school and club gymnastics, which ….
school and club gymnastics, which definitely helps because you can lose your skills super quickly if you don’t keep doing them,” Yanko said.
Brushaber added that having a younger coach in Yanko will be a big plus, giving the high schoolers someone they hopefully can easily relate to.
“I got some time off (from high school coaching) and was able to focus on my kids and get through that personal period that I needed to get through,” Brushaber said. “(Rainbow was) like, you want to come coach in the summer? So I started coaching and it was coaching the high schoolers and getting to know them. It was like one foot in the door. I’m just super excited. I’m glad that I know the girls from coaching last summer. I’m excited for the year. Hopefully they’re excited. I know it’s going to be different being the head coach. It’s a year-round thing.”
The first day of practice, Nov. 6, will be here before Brushaber and Yanko know it and the expectation is to keep the Medford-Colby co-op among the area’s elite squads at the high school level.
“We’re very lucky to have Rainbow,” Brushaber said. “It’s a great facility and they have great coaches and the people that manage it down to the board. It’s put together so well. This is running very smoothly. We’re getting girls that are very committed to this sport coming through. We have girls that are so committed, they have friends that say well I’m going to do it too. That’s great.
“I look forward to helping the kids target certain goals,” she added. “I don’t want them getting relaxed but I also don’t want them feeling pressured. I want them to enjoy the sport again and love it. I want them to be excited and feel like this is great. I want them to say to other kids, you should join gymnastics. I hope that if there’s kids out there that aren’t in the club but they really want to join, I hope they feel it’s comfortable enough for them to join. I work with anybody at all skill levels and I know Megan would too.”
Under Cain, the Raiders won four GNC Small Division championships and took second in 2022-23 in their first season in the GNC Large Division, won consecutive WIAA Division 2 sectional championships the past four years and placed as high as fifth in its current fiveyear run of state team berths.
