Teaching Life Skills Through the Sport of Gymnastics 

It’s more than a clever motto. At Black Hills Gym we sincerely believe we’re not just building athletes; we’re building better people. 

National Gymnastics Day is celebrated across the country to highlight all the best that can come from gymnastics. Each gym can celebrate however they choose, so we went with a free community carnival! This allowed us to share our gym with our athletes and others from the Thurston County area. It’s our hope that they too see how gymnastics can impact their lives and join us! 

With all of this, we got a chance to reflect just how fortunate we are to share our passion. We’ve seen hundreds of young men and women learn perseverance, determination, and grace with our guidance over the last 23 years. We’ve prepared these young adults for all the things that life will throw at them, and they’ve handled it all extremely well. The mixture of individual and team aspects of gymnastics shows an athlete’s personal responsibility and the value of being a good teammate. 

Whether a gymnast wants to become a coach, employee, entrepreneur, or just about anything else, he or she can do so and do it successfully! When a person understands grit, self-confidence, and ingenuity, he or she is primed for winning in all walks of life.

Having an understanding that you need to be coachable is also something we teach at Black Hills Gymnastics. We’re here reverse the trend of disrespect you see in today’s youth. So many are lacking direction and compassion, so we want to be a beacon for the opposite. Raising contributing members of society is a huge responsibility that we step up to each and every day.

So in honor of National Gymnastics Day, we’d like to thank the parents who allow us to play such an impactful role in their children’s lives. We’d like to thank our athletes for always giving their all. Lastly, we’d like to thank all of our previous coaches and staff for maintaining a tradition of excellence over these many years!

Can you tell us how you got started into the realm of gymnastics?

I did gymnastics at Black Hills gymnastics, Alisa was my coach, and I competed up through Level Seven with her.

What kind of things do you think gymnastics prepared you for?

It definitely taught me how to manage my time. I had to go 20 hours a week to gymnastics, plus school, and everything else. It was definitely time-consuming, so I learned how to do that pretty well. And then also just learning how to have a good work ethic. It’s a sport you had to try really, really hard at and gymnastics didn’t come naturally to me, so I had to WORK at it. 

What was your favorite event to compete in?

I liked the beam the best. I did competitive dance for a long time, so it took my background of that. I liked the challenge of having to stay on the beam!

Is that your favorite event to coach or do you have a different one?

The beam is my favorite between them. And bars is also my other favorite even though I hated bars when I was competing! 

As a coach what are a couple of your favorite moments? 

Last year at state was my favorite. I loved seeing all the hard work that the girls put into everything. And it finally came full circle and they definitely completed all the goals that they had for the season. They went above and beyond my expectations of how they would do! 

I also really like it when girls get their kips on bars. It’s one of the hardest things and it’s such an exciting thing for everybody and everybody around them knows that it was their first kip! It’s so cool because it’s how they get on to the bar, so they’ll use it their entire career.

What levels do you coach at Black Hills?

I coach Xcel; bronze silver and gold and I also coach JO Level 3.

If somebody was looking at Black Hills what would you say to them?

I would definitely say that they’re going to be in a super positive atmosphere. They’re going to be learning all sorts of life skills, no matter where they want to go into gymnastics. It’s great for even little kids, it teaches them discipline and it teaches them body awareness for any sport they want to go into. And then once they get to team, it teaches awesome life skills!