March 22, 2018
By Maria Evangelou, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It's rare for a coaching staff to be as cohesive and work as well together in its first full-time year together--but that's exactly how Penn State's women's gymnastics rolls.
When head coach Sarah Brown took over the reins this past year, she brought with her two trusty sidekicks from her past: assistant coaches Rob Drass and Dallas Becerra.
"When I took over in May, there were a lot of changes that I saw that needed to be me made with the program initially," Brown said. "The most important thing for me was getting to know the athletes and getting a good staff on board. Because there were so many changes that I had been going through personally and so many changes I felt the program needed, I thought it was most important to have people around me that I could trust, and people that knew me the best."
The trio has an interesting history in their web of connections.
Brown first met Drass, who graduated from Penn State, between her sixth and seventh grade years as a gymnast. After going through a personal coach transition, Brown came to Missouri looking for a place to train, where Drass, who was there at the time, took her under his wing. Their relationship was strong and Drass saw her talent, eventually becoming Brown's head coach when she pursued her collegiate career in Mizzou.
"We've seen each other at our best, we've seen each other at our worst, and we know how to read each other," Drass said. "For me, the attraction coming back to Penn State was partly being an alumnus, and helping Sarah restore Penn State gymnastics to its rightful place, and I get to work with someone who I look at as a super person who does things for the right reasons."
Meanwhile, Becerra was a diver at University of Missouri, a shared alma mater with Brown, and left diving behind to become a gymnastics coach. He ended up getting to know Brown at a gymnastics club where she quickly became his mentor. After a few years apart, the two reconnected. Prior to taking on her role at Penn State, Brown served as head coach at Eastern Michigan, where she worked side-by-side with Becerra once again.
For Brown, her past relationships were key in building this staff.
"Dallas and I had a really good working relationship, so immediately I knew that he would be a great fit," Brown said. "Rob and I had talked for years about potentially working together again. Then, I was fortunate enough to be his director of operations while I was in grad school, so we had worked together on different levels in the past. I felt like since he was a Penn State alum, and someone who really understood what Penn State was about, and the timing happened to work out well, and he was kind enough to join me on staff. It's been really fun and we all balance each other really well."
"We can all look at each other and we all know exactly what the other one's thinking and what the other one needs," Becerra said. "In the gym one of us might be tougher and the other one might be there to give the TLC, so I think us being so close helps everything flow."
The three have been together in Happy Valley for nearly a year now, and they've adjusted to the change as a unit.
"Sarah's divvied up the responsibilities for each event so that there's one person that oversees it," Drass said. "Then we all collaborate and talk about each all the time, because the more eyes looking at something the better. We have a very seamless interaction, because we all were friends before, we all knew each other, and it makes it really easy when you work in a place you're very comfortable with where you don't have to feel out the relationships and you know how to be straightforward."
For the two assistants, the collaboration with each other is huge.
"I think it's great to have someone like Dallas," Drass said. "As someone who's been working in this for a while, he keeps me fresh and looking at things from a different perspective, and most of the time it's the way the athletes see things."
"It's really helpful that we can all look at each other and know exactly what the other one's thinking or what the other one needs," Becerra added. "Rob's experience definitely helps me because he's done this year after year, so there may be things I'm thinking that I want to do, but he can give me that advice."
While the staff had a familiarity, there was still the challenge of getting used to new athletes.
"Until you see everybody in each situation, it's hard to know how they tick," Drass said. "But once the championship season starts, the meet season starts, the inner squad starts--all those things help to learn and peel back the layers of the athletes. As a staff, we're learning how to respond to them, and moving forward we're going to get so much better at it."
Freshmen Kourtney Chinnery and Ava Verdeflor, two newcomers, had a great deal of talent in combination with some nerves about the new atmosphere. The two agreed that the stellar coaching staff made the experience better in every aspect.
"They've helped us adjust to college in general, and not just the sport but the transition with everything," Chinnery said. "College gymnastics is way different; school is way different. So, we have to work hard in school so we can compete. They really have helped with our mindset and our growth as people."
As the athletes have gotten used to their new environment, the closeness of the staff has been key.
"There's a formal aspect of the coaching vs. team, but we're also all really close," Verdeflor said. "They know that they work well together. They each bring several different things to the table, and it's just the perfect combination."
That perfect combination has led to a gymnastics family.
"This season, we came in a little unsure of how things would go, but we knew we were in it together," Brown said. "It has become much more like the feel of a family, and I think going into next season there's going to be more opportunity to learn and grow, and I think we're going to get to a point even more where don't even have to look at each other and we know."