When I first went for my journalism degree at KU, I knew I was crazy. Sure, I'd gotten a scholarship, but deep down, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. So I finished my degree, then worked full time coaching gymnastics for a year. Not even a little bit related to my degree... but I learned a lot in that year and really fell in love with coaching. I like teaching school. I really do. But I KNOW gymnastics. It's the thing I'm best at. I can talk about shoulder angles, high releve, and body positions with the best of them. In recent months, I've thought that if a man I was dating saw me in the gym, he would see me at my best. Because when I'm teaching gymnastics, I feel completely at home. I was a good gymnast. I competed for a long time, made it to optional level gymnastics, and did well in competition. But I wasn't a great competitor. Not at all. I do think I've turned into a better coach than I was a gymnast. I have to give credit to a lot of amazing mentors I've had (Kellie, Michael, Mary, Kami, Eric, Jennifer, etc.), in my last 10 years of coaching, because I watched, learned, and became a better teacher. That's beside the point, though. I LOVE to teach. It is the most rewarding activity on the planet, other than parenting, and I feel lucky to be able to teach all day long.
So, along with my teaching themed post, I thought I would include two stories for you today, one a teaching story, the other a coaching story. Let me start with a story about a girl I'll call Carly. Carly was the cutest little girl, with buck teeth, and red hair. She had several significant disabilities, but she was very capable of learning, and she loved singing (it came out more like a yodel, but it was awesome). She had some trouble in her home life, with feuding parents, and they earned her love by spoiling her rotten, and that made school life a challenge, because she didn't get whatever she wanted. Anyway, she had a habit of throwing herself on the floor and screaming "Bull Sh*t!" at the top of her lungs when she was told no. She was doing it for the benefit of an audience. When she would start one of her fits, everyone would go to the next room, leaving her with one teacher or paraprofessional to keep an eye on her. The trick was, the instructional staff realized that if she didn't think anybody was paying attention, she would stop. So we would just sit on the other side of the room and ignore her. Occasionally, the screaming would stop and her little head would pop out from the other side of the bookcase, just to see if she was alone. The minute she saw someone, she would start it up again.
One day, I had taken Carly to the bathroom, and she requested to play with a ball instead of do her math when we got back to the classroom. I explained that she would do math, THEN she could play with the ball. She immediately dropped to the floor and began a, "BULL SH*T," rant. I just stood there, ready to wait it out. Suddenly, one of the stall doors opened, and a little girl came out and gave Carly the most confused look. The little girl looked me in the eyes, and said, "She must have brothers," and shook her head. It made my day.
Okay, now for a coaching post. It's not so much about the students, but about an incident involving me. When I was in Vegas, we didn't have any male coaches in the gym to spot, so I spotted a lot of higher level skills that a 5'3" woman generally wouldn't spot. One of those skills is called a Tsuk, when a gymnast does a roundoff onto the vault, and a backflip off. I had my two upper-level girls training the skill into the pit. Spotting in a pit isn't easy, primarily because you have to get your balance on a block that is consistently moving because it's not on a solid surface. Anyway, I gave the girls their instructions, walked to get on the spotting block, and with the first step, the block tipped, sending me flying into the blocks. The girls all ran over, to see if I was okay. "Girls, I'm in foam. Of course I'm okay. You can laugh, it was funny," I said (not to mention embarrassing, because all the parents outside saw it, too). Once they'd gotten the "O.K." the girls cracked up, and I laughed along with them. It's not the first time I've wiped out in the gym, and it certainly won't be the last.
Alright, time for a quick poll. I'm getting my hair cut today. Which style should I go with? Any opinions?
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