Shannon Miller: My Child, My Hero by Claudia Miller

[QuietColours]

Chapter Twelve: Battling Burnout

• Shannon was getting tired of being on the receiving end of all the orders. In the gym, safety and progress depended on listening to Steve; Tessa set very high academic standards at home. Troy was the victim of Shannon's frustration–he was the most laid back of the kids–didn't like losing, but okay if he didn't win, okay with a B instead of an A
• Shannon would grab his report card when he came home even before their parents and lecture him about it
• Just before leaving for the Olympic Sports Festival, Troy had had enough of her badgering and let her know. Parents thought Shannon was out of line and told her so. She went to her room and refused to talk to anyone. Claudia was worried it would affect her meet performance, and maybe it did but in a good way–she took 4 golds and a silver
• Shannon tried being stern with them after the meet, but they were forgiven
• Went to Sea World and visited family after the meet
• Win boosted her confidence–she'd decreased difficulty because of her back, and she still won against great gymnasts like Kerri and Amanda Borden. But she'd need more difficulty to win Nationals and couldn't rest her back anymore
• Nationals
  • Felt good about compulsories, and was in the lead after the first day
  • Optionals were harder on her back, especially back tumbling on floor and beam
  • Shannon worked with the trainer on her back pain, but she believed the answer to her back would be spiritual, not physical, and also focused on working with the practitioner
  • Optionals
    • Dominique and Kerri did well on bars, but Shannon had a higher score
    • Dominique was superb on beam; Kerri fell, Shannon again had a higher score than Dominique
    • Shannon hadn't practiced much tumbling; she had wobbles in her floor but maintained her lead over Dominique
    • Shannon was a good vaulter, but so was Kerri. Two weeks before Championships, Kerri had complained to Shannon about having to stay an hour late in a hot gym, because Steve was privately teaching her a new vault–a yurchenko arabian, which started out a 10.0. Shannon told Steve she would also be staying for the private lesson. He told her Peggy was coaching that day, but he didn't approve because he was worried about her back and he planned for her to rest after Championships. The trainer had warned him that if Shannon didn't rest, she might not compete at all
    • Shannon asked Peggy to work with her, and Peggy agreed. Shannon surprised Peggy by hitting some double twists right away.
    • At Championships, Steve had to decide if Shannon would do a 9.8 or 10.0 vault. He had her do the easier FTY, and she scored well enough Dominique couldn't pass her with a 10. He promised she could do the DTY in finals
    • Shannon was just excited she had won Championships
  • Shannon qualified for all event finals. She won an easy gold on bars, fell on beam but still got bronze, and got gold on floor. Dominique won beam and vault. Shannon got silver on vault–Steve decided last minute the the DTY wasn't worth the risk.
• Shannon now had Olympic, World, and National titles. What the next challenge should be was going to become an issue
• Steve had three juniors: Jennie Thompson, Tanya Meiers, and Soni Meduna, who had finished 1-2-3 in their division, and he was preparing them for a meet in Australia. Peggy was taking Kerri to DTB. Shannon was going to rest
• The family took a week vacation. Among the activities they did, Shannon decided against cliff diving
• Shannon didn't have a heavy gymnastics schedule, but she did have a short tour coming up, primarily on weekends. School and gym would be less disrupted than last time
• She expected gym to be easy for a while, but after two weeks of light training (and her back responding by feeling better) Steve worried she would get lazy. He decided she either needed a new vault or to get the DTY perfect; she needed a new skill on bars; and she needed a new tumbling pass (DLO) and to improve her front tumbling.
• Shannon's meet season would begin at the beginning of the new year; Steve and Peggy would be gone most of Nov and early Dec.

