“Selling” what we do as gymnastics coaches

Gymnastics Gymfinity Coach J Orkowski

I believe that everything I have in my life is because my big brother Harold introduced me to gymnastics. I went to college, started coaching, started a business, grew a nationally competitive team, built a top-notch staff, met a great woman and had great children: all because of gymnastics.

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Thoughts on the de-certifying of USA Gymnastics

Recently the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) has filed to remove USA Gymnastics as the governing body for gymnastics in the US. Though it sounds like doom and gloom for American gymnastics, it is, in my opinion, an important step in the organization getting it’s house in order.  Gymnastics meets and clubs will continue operation…

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What Makes A Good Coach?

What does it take to truly be a good coach? Well, I don’t want to be like the masked magician and the TV show “Magic’s Mysteries Unveiled” who spoiled magic for me by telling us the way magicians perform tricks, but there isn’t much mystery to be a good coach. Ask any coach and they’ll…

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Are you cut out to be a Team Leader?

Here is a little assessment for the athletes out there, but it’s also for anyone who works with a group of people. If you feel you have potential to be a good team leader you should be able to identify with each of the following 10 paragraphs. Give yourself a point for each one that…

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I (still) Stand by Gymnastics

This is a difficult time for gymnastics. It’s a time that needs to happen and is overdue, but still difficult. In the last few years, gymnastics has taken a black-eye with an Olympic coach being found guilty of owning child pornography, a national team doctor being found guilty of the same, but accused of much…

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A Letter To My Coach: Mickey

J Orkowski Gymfinity

Hey Mick I just wanted to shoot you a note that says Thanks. You’ll never believe where I am. I am writing to you from my office at my own gym. I opened it in 1999, I think you were coaching in California then. It has grown each year and in 2014 we even expanded…

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Feelin pretty OK

Do you have a person (or people) who hold such respect from you that their words carry more weight? Like if they told you that you were “doin’ OK” that you would then feel like you were? I have several people like that. Some are from business, some are teachers, some are coaches, some are…

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Being Reasonably Fit

Being fit as a trend or short term is not healthy, in fact it’s just the opposite. We have to know the reason we maintain a healthy lifestyle. We should be able to have healthy pursuits in a way that our happiness is not impeded. This is exactly why “getting healthy” as a new year’s resolution never works; we obsessively push ourselves to be unhappy out of guilt and shame until we just give up and validate our poor self-image. Sounds odd for me to say, but sometimes chasing a healthy lifestyle is not what people need.

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Lessons from a ghostly guide

He told the girls that they needed to understand that each one of them was their Great Great GrandMama’s dream. Those women, from so many generations ago, dreamed of a day when their kin would be able to be what they wanted to be. A world, or a time, when those future girls could live out their lives however they wished.

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