Meet Kristin Nagle. She's a former Michigan gymnast, an intern for Gymnastike, and currently a junior at the University of Michigan. As a reporter, Kristin brings a fresh and interesting perspective to her writing by giving fans a closer look into one of the top collegiate teams in the country. This season, Kristin attended every home meet providing interviews, routine coverage, and live tweets through her Twitter. Being a former Michigan gymnast herself, Kristin knows what it's like to be out on the floor and can share with fans an "insider" perspective that not many people have. I wanted to interview Kristin because I thought she had an interesting story that is worth sharing and her ways of thinking are very motivational for anyone both in and outside the world of gymnastics!
Triple Twist: You tore your ACL during your sophomore year at Michigan which eventually lead you to retire from gymnastics, talk a little about that and making the decision to retire.
Kristin: Making the decision to retire was honestly just something I felt in my heart. I really loved gymnastics, but I think I was going through a lot personally and maybe I just had bigger goals than athletics. My focus and dreams were elsewhere, whether it be in school or pursuing a career. I just needed time to figure myself out, which really wasn't possible spending 20 plus hours in a gym every week doing the same thing day in and day out. College gymnastics requires an unmatched passion, you need to want to be there, and I think to an extent I wanted it, but not bad enough. The injury in February was just the culmination of feelings that I had been feeling underneath, they were just revealed to me through my injury. The injury was almost a blessing in disguise, in a way. Sounds depressing, but I got so many good things out of Michigan Gymnastics that I wouldn't have got anywhere else, and the experience gave me such a different outlook and perspective on life and I wouldn't take away any of it!
Triple Twist: What's your relationship like with the rest of the Michigan team now that you aren't competing? Are you still friends with any of them?
Kristin: Yeah I would say we're still in relation with each other, however it’s hard in college to maintain so many friendships (with class, work, internships, exams, and personal stuff), and so I have new friends in the direction I am headed in life, as well as the gymnasts. Of course there are a certain few I’m pretty close with, people that really made and still are making an impact on my life, but I totally respect the work they are currently doing in their season. I would say I am closest to Annette Miele, and now Briley Casanova and I are actually becoming pretty close. There are certain people you can just talk to and get to know on a deeper level. Also, their lives right now are focused on gymnastics and that is how it’s supposed to be. I am a go-getter when it comes to relationships and so I’m not afraid to meet new people while still keeping them as good friends too! When their season is over and it’s slower for them in summer, I will most likely be with them more and make the effort to do that! It’s hard because there are two worlds with college; academics and athletics. Where I am at right now is pursuing academic relationships, people who are going to better me in my career and facilitate me or be catalysts in helping me attain my goals in what I am passionate about. With athletics, the athletes are very driven and focused on their jobs in their sports, which is great, and so that leads to a drift in friendships, but that’s just how it is.
Triple Twist: You're an intern for Gymnastike now and do an excellent job of bringing fans all the Michigan gymnastics coverage they can get, so you kind of flipped sides. Going from being a gymnast to being the "reporter". What's it like being on the other side?
Kristin: Thank you, that’s so kind! First, I’ll just say that I appreciate you saying that, sometimes it’s nice to know you don’t go unnoticed. Being a reporter for the Michigan team doesn't even feel like a job, and I barely have to work at it. I already have relationships with the girls where I am not hesitant to ask whats up with the team, whats going on in practices, how they are feeling, how the coaches are, and all that. I think as a gymnast I was in on everything, I obviously was a part of it, and now as a “reporter” I choose to distance myself from the personal side of drama and problems on the team because as a reporter I don’t want to form any judgments about what’s going on, or who am I going to upset because I wrote this. I just try to keep a very objective view and tell it how it is. But, it is nice hearing personal stuff sometimes because I can get a better understanding where the gymnasts are coming from when they talk to me, and why the meets unfolded like they did. I am a very analytical and observant person, I read body language, attitudes, mental thoughts, self-talk of the gymnasts, coaches perceptions and gymnasts perceptions of their successes and failures. It may have been my mind that was the downfall of gymnastics, but it is why my journalism and writing is super passionate and speaks for itself (well at least from the amazing feedback I get from people! Everyone is so supportive). It’s really cool that I was a gymnast my whole life, and in addition the 2 years I was at Michigan, giving me an inside knowledge of coaches, team members, NCAA gymnastics, and Big Ten gymnastics. It’s just all stuff that I have been through and heard about my first two years, so talking and writing about it comes naturally.
Triple Twist: Do you find it hard being a former Michigan gymnast yourself, to not be biased while reporting about college gymnastics?
Kristin: Like I said, I try to stay as objective as possible. I try not to get involved with what’s going on with the team emotionally and all that. And even though a lot of the girls stress that I am always welcome when they hang out, and in the gym and what not, I like keeping my distance for the purpose of good reporting, and overall just good relationships with the individuals. I like that, or at least feel like, most of the girls can trust me, and that’s a pretty good quality I would say. I never (or try not to) write anything negative or hurtful about the girls, plus who would want to read that? It is interesting being good friends with some of the girls and then writing about them in published media, I have to have good discernment in what to say and not to say, what is on the record and off the record, and did the person tell me this in confidentiality or in a reporter-interviewing type environment. It’s a matter of respect for the girls personal lives, as well as being a good friend and supporting their gymnastics as a friend and not a reporter, which this internship is awesome because I can do both at the same time.