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter Twelve: Battling Burnout (Part 2)

• A few weeks after Nationals Claudia went to the gym and found Shannon had been kicked out. Steve said she had not been tumbling well. She was making her DLOs, but not using the technique he wanted, and he felt she wouldn't have a good layout position if she didn't use his technique. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and Claudia figured they'd get over it by the next day
• The next day Shannon was kicked out again and took herself home before Claudia got home from work. Steve had told her she wouldn't be doing DLOs anymore. Shannon had wanted to do this since before the 1992 Olympics but there had been too many competitions and the elbow injury. Steve knew she wanted the skill
• In the next few weeks, he decided she should work hard on front tumbling. She picked up a front layout quickly and gradually got a front full, but not consistently. She had a lot of trouble with a front 1.5
• For about two weeks, Shannon was kicked out of the gym every day when it was time to tumble. Steve was angry–in the past, kicking Shannon out had quickly got her to agree to what he wanted, but it wasn't working anymore. Usually he let the gymnast stew in the lobby, then he'd go out and lecture her and bring her in for the next event. He'd forgotten Shannon could drive and had a car–when he kicked her out, she just went home.
• The first time she did this, she came home giggling, "I bet Steve forgot I could leave." She knew Steve would be livid (he was), but it was worth it for that moment. However, getting kicked out every day was not fun or productive and something had to change
• They assumed the difficulty was regarding her trouble learning front tumbling. She needed the 1.5. Shannon had never had private lessons, and they were concerned about burn out, but they decided to have her do privates with Peggy (the more sympathetic coach). Peggy thought a few half hour privates would do the trick, and Shannon did get it after two lessons. But things started falling apart again when she started working with Steve again
• Around this time Steve held the annual gym picnic, an event Shannon had generally enjoyed–a time to be a normal teenager. This year she especially enjoyed the volleyball game, but she also had homework and they had a meeting with Steve and Peggy that evening. When Ron picked Shannon up, she wasn't happy–she wasn't done enjoying her chance to just have fun. She was very angry when she arrived home, was tired of gym and the kind of life it required, and thought she wanted to quit gymnastics
• Parents weren't surprised–Shannon had accomplished most of her gymnastics goals and had just finished a long, tiring, successful year. Steve wasn't helping by regularly humiliating her by kicking her out, and her parents weren't helping by reminding her she still had devote a lot of time to schoolwork. Her parents asked her to still sit down with Steve and Peggy and wait one more day before quitting
• Discussion was good, covering everyone's concerns, but not where Shannon's gymnastics career might be going. But everyone was feeling better by the end of the meeting, and she decided not to quit
• Situation started again about a week later. They weren't sure how much was Steve's impatience, how much was Shannon being tired of gymnastics, and how much was other factors
• Peggy and Shannon had to drive to an appearance. When they got back, Peggy told Shannon's parents she thought Shannon might be missing Tessa, who had recently started college at Caltech. Shannon and Tessa hadn't spent a lot of time together lately–they both had busy schedules–but Shannon liked having her family together and knew Tessa leaving meant things would never be the same again
• The trainer said Shannon's back was better, probably because she was doing so little tumbling these days. Her mother thought it was also because they'd prayed. The trainer also said the gym felt like a war zone with so much open conflict between Shannon and Steve. He didn't think Shannon would tolerate Steve's impatience (impatience is the word Claudia repeatedly uses) anymore– he had expressed concern to Steve, but Steve didn't think Shannon cared about gymnastics anymore
• It occurred to Claudia that with Steve training Kerri and the juniors for upcoming meets, he didn't have time to indulge Shannon the way he usually had–he needed her to do what she was told, when she was told. Shannon was used to being the only gymnast he was focused on. But she had no goals right now and wasn't sure why she was still training
• Claudia proposed Steve should work 1:1 with Shannon for a while. If she could have all his attention for a period each day, he might be more patient and explain things better and rebuild the bond they had before the gym expanded. This would be asking Steve to give up 2-3 hours a day for at least a few weeks. Shannon would need less time in the gym overall with the 1:1 time, but she would have to be tutored so she could do some of this time during school hours. She liked going to school and training with other gymnasts. Claudia wasn't sure how Steve or Shannon would react to this
