My Coaching Journey: From the Floor To Coaching the Sport

From the Grip Bag to the Clipboard: How Coaching Healed My Athlete Brain

For eleven years, my life could be measured in chalk dust, rip sticks, and the specific rhythm of a spring floor. You guys know me—gymnastics wasn’t just a sport I did after school. It was my entire world.

During the school year, I lived for those nine hours a week in the gym. But when summer hit? The gym became my actual home. We’re talking 25 to 30 hours a week of pure grit, sweat, tears, and the exhausting mental battle of overcoming blocks. From my early club days at IK and Dreams to my unforgettable years competing at Wilmette, I didn't just train. I lived and breathed every single second of it.

So when the day finally came to hang up my grips, the silence was deafening.

Retiring left a void I didn't know how to fill. Suddenly, I felt completely lost in a world that no longer revolved around the steady height of a beam or the release of a bar. When you spend over a decade identifying strictly as an athlete, walking away feels like losing a piece of your soul.

What I didn't realize back then was a beautiful truth: I wasn't leaving gymnastics at all. I was just finding a new home on the other side of the mat.

Silencing the "Athlete Brain"

When I first stepped into a coaching role at Wilmette back in 2022, something clicked. I finally understood that I hadn't lost my identity—I was just changing my business cards.

But let me tell you, it wasn't an overnight shift. It took a long, difficult process to completely silence my "athlete brain" and realize my purpose had evolved. My time in the sport was no longer about my own flips, my own execution extensions, or my own scores. It became about witnessing someone else discover the magic of the sport.

There is an absolute magic in watching a gymnast finally face down a mental block and land a skill they’ve been battling for months. In those exact moments, I’m not just watching a kid succeed. I’m seeing my own journey, my own heartbreaks, and my own triumphs mirrored right back at me in their eyes. It’s a full-circle, deep healing that I never saw coming.

Honestly? Coaching is something I feel like I can do in my sleep now, and nothing beats the pure joy of watching these athletes progress every single week.

Chasing the Collegiate Dream

This past May marked a massive milestone on this journey: I officially joined the coaching staff at UWW’s GymHawks.

Ever since I first stepped onto the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus back in 2024, I had my heart completely set on coaching for this program. Actually getting that opportunity felt like a total dream come true. I’ve always known that if I want to reach my ultimate goal of becoming an NCAA college coach, I have to put in the work right now—constantly growing, learning, and refining my skills while I'm still grinding through school.

I look up to the absolute blueprint of elite leadership in this sport—powerhouses like Janelle McDonald, KJ Kindler, Laurent and Cecile Landi, and Miss Val. I study how they motivate, how they build culture, and how they protect their athletes' well-being. But I also look back at my own club coaches who built the foundation of who I am today.

The Future is Bright

Every single day when I step onto the floor—whether I'm looking at the sweet kids in my rec classes, the fiercely dedicated Xcel team, or the passionate up-and-comers on Pre-Team—I don't just see kids learning cartwheels. I see the absolute future of the sport I adore.

Every single hour spent coaching at GymHawks and Wilmette is a brick in the foundation of my greatest dream: to one day stand on a collegiate floor as a head coach.

Gymnastics gave me my confidence, my stubborn discipline, and my resilience. It gave me everything I am. And because of that, I know my story with this sport is nowhere near finished. I am taking every single lesson, every heartbreak, and every triumph from my eleven years as an athlete and pouring them entirely into the coach I am becoming.

My heart is permanently anchored in this sport. One day, I will be a college coach. I am ready, I am capable, and I am exactly where I am meant to be.