CrossFit Level 2 Coach
Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant
USAW Level 1
NCI Level 1 Nutrition Coach
Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism Certified
CrossFit Gymnastics Certified
CrossFit Olympic Lifting Certified
CrossFit Kids Certified
Michael Cohen Olympic Weightlifting Certified
Level Method Foundation Certified

Candace Rape is the only coach in Trussville who is also a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant, and that clinical background shapes everything she does on the floor. A former collegiate softball player who competed at Bevill State before transferring to Jefferson State Community College, she brings a rare combination of coaching instinct and clinical training to injury prevention, movement correction, and return-to-training work. Members get to train hard and train safely, which most gyms treat as a tradeoff.

She began coaching at CrossFit Trussville in 2012 and simultaneously co-owned and coached at CrossFit Pell City from 2017 to 2020, giving her over a decade of multi-location affiliate leadership experience. As Head Coach, she sets the standard for how every class at CFT is run and is responsible for the development of the entire coaching staff.

Over her career at CFT she has guided athletes across the entire spectrum: first-timers learning foundational movements, seasoned competitors preparing for the CrossFit Games, new mothers returning to training postpartum, kids building their first athletic foundation, and masters athletes still competing well into their 70s.

Her Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism certification makes her one of the only coaches in the area specifically qualified to guide women through training during and after pregnancy, a population most gyms are simply not equipped to serve well. Beyond the gym floor, she has become a mentor to female athletes and mothers across Trussville and the greater Birmingham area, championing strength, confidence, and resilience at every stage of life.

As Chief Experience Officer, Candace owns what it actually feels like to walk through the door at CFT. Members describe the same thing over and over: an environment where effort matters more than where you started. That is not an accident. It is her standard, held every day, for going on fourteen years.

CrossFit Level 2 Coach
USAW Level 1
CrossFit Gymnastics Certified
CrossFit Olympic Lifting Certified
Michael Cohen Olympic Lifting Certified
NCI Level 1 Nutrition Coach
Kettlebell Fundamentals Certified
Level Method Foundation Certified
OPEX CCP Certified: Program Design, Nutrition, Life Coaching, Athlete Assessment, Business Systems
CrossFit Regionals Athlete
3-Year GRID League Professional Athlete, New York Rhinos
UAB Collat School of Business MIDE Award
18+ Years Coaching

Andrew Rape has led CrossFit Trussville since founding it on September 15, 2008, making him one of the longest-tenured CrossFit affiliate owners in Alabama. He holds degrees in Marketing and Medical Industrial Distribution from UAB, where he earned the Collat School of Business "Most Likely to Succeed" MIDE Award and served as Executive Vice President of the UAB American Marketing Association, one of the Top 20 AMA chapters in the country. With over 30 fitness certifications behind him, he has trained thousands of athletes across Trussville, Birmingham, the broader Southeast, and remotely across the country.

His competitive resume is among the strongest of any active coach in the country. Andrew finished 13th at the CrossFit Southeast Regionals in 2012, one of the most competitive regions in the world at the time. He was selected as a 2nd round draft pick at the Las Vegas NPGL Draft in 2014 and spent three years as a professional athlete for the New York Rhinos in the GRID League from 2014 through 2016, including as a starter in the inaugural GRID match on the floor at Madison Square Garden. He competed in the Elite Division at WODAPALOOZA in 2015, finishing in the Top 10.

Today his work happens before class rather than during it. Andrew writes the CrossFit programming every member runs, and he built the ReBoot program from the ground up before handing it to Sophia in 2026. He also coached athlete Mike Pender to a 7th place finish at the 2024 Masters 70+ CrossFit Games. Under his programming, CFT has developed CrossFit Games athletes, marathon runners, Ironman triathletes, and competitors across dozens of disciplines.

