Rokah Gymnastics
Strong foundations, great character, and a healthy mindset — we develop skillful gymnasts and empowered girls who love to move.
Ruth Rokah
Head Instructor & Founder
Head Instructor
Ruth Rokah
Ruth Rokah possesses a deep passion for and extensive background in health, fitness, nutrition, and working with children, supported by her degrees and various certifications in these fields.
Growing up in Sweden, she began her gymnastics journey at the age of seven, training and competing throughout her childhood and teenage years. After her individual gymnastics career concluded, she transitioned to competing in Teamgym, a popular sport in Europe. Among her proudest achievements is winning a bronze medal at the Swedish Championship.
At just 11 years old, Ruth started assisting her coach with younger groups, which ignited her love for teaching. By the age of 16, she became one of Sweden's youngest certified gymnastics judges, officiating numerous competitions.
In addition to her gymnastics background, she taught various forms of aerobics in Sweden and was a pioneer in introducing Step Aerobics to her country, holding a Step Reebok certification.
Before relocating to Los Angeles at 24, Ruth worked as a biomedical analyst at a Swedish hospital, initially aspiring to become a pediatrician. However, her plans shifted after marriage, leading her to a new career path as a coach at the Santa Monica Gymnastic Center, a competitive gymnastics facility that has since closed.
Later, she studied fitness training at UCLA and has spent the past 20 years as a certified personal trainer for both adults and children. Additionally, she is a certified functional nutritionist through Functional Nutrition Lab, focusing on pediatric clients.
Ruth has 4 children of her own and worked part time as a school nurse in a Jewish private school and part time as a PE coach in another while raising them.
Her journey into teaching recreational gymnastics began when she wanted to help her daughter build a solid foundation in the sport. This endeavor eventually led to the establishment of Rokah Gymnastics. After a few years, her daughter was accepted into an advanced team, training directly under US Olympic coaches Galina Marinova and Arthur Akopyan. Her daughter's dedication, which included 30–40 hour workweeks at the gym alongside half-day school and homeschooling, culminated in her being named the USGA California State Champion in 2010.
Ruth has also trained in Karate under her husband, Sensei Avi Rokah, for the past 28 years. In 2010, she achieved first place in the AAKF National Championship, qualifying to represent the US national team at the ITKF World Championship in Brazil. For the last 20 years, she has served as one of the youth head coaches at Rokah Karate.
Through her own experiences and those of her daughter, Ruth has gained valuable insights into the benefits and challenges of competitive gymnastics. This understanding, combined with her teaching skills and knowledge of fitness and health, has enabled her to create a unique niche and program.
Our Vision
A strong foundation, built the right way.
Our goal at Rokah Gymnastics is first and foremost to develop a very strong and proper gymnastics foundation. We understand the importance of wiring the nervous system correctly from day one, in order to avoid development of faulty movement patterns. We therefore put heavy emphasis on correct alignment and muscle sequencing right off the bat.
Conditioning and stretching are important components of classes, as we “mold the girls into gymnasts” and optimize functional efficiency.
Equally important is that the girls develop a love for learning and using their bodies. Our hope is that this childhood experience will be one they look back on with joy and that it leads to a lifelong love and appreciation for movement.
Ruth has first hand, and through her competitive daughter's lens, experienced the good, bad, and the ugly of competitive gymnastics. It is a field where girls need to commit to 4–8 practice hours daily to be competitive and where overuse injuries, tears, broken bones, and eating disorders are prevalent. Moreover, girls who do not meet a certain talent threshold are often under-prioritized in such settings. Our program serves as a healthy counterbalance to competitive gymnastics, as we are determined to develop each girl as far as possible regardless of their starting point, time commitment, or innate talent and without the aforementioned drawbacks.
With that said, many of our team girls now have their competition routines and advanced skillsets down and are expressing interest in competing. We are therefore staying open to the idea of joining a league and are currently researching our options.
Correct Foundation
Proper alignment and muscle sequencing wired from day one to avoid faulty movement patterns.
Condition & Stretch
Building functional efficiency as we mold each girl into a strong, capable gymnast.
Joy in Movement
A childhood experience that grows into a lifelong love and appreciation for the body.
Our Niche
A wholesome approach.
Although our focus is on developing gymnastics skills, we take a wholesome approach in doing so. This ultimately leads to a faster learning curve, with true success — which we define as a skillful gymnast with a great character and a healthy mindset.
A Positive Learning Environment
A healthy and happy environment takes center stage, where the girls feel safe to try new skills and to make mistakes.
Character Development
Drawing on Ruth's years as a Karate Sensei, character is interwoven into every class: self confidence, resilience, motivation, and respect.
Positive Reinforcement
Praise where rightfully earned is our most valuable teaching tool. Kindness, helpfulness, and a positive attitude are always reinforced.
Learning to Learn
Girls contemplate corrections before reattempting a skill, and listen to corrections given to others — improving the curve and building humility.
“If you repeat a wrongfully executed skill without considering the correction, all you accomplish is getting better at doing the wrong thing.”
“I can't” is quickly traded in for “I can't yet,” or “I'll try.” Body knowledge is often shared during “quiet times,” such as a minute in the splits. Whether it be anatomy, functionality, or nutrition, we value our students possessing an understanding of, and appreciation for, their bodies.
As a summary, our goal is to, alongside pure gymnastics skills, develop positive and empowered girls with great character and a healthy mind in a high functioning body.
It takes a village…
Positive and empowered girls with great character and a healthy mind in a high functioning body.