John commenced coaching gymnastics for Chermside Youth and Recreation Club in 1984 as a recreation and Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Coach. In 1987, John became a Level 2 coach in both Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, and assumed the position of Head Coach while coaching the Senior WAG program. In 1992 John started Delta Gymnastics and managed the club while head coach of the original Delta Force Program.
In 1993/94, John successfully completed the three components of the Level 3 course in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics in Canberra. In 1995 the expansion of Delta Gymnastics took John away from coaching fulltime and he took up roles in business management of the Clayfield College Sports Centre and associated businesses.
In 1999, John made a welcome return to the coaching arena as a part time senior coach in the Delta Force program and worked with wife Megan Mitchell to rebuild the Delta Force Program. In 2002 John assumed the role of Head Coach in Brisbane again with an aim to lead a team of coaches to take Delta to its rightful place as a leading program in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics in Australia. John is passionate about coaching and inspiring children to be the best they can be whether they be National Champions or three year olds learning to hop! John coaches on the floor each day and is actively involved in all components of coaching, in addition to assuming the role of Director of Delta in Brisbane and the Gold Coast and Barron Valley Gymnastics.
John has personally coached over 90 Queensland State Team members, over 30 Individual Overall State Champions and 7 Individual Overall Australia National Champions. John has been selected as a coach for both Queensland and Australia and not coincidentally, John was named the 2009 Gymnastics Queensland Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Stream Coach of the Year, and the 2010 Gymnastics Australia Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Stream Coach of the Year. John holds the accreditation level of High Performance Coach in Australia.