Gymnasts in our Rhythmic Gymnastics (RG) competitive program train between two and five times per week, with each training session lasting approximately 3–4 hours. Our competitive athletes participate in inter-club, provincial, national, and international competitions, providing opportunities to develop their skills and gain valuable competitive experience at every level.
Ritmika’s competitive athletes have been the best in the country and have represented Canada in all major international competitions including World Championships and Olympic Games. They have traveled to all 6 continents: Asia, Europe, North and South America, Australia, Africa. Since 1998, Ritmika gymnasts have dominated the field in Canada and produced many National and Provincial novice, junior and senior champions and brought home many gold, silver and bronze medals.
Ritmika is extremely proud to produce two Olympians. The first being Mary Sanders, who was Canadian and USA Champion and competed at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. She was inducted in the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2009. The second athlete is our seven time Canadian National Champion and 2008 Beijing Olympian, Alexandra Orlando who won every Canadian national senior title from 2002 to 2008. In 2006, Alexandra won six gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, tying the record for the most gold medals won by a single athlete at any Commonwealth Games.
Our competitive level training requires serious commitment and dedication towards the sport. Athletes have the opportunity to compete in Regional, Provincial, National and International competitions.Young gymnasts (5-7 yrs old) must first enter the pre-competitive stream where they will learn the basic skills required to enter the competitive stream. Competitive gymnasts acceptance to this program is by assessment only. Please call us to make an appointment with one of our coaches to test your child to determine if she can join this program.
Oxana Liakicheva trained with Moscow State Academy of Choreography in Russia.
After graduation she joined Moscow City Ballet Company as a dancer. Oxana performed all over the world, participating in many classical ballets including, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty.
After moving to Canada she joined Toronto Dance Theatre and worked as a ballet dancer.
Currently working as a ballet instructor/choreographer at her own Ballet to Fit studio.
Oxana is Ritmika staff member since 2024
Oxana is enjoying working with children of all ages and helping them to achieve their goals as a gymnasts or dancers.
Lilia holds the prestigious title of Master of Sport in rhythmic gymnastics. She is a graduate of Sports University in Kirghiz with a masters degree in physical education.
For several years she was a member of Kirghiz National RG team which competed in many grand tournaments in the former Soviet Union and other international competitions in Europe.
As a talented and dedicated rhythmic gymnastics coach Lilia has worked in Canada for over 15 years.
Lizzie joined the Ritmika family 15 years ago as a tiny tot in the recreational program. She has competed for over 10 years at the provincial and national competitive levels and has earned many achievements including being selected for the Team Ontario that traveled to Nice, France for a competition.
Lizzie has also spent 8 years competing for Ritmika’s well known AGG team as captain. Starting in 2017, she traveled with the original Rosebuds Pre-Novice team to the Four Continents Championships in Chicago where they won gold in their category. That same season, the AGG team traveled to Tartu, Estonia to compete at the Miss Valentine competition. In 2022, as part of Ritmika’s Junior AGG team, Rosettes, she traveled to Graz, Austria to represent Canada at AGG Junior World Championships. The Rosettes qualified to the finals, which was a great achievement for a Canadian team. In 2023, the Rosettes competed in the AGG World Cup in Chiari, Italy, and finished in the top 10.
As a coach, Lizzie has worked with Ritmika gymnasts at the recreational and inter club levels. She is currently in the process of completing her NCCP Competition 1 certificate.
As a former gymnast who grew up loving this sport, her goal is to share her love and experience with young gymnasts, pushing them to be their absolute best while also having fun. Lizzie is a 2019 recipient of Ritmika’s 10 year member silver pendant.
Rachel was dedicated to rhythmic gymnastics from young age on taking her trainings always very seriously. She competed at provincial level for 6 years. Her hard work was rewarded in 2018 when she placed second in overall at Ontario Championships.
In 2018 Rachel travelled with Ritmika Novice AGG team to Tartu ,Estonia to compete at International competition Miss Valentine. In 2019 Rachel competed in Los Angeles, USA at USA Rhythmic competition called LA Rhythmics.
