GYMNASTICS

I used to be a Gym Rat...that is I was totally committed to the sport of gymnastics!

I was on the BYU Gymnastics Team (1974-1975).

I coached & judged gymnastics & cheerleaders for over 30 years.
I was the Tennessee State Judging Director & helped to train many gymnastics judges.
I choreographed many state, regional, & national champion floor & beam routines.
I helped start & run Memphis Center of Gymnastics for a good 12 years...but that was a lifetime ago.

 

I was the Judges Referee for the Pyramid Challenge in Memphis in 1990.

Here is our 1st Gymstar Gymnastics team circa 1979...notice the coaching staff in the front row, L-R, Donna Mills Alexin, Peggy Simpson Wilson, & yours truly.

This crazy person, Donna Alexin (aka Vera), is the inspiration behind my gymnastics accomplishments. We were inseparable for 13 years…truly BFFs.

The Carter Critters  & I were in her wedding...her husband, Gene (also a gymnast) likes to tell people I taught him how to coach & spot a full...

But life circumstances often take you in different directions...after Jeff (my 1st husband) died, we moved away & I said goodbye to the life of a Gym Rat & the wonderful lifelong friends I grew to love.  This is the last gymnastics event I attended in an official capacity before we moved home to California.  (I would like to mention that we won both state & regional championships this year!)  As I look at this picture, I can remember the "out of body" experience I was having knowing that I would be leaving this life forever...

I stopped tumbling on my 50^th Bday – that’s the last time I actually did a roundoff, back handspring, back tuck. I just wanted to see if I could still do it & I did. Never tumbled again after that…but I continued to do handstands & the splits to maintain my flexibility & agility. It kinda became a “thing” with me as I made Dad take pix of me doing handstands all over the world, just for fun! I haven’t done one everywhere I went, but here are a few at various landmarks…