The Flip Side is a Gym Blog maintained and updated by DeVeau’s School of Gymnastics. Here we will feature articles on all things gymnastics – the benefits, the hard lessons, the fun lessons, the growth and the achievements. Follow us on social media for alerts when new posts are added!

My name is Amy Replogle – better known in the gym as Miss Amy 🙂 My gymnastics adventures began way back in 1976. I was 4 years old, living in Michigan and not quite ready to start kindergarten. My parents put me in gymnastics to improve my coordination, to be in a class setting and to keep me from bouncing around the house. It was a rocky start…. I didn’t even want to wear a leotard on the first day! It grew on me quickly and I never looked back.

I became a DeVeau’s gymnast in 1983. Fun fact – Joan DeVeau was my coach and Miss Shannon and Miss Mandy were my teammates! When I competed, we had a Class system instead of a Level system, but I would have been comparable to a Level 10 in today’s system. I competed through my sophomore year in high school – and then a string in injuries maxxed out my frustration and patience.

I probably only spent a few months completely out of the gym – then I had to get involved on some level. The gym was my second home and the people my second family. Nothing else felt quite right. And that’s when I began what would become my coaching career. I began as a helper with the pre-team groups. Just a couple of hours a week, but it got me back in the gym.

I moved to Texas for college and found a gym where I could coach just a little bit each week. It wasn’t about the coaching; it was about being in the gym. At least, that’s what I thought. My degree is in Sociology with a minor in Psychology, but my senior year I took some education classes which included time in the schools ~ it was that experience that made me realize how much I enjoy the interaction of teaching. The classroom didn’t feel quite right, but I knew what would. I moved back to Indiana after graduation and began coaching at DeVeau’s in 1995.

I’ve always been keenly aware that I WILL have an impact on these little people I coach. My experience as an athlete and a coach certainly inform my perspective, but nothing has had quite the influence as being a parent. I have two daughters. Both of them did gymnastics when they were little. They are 15 and 12 now and have moved on to different activities, but both learned many valuable lessons in the gym. All we want as parents is for the adults in our children’s lives to really see them, help them enhance their gifts/talents, and to challenge them to be the best version of themselves. So that is the coach I try to be…

I have coached preschoolers to an Olympian and everything in between. I have run birthday parties and designed flyers. I have organized camps and classes and practices. I have answered the phone and taken out the trash. I’ve reassured nervous children and talked parents off a ledge 🙂 You name it; I’ve either seen it or heard about it!

I am excited to share a little bit of that here with you.
If you have suggestions on content, shoot us an email at theflipside.deveaus@gmail.com.