South Coast Times

When I drove down Tuscaloosa's roads for the first time in a decade, I realized that I've been away for quite some time.

There's so much that is familiar, but there's also a lot of new things that remind me it's been far too long since I last lived here.

Truthfully, it's a little surreal to be back.

When I graduated from Alabama in 2013, I immediately knew I wanted to get into coaching and make a difference in young gymnasts' lives. I didn't know that I'd end up back here at Alabama, but it was always something I dreamed of.

Now, it's reality.

Expressing My Gratitude

As soon as I learned the Alabama job was available, Greg Byrne called me and encouraged me to look into it. I spoke with my husband, and we both agreed — it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Thankfully, the Alabama community wanted me as much as I wanted to be here.

My feeling throughout this whole process has been one of gratitude.

My gratitude is for the people, the support, the history of this school, and all the little moments that have led me to this point.

Since I competed for this program, there's an extra level of fire burning in my heart. I'm so fortunate I was able to play a part in our rich history along with all my Alabama sisters.

We truly are a family and there are so many amazing people ready to support our athletes along their journey.

I truly believe that we have the best fans in the country. Getting to interact with them and invest in the community is what makes the University and Tuscaloosa so special.

And when it comes to college gymnastics, few places have the resources, fans and ability to compete at a championship level every year.

Alabama is one of those few places.

Championship Mentality

I was fortunate to be a part of our national championship teams in both 2011 and 2012, but my experience during those two years couldn't have been any more different.

In 2011, I had two ankle surgeries and a foot surgery that kept me out of competition for months. In the biggest moment of our team's season, I had to sit by and cheer on my teammates as we won a national title due to their hard work.

However, that experience taught me how to be a team player when I couldn't be the one out there competing. I might have learned more about team spirit from that one year than I did at any other time in my life.

Most importantly, it got me fired up for the 2012 season.

All of our meets and events throughout the year came down to one last event at the national championships – me on the balance beam.

If not for what I went through one year before that, it's possible I could have crumbled under the pressure of the moment.

Instead, I owned it and was able to close out what my teammates had started with a score of 9.95, giving us the national championship.

In my journey to that national title, I had gone through a lot of personal struggles and made it a goal to thrive in those tough, uncomfortable moments.

Of course, I'm grateful for all the support that my coaches, Sarah and David Patterson, and the entire Alabama community gave me in those challenging times.

That experience taught me something important about what it takes to be a champion.

It's so much more than the physical attributes, the time spent in the gym, or the dedication to your routine. The intangibles make a huge difference, and sometimes that's the difference between first place and a runner-up finish.

My Approach

That focus on mental health is something that truly drives my coaching philosophy.

After all, I've been through plenty of ups and downs in my own gymnastics career.

I think back to 2008, when I had a shot at making the US Olympic gymnastics team as a high school senior.

Leading up to some of the major qualifying meets, I was struggling physically and mentally, and I had to decide to either go for it even harder or focus on what was next for me.

I made the hard decision to step away from my Olympic dreams, and it was off to college for me.

Even now, I know it was the right decision because it led me here.

But those mental challenges that I went through aren't much different from what athletes in many sports are still dealing with today.

It's my top priority to value our student athletes' well-being above anything else.

I believe that to reach the level of competitiveness we want, you must have a team culture that is invested in who our student-athletes are as people, before we even get in the gym.

I want to model the type of behavior I want to create, and that starts with a welcoming environment for our athletes where they are comfortable having a voice.

Make no mistakes about it – we'll be working hard in the gym to reach our full potential as a team. But to get there, we must believe in each other and come together as a group bonded together.

This winning formula is something I deeply care about, and I'm ecstatic to now build upon the amazing foundation set in place by Crimson Tide legends Sarah and David Patterson and all those who came before me and implement some of my own philosophy.

As I've said many, many times before, there's just something special about this place.

I knew it the first time I stepped on campus, I knew it when I graduated, and it's even clearer now that I'm coming back to a decade later to a place where we begin and end our conversations with “Roll Tide.”

As I reflect on my Alabama journey, one thing stands out in my mind above all else – it's good to be back.

Original source can be found here.