Rylie loves Gymnastics! She frequently speaks of her Richland gymnastics coach “Teacher Heather” and how she misses her and her gymnastics friend Mya. We have to say, she is the little athlete when it comes to this sport and she has transitioned to this new form of gymnastics (trampoline) with ease. Coach Constatinavitch has the kids doing all sorts of exercises and every kid out there strives to do their best. The girls had a competition last Saturday with all of coach Constatinavitch’s students. You’ll be please to know that Rylie scored 4th place in an event (we couldn’t understand which one) for her age group (including boys) and Ellie scored 1st place in the Standing long Jump for her age group (also including boys); there were about 15 children in each group.
I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with coach Constatinavitch’s ability to get children (of all ages) to perform. Constatinavitch is a fantastic coach, tough as nails, yet knows how to praise the kids and knows how to bring out their best. He pushes them to the limits (and what appears at times to be beyond); yet many times the kids pull through and if they failed, they’ve learned and the next time they know how to succeed.
Most people don’t know, but Rylie is a little clown and looks for ways to get out of doing her best. But coach doesn’t let his little class clown get away with anything. At one point she was “cheating” on some exercises so he grabbed a light rope and tied her legs together to make sure she couldn’t “cheat” anymore. I have to say, I have missed seeing the “old school” methods of coaching back home (like a coach Troxel)….In my lowly opinion I think our coaches are too afraid of looking mean or hurting feelings, especially in front of the parents; so in general, kids sports have gotten too “gentle” on the kids. I’m reminded that without a good coach teaching and pushing athletes to their limits a person will never know what they can accomplish. We have seen remarkable success with the girls; if you could see what the Ukrainian children are doing at 7 and 8 years old you would understand what a good coach can get a child to do.
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