As many of you know, I was a gymnast for most of my life. Years and years of pounding out routines and getting up from spills on the mat now help me coach little children reaching for their own gymnastics dream.

I first started coaching when I injured myself back in high school. I had down time from gymnastics because I was hobbling around on crutches for a while. I was crushed that I couldn’t compete alongside Hazy that fall like we were suppose to. And then she battled her own illness that fall. Gymnastics wasn’t looking too promising for either of us.

Gymnastics was such a part of my life, I couldn’t give it up, no matter how much my ankle would throb before, during and after practice. It just didn’t work like it was suppose to anymore. I fought it for a while, but then I finally decided I could just enjoy the sport, instead of pushing and pulling with it. I started practicing skills I could do, and I had to let other skills go. They would be skills I could watch others do.

Then Tara started letting me coach the younger students and spot the older girls during my own practice. I had the knowledge of gymnastics and height on my side as a coach. I stood across from her to learn how to spot front handsprings over the fault and how to catch someone while they practice back handsprings. Instead of being told to stay tight, I was now the one telling others to squeeze their legs.

Heaving body after body could get old, but it was the constant improvement of the girls I coached that made it exciting. No practice was ever the same, and the cheers from the whole team when someone made their kip for the first time made every spot before that worth it.

Now four years out of high school, I am still in the sport coaching. I don’t have a textbook degree or a certificate that says I can teach a child gymnastics, but I have time, energy and passion into the sport.

It may not be the most popular sport. I definitely learned that last night. Gymnastics fans around the country were huddled around the computer, reading every tweet that came across Twitter with anticipation like I was. Even though the world team is a big deal to the gymnastics world, the rest of the sports world could really care less. Cole informed me that he never saw it mentioned on any real sports website. You should go check it out though to see who is representing our country here in a few weeks at worlds in Tokyo.

So even if my favorite sport isn't the most liked, and it hurt me back in high school. I still love it. I even get to coach some little levels 3s this evening. For elementary school students, they are pretty straight-laced. I do appreciate how well they listen and try after chasing around three-year-olds earlier this week.

I don’t know how long coaching will be in my future, but with the Olympics coming up, gymnastics is always a big favorite. That means all those little children want to follow in the footsteps of the greats to chase their own Olympic dream. This means the gymnastics world is going to be packed and will need more coaches. So, that is probably where you will find me.