Twenty Eight Years Later
By Brian Keith Shrewsbury
I was a good teacher, and very liked by the parents of the children I taught, as well as the children seemed to connect with me, learn and have fun. Later that year, I began to teach school-age girls and boys gymnastics classes. I learned a lot that first year in 1984 about the skills, the spotting and how to deal with children and manage classes.
The summer of 1989 I began teaching girls competitive gymnastics and I formed my first girls team. My mother and father were currently teaching the upper levels of competitive gymnastics. I wanted to learn to teach the skills they taught and be like them, but that was not necessarily what my parents wanted. Running a gymnastics center, dealing with children, the travel and the commitment is difficult.
Over the years, I taught girls gymnastics all levels through the advanced levels and traveled to regional and national-level competitions. In 1994, I decided to move into men's gymnastics. The opportunities for growth and running my own program was better. Girls gymnastics at the time had a lot of competition for the jobs at our gym. It just seemed like a better fit for me to work with boys gymnastics, so I decided to switch. I became the men's head coach, and I was happy.
For the next 15 years I watched a lot of boys begin their journey in gymnastics and many of them graduated and went on to college from my program. I have coached 8 national-level qualifiers, and several elite-level gymnasts that took titles both in individual events and in the all around competitions. In 2009, my career as a coach began to wind down. I finished that year with two National Qualifiers to USA Championships and then I seemed to be done.
I continued to run my gym in Maryland, alongside my wife and our 7 kids at this point. Four of our children are from my wife we raised together, and three of our children are adopted from Romania, Guatemala and Delaware. We had now run the gym together a little over a decade and my gymnastics teaching seemed to be over. I was looking to do other things. That year, I decided all by myself, that I wanted to move to Florida; the Miami area. I had fallen in love with the state and the warm weather. I just want to get out of Maryland and enjoy life without the cold winters. Somehow we ended up in Apopka, Florida...definitely God's plan and not mine.
In 2011, we opened a new little gym in Apopka, Florida. My son Kellen and I worked hard in the beginning to get it going, and my wife and children drove back and forth each week as did I, managing both gyms and hoping to establish this new fledgling program in Florida. Today our gyms here in Florida as well as Maryland are flourishing and we are happy running both gyms. I credit a lot of success with my wife who works harder than any of us, and my whole family that supports each other.
In 2019, I began to teach again, this time it's a little different. I am now 51 years old, my kids are grown, the businesses are doing well and I have 3 grandkids with another on the way. I also have some challenges each day. Each day brings a challenge as I work to overcome a movement disorder that can be challenging at times. I exercise, eat well and take care of myself more now than ever before, and I am doing very well.
I have my passion for teaching children back, and I am loving having a purpose in training young athletes again. I currently have a team of 9 young men training at the beginning levels with another 15 boys training on the pre-competitive team. Each week I am privileged to be able to watch my students learn and grow. It's been a journey through these years, and this year I got to start it all over again.
The summer of 1989 I began teaching girls competitive gymnastics and I formed my first girls team. My mother and father were currently teaching the upper levels of competitive gymnastics. I wanted to learn to teach the skills they taught and be like them, but that was not necessarily what my parents wanted. Running a gymnastics center, dealing with children, the travel and the commitment is difficult.
Over the years, I taught girls gymnastics all levels through the advanced levels and traveled to regional and national-level competitions. In 1994, I decided to move into men's gymnastics. The opportunities for growth and running my own program was better. Girls gymnastics at the time had a lot of competition for the jobs at our gym. It just seemed like a better fit for me to work with boys gymnastics, so I decided to switch. I became the men's head coach, and I was happy.
For the next 15 years I watched a lot of boys begin their journey in gymnastics and many of them graduated and went on to college from my program. I have coached 8 national-level qualifiers, and several elite-level gymnasts that took titles both in individual events and in the all around competitions. In 2009, my career as a coach began to wind down. I finished that year with two National Qualifiers to USA Championships and then I seemed to be done.
I continued to run my gym in Maryland, alongside my wife and our 7 kids at this point. Four of our children are from my wife we raised together, and three of our children are adopted from Romania, Guatemala and Delaware. We had now run the gym together a little over a decade and my gymnastics teaching seemed to be over. I was looking to do other things. That year, I decided all by myself, that I wanted to move to Florida; the Miami area. I had fallen in love with the state and the warm weather. I just want to get out of Maryland and enjoy life without the cold winters. Somehow we ended up in Apopka, Florida...definitely God's plan and not mine.
In 2011, we opened a new little gym in Apopka, Florida. My son Kellen and I worked hard in the beginning to get it going, and my wife and children drove back and forth each week as did I, managing both gyms and hoping to establish this new fledgling program in Florida. Today our gyms here in Florida as well as Maryland are flourishing and we are happy running both gyms. I credit a lot of success with my wife who works harder than any of us, and my whole family that supports each other.
In 2019, I began to teach again, this time it's a little different. I am now 51 years old, my kids are grown, the businesses are doing well and I have 3 grandkids with another on the way. I also have some challenges each day. Each day brings a challenge as I work to overcome a movement disorder that can be challenging at times. I exercise, eat well and take care of myself more now than ever before, and I am doing very well.
I have my passion for teaching children back, and I am loving having a purpose in training young athletes again. I currently have a team of 9 young men training at the beginning levels with another 15 boys training on the pre-competitive team. Each week I am privileged to be able to watch my students learn and grow. It's been a journey through these years, and this year I got to start it all over again.