Meet Our Coaches
Kim Smith
​Certifications: CrossFit Level 1 & Level 2, CrossFit Kids, Olympic Weightlifting, ACSM Personal Trainer, TRX
Coach at FFW since: 2013
​
Kim , fondly known as Coach Kim, is one of our founding coaches. She found herself getting serious about fitness after watching a grandparent struggle with multiple health issues brought on by a lack of physical activity and poor diet. She began working out religiously and as she got stronger, fitter, and all around healthier, people took notice and started asking her what her new routine was. This fueled her to further her education and reach, receiving her first training certification in 2009 and continuing to gain more certifications and knowledge ever since.
Kim's passion of helping athletes improve their strength and performance has further helped expand the gym's reach, allowing us to work with IU East College and Richmond High School Athletics.
Kim excels in connecting with our younger athletes and regularly coaches the kids class. She strongly believes age should not be a limiting factor in fitness and that it's never too early (or late) to begin your fitness journey!
​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1, Olympic Weightlifting, TRX, Mad Dogg Spinning, Powerhouse Pilates, BodyPump, BodyCombat, RPM Cycling
Coach at FFW since: 2013
​​​
One of our founding coaches, Kate grew up on a family farm south of Chicago, attended Manteno High School, and was an active athlete in volleyball, track, and cheerleading, as well as a part of the show choir and performing arts. She attended Olivet Nazarene University where she played volleyball.
Kate’s renewed interest in fitness began in 2001 when she became a spinning, water aerobics and Les Mills Body Pump fitness instructor for Richmond’s Health Connection.
Kate is a mom of 4 children and believes it is important to always set a good example of health for her kids; this is apparent with how active she remains in the fitness community. Currently, on top of coaching classes, Kate also coaches our specialty OCR (Spartan) class, leads a Spinning class at our main gym location, and maintains a handful of personal training clients.
Kate Schamel
​​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1, CrossFit Level 2
Coach at FFW since: 2015
​Steve has always been active in sports, playing soccer, baseball and basketball at Seton High School. He then began coaching for the local high school baseball team while attending Earlham. Years later, he joined the FFW staff in 2015 and has been with us since. While in college he also played D3 Baseball and graduated in 2014 with a degree in Biochemistry and is now a full time science teacher.​
Steve enjoys Olympic lifting, CrossFit and bodybuilding style workouts almost as much as he enjoys coaching athletes in these workouts. He loves being able to connect 1:1 with individuals, focusing on proper body mechanics, correcting form, motivating everyone to push themselves and ensuring each athlete is getting the most out of every workout. ​
The gym is generally a family affair for Steve and you can likely find his wife, Steph, along with their three kiddos enjoying themselves (aka causing a ruckus).​
As both an educator and trainer, Steve obviously loves learning and furthering his education, so he has recently started studying for his Level 3 CrossFit Certification and is excited to challenge himself to become an even better coach! ​
Steve Hornak
​​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1
Coach at FFW since: 2017
​Jeff has been an athlete for practically his whole life. He attended Valparaiso College where he earned his masters degree while playing football. Jeff was named an All-American football player while in college, and was even inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 2019.
After college, he realized that if he couldn't continue to be an athlete, he could do the next best thing- continue to train like one, and coach others in the process! Jeff has a unique way of connecting with athletes, ensuring they receive cues tailored to their needs and always challenging them to push outside of their comfort zones.
You can generally find either Jeff, his wonderful wife, or at least one of his three rambunctious kiddos running around the gym. Outside of the gym, Jeff is a full time teacher, part time football coach, and enjoys snowboarding in the cold winter months!
Jeff Horton
​​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1
Coach at FFW since: 2018
​Ben is our resident early morning coach (and if you're lucky you may get to meet his three furry partners in crime). While Ben may not have a heavy athletic background, he's always been around others in sports and has always been everyone's biggest cheerleader! He joined FFW shortly after its opening and began coaching a few years later after realizing he could be part of an awesome community and help people become even healthier with his help! Due to Ben's busy full time jobs (yes there's multiple because him and his wife are successful entrepreneurs and prefer to have their plates full 24/7), he generally only coaches our 5:15am class, so if you're an early rise, Ben's your guy!
