Southeast gymnastics adds two new assistant coaches

The Southeast Missouri State gymnastics program recently hired two new assistant coaches before the 2016-17 season, Brittney Emmons and Chris Licameli.

Emmons has spent the three previous years as a volunteer assistant at Utah State.

Emmons decided to come to Southeast because of the prestige of the gymnastics team and because she had a former colleague who became an assistant here years before.

“It’s been a great program,” Emmons said. “It’s been building over the years.”

Emmons was enthusiastic about coming to Southeast.

“I just wanted the opportunity to come and start my coaching career at a great university and continue to help build it forward,” Emmons said.

The new women's gymnastics assistant coach, Chris Licameli.Submitted photo

Licameli recently graduated in May with a degree in sport and recreation management at Temple University.

He was a voluntary assistant on the women’s gymnastics team two years ago but took last year off, due to completing a senior internship.

“I looked for a couple coaching positions,” Licameli said. “My name was going around the circuit that I was interested in coaching college.”

One reason Licameli decided to come to Southeast is because of his love of the college atmosphere and he was itching to get back to college coaching.

His first contact with Southeast, however, was a little unusual to say the least.

“I was actually on a boat on the Amazon River in Brazil, heading back to civilization,” Licameli said. “I had got an email from Kristi and later I got onto land and I called her. That was the first time we talked. She told me about the position. It was a long process, but it was worth the wait.”

As training for the gymnastics team continues, Brittney and Chris are looking forward to this season as they begin their first year with the program.