Mark Freeman enters his second season with Stanford men's gymnastics in 2020-21 after serving two seasons as an assistant coach at California.
Freeman has earned CGA National Assistant Coach of the Year and West Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2020 and 2021 after helping the Cardinal to a No. 1 ranking to finish the 2020 campaign and a national title in 2021.
The native of Manchester, England competed for Cal from 2004 to 2008 and was also a member of the Great Britain National Team. Mark made gymnastics history by becoming the first ever British gymnast to win a major international competition, earning the title Junior European Champion on the Still Rings at the European Championships in Patras, Greece. After this he made the transition into senior international gymnastics, representing Great Britain in various international competitions, including the 2002 and 2003 World Championship.
During his time in Berkeley, the Bears finished among the top five at the NCAA Championships on three occasions, and notched an MPSF conference title. Mark also coached the Golden Bears Club Team while he was still a student-athlete.
After graduation, he continued his journey with gymnastics: performing, touring, and creating for the internationally recognized Cirque du Soleil for five years.
In 2014 he finished performing for Cirque du Soleil to pursue another aspiration: the creation of an international fitness and movement consultancy, Freeman Technique LLC. He has developed programming as well as provided clinics for more than 1000 clients and 50 facilities across many athletic disciplines. His company currently partners with Biometric Innovative Options, a physical therapy facility, playing an integral role to the success of the injury prevention programs for tactical athletes within the Bay Area.
At Stanford Freeman coaches all six of the competitive apparatuses, assists in teaching new skills and helps develop efficient routine constructions for the team. Freeman is involved with all aspects of the recruiting process from first contact through official visits. Additionally, Freeman is responsible for team strength lists, injury prevention as well as equipment inventory.