His expertise extends well beyond the gym floor. He owned and operated CrossFit Pell City from 2017 to 2020 while simultaneously running CrossFit Trussville, and led MyVitality Nutrition and emVe Health from 2018 to 2022. His participation in Two-Brain Business's Tinker Group, an invitation-only top-tier mentor program, reflects the same commitment to mastery in business systems that he brings to program design. He is also the co-founder of Drip IV Therapy and The PHNX Collective, the multi-venue campus CrossFit Trussville now calls home.

When he isn't working, Andrew is usually building something, playing video games with his kids, or spending time with his wife, Candace. For him, CrossFit Trussville has never been just a gym. It is a platform to help people of every age become stronger, more capable, and more confident in every area of life.

CrossFit Level 3 Certified Trainer (CF-L3)
Registered Dietitian
Master's in Dietetics, UAB
USAW Level 1
NCI Level 1 Nutrition Coach
Certified Youth Exercise Specialist
Pre and Postnatal Coach
Michael Cohen Olympic Lifting Certified
Level Method Foundation Certified

Sophia Contreras is the most formally educated coach on the CFT staff. She is a Registered Dietitian holding both an undergraduate degree and a Master's in Dietetics from UAB, and she carries the CrossFit Level 3 Certified Trainer credential. The CF-L3 is held by only a small fraction of CrossFit coaches worldwide. It requires the Level 2 certificate, thousands of documented coaching hours, and a proctored professional examination. It is the point where coaching stops being a certification and becomes a career.

A former eight-year competitive gymnast with USAW Level 1 and Michael Cohen Olympic Lifting certifications, her foundation in sport, movement mechanics, and performance nutrition runs deep. She has coached CrossFit classes at CFT since 2017 and became a co-owner in 2025 after seven years running the operational engine of the gym, managing daily operations, event execution, scheduling, and coach support since 2018.

In 2026, Sophia took over programming for ReBoot. Every ReBoot session is now written by a Registered Dietitian and CF-L3 coach with a Master's in Dietetics, which is not something any other gym in the area can say about its beginner program.

Her competitive resume is legitimate and hard-earned. She finished in the Top 50 at the WZA Online Qualifier, competed with a team at WODAPALOOZA Intermediate, and finished in the Top 50 at the Fittest Experience Qualifier. She has also led PEAK Youth Training and Sports Performance as Head Coach since 2020, building one of the most respected youth athletic development programs in the Trussville area.

Sophia does not treat training and nutrition as separate disciplines, because they are not. A master's-level education in dietetics combined with years on the gym floor gives her a rare ability to build plans that are scientifically grounded, practically sustainable, and calibrated to the specific demands of functional fitness. Whether she is coaching a 6am class, dialing in a member's nutrition plan, writing the week's ReBoot programming, or developing the next generation of athletes through PEAK, she brings the same relentless precision to everything she touches.

CrossFit Level 2 Coach
CrossFit Kids Certified
USAW Level 1
Level Method Foundation Certified
Civil Engineer, Spire Inc.

Lee Contreras is a civil engineer who coaches, and that combination is the reason CrossFit Trussville looks and functions the way it does. A UAB graduate and former multi-sport athlete who played football and soccer at Pinson Valley High School, he brings a lifelong athletic foundation to his coaching. It shows in how naturally he reads movement, builds progressions, and connects with athletes at every level.

He has coached CrossFit, personal training, and CFT Kids since 2019, competed at Pensacola Beach Brawl, and became a co-owner in 2025. Competitors trust him for the intensity and the standards he holds them to. Newer members value something different: clear progressions, patient instruction, and an approach that makes complex movements feel achievable instead of intimidating. His Level Method Foundation certification adds a structured assessment framework, so members can track real progress over time rather than just surviving workouts.

As Chief Infrastructure Officer, Lee is the builder behind the CFT experience. His engineering work with Spire Inc. translates directly to the gym: every facility upgrade, custom equipment build, and infrastructure project runs through him. Most gyms hire that work out. At CFT, the person designing the space is the same person coaching in it, which means the environment gets built around how training actually happens rather than how a contractor assumes it does.

