“I started taking gymnastics classes at the Grand Street building when I was very young and was invited to join the Gymnastics Team by the time I was 9 years old. I competed for the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA Gymnastics Team for nine years, representing the team at Nationals several times. I was part of the National Team that placed 9th at Nationals in 1995. While I was on the team, I started teaching classes after school and on Saturdays. When I graduated college, I started coaching C Team, and now I coach A and B Teams in addition to my full-time job as a teacher in the Scotch Plains Fanwood School District. Through the YMCA, I not only learned gymnastics skills, but I also learned life lessons. My coaches taught me lessons about setting goals and working hard to achieve them, handling disappointment, time management, problem-solving, and even how to split a bill among friends at a restaurant. In my adult life, I’ve been able to draw on experiences I had as a gymnast on the team and the lessons I learned. I hope that gymnasts we have on team now will one day look back and be able to say the same – you often don’t realize all you are learning while it is happening!”