Throughout a twenty-year career in the sport, beginning with the first gymnastics class and ending with the last competition, the people and the lessons you learned have become one of the biggest, most defining parts of your story. When it’s all said and done and it’s time to say goodbye to something you love so much, it can be hard to let go. From working for years starting as a young gymnast in your hometown club gym, to finally competing for the school you have dreamed of being a part of, the final four years go by entirely too quickly.
The culture of gymnastics over the last few years alone has changed and improved significantly, and because of that, athletes are making their way back to the sport they grew up loving, and creating a new space for it in a new chapter of their lives. Making the transition out of college as a student-athlete is difficult, but there will always be some part of you that will remain attached to the sport you have identified with for so long. For Lynnzee Brown and Jackie Terpak, making the move from competing to coaching has allowed them to find a way to keep the sport they love in their lives, even if it looks a little different now.
Brown, former Denver gymnast now Penn State assistant coach, and Terpak, former Temple gymnast who is now an assistant coach at Missouri, are just two of the athletes who have made this transition to coaching in the past few years, taking what they learned in their careers and writing a new chapter for themselves. Both began gymnastics at a young age and made it to a high level quickly in their careers, and for both college gymnastics was on the radar early on. For Terpak, it was as early as fifth grade: making lists of her favorite colleges, watching all the gymnastics content she could consume, and getting her first college letter as early as sixth grade. Brown didn’t know if doing college gymnastics was the route she wanted to take, but as soon as Denver came into the picture, everything else fell in line.
Terpak, who was originally committed to Utah State the summer after her freshman year of high school, ended up making a last-minute decision late in the signing period to go to Temple, which she describes as a blessing in disguise. Immediately, she was drawn to the city, to the culture of the team, the people, and all of the new opportunities she could participate in. However, after two years on the team, Terpak decided to medically retire to prioritize her mental health and step into a role where she could still be around gymnastics and the people she loved.
“[The first two years] were really hard for me. I competed, but not the way I wanted. There was a lot of stuff going on in my life that was difficult and hard for me to understand, and I came to a point where I couldn’t function on the day to day so I ended up leaving the sport… I was fortunate that the coaches at Temple took care of me as a human being, not just an athlete. I loved where I was at, but I lost everything that was in me, so I had to go find that again.” For Terpak, taking this time away from physically doing the sport, but still being present at every practice, going to the competitions and still being a part of the Temple gymnastics team, allowed her to find a new purpose through coaching that has led her to where she is now, five years later.
Brown, after a stellar and historic career as a part of the Denver gymnastics program, found herself in a position she never thought she would be in. Growing up at GAGE in Missouri, Brown remembers not being entirely sure if college gymnastics was something she even wanted to pursue. However, after being contacted by Denver, she knew she wanted to be a part of something great for that program. “[Most] freshmen don’t know the impact they will have [at the program] and that was the case for me. I would describe it as being pulled along the first couple of years because I didn’t know my true potential and value on the team.” Brown shares how the coaches at Denver not only instilled this confidence in her when it came to gymnastics, but also pushed her out of her comfort zone when it came to her next chapter.
Brown’s story of becoming part of the Penn State coaching staff is the perfect example of ‘when one door closes and another opens.’ During Brown’s final collegiate season, Denver head coach Melissa Kutcher-Reinhart was contacted by Penn State head coach Sarah Shire Brown about Brown joining the staff the next season. “It was a weird transition period where I was talking to another program while I was still competing,” shared Brown. “I was competing at nationals in Fort Worth where a couple other gymnasts from Penn State had also qualified. As soon as I was done with my competition, I went to Sarah in the stands and asked if now was a good time to talk, and we spoke there in Texas about what the job at Penn State would look like.”
For Terpak and Brown, how they each ended up in their current positions may not have been the path they anticipated, but it’s one they are now equally grateful for. While the end of Terpak’s NCAA career came a bit sooner than Brown’s, it allowed her to get into this new role and find out what she was most passionate about moving forward. “Although my career didn’t go as I imagined, I was able to get involved in ways I didn’t think I would be able to,” shared Terpak. From being the president of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) her senior year, being an ambassador of Morgan’s Message, a mental health program on campus, and helping found Owls for Justice, on top of still having the schedule of being a student-athlete, her impact was felt across every platform at Temple. “If I hadn’t gone to Temple, I wouldn’t be the woman, the coach, the person I am now,” Terpak said. “It was the biggest blessing that I ended up here first.”
