“Those who work the hardest deserve to win” my gymnastics coach Dave would always say. Yelling at us with his red face and blue and green vein going down the middle of his forehead. He would pull me to the side when I’m having a bad day and tell me to go take a walk to cool down. This is how he showed he cared. He would yell at us about not meeting his expectations because he knew we could do better than we were, then he would talk to us individually because we all had to be handled differently. And he knew just how to handle all 15 of us girls. My coach is one of the most hard working and motivational people I know.

Eleven years ago, 3 years before I moved to his gym, my coach and his wife decided to leave the gymnastics gym they were at and open one of their own. However, this wasn’t easy. First he had to find a building suited for gymnastics equipment and when he finally found a place, he invested all his money into the gym. The place he found was originally made to be a warehouse in Libertyville. He decided, since it was such a big open building, it would be easy to fit all the gymnastics equipment. Coach Dave is very hard working and dedicated to what he does. He was able to open a gym and keep it running while also raising two kids.

All the time that I’ve spent at working on new skills and trying to perfect them, I still have mental blocks and just can’t get myself to overcome the fear of doing a new skill. For example, my backhandspring on beam. When I’m having a mental block, that’s when coach Dave comes in and helps me through it. By him knowing that I’m very stubborn, he would yell at me and make me condition. He would tell me “It’s a lot easier for me and you to just go for it. I would never let you do something if I thought you weren’t capable of it.” When i finally did it, he would give me a hug and tell me “now that wasn’t so scary wasn’t it?”

Most of the other gymnasts at our gym were scared of coach Dave when he yelled, but I wasn’t. I knew he cared about us and wanted us to do the things he knew we were capable of. I listened to every piece of advice and every correcting he gave me and I tried as hard as I could to make him proud. Because of this, he made me the gymnast I am today and everyday I become a little more stronger and a little more better than the day before.