Our Founders — Ascend Athletics

Alissa Eischeid

Co-Founder, Operations Director

With more than 30 years in dance and a professional background in education, Alissa Eischeid has spent her life helping young people grow through movement, mentorship, and meaningful instruction.

Alissa began dancing at age five, training extensively in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, modern, and contemporary. Her experience spans competitive dance, high school dance team, conventions and master classes, collegiate dance, choreography, teaching, and professional performance.

While attending the University of Northern Iowa, Alissa pursued a dance minor and performed with the Orchesis Dance Company while teaching ballet, tap, and jazz at the Waterloo Center for the Arts and choreographing for area high school dance teams. She graduated with a double major in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and later spent several years as a kindergarten teacher in Urbandale.

Alissa also performed for multiple seasons with the Iowa Energy Dance Team, now the Iowa Wolves, and continues to serve as a judge for the organization’s annual dance team auditions.

As a co-founder of Ascend Athletics, Alissa brings together two things that have shaped her life: dance and education. She believes athletes thrive when they are given intentional training, trusted mentors, and opportunities that develop not only stronger performers, but confident, capable young people.

Ascend was created to give athletes more of exactly that - a place to grow, be challenged, discover what they’re capable of, and take their training to the next level while continuing to thrive within the teams and studios they already call home.

CJ Frascht

Co-Founder, Creative Director

CJ Frascht has spent nearly her entire life immersed in dance - first as an athlete, then as a performer, educator, mentor, and now, as a parent raising a dancer of her own.

Beginning her training at age three, CJ grew up competing across multiple genres and performing in everything from solos and small groups to large groups and productions. After high school, she moved to Des Moines to continue pursuing dance professionally, performing with the Iowa Stars Hockey Dance Team and the Iowa Barnstormers.

Throughout her career, CJ has continued to seek out experiences that expand what is possible for the athletes she works with. She has trained and worked alongside industry choreographers including Mariah Spears, Mikalea Jagim, and Keenan Peters, and has helped connect dancers with experiences such as Tribe 99, giving them greater exposure to college coaches, choreographers, and opportunities beyond their home studios.

At the heart of CJ’s approach is a belief that developing an athlete means investing in the person behind the performance. She is passionate about building confidence, creating meaningful opportunities, and being the mentor in an athlete’s corner as they navigate their goals both inside and outside of dance.

Today, CJ experiences the dance world from another meaningful perspective - as the mom of a competitive dancer. Seeing the industry through both an educator’s and a parent’s eyes has only strengthened her belief that athletes deserve access to more resources, more mentorship, and more pathways for growth.

As co-founder of Ascend Athletics, CJ is committed to creating exactly that: a place where athletes can expand their training, discover new opportunities, and become more confident in where they’re headed - without having to leave behind the teams and studios that helped shape them.