While Terpak shared she was not always sure in what capacity she wanted to be involved with college athletics, she always knew this would be a part of her path. For Brown, this opportunity was a bit more unexpected, but has allowed her to take on this new role with an open mind. “I used to say I would never coach,” shared Brown. “I coached in high school and at summer camps, but the excitement for me was you could be the fun coach, not an everyday coach that had to get tough on them and be stern, that’s really what kept me out of it for a while.”
Originally, Brown said she wanted to be involved with college athletics, but on the side of either creative content or taking on a role like a director of operations. Kutcher-Reinhart was the one who pushed Brown into looking more into coaching, knowing what she would be capable of, even before Brown knew the impact she could have. Over the past two years at Penn State, Brown has been able to assist wherever she is needed, while also using this time to learn from the other coaches on the staff about how to create a safe space for college athletes to become successful. She shared, “I’m lucky that I get to observe what the other coaches [do] and how they best support the athletes … Here they really focus on building up these athletes and I’m learning different techniques on how to do that. Sarah is more outgoing and boisterous and Rachel [Inniss] is more reserved and direct, so I have been taking bits and pieces of this on how it might be one day for me.”
Like Brown, Terpak has also taken what has resonated with her the most from the different programs she has had the chance to be a part of, and uses the skills she has collected and the knowledge of the people she looks up to most in her own coaching style today. After transitioning from Temple to becoming a volunteer coach at Arkansas under current head coach, Jordyn Wieber, Terpak, like Brown, took the time to get involved in whatever way she could. “You have to be a really well-rounded person to be a college gymnastics coach,” she shared. “ There is something to learn from every room you are in and every person you meet. … [During my time at Arkansas] I was at every meeting Jordyn was in just to try and learn as much as I could.”
One of the most rewarding aspects of the position both Terpak and Brown are in now is how they are not only there to create better gymnasts, but also to watch these athletes grow as people when they move into the world post college athletics.
“Helping student-athletes become their best selves in and out of the gym has been something really important to me,” shared Terpak. “[At Missouri], we want people to enter the program and leave better than they came. Shannon [Welker, Missouri head coach] hires people who love gymnastics as much as he does. [Although] we might be in the SEC and be lucky to have all the resources in the world, it always comes back to loving gymnastics, and becoming the best version of yourself in every aspect. Our mission here is to get better every day, not just in the gym, but in the classroom and in our community,” said Terpak.
According to Brown and Terpak, helping to create well-rounded adults who are confident and prepared for life after athletics is one of the most fulfilling responsibilities. However, neither would be in the position they are in if it weren’t for the people who once played this same role during their careers.
For Brown, she attributed her success in this chapter to the people who pushed her when she may have doubted her abilities. In addition to Kutcher-Reinhart at Denver, Brown was also coached by Linas Gaveika and Stephen Hood who made her transition to Penn State smoother but also showed her a part of herself she wasn’t sure she had. Now at Penn State, Brown shared that the entirety of the coaching staff has allowed her to figure out her own path, saying “Here, I’m never asking a wrong question. I’m never made to feel like I’m a burden. [The staff are all] genuinely here to teach and Sarah [Shire Brown] has given me all the space to be anything I want to be.”
Likewise, Terpak expressed her gratitude for the coaches that got her to the point of college athletics at both Skyline Gymnastics and eventually Prestige, as well as the first two years of her career at Temple. Terpak shares how people like Josh Nilson, former Temple head coach, now assistant coach at Illinois, believed in her abilities in and out of the gym and allowed her to transition into coaching without losing her love for the sport after a difficult first two years.
After four years at Temple and a move to Arkansas, Terpak speaks about the relationships she made during her year with the program, and how much she learned in this new position in a completely unfamiliar landscape; “Jordyn Wieber was someone who I aspired to be mentored by and always looked up to. She has become a great mentor and friend. Through my time at Arkansas, I was also able to grow my relationships with Valorie Kondos Field and Cory Tomlinson. They have both helped me in so many different ways and I know they are always just a phone call away.” Within her current position at Missouri, Terpak shared just how much she learns every day from head coach Welker, as well as Whitney Snowden and Lacey Rubin. “My biggest strengths might be their weaknesses, and their strengths are my weaknesses; we all work so well together, balance one another out, and help each other grow every day,” said Terpak.
With any sport, especially one that has been one of the biggest parts of life since before you might even be able to remember, it will always be a part of you in some capacity, big or small. For Brown and Terpak, having different paths to get to their current positions, they are so grateful to be able to continue to be a part of what they have loved for so long. They have taken this love for the sport, and the skills they have learned from the people they look up to most, and are carrying that passion into how they coach. One day they will each become someone current athletes look up to each and every day. Maybe they already are.
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Article by Julianna Roland
