Assistant coach big part of gymnastics’ success
For some people, getting kicked in the head would be a reason to get angry. For Ben Nilson, it is just another day at the office – actually gym.
Nilson, 24, is an undergraduate assistant coach for the women’s gymnastics team at Utah State University and has had his fair share of kicks in the head as a spotter in the sport.
“I’ve been kicked in the head more times than I can count,” Nilson said.
Nilson grew up in Cache Valley and is the oldest of Clair and Jeena Nilson’s six children.
Melissa (Gleak) Gleason, a graduate student in exercise science, has been one of many to kick Nilson in his noggin.
“I nailed him in the head hard,” Gleason said, “but it didn’t even seem to phase him.”
Gleason has taken two gymnastics classes taught by Nilson, and said she would take a class from him every semester if she could work it in her schedule.
“He knows the fundamentals of tumbling [floor exercises] and he personalizes the way he teaches to each of his students,” Gleason said.
Two years ago, Nilson was coaching for campus recreation and the high school club RIP when the opportunity came to help coach the USU women’s gymnastics team.
Even though it is a big step to coach at a Division-I collage, head coach Ray Corn said he feels Nilson’s progress as a coach has come along quickly because of his willingness to learn and his dedication to the team.
The coaches and gymnasts said they feel his attitude has rubbed off on the team.
“Ben [Nilson] does so much for the team,” Megan Nelson, a red-shirt sophomore on the team, said. “He’ll go the extra mile to help whoever he can and to make sure the mats and equipment are setup correctly. He’s also very dependable and very dedicated and I really think that has rubbed off on everyone.
Nilson’s willingness and ability to learn, has given the other coaches a valuable addition to the staff particularly in the practice room. Corn said he has also become more comfortable with Nilson’s coaching abilities and has given him more coaching opportunities in practices.
“He’s come a long way. We can leave him coaching a group and feel comfortable with what he is doing,” Corn said.
Some of the gymnasts said they also are feeling more comfortable with Nilson and his coaching abilities.
“At the beginning of the year, he used to say, ‘I think this is the way, but let me check,'” Nelson said. “Now he is much more confident and sure in his coaching.”
Assistant coach Jeff Graba said he has also seen great things in Nilson.
“He’s knowledgeable in what he knows and thirsty to know what he doesn’t,” Graba said.
Graba also said that Nilson is very open and receptive and thinks he will make a great coach in the future.
Nilson said he has been involved with gymnastics since he was young. With his mother being a coach, Nilson and all five of his siblings have had a part in gymnastics and since about the age of 8, Nilson has been heavily involved with tumbling.
When he was 12, Nilson said he started realizing that the chances of being involved with gymnastics as a career were very unlikely.
However, he stayed involved with tumbling and at the age of 16 started doing some fill-in coaching at Wasatch Gymnastics teaching classes.
After Wasatch Gymnastics closed down a couple years later, Nilson began coaching and stayed with it.
When he returned home from a mission to Poland, Nilson began teaching classes at USU – the RIP club.
The RIP club team lasted about two years at Utah State until last November when the Sports Academy invited the club to join forces with Nilson still as the coach.
In the midst of it all, he has managed to find himself a wife. But if Michelle hadn’t asked him out first, Nilson said he might still be wandering around aimlessly without his wife.
“Despite all his demanding responsibilities, he still finds time to help around the house and for me,” Michelle said.
Nilson and his wife are graduating in 2006 and he said he would love to continue coaching after he graduates.
-caseya@cc.usu.edu