Every improvement members feel the moment they walk through the door has Lee's fingerprints on it. Strong systems, strong athletes, and a facility that performs as hard as the people inside it.

HYROX Level 1 Certified Coach
Certified Nutrition & Health Coach
Nursing Degree
Owner, Orange Spoon Coffee
CFT Coach Since 2023

Marnette Taylor leads CrossFit Trussville's HYROX program, and she got there by walking the exact path her athletes are on. She joined CFT in November 2023, starting in ReBoot after having her baby, then progressed into CrossFit and eventually into coaching. That trajectory means she understands firsthand what it feels like to walk in unsure of yourself and slowly find your footing, which is the position most people are in when they try HYROX for the first time.

Her clinical background sets her apart on the floor. Marnette holds a nursing degree with clinical experience from Vredendal, Western Cape, South Africa, giving her a whole-person understanding of health, movement, and recovery that most coaches do not have. She grew up competing in netball and athletics and trained alongside strength and conditioning coaches at the university level, which shaped her belief that training should be intentional, progressive, and built to last.

In 2025 she competed in a HYROX partner race, deepening her understanding of the sport's specific demands on both strength and endurance. She coaches the process she has lived.

Marnette specializes in athletes who feel overwhelmed. Her focus is teaching people to train with intention, to understand what they are doing and why, so they keep improving without burning out. Whether you are brand new to structured fitness or preparing to toe the start line at your first HYROX race, she meets you where you are and moves you forward with confidence.

Outside the gym, Marnette owns Orange Spoon Coffee, bringing the same standard to her business that she brings to her coaching.

CrossFit Masters Certified
Top 35 Masters Athlete Worldwide, 70+ Division
CrossFit Semifinals Competitor

Mike Wright is the most credible argument in the building for what training can do for you at 60, 70, and beyond. At 74, he ranks among the top masters athletes in the world, finishing 32nd in the CrossFit Semifinals for the 70-plus division while continuing to set personal records at an age when most people have stopped trying. His credentials are not honorary. They are earned with the same consistency and commitment to the process that he asks of every athlete he coaches.

Mike leads the Legends program, built for athletes 60 and older, and he brings a perspective no certification can teach. He has trained through the decades, navigated what the body actually does over time, and found ways to keep progressing rather than declining. He coaches from that firsthand understanding. His focus on longevity, functional strength, and maintaining independence through movement is exactly what Legends is built around: fitness that makes life better, not just numbers on a whiteboard better.

The effect he has on the gym is hard to overstate. Newer members watch him train and immediately understand what is possible. Veterans draw motivation from the fact that he is still improving. He leads entirely through example and never needs to say a word about what dedication looks like, because he demonstrates it every time he walks through the door.

CrossFit Level 1 Coach
Certified Personal Trainer
Group Fitness Instructor
Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Coaching Since 2018 · CFT Coach Since 2022

Leigh Hanby holds a Master's as an Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, which means her clinical specialty is the aging body. She understands how tissue, joints, and recovery capacity actually change over a lifetime, and she coaches with that knowledge in the room. For members training in their 50s, 60s, and beyond, that expertise is difficult to overstate.

A competitive dancer for more than 12 years who earned a 1st place All-State Solo title, Leigh brings balance, coordination, and an exceptional sense of body positioning to the way she teaches complex movements. Dancers spend years learning to feel where their body is in space, then teach it to others. That skill transfers directly to coaching a snatch or a handstand, and it is why her cueing tends to land for people who have struggled to "feel" a movement before.

She has been coaching group fitness since 2018 and joined CrossFit Trussville as a coach and personal trainer in 2022, arriving with a coaching foundation most CF-L1 coaches do not have on day one. She has competed in Powerlifting for Autism and the CrossFit Open, and she thrives in anything that tests engine and capacity. That competitive experience shapes how she coaches under fatigue: she knows what performing under pressure actually requires.

