Our Team

Our Synergy team is made up of wonderful, experienced and certified individuals, all with different strengths, yet we passionately share a common purpose…to guide and inspire you to improve your quality of life through health and fitness.

Chad Benko

Chad grew up in a family where work ethics, morals, and honesty were highly respected and he now brings those values to his work life at Synergy. Chad loves working with members and seeing their progress and achievements as he is very passionate about making a difference in peoples lives. Chad is thankful for the people in his life who have influenced and empowered him to continue to learn and reach higher within the field of health and wellness. Chad firmly believes Synergy has the greatest community, members, and coaches.

Ian MacDonald

Ian admits he wears many different hats…husband, father, brother, friend, volunteer, business owner, coach, athlete, and corporate businessman…and he loves every minute of it! Ian’s positive and upbeat attitude is the result of a variety of influences. Ian’s rural roots instilled in him a strong work ethic and the value of respect. Playing sports on the Provincial and National scene taught Ian to appreciate the importance of dedication and the pursuit of excellence. Becoming a Chartered Accountant reinforced the values of honesty and integrity. Last and not least, being a husband and father has shown Ian the strength of family and community. With a personal motto of “always make a difference”, Ian is appreciative of the opportunity to help make a difference in the health and wellness of others.

Brooke Allen

Brooke grew up in a small town playing sports such as fastball and ringette, where there was always a strong sense of community and teamwork. These traits are what attracted her to Crossfit and later inspired her to become a trainer. Brooke runs the kids crossfit program at Synergy, and her two kids can be often found hanging out at the gym playing on the rings or running through an obtacle course. She hopes to inspire the next generation of crossfitters, and is proud to be part of a community full of happy and fit role models.

Claire Hopkin

Claire biggest passion is olympic weightlifitng. Between her three jobs including coaching at Synergy you can find her playing around in the lifting corner trying to better her lifts. She is always excited to watch people improve and gain strength and agility. Claire thinks the best part about being a coach is watching peoples eyes light up when they accomplish something they once thought was not possible.

Christianne Godart

Having passions in life, and waking up each day to chase her dreams is what fires Christianne up! Work ethic, honesty, respect and a strong faith were instilled in her from a young age, and transferred into her school, sports, business & music career. With experience managing a Wellness Clinic & Weightloss Clinic, she brings to the team an understanding of the journey of weightloss & lifestyle changes. Now she develops within her Country Music career & Health/Fitness career as a coach and personal trainer at Synergy. Christianne enjoys Crossfit as her competitive sport, always looking forward to reaching new heights. She loves meeting new people, and helping them reach their goals & aspirations! Motto: No Limits & NO excuses, there is always room for improvement.

Crystal Derry

Crystal has a great passion for personal wellbeing and fitness and enjoys sharing this with others. She grew up in Saskatoon, playing a wide variety of sports, soccer being her favorite. After a soccer injury that required knee surgery and extensive physiotherapy, Crystal became fascinated with exercise mechanics and functional movement. That fascination led her to become certified in Functional Movement Systems (FMS), which helps her to identify and resolve dysfunctional movement to reduce the potential for injury. Crystal loves working with all ability levels and sees fitness as an essential element to improving the quality of life. She is grateful for and values the Synergy community and personally embraces Synergy’s objective to focus on all aspects of heath and wellness.

Courtney Bathgate

Courtney’s greatest joy in life is making other people happy. Synergy has allowed her to do that day after day as she assists people to reach their goals. There is a certain excitement that she feels every time someone gets their first pull-up, as she can remember exactly how that felt. Helping others has always been a passion of Courtney’s and she’s so grateful that she has been given the opportunity to do this in a fun, fitness oriented atmosphere. Courtney’s carefree attitude is what makes people want to ask for assistance or guidance. She goes above and beyond for her Synergy family and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dale Johnstone

Dale always had a wide variety of athletic interests and understands that it will be the improvements in his health and fitness he makes today that allow him to achieve his goals: prevent (further) injuries and get the most of out of life in the years to come. Watching everyday people change their lives a little bit each week, and having the chance to be involved in that growth, is what really fires Dale up and makes him smile (inside).

Dawn Ciona

Dawn grew up in Blaine Lake, SK learning invaluable lessons and skills from her family’s business. She proceeded to attend the U of S completed a Hon. Biochemistry degree, focused on human energy metabolism, and a M. Sc. in Nutrition, focused primarily on the nutritional requirements for high intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE or HIIT). Throughout her education, Dawn became heavily involved in teaching group fitness and the sport of body building. Her competitive involvement in body building, and physical and mental struggles following competition, granted her experience and further understanding of nutrition’s importance to the human body. Dawn looks forward to sharing her knowledge and experience with her clients, helping to obtain their desired health and wellness goals.

