Gym titles have humble origins
PENN TWP — Dave McKinnis knows how to produce champions. But out of his own garage?
Now in his 42nd year of coaching gymnastics, McKinnis has worked with about 12 PIAAstate champions and 35 state medalists, along with numerous more through USAGymnastics.
He formerly coached for Butler High School and the Butler Gymnastics Club.
For the past four years, he's coached his son, Jesse, 15, and Cory Barnes of Fox Chapel in a makeshift gymnastics training area in the garage at his home.
Sean Murphy, 15, and Levi Cetti, 12, of Butler have been training under McKinnis for the past two years.
"When I resigned from being the boys coach at Butler Gymnastics, I offered to be an assistant under the new coach for no charge,"McKinnis said. "He declined my offer and wanted to do things his own way, and I was fine with that.
"I wasn't ready to totally give up coaching, so I decided to work with Jesse at home here and figured we'd have a little fun."
Barnes had trained under McKinnis earlier and wanted to work out with his son, so McKinnis welcomed him to the garage as well.
Two years later, Sean Murphy and Levi Cetti came aboard.
"These kids grew up together and have been friends for a long time,"McKinnis said. "They played soccer together, went sled riding — now they wanted to do gymnastics together."
And they succeeded together.
Barnes, McKinnis and Murphy teamed to win the Level 7 team championship last year at the state meet. Barnes also finished first in all- around.
This year, McKinnis, Murphy and Cetti combined to win the Level 7 team title. Barnes moved up to Level 8 and took home state titles in floor exercise, parallel bars and high bar."What's impressive about Cory (winning in floor exercise) is we don't have a full floor to practice on,"McKinnis said. "We only have about 36 feet and a gymnastics floor is 60 feet."You can't run in here (garage), so we work more on strength and technique. I think that helped him once he got out on the open floor."There were 12 Level 7 teams at the state meet in Allentown, and an organization must have at least three gymnasts at that level to qualify as a team.McKinnis' group won the title with the minimum three participants."I was really surprised the first time we won it,"Jesse McKinnis said. "This year, I knew we could do it."We have a lot of fun in here. It's different from being in a bigger gym in that we're all getting a lot more individual training."The four gymnasts train under McKinnis from 4:30 to 7 p.m. six days a week. They even got together to train on Christmas Eve.The walls of the garage are covered with snapshots of the youngsters playing baseball and soccer when they were younger, as well as photos of them laughing and enjoying time together.Training in a garage does have its limitations, however. The equipment is older and the budget is practically non-existent.All four gymnasts qualified for the regional meet, but are unlikely to go."That's back in Allentown,"the elder McKinnis said. "We can afford one trip there, but not two. That's where our funds run out."I'm going to bump these other guys up to Level 8 next year, but that's as far as I can take them. To achieve Levels 9 and 10, you need more than I'm able to provide."McKinnis said he'll see Cetti's gymnastics career through high school, then he'll leave the sport."Another four or five years with him, then I'll be done," he said. "I'm not taking on anyone else. These four guys will be my last."Cetti left the sport for a year before getting back into it under McKinnis."He's a great coach. He knows what he's talking about and he makes it fun,"Cetti said. "It feels pretty good being a state champion."Gymnastics is different from other sports. You have to be good at a lot of different skills and different events. There's always another challenge ahead."Just like there's been challenges met — even inside a garage.
