Sarah Luttinger has been involved with gymnastics her entire life. She comes from a family of generations of gymnasts and gymnastics coaches. Sarah continued the tradition and began competing gymnastics at a young age. She moved from her hometown, Syracuse, NY, to New York City to attend Brooklyn College, where she received a Bachelor of Art, with a focus in photography. She has been coaching gymnastics for many years and currently teaches the Level 6's Men's Gymnastics Team at Chelsea Piers. She also developed the Future Stars program at Chelsea Piers, which is an elite developmental program within the men's gymnastics community. Sarah has led multiple gymnasts to qualify for the Regional Developmental Team. In 2018, Sarah was awarded Compulsory Coach of the Year in the State of New York by USA Gymnastics. Sarah continues her photography practice and is pursuing her dream of becoming a Doctor of Physical Therapy.

GKC: I have known many male coaches who coach women’s gymnastics, but never the reverse. Can you tell us how you came to coach men’s gymnastics?

I grew up with gymnastics my entire life. I was lucky to grow up with some of the most impeccable men's coaches in our state, region and even country. My dad was the coach of very successful gymnasts; Paul Ruggeri being one of his best. I was raised in a gym watching my dad work with his boys. When I was old enough to begin coaching more regularly, I would beg him to let me help him with his boys team.  Funny enough he always said no. I never quite understood why. I ended up moving to NYC for college and I was fortunate enough to get a coaching position at Chelsea Piers.  After a couple years I spoke with the head of our men’s gymnastics program, Hector, and he had me start coaching the men's team. I've taught many levels of men's gymnastics, and now my dad is one of my biggest supporters. A lot of my coaching philosophies come from observing my dad coach and asking him questions along the way. I learned so much from him and my other mentors and I still am.

GKC: What are some major differences between coaching boys vs. girls?

Honestly, I get this question a lot, and it is a tough one. I'm personally not one to say "well boys are boys and girls are girls." I don't exactly find that to be true. If you saw me as a kid I was more similar to how "boys would be." I had no fear, would go for a skill and not think twice about it (unless it was on beam!).  I think there are more similarities than differences.  Emotionally, boys can sometimes be tougher to break through to, but that can be said for some girls too. Communication is key between the gymnast and a coach, but I do think it's difficult for most children. I work with my boys each training session on expressing their thoughts and communicating. Physically the main difference is it takes men much longer to peak.  For example if you look at women's gymnastics if they are elite level they range from 16-22 years old. Oksana Chusovitina (45 yr. old Olympic competitor) being an exception! Men are usually in college or out of college by the time they begin competing at that level.  For men, college gymnastics is a huge stepping stone for a lot of gymnasts because it can be used to launch them into competing internationally; getting them one step closer to their ultimate goal, the olympics. That is why college gymnastics is so important.  Unfortunately it's declining due to more and more programs being cut from their university’s athletic departments. This is making thousands of gymnasts miss out on huge opportunities in their gymnastics careers, and hopefully a solution can be reached soon.

GKC: What are some of the biases and preconceived notions that people bestow on you as a woman coaching men’s gymnastics? 

Oh you name it! You should hear what I used to get when I first started going to men's meets. One of our previous coaches had left and I was the replacement, and I remember a coach from another gym saying to me at a competition "wait, they replaced "coaches name" with you? A woman. What do you even know about men's gymnastics?.” I smiled and said "Nice to meet you, I'm Sarah Luttinger." and walked away.  That competition my boys won the 1st place Team Award and mostly swept the podium with awards, the opposing team’s coach looked at me again and had to look away because all I could do was smile.  He was the one who was embarrassed. 

I have been sexually harassed for years by certain men's coaches.  I will be clear- everyone I work with directly has been great. Outside of that, there have been a range of instances where coaches at competitions will make very inappropriate comments towards me, to actually physically put their hands on me in the middle of a competition in front of my gymnasts. The most scarring moment I've had was at a competition where a coach from another gym approached me. This coach always said uncomfortable things to me and would inappropriately hug me every once in a while, and I would always find a way to break out of it.  He approached me by the floor while my kids were stretching.  He started talking with me, making me uncomfortable as usual, and I turned around to tell my kids to go into the next stretch and I accidentally dropped my rotation sheet. As I bent down to pick it up, he walked directly behind me and put his hands on my waist and thrusted in as I picked it up. I did everything I could to be professional, and I felt so hopeless and furious all at the same time. Now, I don't want anyone to think all mens coaches are like this.  They are not.  This is also not specific to gymnastics, it's more common than we think.  Particularly for women who work in a primarily men's field. I want to share this story to reiterate that this is not okay behavior in any situation.