Devin Ralph

Devin started coaching classes in June 2012 and brings over 3 and a half years of CrossFitting experience with him. Devin has been involved in sports his entire life (Hockey, Baseball, and Golf to name a few). As a competitive CrossFitter Devin has made Crossfit his new sport of choice. Devin decided to join the training team to spread his experience and passion for Crossfit to others.

Jason Trinh

At a younger age, Jason was not given the chance to commit to sport and regrets his lack of opportunity to see how far he could go. CrossFit has not only improved his fitness and overall health, but it has given him an avenue to pursue sports again, such as Olympic Weightlifting and the Reebok CrossFit Games. Jason’s growth, and that of the Synergy members, gives him the initiative to work hard and is something to which he looks forward everyday. Jason is thankful that he has been given the opportunity to do what he can to instill in others the passion he has for health and fitness.

Jessica Grant

Jessica is new to the world of CrossFit and as most can relate, has become addicted. The sense of community and the feeling you get when you accomplish a goal, no matter how small is fantastic! Jessica has always enjoyed being active and has begun to take bigger strides towards a positive lifestyle change. She is proud to be part of the Synergy team and is looking forward to what the future holds for her within the CrossFit community.

Matt Bathgate

Matt is a competitive CrossFitter who brings his background and experience in team sports (Rugby, Hockey, etc) into the gym setting to provide strong leadership with clear cueing and feedback. Matt has a thirst for knowledge that leads him to continually learn new and useful perspectives on sport, training, nutrition, and health that positively benefit his clients and the Synergy culture as a whole. Matt has a good eye for movement and his education in the natural sciences provides him with an understanding of physical systems that aids his understanding of human bio-mechanical efficiency.

Matt Walz

Matt played a variety of sports from a young age through high school and then spent the next several years searching for that feeling that comes during competitive sport: The feeling of satisfaction that comes from physically and mentally giving your all and the pursuit of bettering oneself. He found that feeling again in Crossfit and after four years of Crossfiting decided he wanted to help others find their own sense of satisfaction by sharing his enthusiasm for the sport of fitness as a coach.

Patti Johnstone

Patti is passionate about living a strong, healthy lifestyle that is centered around living close to earth much like our ancestors once did. She has lived with Type 1 Diabetes for the past 25years. Although she has always been physically fit, her physical well being was not always ideal. Since incorporating the Crossfit Nutrition principles and paleo eating into Patti’s lifestyle, her overall health and athletic performance has been consistently improving. She enjoys vigorous training and lives to run! Patti looks forward to helping others blast out their last rep, sprint their last lap and cheering you on every bit of the way in between. She love being a new member of the Synergy Crossfit team and looks forward to learning and growing as an athlete and a trainer.

Sarah Hills

Sarah’s passion is teaching and coaching; whether it is in a classroom or in the gym, she loves working with people to help them reach their goals and experience personal success. Sarah strives to make everyone she works with feel welcome and at ease because no matter what your fitness level, she truly feels the Synergy community has a place for
everyone!

Scotty Butcher

Scotty has had a passion for exercise and sports his whole life. With a background in rugby, wrestling, and football, Scotty’s experience with high-intensity resistance and interval training were very important in forming his beliefs around exercise prescription for optimal function. Now, as an Exercise Consultant for Synergy and a Professor in Physical Therapy at the University of Saskatchewan, Scotty has brought this passion and experience into his teaching, research, and strength and conditioning advising. Scotty strives to develop and enhance the knowledge base and skills of exercise professionals and clients related to the idea that quality of exercise prescription is vastly more important than quantity.

Tim McLellan

Having been introduced to strength and conditioning at a younger age, Tim has always been interested in learning and using various methods and principles. He has been fortunate to work with and learn from some highly-talented coaches and looks forward to continuing his growth and development at Synergy Strength and Conditioning. He truly believes that with hard work and dedication, ALL goals are obtainable. Tim is excited to be a part of the Synergy training staff and hopes he can help each and every individual reach their goals.
“Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn’t what you GET for it, but what you BECOME for it.” – Steve Maraboli

Valarie Perry

Being a farm girl and heavily involved in sports at a young age, Val values the importance of community and hard work. She is proud to be a part of the Synergy team, which brings these values together so effectively. Val’s life has been forever changed by being a member and coach at Synergy – a place that guides and supports people’s paths to positive growth in their physical, mental and spiritual lives. She looks forward to everyday that she gets to help others achieve their goals.

Vanessa DeGirolamo

Vanessa is a retired cheerleader/gymnast turned CrossFitter. Vanessa has always been actively involved in the community through coaching and offering her expertise where desired. She loves to see others grow and strive to achieve their own personal goals. A healthy lifestyle is something that she takes pride in demonstrating to others. With her contagious laugh, you’ll be sure to know when Vanessa is around.