Meet the Team
Owner, Founder, Lead Coach | She/Her
Movement has been my language since I was a kid growing up right here in Carlisle. This community is home. What I kept noticing, in every sport and every season of life, was how deeply the way we move shapes the way we feel.
I opened Athena in 2014 because I couldn't find coaching that actually met people where they were. Not a class off a shelf, but a coach who knows you and notices when something's off. So I built it.
Over fifteen years, I've learned the physical work is the container, not the point. The point is watching someone stop fighting their body and start working with it: the woman who realizes she's strong, the athlete who learns something in recovery she couldn't have learned any other way.
I'm a Neurokinetic Therapist, Comprehensive Pilates Instructor, and Medical Exercise Specialist, but what matters more is that I'm always asking why before how much. In a session with me, I pay attention. Some days we push, some days we pull back, some days we just talk. That's the structure.
Outside the studio, I'm coaching and playing field hockey, hitting the trails, and spending time with my son Myles, my husband Ian, and our dogs Onyx and Rayne. Carlisle is where I'm planted.
Megan Eckenrode Hedrick
Avery Gallahue
Apprentice Coach | She/Her
I'm a recent graduate of the University of Mary Washington, where I played collegiate volleyball after years of competing in the sport growing up. Exercise was a constant in my life, but for a long time I measured fitness by how hard I could push myself at any cost. That changed in college, working through injuries and discovering strength training in a healthier way.
That shift is what led me to coaching. Between nearly seven years working with young athletes through private lessons, camps, clinics, and club volleyball, and four-plus years learning strength and conditioning for myself, I've found what I love most is watching someone realize they're capable of more than they thought, whether that's a new skill, a comeback from injury, or just walking into the gym with more confidence.
As a team captain, I learned that recovery, mobility, good coaching, and having someone in your corner can completely change how you feel about your body and your sport. That's the environment I want to help create here.
I'm a 2022 Carlisle High School grad, so this community is home, and I'm excited to grow as a coach alongside it.
Outside the studio: time with family and friends, hunting down new coffee shops around Carlisle, and slowly, very slowly, working on a needlepoint project. Currently reading East of Eden.
Ready to get started?
Fill out our intake form, call/text 717.514.4021, or email hello@athenamobilityandstrength to schedule your discovery call.