Triple Twist: With nationals coming up, who do you think are some of the top teams that are capable of placing on the podium? Who do you think has a shot at the AA title?
Kristin: To be honest, I don’t pay too much attention to the other team’s gymnastics, I’m pretty focused on Michigan and the Big Ten. But, the talent of team’s like Florida and Alabama is pretty unreal. But Michigan is right there with them. Like I said in one of my articles, at this point, it
is about the gymnastics and the skill depth in routines, but it’s even more so about who can get the job done (mentally), who is confident out there and ready to compete like they are on the top of the world. That’s not something you can fake, you have to embody confidence, you have to feel that you are a winner before you step out there, you have to feel yourself putting on the 1st place medals before you step onto the event, and you have to compete like you know that. It will be the teams that can do that, that will be on top. Scoring is almost irrelevant, although that is how the winner is picked, it’s really about who is the happiest to be there, who is having the most fun, who is there for a higher purpose. That is what brings people together. That is what sport is about. We don’t watch sport or do sports because it’s just something to do, it’s because we are there to see who can unleash their potential, who can come together the most as a collective group not only bettering each other as gymnasts, but as people, acting in one for a purpose. It’s proven that people “succeed” most (what is success really though?) when they love what they do, when they have meaning to their work, and when they are learning in the process of doing work (from what I can remember from my leadership class!) All in all, it comes down to happiness and belief. I think Alabama has that, Florida has that, some other teams are definitely up there, and you can’t count anyone out.
Triple Twist: Now that your not doing gymnastics, what are some of your new goals? What have you been up to?
Kristin: Oh, man. That’s a big question. I have a very open ended, no-boundary, free-flowing way of thinking about the future. I believe anything is possible as long as you believe in what you are doing, and doing what you love and what you are passionate about, and not doing it selfishly, but to better others. I really want to make an impact on the people around me, my family, my school, my community, my state, my country. With the internet these days, you can do anything you want, you can make crazy changes that we may have never thought possible. Right now, I am learning a lot about the world and the way things work in school, and finding where I see myself in the future. I have goals to travel, write a book, make a documentary, tell stories, give love to the unloved, teach the younger generation that they matter, and it’s about finding avenues and mediums to do that. Gymnastike was one of the first steps where I could learn about writing and video making and I have a long journey ahead of me. The University of Michigan is a place that has allowed me to tap into my potential, and be in sync with my soul or eternal being, to grow in my faith, to meet amazing people, and really think about my higher calling, purpose, whatever people want to call it. I don’t live a day without living with a purpose and trying to better and build others up in a positive way.
Triple Twist: Looking back at your entire career as a gymnast, what are some of your proudest moments?
Kristin: Level 8 Regional Champion. Ha! No really that was like my peak, college gymnastics was just a great opportunity to keep practicing, I was never super talented or a very diligent worker, I was just having fun. It was that feeling at different meets when you’re on the podium and you’re like "yeah I matter, yeah I accomplished something!", so even the small meets, or the regional meets growing up and making it to nationals were awesome, but it was the little things about the sport. It was putting on your grips, hands in the chalk box, standing around and laughing with your teammates, all the pull ups, rope climbs, leg lifts that killed you at the time, but shaped you as a gymnast, athlete, and person. It was the times you were crying because it hurt so bad, and you're only 9 years old, and for some reason you are putting yourself through the pain four or five days a week when all your friends are playing outside after school. It’s the fact that all your friends hung out with friends, did their homework, and went to bed before you even got home from practice. It’s the parents who drive you to and from practice every day until your sixteen. It’s the parents that spend thousands of dollars on practices, meets, leos, dues, all that, and more over all the time they dedicate to the gym, the relationships, your gymnastics. It was the support I received from family, other parents, teammates, friends who made it all worth it, and in the end it was knowing that I accomplished something that was and still is important to me. Gymnastics is a beautiful sport in that it tests every single part of your being, to its limit, every day. And you ask yourself every day, why? Why the pain? Why the time? Why the failures? Why. Why. Why. But, none of that outdoes the happiness you feel in competition, or learning a new skill, or a congratulations or pat on the back from a coach, parent, teammate, or friend. The meaning it gives to your life is unreal, you work so hard every day, and for what? Often not much. A medal. Woopdee do. But all the gymnasts out there understand, gymnastics is life. And when you are there at 9 years old, crying because your coach wont stop throwing out conditioning, you look to your left, and you look to your right. Tears coming down the faces of the girls beside you, and at that moment it doesn't matter that your crying, it doesn't matter that you’re in pain, because you are doing it together, you are fighting for something bigger, you are fighting for your life, and I think it was the times that I was in the most struggle, the hardest pain that I have ever endured mentally and physically that I am most proud of. The things you can get through in life coming back stronger, bouncing back better, are the things that define you, and when push comes to shove, the only thing getting us through this sometimes oh so tough life is not the money, not the jobs, not the achievements, not the resumes, not the social class, the thing getting us through life is the people. Gymnastics hits your inner most innate sense to work together to do something bigger.
Thank you SO much Kristin, for taking the time to do this interview with us! This has probably been one of my favorite interviews that we've ever done. Thanks for sharing your story and best of luck with what ever you decide to do in the future!
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