on coaching...

Those who can't (anymore), teach? That's what people say, right? I was a gymnast for 11 years, competing for 5 of them. At the ripe old age of 17 I retired. Eleven years later gymnastics is still a rewarding part of my life though it's had many faces. I have taught at summer camp, taught after school programs, coached competitive gymnastics in PA for 3 years, and now coach recreational classes as well as girls who compete in Indiana.
I LOVE gymnastics. I love that I can still do a round-off back handspring(much to the dismay of all my girls...and my boss:) and that I can still climb up on a balance beam to do my old high school routine. And though I'd love to be physically capable of doing all the things I could do so many years ago gymnastics bringing a different satisfaction than it used it. There are days when my girls drive me up a wall...but there are nights like tonight that things just click.
I went to practice tonight frustrated about life and wishing I could unhurt people I have hurt. I listened to the song Brand New Day on repeat all the way to the gym and I decided when I walked in the door that it would be a great night. IT WAS! Though the girls were not angels by any means, they allowed me to focus my energy on helping them get better. I am trying so hard to praise the good they do and gentlly explain how to get better. One of the girls inparticular takes correction pretty hard. In our last 5 minutes we worked through a bar skill she's been struggling with. I cannot express how proud of her I still am. She got something she felt so defeated by and really all it took was a lot of praise and encouragment. She left the gym with a huge grin on her face tonight...and so did I.
I have said many times before that my passion is helping people grow...my girls are so small and young but they are growing...and the reward I feel for being part of that growth far exceeds the reward of do a backhandspring!

Brand New Day by Joshua Radin

I kind of stumbled on this song. A friend had given me all her CDs to listen to on my christmas baby tour and I had left this one in my cd visor accidently. Apparently it wasn't hers...another friend had left it at our house and it ended up in the stash I got at christmas.
Anyway...I am a music girl...the words that other people write are often the words I can't formulate. I have been listening to this song over and over for the last few days still trying to let them sink in. It's so simple, so true and so often hard for me to remember. In the midst of pain there is so much good and it's how I handle my time, my words, and my thoughts that will determine the outcome of each brand new day.

Brand New Day
by:Joshua Radin

Some kind of magic
Happens late at night
When the moon smiles down at me
And bathes me in its light

I fell asleep beneath you
In the tall blades of grass
When I woke the world was new
I never had to ask

It's a brand new day
The sun is shining
It's a brand new day
For the first time in such a long long time
I know, I'll be ok

Most kind of stories
Save the best part for last
And most stories have a hero who finds
You make your past your past
Yeah you make your past your past

It's a brand new day
The sun is shining
It's a brand new day
For the first time in such a long long time
I know, I'll be ok

This cycle never ends
You gotta fall in order to mend

It's a brand new day
It's a brand new day
For the first time in such a long long time
I know, I'll be ok