Another thing I have dealt with is people assuming I cannot spot as well because I may not be strong enough. The truth is, I spot more than most people I know. An adult from one of our adult classes, introduced me to a new person in the class and she said something around the lines of, "This is Sarah, she is the best spotter and has never made me feel so comfortable with doing a skill." I deal with a lot of initial complaints about me being a woman and coaching men's gymnastics and people don't want their kids to work with me because I can't possibly know anything about men's gymnastics or working with boy's.  You get used to it and do your best to not let that bother you and prove the commenters wrong.

GKC: What are some misconceptions about men’s gymnastics?

 I think the main misconception about men's gymnastics is the idea that these boys/men are feminine.  Which is certainly not true. I had a parent one time say to me "I don't want him doing girly cartwheels." So I showed him a picture of Brandon Wynn and told him this gymnast has fantastic cartwheels! Gymnastics can be a masculine and feminine sport. It's okay to be either! At the end of the day, it's amazing how our sport has evolved.  Our community both gymnastics and our country is becoming more accepting of EVERYONE. That personally makes my heart happy.  This sport doesn't make your child any less of the person they want to be and are.

GKC: Do you think the rising culture of abuse is a gender biased movement? If so, how and why?

It is absolutely biased. You really only hear about what happens in the women's world of this sport. Truthfully men's gymnastics is rarely on the radar for anything. Do you remember hearing about the men's gymnastics coach in Brazil? He sexually abused dozens of young male athletes, and no one really cared. That's a stigma on it's own with men in general. It's rarely spoken about and that's sad to me. Don’t get me wrong, all that happened within women’s gymnastics is beyond terrible. It's truthfully hard to talk about, but it's important to not discredit any of it. It is important to recognize what is happening in both men's and women's gymnastics across the world.  In terms of emotional/mental abuse I think it's absolutely overlooked in the men's world because they are "boys and they can take it." At the end of the day, there is a fine line and as a coach it is your duty to always put your gymnast’s needs ahead of your own.

GKC: Lastly, what would you like people to know about men’s gymnastics that is misunderstood?

I think overall (not even really about it being misunderstood) I want men's gymnastics to be recognized and appreciated.  It's very overlooked.  The amount of work that goes into their sport is incredible. Nothing against Simone Biles because she is impeccable. But, have you watched Kenzo Shirai tumble? It's insane. Have you watched a gold winning routine (or even a routine that didn't make it on the podium) on high bar? There are also six events...six. When the olympics are held, each country is only allowed to take four gymnasts. Just four, for six events. This makes it feel even more impossible for young athletes in this sport that do dream of making that team. I want people who have a child in the men's gymnastics world to understand more than just the sport of gymnastics. We are teaching kids to literally do the impossible. We are teaching them to have patience. We are not just coaches, we are their motivators, mentors, sounding board, and so on.

*Some after thoughts from Sarah*
While talking about the gymnast and the misconception that they are feminine, I don’t want to discredit the child and who they are. I think that’s important. I want to make sure that it is more than okay to be whoever you are. We are here to teach the person. We are here to make gymnasts. 
I never had a role model in gymnastics growing up because from what I knew there was no other women like me. There were female gymnasts that I looked up to specifically for their gymnastics, but I still couldn’t relate because I couldn’t see myself in them. Like for girls in particular.. there is 1 (maybe 2 but 1 I know of for sure because there was a pride post on her) UCLA college gymnast who came out as bi. Which is amazing. But, I don’t personally know of any others in the LGBTQ* community within women’s gymnastics.  I want boys girls non-binary trans and everyone to be able to have a role model in a sport they love. They deserve that. If I had that as a kid my life would have been immensely different (in very positive ways). These gymnasts deserve representation.  LGBTQ+ Gymnasts deserves representation so much and so do the Black, Brown, Indigenous gymnasts as well. 

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