Moving from one town to the next is not anything new for me. Having moved to Hartland two-thirds of the way through seventh grade, I was scared I wouldn’t fit in. I had to start over and make new friends that would last. This usually isn’t a problem for me, but Hartland was different. The schools were different. The people were different. The town is smaller than where I used to live. It appeared to me that the citizens of this town all knew each other in some way. Almost every kid in Hartland had been friends since they were toddlers. And here I was, jumping into their lives, trying to make friends. It was a laborious process. But after the first strenuous year, I finally found some true friends -- life-long friends.
Now it was time to move on to high school. Going to Arrowhead High School was intimidating. With 2,400 kids swimming in the rivers of Arrowhead, I was again thrown in the boat of trying to make new friends. As a freshman in a new school, I was overwhelmed by all the new faces. The walls of the hallways contracted. The mass of kids in the hallway squeezed me as if I were a stress ball they wanted to pop. I needed something to take my mind off of everything new. So I turned to something I have always known well: gymnastics.
The first day of practice, I met the man that would be my coach, my mentor, and my friend -- Coach Bob Polkowski. Coach Bob is unlike any coach I’ve had. He tells jokes, he is an exceptional teacher, and he is so devoted to the team.
I never thought coaches could be funny until I met Coach Bob. I’ve only seen coaches yelling at their athletes and being serious about the sport. Not him, though! Coach Bob always hunts for the perfect time to throw in a joke. However, most of his jokes really aren’t that funny…But that’s what makes it entertaining! He is like a child in a grown man’s body. One of Coach Bob’s favorite lines is ¨Don’t poop in your leotard!¨ This helps to relieve stress before a routine, and gets our minds off of the glaring judges.  Coach Bob is so outgoing and not afraid of what other people think of him. Seeing him act this way, encouraged me to act more like myself.
Aside from being a jokester, Coach Bob knows how to teach. Showing is so much more important than telling -- especially in gymnastics. A coach can’t tell me to do a new trick and I’ll whip it out. It was a struggle to learn a back-full (backflip with a 360° turn). So instead of just telling me to do it, my coach showed me how my body and arms should look in the air by standing on the ground, and acting out the motions himself. He carefully explained the different steps on how to turn my flip. Each time I tried to do the back-full, I landed on my butt. Coach Bob would see something I could improve on and help me fix it. He’d hound me about things I forgot to do in order to set up the flip correctly. I kept trying. He kept pushing. Until…I finally landed my first back-full! I was ecstatic.
Coach Bob never gave up on me. He’d help me through any problem until it was resolved. His faith in me is something I’ll never forget. But I’m not the only one he has faith in on the team. Coach Bob has faith in the whole team. Every year of gymnastics is different. There are different girls on the team -- all with different skill levels. And even though some girls are better than others, Bob is devoted to all of us equally. He believes all of us can improve our skills if we try our best. With 18 years of coaching gymnastics, it amazes me that Coach Bob never came to practice with a frown on his face, or a sad look in his eye. He comes eager to assist his team towards achievement. This past year, Coach Bob had his first child named Jaxson. Even with a new child in his life, Coach Bob still made time to come in for practice and go to the meets. Everything Coach Bob does for the team pays off. My gymnastics team even won the state competition for 2015!
Coach Bob has put so much effort and time into helping me become a better gymnast and person. When I was in second grade, I quit playing softball because I dreaded going to practices. However, in all my four years of being on the Arrowhead gymnastics team, I never hated going to practice. Coach Bob made practices fun and exhilerating. If I was having a bad day, he always knew what to say in order to lift me out of my slump. He is a jokester, an amazing teacher, and Coach Bob has an undefined devotion for my gymnastics team. This is why I am nominating Bob Polkowski as educator of the year. Thank you, Coach Bob, for everything you have done for the team and for me. Now I’m a senior, and I can clearly see how you’ve helped me grow and mature since I met you as a freshman. I wouldn’t be who I am today without your help.