When It Rains, It Pours
By Keiti | July 26, 2007
I usually use that cliche for bad things, but I’ve recently discovered that it can happen with good things, too. After having spent months submitting resumes, contacting temp agency after temp agency, and hearing absolutely nothing back, the calls have finally started to happen. Today, I have an interview for a position I would give my right arm for - a gymnastics coach.
It’s kind of funny, really - I haven’t been involved in gymnastics since I was sixteen, but there was a point in time where gymnastics was my life. I started out when I was 6 or 7 in gymnastics, tap, and ballet, but gymnastics was the only one I stuck with for any length of time - I loved the aggressiveness of it, which appealed to the tomboy in me. I was never a girly girl growing up - much preferring to be out climbing trees or playing football with my older brother than I to be stuck inside playing with dolls. Even though I loved to read, even as a child, I was definitely more inclined to be outside exploring. So, gymnastics, once I started, was my ticket. I competed during my first two years of high school, spent two weeks at Bela Karolyi’s camp in Houston, TX, where I had a ball working out 6 hours a day, and officially quit over a disagreement with a coach I’d hooked up with shortly after arriving at Ft. Knox.
I loved competing, but I didn’t feel that competition was the end-all-to-be-all. And, to be honest, I was never Olympic standard - not by a long shot. So when the coach insulted me by telling me he’d never seen someone my age at such a low-level, I got pissed, and essentially told him to go screw himself. I realize now it was just his way of trying to motivate me, but I still don’t work like that. I have a stubborn streak in me a mile long, and if I don’t agree with you it comes out in full force. I don’t like being controlled, and I certainly don’t like being insulted. I loved gymnastics for the sheer love of it and let my ego dictate the terms of walking away.
While I’ll never be back in it doing it myself, I do miss being around it. Gymnastics provided me with a sense of purpose, a sense of self, and self-esteem - things I seem to be sorely lacking these days. I’ve no doubt I could pick things back up, even at age 36, but that’s not the point. Throughout my adult life I’ve been searching for a job that would give me satisfaction - I’ve worked in offices, in music, in pharmaceutical sales, and in retail, and while each of them had their good points, I’ve never felt that I did anything of purpose at the end of the day. Maybe this is my chance to finally find that.
I have a couple of hours until my interview, and I’m hoping everything goes well - my father is being a bit pessimistic about it, but I’ve decided that this is my life. Things will work out how they’re going to work out. Hopefully, this position will be offered to me and will afford a salary that will be enough to pay my bills. I have no idea what gymnastic coaches make - not even a general ballpark figure.
But we’ll see what happens. If this is what I’m supposed to be doing, then it will all work out. If not…well, then it’s not what I’m supposed to be doing.
Topics: Life in General, Work |
August 19th, 2007 at 6:23 am
[...] by kjpierce on August 19th, 2007 A bit ago, someone asked me what happened with the gymnastics coach gig I applied for. I’ll admit, it was a thoughtless thing to do, neglecting to update the [...]