• Steve was unhappy with the whole family at this point, so the trainer Mark offered to make the suggestion to Steve. If he agreed, Claudia would talk to Shannon
• Steve knew he was on the verge of losing Shannon. He was frustrated with her and didn't want her to quit. He and Shannon both agreed to the arrangement. Shannon seemed impressed Steve was willing to spend the extra time with her. Shannon would come in for three hours in the morning, spending two with Steve and one with Peggy.
• In the first sessions, Steve realized he'd been instructing Shannon to twist the wrong way in front tumbling. He'd forgotten she was a left twister, and since she was traveling forward she hadn't realized it would be easier for her to twist in the other direction. She got the front full quickly and started making progress on the 1.5
• Steve started her on the yurchenko arabian–he thought she could not get the DTY solidly by competitive season since it was already November. She had it in two weeks and was working a new skill on bars
• By Thanksgiving, Shannon was ready to get back to evening gym, her friends, and school. She was excited about gymnastics again, and Steve was recognizing her needs. One of those needs was giving her some goals
• He wanted her to go to World Championships again–no American had ever won two World Championships. He wanted her to commit to gymnastics through 1996–he didn't think she had peaked. Shannon was overwhelmed at first, but realized it was only 2.5 years and that didn't seem so long
• Shannon did get to do fun things that fall. She met Paul Harvery, Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, Jackie Joyner Kersee. She also did a spot on "I Witness Video," a show that demonstrates the various ways people use home video. They'd been filming meets for a long time, and Steve filmed workouts
• Kerri was developing her own problems. It was hard to train for a meet when her training partner was rarely in the gym. She had also pulled a stomach muscle. Steve and Peggy had tried working around it and giving her time off, but the meet was coming up fast and she had to begin routines. Some days would be better, but then the pain would come back. Her parents were wondering if she should go to Germany, but Steve and Peggy were confident. Steve left with the juniors for Australia; Peggy with Kerri for Germany, and Shannon worked out with the other coaches in the gym.
• Kerri's stomach muscle grew worse and she could hardly perform in Germany. Peggy withdrew her from some events. Kerri was in pain and worn out–she'd had a longer season than Shannon and needed time off. When they got back, she went home for a while then decided to train in Arizona–she'd been living away from home for years and missed her family. Shannon was sorry to see Kerri go; there were other elites, but they were juniors. They wouldn't be competing in the same meets as Shannon, and she missed having a training partner
• Shannon asked to wrap Tessa and Troy's Christmas gifts so she could she what their parents had gotten them, and Claudia valued her insight and sometimes returned/exchanged things on Shannon's recommendation. They were excited to have Tessa come home–she couldn't fly back often, so she had chosen Christmas, spring break, and summer break
• Shannon was looking forward to hearing about college and was starting to think about college herself
• Tessa admitted to having been homesick at first, but now she loved living in the dorm and enjoyed the freedom and activities on campus.
• By January 1994, Shannon was ready to begin training for the competitive season. She didn't have to attend Trials to qualify for Worlds as the reigning champion, but she had to demonstrate readiness by finishing in the top six on at least one event at American Cup. Neither Shannon or Steve were worried about this. Steve wanted her to repeat as American Cup Champion

 

[makam]

Interesting how well Peggy is coming off in this saga considering how her recent career has gone. Guess the stuff she saw was so normalized, it carried over to her career in Australia. And probably if you study at the School of Karyoli and Nunno, your perspective is going to be skewed.

 

[irichluck21]

I think Peggy felt the pressure to have a winning program and that was what motivated her to do what she did to her gymnasts. So sad because she really could have had something special with the gymnasts she had.

Might have been a completely different personality as assistant coach under Nunno than head coach of a national team.

Also with how extreme Nunno was according to this book, Peggy was always going to look better.