After finishing her own competitive trainings Rachel continued as a coach in Ritmika club working with recreational and pre-competitive teams. Rachel is second year University student attending York University pursuing a bachelor’s of honors degree in Speech and Language Sciences. Graduated St. Jean De Brebeuf Catholic high school with Platinum honor roll and received the Families In Canada award for having the highest average in the grade.
Rachel has always displayed a strong commitment of excellence and dedication towards academic and athletic goals. She is also a certified swim and National Lifeguard instructor.
Avigail started 10 years ago as a young gymnasts in Ritmika club . She moved from recreational program to provincial and from there to National level cometitve program where she excelled fast and received many awards.
Avigail was also in Ritmika Novice AGG team representing Canada in 2017 at Four Continents Championships in Chicago where her team won a gold medal in the Novice category. Last season as Junior National level AGG team member she travelled to Graz, Austria to represent Canada at AGG World Championships. Her team qualified to finals, which was a great achievement for a Canadian team.
Ritmika Junior AGG team ,where Avigail is a member, is a 2022 and 2023 Ontario provincial Champion.
As a coach, Avigail has been working with Ritmika recreational and Precompetitive level gymnasts.
She is in the process of completing her NCCP coaching certficate program.
As a former national level gymnast she knows what it takes to achieve results in this beautiful but also difficult sport and she has brought all her knowledge to her young gymnasts she has been working with. Gymnasts love her and she knows how to bring the best out of all of them. Avigail is a 2023 recipient of Ritmika 10 year member silver pendant.
Kairi has excellent communication ,organization and coaching skills. She speaks fluently English,Estonian and Russian languages
Yuliia has been gymnast since age 5 in Ukraine.
Yuliia is a graduate from Chernivtsi Yuiy Fedkovych National University of Ukraine with Bachelor in Pedagogy Physical Education. She is a Master of Sport from Ukraine. Yuliia competed in Ukraine on provincial and National level. Later also in group competition where her group became Ukrainian Champions.
She was many years on National team.
Yuliia speaks English,Russian and Ukrainian languages
She is Ritmika ballet teacher since 2018
Alessandra has had a passion for dance from a very young age. She started dance at the age of three, and joined competitive dance at the age of five. Alessandra has been trained in various styles of dance including ballet, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, acrobatics, and tap. At the age of 12, she found her passion for ballet and trained extensively in ballet and contemporary. Most recently, Alessandra has trained primarily in the Vaganova syllabus. She attended Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts Secondary School to further her training and knowledge in dance, and is currently attending York University and completing her BFA in dance.
Alessandra has attended multiple ballet programs and summer intensives across North America including The National Ballet of Canada, The Alberta Ballet School, Boston Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. She has also competed at many competitions, including the world’s largest student ballet competition, Youth America Grand Prix, where she placed top 12 in her contemporary ballet solo. She has performed in “The Nutcracker” at the Sony Centre, for the last five years, alongside world renowned principal dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. Alessandra’s career is only just beginning, and she looks forward to her future in the dance and rhythmic gymnastics industry.
Helle Varrik has a university degree in Physical Education from the University of Tartu, Estonia, where she also taught rhythmic gymnastics to university students. She won many medals and awards as a member of the Estonian Womens’ National Rhythmic Gymnastics team. The group for which she was performing and competing was considered one of the best in the former Soviet Union. She travelled extensively throughout the former Soviet Union, giving rhythmic gymnastics seminars.
Since 1994 Helle has been coaching Ritmika’s recreational and elite performing groups. She is an experienced choreographer and coach and has been able to develop great looking teams for many performances and also RG recreational Groups competitions. Her Junior elite group won the 1998 year Teens category competition and her Novice elite team was 3rd in the overall competition in the pre-teens category. She is also a member of Ritmika’s Ladies Elite team, who won the 1998 Women’s Group competition overall trophy.
Rhea began her lifelong athletic journey at the age of 3 in artistic gymnastics where she developed as a competitive level gymnast for several years. Though she enjoyed many aspects of the sport, she felt like something was missing. At the age of 10, she discovered rhythmic gymnastics and was immediately captivated by its beauty of movement, athleticism, artistry and of course those fun apparatus. It was undeniable love at first sight, so she made the switch to RG and never looked back. She spent the next several years into her late teens competing in both RG and aesthetic group gymnastics (AGG). The highlights of her gymnastics career were competing at the 2007 AGG World Championships in Spain and coaching her own AGG team at the 2022 AGG World Championships in Austria.
