At the 2019 USA Gymnastics Championships in Des Moines, IA, this July, two coaches received prestigious recognition from their peers. Rumen Lachkov, head coach of Boerne Gymnastics Center in Boerne, TX, was named Junior Olympic Coach of the Year, while Vladimir Vladev, head coach of Acrobatic Gymnastics of San Antonio in San Antonio, TX, was named Elite Coach of the Year. Both coaches have teams in the greater San Antonio area, the clubs are about 30 miles apart, but the pair has a lot more in common than geographical proximity. Lachkov and Vladev first started winning hardware together almost 30 years ago.

Both Lachkov and Vladev hail from Bulgaria and immigrated to Texas in the early 2000s. Before then, however, they had a longstanding partnership in an internationally decorated acro men's pair. Both began in artistic gymnastics, Vladev at the age of 6 and Lachkov at the age of 10, and eventually transitioned to acrobatics competing in mens pairs. In 1989, Lachkov, a senior elite men's pair base, found himself without a top, while Vladev, a junior elite men's pair top, was without a base; the partnership began.

In their nine years together as a senior elite men's pair, Lachkov and Vladev competed at the highest levels of their sport. They medaled in four World Championships ('90, '92, '94, '96), including silver in 1994, two World Cups ('91, '93), five European Championships ('90, '91, '92, '93, '94), and the 4th World Games in 1993. They were all-around European Champions in 1993, and together earned over 30 medals from European and World competitions before retiring in 1998. Their last competition together was the Orange Blossom Invitational in Riverside, CA, USA.

The nineties were a transformative decade for acrobatics, with strides being made to advance choreography and artistry in competition. Lachkov and Vladev were pioneers, along with great partnerships from Russia and other powerhouse countries, in moving the direction away from stiff choreography between skills to true audience entertainment. One of their signature routines, featuring both men doing a little air guitar, is still making the rounds on YouTube. Their signature skill, a one arm handstand on planche, is still one of the more difficult balance skills performed in men's pairs.


After their competition days were over, Vladev joined the entertainment industry performing acrobatics at resorts in Turkey and Bulgaria while Lachkov moved into private business. Their courses changed, however, in 2002, when Lachkov was contacted by one of his former partners, Jordan Gueorguiev, who was traveling the USA with Ringling Brothers Circus. Gueorguiev was training in Boerne at the gym of a Ringling Brothers alum, Lorna Spellman, who was looking for a coach to start an acro program at her gym. Lachkov contacted Spellman, and the Boerne Gymnastics Acro team was born. A year later, Lachkov traveled home to Bulgaria to bring his children and wife, Radostina, who is also an acro coach and a choreographer, back to Texas. Vladev soon left Bulgaria as well in order to begin an acro team of his own at Gymnastics of San Antonio. In 2007, Vladev moved to Browns Gymnastics and eventually founded Acrobatic Gymnastics of San Antonio in 2010.

Flash forward to 2019 and the two fellow coaches-of-the-year met for a casual lunch on the north side of San Antonio. "We have each been recognized before, but I think it's pretty cool that we both received awards together this year," said Lachkov. Vladev pulled out his phone to share a video of an exhibition routine they performed together in 2005, seven years after they finished competing. The men shared laughs remembering the challenges of doing acro wearing jeans and performing again in their 30s and 40s; it is clear that after 30 years a deep bond remains between the two. Their partnership was successful for the same reasons that they have succeeded as coaches: both Vladev and Lachkov are passionate about the sport of acrobatics and dedicated to putting in the hard work required to reach the highest levels. One of Vladev's athletes may have put it best, "Coach Vladi tells us stories about when he was training in Bulgaria. It's amazing to learn from someone who has been through what we are going through and was able to be so successful."