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player ready...The faces are all familiar for Valparaiso coach Lorie Cook these days.
She’s been leading the gymnastics program for 42 years now, and her assistants also have lengthy tenures at Valparaiso.
There’s Becky Juergens, who has been with the team since 1981. Jill DiGiorgio, another assistant, just finished her 15th year. Megan Nellessen is the newest addition, just completing her second year.
This veteran coaching staff helped the Vikings win their 12th team state title last month and seventh in the last 10 years, making Cook the 2017 Post-Tribune Girls Gymnastics Coach of the Year.
But there’s one more assistant who’s been around for 18 years who Cook has the strongest bond with: her daughter, Angie (Cook) Moon. The two rarely need more than a quick glance to communicate.
“I guess that, because we’re mother and daughter, we have those moments and probably even more so,” Cook said, then started laughing as she added: “Because she probably feels more of an obligation to listen to me.”
Moon won a pair of all-around state titles as a gymnast in 1990s, but both she and Cook laughed when asked if back then coaching was in her plans.
“When I went into college, I took one of those career placement tests,” Moon said. “You’re supposed to get 10 options, and I got two: teacher and coach.”
It was during college that Moon first started helping out as an assistant.
“I always talked to my mom on the phone after I graduated about how the team was doing and what was going on,” Moon said. “She talked about needing another set of eyes in the gym that Christmas break to get them prepared for the season and I said I’d be there. And I just never left.”
Moon, Cook and the rest of the Valparaiso coaching staff had their share of obstacles this season. Most notably, Chesterton defeated the Vikings in a dual meet as well as postseason conference and sectional meets. But the team rebounded to win its regional and then capped the year with yet another state title.
“For the kids, it was probably more rewarding,” Cook said. “Because I’m sure there were doubters who didn’t think we could do it. And I’m sure they heard that. But it’s a huge life lesson. You can change the outcome even if it’s been the same a few times.”
Life lessons like that are what Moon remembers about her time as a Valparaiso gymnast and part of the reason why she intends to be back for her 19th year next winter.
“I know how much of an impact it made on my life,” she said. “And, for me, it was a way to give back, to try and help young girls become strong women.”
Cook said she plans on coming back, too, for her 43rd season.
“Yeah, I think so.”
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.