The Difference Between Quitting and Ending

“My daughter wants to quit.” “I quit gymnastics when I was 12.” “If she wants to do dance team, then she is quitting gym.” Quit. It ‘s such a loaded word. And it deserves to be. After all, unless it is in reference to a vice like drinking or smoking, nobody thinks being called a […]

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What a Frog Can Teach Us About Being a Parent to a Gymnast: 18 Signs You Might be on the Road to Being “That Parent”

If a frog is dropped into a pot of boiling water, it will most certainly jump out. However, if a frog is dropped into a pot of cold water that is placed over a burner that slowly heats it to a boil, the frog will remain in the pot, boiling to death. Before you think […]

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20 Reasons Your Preschooler Should Do Gymnastics (That Have Nothing to Do with Learning Gymnastics)

What if Johnny never learns a cartwheel? Or how about if Janie never masters holding a handstand? Would there still be any value in putting your preschooler in a gymnastics class? Yes, I say. Absolutely, yes. In addition to it being a lot of fun, here are twenty reasons your preschool aged child should do […]

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Happy 10th Birthday to JAG!

Yesterday, JAG hit a milestone that only 1/3 of small businesses get to hit: our tenth birthday. I’d be lying to say that I wasn’t emotional thinking back over the last decade of a dream that became a reality that was even better than the original dream that was conceived.  The reasons that I began […]

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When are You Going to Get a “Real” Job?

Gymnastics coaches, raise your hand if you have been asked this question: When are you going to get a “real” job? (Okay, you can put your hand down now because people are probably staring and they already think you are a little weird because you don’t have a “real job”…) Since the opposite of a […]

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10 Word Choices That Smart Athletes (and Their Parents and Coaches) Make to be the Best of the Best

A few weeks ago, I was counseling parents of an athlete at my gym. According to the parents, the daughter was considering “quitting” gymnastics because she believed that she was “sacrificing” too much to do gymnastics. “What do you mean by your daughter is sacrificing?” I asked. “I mean she sacrifices so much. You know, […]

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20 Thoughts That go Through Your Head Before a Gymnastics Meet: Parent, Gymnast, Coach, Judge and Meet Director Perspectives

In honor of the 2014-2015 competitive meet season beginning, twenty thoughts that go through your head before a gymnastics meet from the perspectives of a parent, a gymnast, a coach, a judge and a meet director: Parent… Are we late? My daughter will kill me if we are. Coffee? Please let there be coffee… Where […]

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Who Would You Choose?

It is a dark and stormy night (don’t all great stories begin this way?). And you are driving down the road in your brand new two-seater sports car, when you pass by a bus stop and see three people waiting in the pouring rain: An old lady who looks quite ill. A dear friend who […]

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DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!

Would you sign a petition banning “dihydrogen monoxide” if you learned that: it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting it is a major component in acid rain it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state accidental inhalation of it can be deadly it contributes to erosion it decreases effectiveness of automobile breaks it has […]

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