Judges’ Bios

Toni Amoroso has been a member of the AVA since 1978 when she started vaulting. She has since coached, lunged and trained vaulting horses for Canyon, Ojai and HELP Vaulters.

She rode with a Rosenback circus troupe for three years, which gives her a unique perspective of the sport. She is a past AVA board member, has been on the AVA Technical Committee since 2000, has served on the USEF Vaulting Committee and is currently serving on the USEF Grants sub-committee. She was the keeper of the AVA annual High Point Award for eight years. 

She has been an AVA judge since 2000.

Elizabeth Brigham began her vaulting career in 1998 at the age of 9 and has been hooked ever since! A member of Great Falls Vaulters since day one, she competed as a Gold level vaulter for eight years before capping off her individual career at the 2013 USEF/AVA National Championships. Over the course of her career she had the opportunity to travel to France, Austria, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Scotland representing the United States and won multiple Team and Pas de Deux National Championships. In addition to vaulting, Elizabeth has coached and taught clinics and camps for all levels, and continues to coach with Great Falls Vaulters.

She has served on the AVA Board of Directors, including four years as the AVA Region IX Supervisor. She joined the AVA Judges Program as an apprentice in 2011, following in the footsteps of longtime coach Jennifer Williams. She became an AVA ‘r’ Judge in 2014 and a USEF ‘r’ Judge in 2019.

Outside of vaulting, Elizabeth graduated from The College of William & Mary in 2010 with a B.S. in Kinesiology and Health Sciences and Biology before attending medical school. She graduated from the Penn State College of Medicine in May of 2015 and is currently completing a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Rosie Brown first joined the AVA in February 1988, and through this sport found her true passion and calling in life. The life lessons learned through hard work, teamwork, dedication, determination, responsibility, accountability, commitment, communication, structure, stability, organization, and more will forever impact her ability to succeed and also lead others to success.

In the last 30 years, she has started (or re-started) 4 clubs from California to Texas, coached vaulters to local, regional, national, and international championship titles, taught summer camps, organized international vaulting trips, coordinated local, regional, and national competitive and educational events, clerked, input scores, and volunteered at WEG 2010 in Lexington and again as judges staff at Tryon 2018.

After retiring as a vaulter in 1992, she held club-related positions such as club manager, program manager, coach, lunger, trainer, clinician, president, treasurer, secretary, and AVA-related positions such as Regional Supervisor for Region’s II and IV, Social Media Committee Chairman, and joined various other committees in the last 20 years, including the USEF Vaulting Sport Committee as of January 2019. After retiring as a coach in 2019, she joined the AVA Judge’s Program to continue learning about this sport from the other side of the lens and continue to make an impact on the development of equestrian vaulting.

Jody Campbell started vaulting in 1994 in Redmond, Washington. The very next year, Jody and her family founded Redwing Vaulters. She competed as a Silver Medalist at her last competition in 2000. Jody competed Nationally at multiple events: Individual, Pas de Deux, Two Phase, and Team. 

Jody took a break from vaulting to focus on school and graduated from Purdue University with a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 2007. She returned to vaulting as a coach and lunger for the Redwing team in 2010.

In addition to coaching and lunging for Redwing, Jody is actively involved in Region III as their High Point Coordinator and is a past President of Region III. In 2017, she had the pleasure of clerking at Jr. Worlds and European Worlds in Austria, and also clerked at the 2018 WEG at Tryon, NC. She has also clerked at numerous CVIs and National competitions.  

Jody was accepted into the AVA Apprentice Judges Program in 2015, and promoted to AVA “r” judge in 2017.

Bio coming soon. Please reach out to Valerie here.

Craig Coburn began his vaulting career in 1972 at the age of 9 with Hidden Hills Horseman Vaulters in Southern California. In 1976 he was a member of the Hidden Hills National Championship “A” Team. In 1980 he won the Silver Men’s National Championship at Pepperdine University (out-scoring the Gold competitors!), and traveled to Paris, France to win a large international championship at the Salon du Cheval.

Craig won his first of three consecutive Gold Men’s National Championships. Craig competed in a number of international competitions over the years including the FEI World Vaulting Championships in 1984, 1986 and 1988.

Craig first became a “r” vaulting judge in 1995 and was promoted to “R” in 1998. Craig became an FEI judge candidate judge and over the years has been promoted numerous times and is now an FEI 4* Vaulting Judge. Craig has judged more than 50 CVI’s and numerous FEI World Championships, including president of the ground jury this year at the at the 2023 FEI World Cup Final in Omaha and he will be President of the Ground Jury later this year at the 2023 FEI Junior World Championships to be held in Flyinge, Sweden.  

