The 7 Cs of Communicating for Coaches

Caring. Caring is the first point of communicating with your athlete because athletes will more easily and effectively incorporates your coaching if they believe you genuinely care about them.   It has been said that 93% of communication is non-verbal, and while that statistic may or may not be entirely valid, we do know that tone […]

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An Open Letter to the Coaches who Comfort Their Gymnasts When They Struggle in a Meet

  Dear Coaches Who Comfort Their Gymnasts When They Struggle in a Meet, I want to thank you. I thank you for recognizing that your gymnast just gave it her all, came up short and still validating her worth as a human by giving her a hug and a kind word as she dejectedly walked off […]

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The Importance of the “Soft” Stuff

Secret: I have a new favorite gymnast. She is 12 year old Jaymes Marshall. I first saw Jaymes when her vault from the 2016 JO Nationals lit up Facebook. And then I recently read this interview she did for Inside Gymnastics. In the interview, this very talented and highly accomplished gymnast was asked, “What’s some […]

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6 Things to Remember When an Athlete Switches Gyms

One of the harder things I have dealt with and watched coaches deal with is the departure of an athlete from our club to another club. Sure, sometimes it comes with relief of knowing that a family that caused distress to the coaching staff has moved on to be someone else’s problem. But sometimes it […]

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Advice to Grads from Your Wise Friends: Vault, Bars, Beam and Floor

It’s that time of year when graduation advice from celebrities, world leaders or just well meaning folk flood the Internet. But what if the four events that female gymnasts toil over were able to get up and give their sage advice to the kids who are moving on from our sport. What would they say? […]

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A Senior’s Farewell Tribute to Gymnastics

Get the kleenex ready, because if you make it through this one without shedding a few tears you are a tougher person than I. A coach reached out to me to share her graduation senior’s goodbye speech from their team banquet.  And I am so glad she did.  As much as I can (and do) […]

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The Key to a Happy Gymnast?

We want our kids to be happy. So we worry about the outcomes. Learning the kip. Winning the meet. Making it to level 10, to elite, to National team or the to the Olympics. Earning the scholarship. We worry about the hallmarks of achievements. We want to give them the world. But what if we […]

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What Coaches See vs. What Preschoolers See

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8 Myths We Need to Stop Believing For Kids to Enjoy Youth Sports

There is one definition of success. Success is not a black and white concept and it is certainly not synonymous with winning. There is one path to success. Just as it is not a black and white concept, success does not have one route of travel. If a child struggles with a sport at the […]

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