EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University acrobatics and tumbling head coach Miles Avery will serve as the third speaker in ESU's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in College Athletics: A Call to Action Speaker Series. Avery will present on Zoom for approximately 20-30 minutes before answering questions through the chat function. For more information on the speaker series, visit esuwarriors.com/DEI.
"I would like to thank Dr. Gray, the athletics department, and the university for considering my thoughts on such an important topic as Diversity Equity and Inclusion," said Avery on being the third speaker in the series.
Avery, ESU's first-ever acrobatics and tumbling head coach, has over 25 years of collegiate and international levels of gymnastics coaching experience. He served on the coaching staffs of four United States Olympic men's gymnastics teams (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008), including serving as the personal coach for 2004 all-around gold medalist Paul Hamm.
Avery returned to ESU in May 2019, where his coaching career began. He spent six seasons as an assistant in the Poconos with ESU's men gymnastics team, helping the Warriors to two Division II team championships in 1983 and 1984, along with a U.S. Gymnastics Federation national title in 1988.
Avery left ESU to become an assistant coach at The Ohio State University in 1989 and was promoted to head coach in 1997. He served in that role in Columbus until 2010, leading the Buckeyes to national championship in 2001 and along with earning five Big 10 titles.
"We are really looking forward to having Coach Avery share with us his personal perspective on this important topic," said ESU Director of Athletics Dr. Gary R. Gray. Miles has decades of experience in the national and international gymnastics communities, which no doubt have presented him with many situations upon which he can draw as he articulates a call to action concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion in college athletics."
ESU added acrobatics and tumbling as its 22nd intercollegiate sport in March 2019.
Newly announced Delaware Valley men's basketball head coach Muhamadou Kaba '15 and ESU Swimming head coach Fan Yang served as the first two speakers in the 12-month long speaker series.
Zoom links and more information can be found on esuwarriors.com/DEI.