Training with Leigh means working with someone who is clinically equipped and genuinely invested in your long-term health. She does not just teach movement. She teaches athletes to understand their bodies, respect recovery, and push limits intelligently. Members consistently leave her sessions with more than fitness gains. They leave understanding how to take care of themselves for life.

CrossFit Level 1 Coach
Certified Personal Trainer
Obstacle Course Racer
Pastor, Gateway Family Church
CFT Member Since 2018 · Coaching Since 2020

When a fire displaced CrossFit Trussville in 2023, Gabriel Wright offered his church as a temporary home without hesitation. CFT operated out of Gateway Family Church for 106 weeks, tearing the gym down every Friday and rebuilding it every Sunday. His generosity made every one of those weeks possible. There is a real version of CFT's history where the gym does not survive that year, and Gabriel is the reason it is not the version that happened.

He has been part of the community since 2018 and began coaching CrossFit and personal training in 2020. A seasoned obstacle course racer with a gift for scaling workouts to any ability level, he is known across CFT for his creativity, adaptability, and famously punishing warm-ups. His classes are demanding, accessible, and genuinely fun in a way that keeps people coming back.

What separates Gabriel as a coach is the depth he brings from outside the gym. He has been involved in church ministry and missions since 1997, nearly three decades of serving people across every kind of background and circumstance, and has spent five years in extensive volunteer work with special needs and at-risk youth. As a pastor at Gateway Family Church, he has developed a rare ability to meet people exactly where they are, not just physically but emotionally. That shows up in how he coaches: with patience, real attentiveness, and an understanding that fitness is often as much a mental challenge as a physical one.

He thrives on building strength, endurance, and confidence while creating an environment where showing up feels meaningful beyond the workout itself. Members consistently describe his classes as the ones they look forward to most. Challenging enough to feel the progress, warm enough to make the hard days worth it.

Registered Radiologic Technologist
Owner, RCH Management, LLC
DCH School of Radiologic Technology
CFT Member Since 2015 · Coaching Since 2018

Bridget Hamilton has been part of CrossFit Trussville since 2015 and coaching here since 2018, which makes her one of the longest-tenured ReBoot coaches on staff. A Registered Radiologic Technologist and graduate of the DCH School of Radiologic Technology in Tuscaloosa, she also owns RCH Management, LLC. The precision that defines her clinical and business careers shows up directly in how she runs a class: structured, well-paced, and attentive to every individual in the room.

Safety and high standards are the foundation of her coaching. Bridget pays close attention to movement mechanics, technique, and individual limitations, helping members train with confidence and longevity in mind rather than chasing short-term intensity at the expense of long-term health. That matters in ReBoot, where many members are returning to fitness after time away or working around an injury. Eight years of coaching that population has given her an instinctive read on where someone is the moment they walk in, and exactly what they need to move forward.

Her classes blend functional movement with encouragement and accountability in a way that makes the process feel sustainable rather than overwhelming. Members consistently describe the same thing: a sense of belonging, and the rare experience of being challenged and supported at the same time. For anyone who has ever felt intimidated walking into a gym, Bridget's class is where that changes.

AFAA Certified Personal Trainer
Former "Southern Star" College Dance Team
Three-Time Mercedes Half Marathon Finisher
Nashville Full Marathon Finisher
Personal Trainer 2007–2012 · CFT Coach Since 2012

Christy Tharpe has coached ReBoot at CrossFit Trussville since 2012, making her the longest-tenured ReBoot coach on staff and one of the longest-tenured coaches at CFT overall. An AFAA Certified Personal Trainer who worked professionally from 2007 through 2012, she arrived with a fully developed coaching foundation before she ever led her first class here. A member of the "Southern Star" college dance team, she brings the same body awareness and rhythm to how she teaches movement.