Craig currently serves as the EVUSA Technical Advisor and has been a member of the USEF Vaulting Technical Committee since its inception in 1986 under the umbrella of the AHSA. Craig has been National Office Manager for the EVUSA for over 20 years.

Jen began riding hunters when she was 5 and transitioned into riding dressage several years later. During a summer camp, Jen was introduced to vaulting and fell in love. She began vaulting with Vaulters of Ice Pond (VIP) in Hebron, CT where she competed on several C-teams and earned her Bronze medal. After a several year hiatus, Jen joined the UCONN Vaulting Club in college while she pursued her degree in Speech-Language Pathology.

After grad school, Jen moved to the Bay Area and began vaulting and coaching at Mount Eden Vaulting Club. Jen loved the eight years she spent learning with the wonderful crew at MEVC and is excited to bring her knowledge to the East Coast where she now resides in CT.

As a yoga teacher and CrossFit level 1 trainer, Jen is very interested in vaulter fitness, wellness and injury prevention. She became a “r” judge in 2017 to give back to the sport that has given her so much. Jen enjoys giving clinics around the country and is looking forward to continue the growth of vaulting in the East. To contact Jen, email [email protected] or through http://www.joyfuljenyoga.com

Kristi Dueber began riding and showing horses at the age of 6 years old in beautiful Southern California. She was introduced to vaulting at around the same time and has enjoyed a wonderful, long career in the vaulting community, as an AVA Gold Medalist, international competitor, coach, longer, trainer and clinician before entering the judging program.

Kristi first became an AVA/USEF judge in 2013, and in 2022 was granted promotion to L2 FEI Judge. She looks forward with great anticipation to all that the future of vaulting holds.

She resides on the west coast of the U.S., splitting time between Cannon Beach and Bend, Oregon, and spent many years as a restaurant and coffeehouse owner. She is an avid dog lover, and loves to travel and spend as much time as possible visiting with friends and family around the world.

Kendel Edmunds began riding at the age of 4 and was introduced to the sport of vaulting in the summer of 1976 at a horse camp. Soon after she joined a team in Oakland, CA and began competitive vaulting; at her first nationals in 1976 she won her division. In 1977 she was a member of the first U.S. delegation sent to Europe to compete in the sport, coached by J. Ashton Moore and Elizabeth Searle; in 1979 the U.S. hosted an international competition and Kendel was the highest scoring individual man or woman.

In 1980 she was Chapter 2 in Robert Vavra’s book All Those Girls in Love with Horses, featuring women at the top of their equestrian sports; 1981 brought her second trip to Europe to compete where she helped revolutionize the sport by being the first vaulter ever to perform a handstand in competition; in the states she competed on many composite teams from 1978 – 1989. The World Championships in 1992, where she finished 9th, was her final competition before retiring at the age of 28.

Kendel is a member of the USEF Grants sub-committee as well as the USEF Youth Award committee. She was promoted to an AVA “r” judge in 2007 and looks forward to continuing to contribute to the sport of vaulting in that capacity.

Kendel currently resides in Spokane, Washington where she makes the most of the great outdoors, enjoying hiking, boating, skiing, kayaking and yes, still riding.

Kelley Holly has been involved in vaulting for 27 years and is the head coach of Tambourine Vaulters. She holds a gold medal, has competed at all levels of individuals and team from trot to A team.

Kelley has had the pleasure of serving on the AVA Board of Directors and AVA Executive Board for many years. She is currently the AVA Executive Vice President, President of Region II and a member of the Technical Committee.

Kelley was promoted to an AVA “r” judge in 2007.

Cambry Nelson became involved with vaulting in 1995 at the age of 8 after reading an article about equestrian vaulting in an American Girl magazine. She joined Emerald City Vaulters and shortly after joined Redwing Vaulters in Washington State.

Over the years and several moves, Cambry competed on teams in Region I, II, & III, earning her Silver medal in 2003 before competing as a member on multiple A-Teams.

Cambry began coaching in 2006 and founded Technique Equestrian Vaulting Club in Saratoga Springs, Utah in 2007. Cambry has since coached multiple National Champions in the female, male and team divisions.

In 2015, Cambry graduated with her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from the University of Utah. Following graduation, Cambry competed as a member of the U.S. Para-Dressage Team at the North American Jr./Young Rider Championships where she earned a Team FEI Gold Medal, an Individual FEI Silver Medal, and an FEI Gold Medal in the Freestyle division.

Cambry became an AVA “r” judge in 2016 and a USEF “r” judge in 2021.

Alejandra Orozco started vaulting in Mexico in 2007, after practicing the sport for a couple of years at home, she decided to spend a year in California doing a vaulting internship with Emma Seely (Mt Eden Vaulting Club). She went on to be the first Mexican to compete internationally in various CVIs, eventually reaching 3* in 2018.

