Ep 46 I went Pro with Erinn Dooley

Erinn Dooley has been a part of the gymnastics community her entire life.  She began as a toddler going to mommy & me classes and then started competing as a young girl.  She progressed quickly through the levels and made it to level 10, the top junior olympic gymnastics level, by the age of 12.

It was at that point that she had the opportunity to choose to train at the elite level and attend selection camps to compete for Team USA.  She was on the USA National Team for 5 years.  She was hoping to go to the 2000 Olympics, but unfortunately didn't make the team.  She did, however, represent team USA in several international competitions in Japan, New Zealand and Canada.  Her favorite place from her travels is Japan.  She talks about how beautiful it is and how much she enjoyed touring the country.  

After her elite career, Erinn competed at the University of Florida.  She talks about how your focus changes from competing for yourself to competing for your team.  Her collegiate experience started off rough, but ended amazing.  She talks about how she was able to be put back together from both physical and mental struggles and was a captain her last 2 years at Florida.

She has now been coaching for 13 years at University of Maryland, which has been a huge blessing.  She loves the opportunity to be a mentor for her collegiate athletes and help them grow not only as athletes, but also as strong women.  It's really about the relationships and helping instill confidence and perspective and be that voice and support system for her girls.  

Gymnastics requires a lot of dedication, hard work and sacrifice, especially at a high level.  It is important to remember that there will be hard days, but you can be proud of yourself knowing that you are working hard and find the positives along the way.  

Erinn talks about the importance of relationships and how her teammates helped her get through the hard days.  She talks about how her college teammates became her best friends and made her experience richer in college and how she keeps in touch with them still today.  

For her highlight reel, Erinn talks about the Calm app and how much her daughter loves it and how it helps her to get to sleep every night.  She really enjoys the sleep stories as well as the music.  
She also highlights the importance of making time for herself.  She is currently getting her nails done every 2 weeks and she looks forward to that as a moment to herself.  

In her blooper reel, Erinn tells about her first recruiting trip as a coach and the wardrobe malfunction that she had at a meet.  

Erinn passes the ball to her mom, who always supported her and been a rock for her whole life.