Tom Koll – Straight from the Source

When learning anything new, isn’t it best to get it straight from the source? We think so! 

That’s why we recently brought in Tom Koll. Tom wears many impressive hats: he’s the National Junior Olympic Committee Chairman, Women’s Program Committee Chairman, and former Women’s Program Representative on the Board of Directors for USA gymnastics.

In addition to that, Tom has been judging and coaching for over 35 years! But the true reason we brought him to Washington was his expertise in the compulsory routine. He was one of the authors of the 1997-2013 compulsory routines and the current compulsory routines. Tom travels often doing State, Regional, and National clinics throughout the country!

To say he knows what he’s doing is a vast understatement. 

We wanted to bring someone like tom in to really REALLY nail down the details with our athletes. We not only learned the routines incredibly well, we learned what judges are looking for when judging these routines. These finer points, taught by one of the most technical coaches in the nation, mean all the difference. Tenths of a point separate Gold from not placing at all. It puts our athletes’ ability and awareness that much higher than their competition.  This type of one on one instruction is almost impossible to replicate anywhere else.

Black Hills gymnastics makes these sort of connections easier for our young athletes not only to be better at competitions but to show them the value of asking for the amazing help and receiving it. We think a lot of athletes don’t reach their potential because they don’t think big enough. Many gymnasts can also struggle with asking for and receiving constructive criticism. We set the stage to ditch that limiting behavior early in life! It’s true as life goes on, if you don’t seek out the help and instruction you need, you’re leaving a lot on the table! 

Tom is much sought after in the instructional world, so we were very fortunate to have him for a whole day! He showed us very important details which separate excellent athletes from those who execute PERFECTLY every time. This resulted in some amazing foundational breakthroughs for many of our athletes. His work truly will continue the path we are on to bring Black Hills  Gymnastics to a higher level of performance, even more so than we’ve seen in all of our 23 years of existence.