Alejandra has visited and trained with a variety of clubs both in the US and internationally, she has spent time in Germany, Perú, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Denmark. She became a Mexican judge in 2016 after joining the AVA judging program as an apprentice. She is now an AVA r judge as well as an FEI 2*.

In her own country, Alejandra is working with the Mexican Federation to grow the sport through coaches education, vaulting clinics and organization of competitions and vaulting events.

Bio coming soon. Please reach out to Lynne here.

Crystal Pakizer was introduced to vaulting at the age of 4. Just after her 5th birthday, she joined the AVA and Region 1’s Valley View Vaulters in Southern California. In her first year, she was a member of VVV’s National Championship winning 2-Phase Team.

Crystal Pakizer began vaulting at the age of five in Southern California in 1989. In 1991, Crystal helped form and coach the Mountain Springs Vaulters in Acton, CA, where she rose from Trot to Gold. During her competitive career, she was chosen to represent the U.S. as a member of the Friendship Team that performed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA. In 2004, Crystal enlisted in the U.S. Army, where she served as a veterinary technician working with such details as the Military Equestrian Color Guard and the Secret Service. In 2016, Crystal lent her vaulting expertise to the Rogue River Vaulters in southern Oregon. Crystal entered OCOM, Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, in 2021, to become a Doctor of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Upon completion of her human studies, she’ll specialize in equine studies as a way to give back to the wonderful equine partners that we have in this sport.

Isabelle Bibbler Parker is the head coach for Woodside Vaulters. She led Woodside Vaulters to a bronze medal in the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome, Italy, as well as to four A Team National Championships. She also coached team or individuals at the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008 World Vaulting Championships. Isabelle competed internationally as an individual for many years, and holds her AVA gold medal.

A four-term AVA Board member, she is also a member of the USEF’s Vaulting High Performance Committee, and chair of that committee’s Education Initiative, which designs and hosts the USEF High Performance Training Camps. In addition, she is the co-author of “Training for Coaches: Compulsories and Freestyle,” the definitive training manual for vaulting coaches.

In the other half of her life, Isabelle is the Chief Financial Officer of Summit Public Schools, an organization that opens and operates charter schools in the Bay Area. She has an MBA from Kellogg and a BA in Economics from Claremont McKenna.

Isabelle was promoted to an AVA judge in 2007. She is also an FEI Vaulting Steward.

Bio coming soon. You can reach Emma here.

Sue Smith has have been involved in the AVA since 1972. She vaulted for many years nationally and internationally. Sue received her Gold medal and vaulted on A teams. She moved into coaching for several decades before becoming a judge. Sue has been an r judge for 5 years

An AVA volunteer for many years, Sue is currently is currently Region II Supervisor and a member of the AVA Board of Directors.

Jennifer Williams has been an AVA member since 1987. Jen is a former vaulter who holds an AVA Gold medal. Jen co-founded Mt. Tabor Vaulters in 1989 and coached that team until 1993.  She has coached and longed for Great Falls Vaulters since 1994.

An AVA volunteer for many years, she has previously served on the AVA Executive Board, Board of Directors, and for more than a decade on the Technical Committee, as well as Region IX Supervisor, and on Nominations, Ballot, various ad-hoc committees, and the USEF Technical Committee.

Jen was Mentor of the Year in 2009.  She has been an AVA “r” judge since 1998, and is also an FEI Vaulting Steward.

Kinsey Lovich’s lifelong involvement with horses led her to join the Rogue River Vaulters of Southern Oregon at the club’s inception in 2014. She competed at numerous competitions, including: five times at  Region III Championships as well as the 2019 National Championships. Kinsey participated in squad and pas de deux, primarily as a pas de deux partner with her twin sister. During her vaulting career, choreography and coaching became a passion for Kinsey. Additionally, the required attention to detail and rules kindled a desire to become a judge. Currently, Kinsey is a pre-medical student at the University of Oregon pursuing a degree in Human Physiology with a minor in Spanish.

Kayt Shaffer began vaulting in 2006, and she is continuing her involvement in the sport by joining the Apprentice Judge program. Kayt is a Silver Medalist and competed as a Gold level vaulter with Mt. Tabor Vaulters prior to retiring from competitive vaulting. In 2016, she was the National Open Pas de Deux Champion. Following her time as a vaulter, Kayt helped start and run the Region IX Certified Clerk program. Kayt is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a BS in Interior Design. She is currently working on an MBA while pursuing her career as a commercial Interior Designer. Kayt loves to cook, bake, and consume food—especially if it is spicy or involves chocolate.