During your athletic career, there are so many people throughout that time who make up an integral part of your story. Whether it be a teammate who you look forward to seeing at every practice, the athletic trainer who always makes sure you’re okay or the competitor who has always pushed you to want to be better from afar. All of these individuals and the roles they play are so important to what makes your story in your sport unique and special to you.
From the time you start gymnastics to when you finish your final routine, one of the most important roles that is filled from the very beginning is your coach. Coaches have such an enormous impact on athletes across all sports, but, I have found, especially in gymnastics, this coach-athlete relationship is so much more meaningful because these people really become like a part of your family.
From a young age, we spend hours in the gym surrounded by the same people each day, potentially from the time you start in level 4 until the day you leave for college. You get accustomed to seeing the same faces every day after school, sharing your life with one another, learning how to handle the hard days, and trusting them to keep you safe. In my own experience growing up in club, I did have the same coaches from the time I was seven until my last practice before I left for my freshman year. When it was time to move on, these relationships were something that was so hard to let go of because I didn’t know what was coming next.
In my case, my club coaches got to watch me grow up; they watched me get over mental blocks, get a new skill, come back from injuries, and finally learn how to run correctly. However, they also got to see me go to my proms, graduate from high school, and go through the highs of lows of life at the time; they knew me. Then, I had to go to a place where no one did, and this adjustment was definitely a significant one.
Although some of my experiences in college as an athlete I didn’t think would be a part of my story, they are, and they have shaped me into the person I am now. This, however, is the reality of sports; sometimes you have a great experience with coaches that goes beyond your years in the NCAA, and other times, it runs its course and you take what you learned into your next phase of life.
Coming from Bridgeport and transferring to Temple, I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle another set of new coaches knowing how difficult the initial transition from club to college was. Coming so quickly into Temple right as competition season approached, this adjustment had to be made quickly, but, luckily, it was one of the easiest transitions with coaches I had ever made. Getting a clean slate at the beginning of each program, the experience with the coaching staff was completely different, but nonetheless, impactful on not only my life during my time competing, but still to this day.
Going to college is going into unfamiliar territory that you need to navigate each day. Coming from club, you might be used to a certain coaching style that you have had your whole career, but you may get the complete opposite when you get on campus. College is much more accountability driven where practice is more structured and there may be certain requirements you have to meet in order to get the opportunity to compete. Your coaches hold you to a different kind of standard, not just in gymnastics, but in all areas of life, and I think that is why the relationship built here extends beyond your years within the program. While your club coaches are watching you grow up and shaping you to be successful in your college years, your college coaches are now shaping you to have success during the next four years, but also to take what you’ve learned into the next part of your life.
Once you get to college and get used to this new way gymnastics looks, it isn’t uncommon for programs to go through coaching changes which is just something else you learn to adapt to. Our team had a new coach or two each year, and each one of these coaches brought something new not only to our program, but to our lives outside of the sport. The people who come into the program always bring a new and fresh perspective, and even if it is scary to get to know someone again, there is always something to take away from the experience.
College is a time where you are constantly changing and evolving as are the circumstances and people around you. During my five years, I had the opportunity to work with ten different coaches who were a part of the staff, and I still take things away from each of them. Whether this be a life lesson they taught me, a coaching style that I can implement in my own career, a fun (sometimes really hard) assignment that I pass along, or the joy they gave me when I walked into the gym, these people shaped my college career and the person I am continuing to become.
There are going to be so many adjustments to be made throughout the time you get in college and not everything will be perfect, but there is always something from every person and each experience to take away.
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Article by Julianna Roland
