy loves to work with the parent/child relationship at the physical, emotional and social levels.

• Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee, children, families and individuals
• MA candidate for Counseling Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies

Ryder Darcy

Ryder grew up in Marin County and as a high school student was a champion springboard diver, going undefeated in the county for his entire high school career. At his peak, he placed 5th in the northern California championships. As a youth Ryder also trained extensively in the martial art Shaolin Kempo and now has more than 5 years of experience under his belt. He continues to train martial arts by practicing Judo with The Cave's very own sensei, Nick Wise. Ryder went to university at San Francisco State where he majored in Anthropology with a minor in Theater.

In university, Ryder became interested in dance, taking classes in jazz, ballet, modern and contact improvisation. He performed extensively at university in both student productions and professor choreographed shows. His desire to find non-traditional forms of physical expression led him to the legendary choreographer Scott Wells, who's unique, highly acrobatic brand of contact improv is widely revered around the country. Ryder joined Mr. Wells' company and danced professionally in a number of his shows. Here the high demand for acrobatic athleticism pushed Ryder to begin training parkour which he has now been doing since 2009. In that time, Ryder has also become a dedicated CrossFitter, taking full advantage of everything The Cave has to offer.

Ryder's expertise, having been honed over the years by his wide breadth of experiences, is in parkour, partner acrobatics, and flipping.

Seraphina Schinner

Sera has been a member of The Cave since our early homeless days. She joined us when we were running Sunday classes in Town Park in Corte Madera. At 13 years old she started practicing parkour when the sport was still vastly unknown. She was hooked. Sticking with us through cold afternoons and wet grass, she helped us lug equipment to and from the original storage unit and then the tiny gym we first put together. She quickly learned about all of the disciplines trained at The Cave and joined the team as a coach. Over the next few years she became an invaluable member of the team and a premier parkour coach. She has also proven herself to be a capable CrossFit athlete and coach being among the youngest level 1 certified CrossFit coaches in the country.

• Level 1 CrossFit Certification

Bryan Oki

Bryan Oki is the director of CrossFit at The Cave. He has developed strength and conditioning programs for D-1 athletes, desk-jockeys, and competitive CrossFitters. His eye for movement and focus on progressive-exercise allow him to stress safety while maximizing his clients' fitness. Though improving his clients' clean and jerk and speeding up their 100m-freestyle are Bryan's day-to-day focus, the most important piece of his job is to teach athletes how to live a healthy lifestyle, a skill they will continue to use long after they are done hurling weights over their heads or shaving their chests to reduce drag.

• Level 1 CrossFit Certification

Bill Berry

Bill came to Crossfit Marin as its first athlete at age 53. After playing baseball and basketball in high school, Bill played different sports (basketball, tennis, golf, water skiing, snow skiing and jogging) on and off for about 30 years. Recognizing the need to become more fit with age, he began crossfit after asking Roger to help him get into shape. Bill has seen continual improvement in times and weights through the years; also losing 40+ pounds over the years. Bill has participated in the 2009, 2010 Crossfit Games and in 2011 finished in the top twenty in the Masters 55-59 division of the games. After training for about 2 1/2 years, Bill began coaching. Having served as lead pastor of a church in Marin for over 30 years, Bill is an experienced coach in helping people make life changes. Bill has now been part of the coaching team since January of 2009. Bill has been married to his wife Connie since 1973, he has three children, all married and seven grandchildren.