She is also a seasoned endurance athlete. Christy has completed three Mercedes Half Marathons and the Nashville Full Marathon, and that long-view discipline is exactly what she carries into her coaching. Endurance athletes understand something that intensity-chasers never learn: the results come from what you do repeatedly, not from what you do once.

Her classes are energetic, motivating, and grounded in functional movement, the patterns that translate directly into daily life and make members feel stronger in everything they do outside the gym. She emphasizes progress that accumulates rather than intensity that burns people out, which is precisely the philosophy that makes ReBoot work. Fourteen years coaching the same program has given her an intuitive read on where someone is when they walk in and exactly what they need to move forward without feeling overwhelmed.

What sets Christy apart is her ability to help members find genuine joy in the process of getting better. She does not just lead workouts. She builds confidence, normalizes the hard days, and reminds athletes that consistency over time is the real secret. Members describe her classes as a highlight of their week, both for the results and for how they feel walking out the door. For anyone who has ever doubted whether fitness was something they could actually stick with, Christy's class is the answer.

CrossFit Level 1 Coach
Field Training Officer, Hoover Police Department
K-9 Unit, Hoover Police Department
CFT Member Since 2015

Will Stacy walked into CrossFit Trussville in 2015 weighing nearly 300 pounds. He lost 70 of them through consistent training and community support, going from 290 down to 220, and somewhere in that process discovered a passion for movement and for helping other people experience the same shift. That transformation is not background context on his coaching. It is the reason his coaching works. Will does not just teach fitness. He teaches what it actually takes to change your life with it.

Outside the gym, he serves with the Hoover Police Department as a Field Training Officer and a longtime member of the K-9 unit, a role that demands the same discipline, composure, and commitment to other people that defines how he coaches. His character was highlighted in a widely shared AL.com video, where he chose compassion over punishment by buying groceries for a woman caught stealing eggs. That story traveled across Alabama because it captured exactly who he is: someone who leads with integrity in every environment he operates in, whether that is a patrol shift, a K-9 call, or a 6am class.

Will connects with new members and with anyone who has ever walked through a gym door unsure whether they belong. He knows firsthand that the hardest step is the first one, and he coaches with that knowledge front and center. He brings a focus on barbell efficiency, technical instruction, and steady progress to every class he leads, and he holds movement standards in a way that feels encouraging rather than intimidating, because standards protect athletes and produce results that last.

A devoted husband and father, Will carries the confidence he built in this gym into his home and his community, and he is committed to helping every athlete he coaches find that same belief in themselves.

Battalion Chief, Trussville Fire Department
Decades of First Responder Leadership

Chris Schmohl is a Battalion Chief with the Trussville Fire Department, which means his day job is making calm decisions while other people are having the worst moment of their lives. Decades of that work forged a leadership style built on composure, resilience, and doing the right thing when it is hard. He is respected in the firehouse and across Trussville for his integrity and for leading entirely through example, and those qualities translate directly onto the coaching floor.

As a coach, Chris brings a grounded, calming presence that puts members at ease without ever letting them off the hook. He emphasizes movement mechanics, safety, and steady progress, helping athletes at every level build strength and real confidence at a pace they can sustain over years rather than weeks. His approach blends encouragement with accountability in a way that feels personal rather than transactional. Members push themselves intelligently, without sacrificing the long-term health that makes training worth doing in the first place.

His background gives him a perspective on fitness that goes well beyond performance metrics. Chris has watched what happens to people in physically demanding careers who neglect their health across decades of taxing work, and he coaches with that knowledge front and center. Training with him means building a body that holds up outside the gym: in a demanding job, with an active family, or simply in the ambition to still be moving well thirty years from now.

He is also part of a broader pattern at CFT. Firefighters and first responders coach here because the same standards apply in both places. Preparation matters, shortcuts get people hurt, and the person next to you is counting on you to be ready.

