A Personal Legacy

How did I decide to start GymnasticsZone.com? I occasionally met other coaches who either talk about this topic or ask me about it.

Almost 11 years ago, I woke up one morning and there was one word on my mind – “Legacy.” I woke up thinking about what I would leave behind as a legacy. I have been gifted to be able to have been associated with some of the best coaches and gymnasts in the world, Tim Rand, Olga Sikorra, Jack and Erin Carter, Vladimir Samodurov, Yuliya Stankevich and have actively studied the sport for 25 years.

I have also been gifted with the ability to read up to a 1000 words per minute, so research has always been easier for me than for some others. As a result, I collected 10 4-drawer file cabinets and 30 file boxes of information during that 25 years of studying the sport. I studied originally for my own benefit and to learn things to use with my own gymnasts, but I saved everything.

When I woke up that one morning, 11 years ago, I realized that I wanted to get all of that information into digital form and make it available to others coming behind me. That would be my legacy to gymnastics and the world – to share the information I had so painstakingly collected, with others in the sport. That was the original concept and that goal is still a work in progress. I am down to 5 file cabinets and 10 boxes, but have even more info than ever.

As it turns out, writing professionally about the sport of gymnastics requires research, as you write, to make sure you are up to date, and writing clarifies many things in your mind, since you are forced to be very clear about what you write, so others can understand.

I have the added gift of being a sports hypnotist, the only one in the world, as far as I know, who has also coached high level gymnastics and tumbling. My association with some of the best hypnotists in the world has given me a perspective and research directions that no one else in the sport seems to have taken. All in all, gymnastics psychology is a very interesting topic, and one which I have devoted, literally, the last few years to studying.

So, the story for me was the wake-up call to create and leave a legacy. That legacy is GymnasticsZone.com. There are other coaches out there who should be thinking about their own legacy to the sport. For many, it will be the gymnasts, who they have coached and whose lives they influenced. That was certainly the legacy of my friend and former roommate, Tim Rand. For others, they may choose also to create and leave behind, in digital form, the knowledge of their coaching years of experience. I would like to let them know that we, here at GymnasticsZone.com would be glad to help them in any way with that effort.