Renowned dance instructor and gymnastics coach Jill Peck has been named a volunteer assistant for the Kentucky gymnastics team to work primarily with the team?s floor-exercise routines, head coach Mo Mitchell announced Thursday.

?We are happy to have Jill Peck join our coaching staff as a volunteer coach,? Mitchell said. ?She has many years of gymnastics experience and is a phenomenal dancer. We have high expectations for what she can do for us on floor. She will work with our athletes in many aspects, but her main duties will be floor exercise. We are excited to have her bring her expertise to our team and program.?

Peck brings with her more than 12 years of dance training in ballet, point, tap, jazz and modern dance, and has coached gymnastics for 16 years. She owned and operated No Limits Gymnastics in Lexington from 2002-07, where she worked as a coach and choreographer for several state and regional medalists and national qualifiers. She had the distinction of coaching the 2007 Level 9 Region 5 beam champion. Peck also worked with former Kentucky gymnast Whitney Ellis prior to her days as a Wildcat.

?I am so excited to be working with this incredible team of talented athletes at my alma mater,? Peck said. ?It is a great opportunity to work alongside Mo and his knowledgeable and enthusiastic coaching staff.?

A Hoffman Estates, Ill., native, Peck graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1994 with a bachelor of arts in history. She was a competitive gymnast in her own right for nearly 12 years in the Northwest Chicago area.

Peck and her husband John have two children, Ethan (9) and Lauren (4), and reside in Lexington.