Ben Gordon
​​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1, CrossFit Level 2, Olympic Weightlifting, TRX, Silver Sneakers, Water Aerobics, CrossFit Nutrition, ACSM Personal Trainer
Coach at FFW since: 2020
​Angie is a Colorado native who moved to Zionsville, IN when she was 12 then finally to Richmond to be with her husband in 2019. She's been involved in sports from a young age, playing volleyball and softball in high school. She then transitioned out of being an athlete and instead started working with them as a Student Athletic Trainer. She attended Purdue where she received her degree in Kinesiology and pivoted from taking care of injured athletes to training the general population. She got her personal training certification in 2015 and has been training at different locations ever since, settling at FFW in 2020.
She then went back to school to become a Registered Nurse and is now a full time post-surgical nurse at Reid Hospital. Angie believes having the unique knowledge of working with individuals through a full spectrum of both health and ages, she is able to really connect with each individual's needs and help them reach their health and fitness goals.
The gym is a full-time family affair as her husband is also a trainer and their daughter (the 'honorary mascot' of the gym) feel like they're there 24/7 and she wouldn't have it any other way!
Angie Wuertemberger
​​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1, CrossFit Level 2, Olympic Weightlifting, Husband of the Year Award
Coach at FFW since: 2021
​Thomas is born and raised in Richmond, he attended RHS where he swam as a state quailifier for 3/4 of his high school years and played soccer. He is now an Assistant Swim Coach for the high school. Fun(ish) fact: Thomas likely would have swam in college until he learned that he's actually allergic to chlorine- like burns holes in his lungs allergic...so he just sticks to coaching now.
He is a 4th generation farmer and plans to take over his family farm so you could say he's always on move! He's been a member of FFW since 2016 after returning home from attending Purdue University and then began coaching a few years later.
Even though Thomas only coaches during his down time from the farm, his energy is felt year round as he always brings a positive attitude and simply loves coaching all athletes and encouraging everyone to achieve their best selves.
In the free time he occasionally has, Thomas enjoys wood working, snowboarding, hiking, welding and hanging out with his wife and daughter.
Thomas Wuertemberger
​​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1, Precision Nutrition Level 1
Coach at FFW since: 2022
​Steve has been an active member of the gym since its opening and after having been a coach at the main gym since 2018, Steve joined the FFW team in 2022 and has also joined Kate in coaching our specialty OCR (Spartan) class as well.
While Steve had always been intermittently active, he never really had a specific routine he stuck with. Then after turning 40, and being 50 pounds overweight, with high cholesterol and high blood pressure, along with having a family history with a myriad of health issues, Steve had strong motivation to turn his life around. Viewing fitness as a way of life, instead of just a short-term process of change, is what cemented his commitment to improving his health and wellness. This ultimately led him to have the desire to share his experience with others and assist them on their personal journeys. Steve continues to find new ways to challenge himself to apply, both physically and mentally, his functional fitness and strength training to ensure he maintains a healthy and active lifestyle and continues to strive to have the knowledge to coach his athletes to be the healthiest they can be.
Steve Rankin
​​​
Certifications: CrossFit Kids
Coach at FFW since: 2024
TC, while one of our newer coaches, has quickly become popular among our pre-teens and kids classes athletes as this is his specialty! He has been involved in athletics for a number of years and even played football at the University of Louisville. After college, he took to coaching the sport and has worked with youth and high school football teams. He is a full time middle school teacher (so if your kids need fitness and a tutor, we got 'em covered!). His ultimate goal for any athlete he coaches is for them to become a more flexible and more explosive athlete while in a safe and fun environment!
TC Klussman
​​
Certifications: CrossFit Level 1
Coach at FFW since: 2024
​Diego is our resident bilingual instructor, originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador where he grew up working on his family cocoa bean and Criollo chicken farm. He has been in the US for the last 16 years with his wife and two children. When he noticed he was letting his health go by the wayside he started running to help lose unwanted weight; this then led him to find a local CrossFit gym in Ashland, OH where he fell in love with functional fitness. His family relocated to Richmond where he found FFW and quickly became part of the family. He has always had a passion for nutrition and fitness, and his dedication to his own health is as strong as it is for coaching others to be their healthiest selves. Diego thrives when doing gymnastic and kettlebell work within classes. In his free time, Diego enjoys fly fishing and spending time with his family.