Sunday at Pebble Creek, friends, relatives, current and past students and their families gathered to hail a recently retired coach for being named to the Minnesota Gymnastics Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

 

Former Becker Bulldog gymnastics head coach Jen Harmoning was inducted into the Minnesota Gymnastics Coaches Association Hall of Fame last week at the state meet banquet Thursday night before the tournament. 

 

Sherry Hubbard, who has had a couple of her own kids go into gymnastics,  put together a surprise gathering Sunday at the request of Jen’s husband, Chris. Sherry contacted the parents of many of the student/athletes as well as the gymnasts themselves and set about to surprise Jennifer, a BIS fifth grade teacher. Harmoning said she was clueless about the gathering until she walked into Pebble Creek and was ushered to the back of the banquet room.

 

Despite the frigid temps and blustery winds, dozens showed up to pay homage to the long-serving coach.

 

Current gymnastics coach, Kayla Kalinowski was in the mix. Kalinowski was also a member of one of Harmoning’s teams from years past. Also attending was Activities Director Dave Niemi.

 

“It is great to see so many people trek out to this event even with the kind of weather we have today,” said Niemi. “I just had to be here to honor Jen and her wonderful successes.”

 

Mayor Tracy Bertram — who is also a gymnastics judge — was first to grab the microphone and give a speech to honor Harmoning. Bertram mentioned how classy Harmoning’s teams have always been at meets and said, “although we didn’t always see eye-to-eye on the scores, I appreciated and recognized your team’s spirit.”

 

Past gymnasts Haley Hubbard and Kassidy Severson gave impassioned speeches, relating stories of the good times they had on Jen’s teams and the invaluable lessons she taught them.

 

Sherry Hubbard gave a telling speech on the history of the Becker gymnastics program and how Harmoning got involved and nurtured the program. She mentioned the state entrants teams of years past and the consistency Harmoning brought to the program.

 

Hubbard also talked of the rivalry Becker has had with Big Lake after the two schools split the program back in the late 90’s. Hubbard divulged the struggles the early teams had and the moment Harmoning’s team first got over the hump of being “almost great” to being “great”.

 

Sherry had two daughters, Kendra and Haley, participate in gymnastics.

 

Chris Harmoning was next to speak and he wanted to shine the light on four-to-five notable experiences he remembered from the years his wife coached the teams. 

 

A lot of his speech spoke of the “behind the scenes” things that go on that the public rarely gets to see and his memory of stats, scores and names was remarkable. His final words regaling his wife found him struggling to remain composed — fighting back tears as he thanked Jen for her commitment to the school, the student/athletes, the sport and to her family.

 

Jen was then urged to speak and she kept things light. She thanked all the athletes she’s coached and all the families and parents who encouraged her and became great friends. 

 

“I feel so honored to have been inducted into the Minnesota girls gymnastics coaches hall of fame.” she said. “Anyone who has ever coached knows that one person could never do it alone, though.”

 

Harmoning was the Becker gymnastics coach for 23 years. In the early 2000’s, Harmoning was named Section 5A coach of the year and in 2016 she was named Section 7A coach of the year.