Craig Johnson is the new Gym-Masters coach at Southern Adventist University after Richard Schwartz retired at the end of the Winter 2022 semester. Schwartz coached Gym-Masters for 22 years, according to a former Accent article.
Johnson is an alum of Southern and was a Gym-Master himself. Get to know him in this exclusive interview with the Southern Accent where he shares about himself, his prior experience and his goals for this year.
The following dialogue has been edited slightly for length and clarity.
How did your passion for gymnastics and acrobatics begin and what is your history with the sport?
I had a professor say to me, “Have you ever considered going into physical education?” I’d never even considered it, which is so weird now. I found out that Southern’s phys-ed program was far superior than everybody else’s, so I transferred.
I arrived at Southern and didn’t try out for Gym-Masters. The coach at the time came up to me after they’d already picked the team and asked, “Why didn’t you try out for Gym-Masters?”
I said, “Because I’ve never done what you guys do.” And his response to me was a response that I have to this day when it comes to how I pick people on teams.
He said to me, “Yeah, but you’re an athlete. Athletes learn quickly. If I throw a girl into the air, you will instinctively catch her.” I’ve never forgotten that because if you’re an athlete, I can teach you a skill, and you can catch on quick.
How has your experience in the job been so far?
I love it. It’s almost like it’s reinvigorated me in my career. It was a great first week. I’m very happy. Very tired, but it’s a good tired.
Is there anything you are planning to change as the new coach?
I’m constantly thinking about how I can transform this team into the next decade. Social media is now a huge part of it, especially in how we connect with academies. We’re going to start putting clips of us doing moves on social media and get academies onto our site.
On the Gym-Master’s webpage, you said your favorite area of gymnastics is group stunting. Could you explain what that is and why it’s your favorite?
Group stunting is typically three people stunting with one person. With tossing groups, if you don’t have an elite flier. You can be somewhat limited. With group stunting, everyone has a place. You can be a beginner and still do some very unique, cool moves. You can be advanced and do the same. In fact, we were doing some last night; and on the mat, every single person was engaged.
What is the team’s theme this year and how will it shape your goals?
Our theme is going to be Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” The short-term goal is we’ve got to get through these last two years of COVID. We have to get people back into practicing every day.
What does it look like to be a Gym-Master? We want to set a culture where we are on time; we put forth two hours of hard work; we encourage each other; we are representatives off the mats to our team, school and God. We’re trying to connect with as many people as we can. You can’t cram for a final exam in this sport.
Do you have any special events or trips planned this semester?
Our goal this year for spring break is to divide the team up into groups of four or five, and I’m going to send them out to specific academies. And their goal is going to be to jumpstart excitement for acro again, teach the captains and connect with the teams. We’re trying to make connections with academies via social media and via us stepping onto their campus and getting to know them.