Rhea has called Ritmika her gymnastics home since 1999 and has been coaching since 2005. She is an NCCP Level 3 Certified National Coach as well as a National Level RG Judge and AGG Judge. She is also Ritmika’s lead choreographer.
The most rewarding part of coaching for Rhea is the positive impact she can have on so many young athletes, but just as equally, the impact they also leave on her. She is grateful to the sport and Ritmika for the positivity they continue to bring to her life.
Certified NCCP 3 coach and Brevet RG and also AGG Provincial level judge. Larissa was awarded the Gymnastics Ontario “Coaches’ Achievement Award” for 2006.
Larissa has a Masters Degree in Sports and Physical Education from the Kazakh Institute of Physical Education and Sports. She was on the Kazakhstan National RGC team and a former national champion.
She has coached rhythmic gymnastics since 1981 in many distinguished clubs, including the Russian Olympic Reserve School (Samara, Russia) and the Children and Youth Sports School (Almaty, Kazakhstan). There she developed and delivered educational programs and organized competitions.
This superb background in the”.. Caring Attitude..” to developing girls in the skills of rhythmic gymnastics has been the strong point in her career. Larissa has trained athletes from all levels from the early beginner to the national level competitor, providing original choreography and coaching to support the continued development of top performing athletes.
Larissa speaks fluently English and Russian languages.
Graduate of Tartu University in Estonia with a degree in Physical Education. From 1971-77 she was a staff member of the Physical Education faculty at Tartu University, where she taught Rhythmic Gymnastics. She also coached children and adult classes at all levels in various schools and clubs in Estonia. For six years she was a member of the Estonian Women’s Rhythmic Gymnastics Team (this group was composed of mostly former national level rhythmic gymnasts), winning six USSR Championships in Women’s Group competition.
In 1977 she immigrated to Canada. Since 1978, she has been working tirelessly promoting and teaching this beautiful sport of rhythmic gymnastics. Besides conducting numerous seminars, clinics and workshops throughout Canada, she has been also working on many committees and conducting leadership programmes. Annely has been working on the National Gymnastics Development, National Coaching, School Development, RSG Technical and NCCP committees just to mention a few. She is a co-author of many Rhythmic Gymnastics publications in Canada. In 1988 and 1989 she also taught rhythmic gymnastics at the University of Toronto.
Annely Riga’s talent in the field of choreography has been recognized at the National and Provincial level, where several of her routines are taught. She has also been a choreographer and technical advisor for special events such as the International Gymnaestradas in Denmark 1987 and Germany 1995, Four Continents Championships in 1988, Opening of the Sky Dome in 1989 and many others. She received Coach of the Year awards from Ontario Gymnastics Federation in 1985 and from the Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation in 1995. In 2004 the Canadian Gymnastics Federation honored her as a long standing member with their recognition award – a diamond pin. In 2005, Annely received a 25-year Ontario Volunteer service award from the government of Ontario and in 2009 a service award from the Estonian Central Council in Canada.
Since 1996, she has been promoting and developing Aesthetic Group Gymnastics (AGG) in Canada. In conjunction with the Ontario RG Committee she developed the “Red Ribbon” Ontario AGG program and has been one of the leading experts in this sport in Canada. She is the president of Canadian Aesthetic Group Gymnastics Federation. Since 2003 she was elected into the newly founded International Federation of Aesthetic Group Gymnastics (IFAGG) as a Board member and Promotion Committee Chairperson. Since 2017 she is IFAGG Vice President. She is also the highest category International level judge in Aesthetic Group Gymnastics and has been judging in all AGG World Championships since 2001. In 2023 Annely was awarded by IFAGG with Honorary Member statues. Honorary Member statues is granted to individual who has rendered meritorious service to IFAGG.
Annely Riga is considered one of the leading forces in rhythmic gymnastics in Canada, Expert in her field, who’s deep knowledge and commitment to the sport has been recognized locally, nationally and internationally. Having dedicated her life to this wonderful sport and her club she is constantly developing new ideas and strategies to improve her beloved club services, programmes to its members.
Annely Speaks fluently English, Estonian and Russian languages.
