One practice early in the week before the Gym Devils’ first meet, freshman Kristine Levin was having a particularly frustrating day on vault.
Her teammates cheered and clapped on the way up. Shouts of "C’mon Kristine!" reverberated against the walls of the practice facility, but the room grew deathly silent as she missed her landing.
A few words of encouragement followed the awkward silence as she took the long walk back to the end of the line with her head down.
Assistant coach Tom Ward stood at the edge of that mat as Levin did her vault over and over.
“You need to be hitting about right here,” Tom said, as he made a line on the mat with brightly colored wrapping tape he grabbed from the trainer’s room moments before.
“I love how animated he gets,” head coach John Spini said.
Spini laughed and shook his head at Tom as Levin trounced back to her starting point.
Within a couple more vaults, her heels were mere millimeters away from that line, and no one was more excited than Tom Ward.
“I just really try and get in the kids' heads,” Tom said. “(I want them) to believe that they can be successful and be able to hit their routines, no matter who the opponent is.”
Nearby, the other assistant coach in her fourth year, Kari Ward (no relation to Tom), looks up at her beam lineup. The overhead lights hit the former star gymnast’s eye as a little smile comes over her face while she watches.
“Beam's kind of my baby,” Kari said.
She talks to the girls in a quiet voice you wouldn’t be able to hear from two feet away.
“Tom's a lot louder than I am,” Kari said. “I'm kind of the quieter, more subdued one.
“I try to get to know each athlete individually because what motivates one might not motivate the other, and our job is to get them confident and be at the top of their ability.”
All the while, ASU’s most tenured coach stands back and watches his whole gym, chiming in where he sees fit. That’s just how he wants it.
“They get to do whatever they want to do, I mean, that's why they’re here — they’re very good,” Spini said. “I have a lot of faith in them, and it means a lot to me when it comes to knowing the athletes are going to be treated properly and coached at the highest level.”
Kari, a Mesa native, shined for the Sun Devils on bars, beam and floor from 2002-05, turning in 10.0 scores on the latter two.
She graduated summa cum laude with a finance degree and planned for a career in business, but didn’t even consider coaching someday.
“Never,” Kari said. “It's kind of weird, but no, actually. Coming out of college, I had a finance degree and got to work in the real world for a little while and realized that this is definitely what I'm more passionate about.”
She couldn’t be happier that she got the opportunity to do it where she built her legacy as a gymnast.
“It's honestly a dream come true to be able to coach at my alma mater. It's what people dream of, and I love my job,” Kari said.
Tom Ward also got the honor of coaching for his alma mater. Tom competed for Kent State from 1988-91 before working his way up as a club coach and owner for 17 years. He then spent three seasons helping the Golden Flashes earn their highest finish in school history and make it to the school’s first national championship in 2011.
It was that year that he earned National Women's Gymnastics Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year honors and the opportunity to work under a legend.
“John Spini is an icon in our sport, so when you get to work with someone like that every day, it’s just pretty amazing," Tom said. "People don't realize what a legacy he is and that's pretty special.”
Spini’s trust gives his staff a lot of leeway, and these two will take it.
“I think it’s always good to be more involved, and I don't know...” Kari searched for the word.
“Grow,” Tom said.
The two nod at each other and smile.
They even finish each other’s sentences.
Reach the reporter at mklau@asu.edu