CrossFit Level 1 Coach
Safety Director, Brasfield & Gorrie
Associate's Degree, Applied Science
Competing in the CrossFit Open Since 2015

Steven Sawyer's day job is keeping people from getting hurt. As Safety Director at Brasfield & Gorrie, one of the largest construction firms in the Southeast, he runs risk management across jobsites where the consequences of a shortcut are severe. That is not a habit he leaves at the office. It is how he reads a room full of athletes under a loaded barbell.

He has been competing in the CrossFit Open since 2015, so the standards he holds are not theoretical. He knows what it takes to push, and he knows precisely where the line is between productive intensity and an injury that costs you three months. Most coaches learn that boundary through experience. Steven learned it professionally.

As a coach he blends a competitive edge with a calm, steady presence, helping athletes train hard while staying focused on long-term performance rather than short-term gains that cost them later. He is known for clear communication, insistence on proper mechanics, and the ability to help members get results without taking on risk they did not sign up for.

Steven leads by example, and his example is consistency. He shows athletes that resilience and integrity are the actual levers of lasting progress, not raw effort. Members who train with him learn to trust the process, respect the fundamentals, and build a foundation that compounds over years instead of peaking and crashing. When you train with Steven, you leave fitter and more confident in your own ability to keep going.

CrossFit Level 1 Coach
Certified Personal Trainer
Level Method Foundation Certified
Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge State Record Holder, 40+ Individual
Lion's Den Status, Sub-2:00 in Full Gear
CFT Coach Since 2015

Adrian Millican holds the Over-40 Individual State Record in the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge, one of the most physically brutal timed competitions in existence. Competitors climb, drag hose, force entry, and haul a 175-pound dummy through a course in full turnout gear and breathing apparatus. He competed for seven years, won it outright in 2015 and 2016, and earned Lion's Den status in 2016 by finishing the course in under two minutes. That resume is not background color. It is proof he understands what peak physical output actually costs and how to build the athletes capable of producing it.

He has coached CrossFit and personal training at CFT since 2015, and he is known for competitive drive paired with meticulous attention to technical detail. Adrian emphasizes the refinement that separates good athletes from great ones: movement quality, intentional loading, and the discipline to do the basics exceptionally well before adding complexity. His Level Method Foundation certification makes that progression systematic and trackable rather than subjective, so members can see exactly where they are improving.

That philosophy produces athletes who are more durable and more consistent than intensity-first programming ever does. He notices patterns, tracks progress, and adjusts to meet each athlete where they actually are rather than where a program assumes they should be.

Whether you are training for the CrossFit Open, chasing a specific personal record, or simply trying to move better and feel stronger, Adrian brings the focus that turns sustained effort into lasting results.

Former Registered Nurse: Trauma, Burn & Emergency Care
Gymnastics & Tumbling Background
Athletic Training Experience

Stephanie McIlwain spent her career as a registered nurse in trauma, burn, and emergency care, which means she has worked in rooms where reading a person correctly was not optional. She brings that same attentiveness to a ReBoot class. She notices when someone is guarding a shoulder, when a movement is producing compensation, and when an athlete is capable of more than they believe. Very few coaches can read a room that way, and it is the reason members feel looked after in her sessions without ever feeling handled.

Her background in gymnastics and tumbling gives her an exceptional eye for body awareness and positioning. That matters more in ReBoot than people expect. Most new members have never been taught how to organize their body under load, and Stephanie can break a squat, a hinge, or an overhead position into cues that finally make it click. Athletes who have spent years being told to "engage your core" without understanding what that means tend to figure it out in her class.

She is passionate about building strength, skill, and confidence in ways that support long-term health rather than undermining it. Known for an attentive style and high standards, she makes sure members move well and progress steadily instead of grinding through sessions without real development.

Stephanie is one of the most thoughtful coaches on staff, the kind who is still working on how to help someone improve after class has ended. By pairing real technical knowledge with genuine encouragement, she gives members the confidence to chase their goals while building a foundation that holds up for decades.