Balancing Act: UW Gymnastics

BY MARK MOSCHETTI FOR GOHUSKIES MAGAZINE

Where to from here?

So many college students everywhere ask themselves that question as they come close to completing their studies. Where to from here? Back in 2009, Ralph Rosso didn’t really know. A gymnast while earning a degree in general studies at the University of Michigan, he was staring at a future that essentially was still a blank piece of paper, Rosso didn’t even see a place for himself in gymnastics with his days in a team uniform now behind him. “When I was a competitor at Michigan, coaching was the last thing on my mind,” Rosso said. “I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do, even to the point when I graduated. I stayed in Ann Arbor for another two years and volunteered with the men’s team, and I really enjoyed working with the athletes and coaching staff. I really found a passion for it. I worked at a few club gyms to help pay for rent, and my passion grew for it more. “I always looked up to my coaches as role models,” he added. “Now, I’m on the other side of that fence and I can help (others) in their quest for their gymnastics goals.”

Since June of 2017, Rosso has been offering that help from his side of the fence in the University of Washington’s gym – first as an assistant coach and now as the interim head coach, taking over in late October when Elise Ray-Statz announced her departure after nine years, leaving the area to move closer to her family.

“I always knew how much she valued her family, as well as being a mother to her two young sons,” the 33-year-old Rosso said. “While I was not surprised, the timing threw me off guard a little bit. But I certainly support her in her endeavor in how she wants to take care of her family first.”

It already had been a most unusual time for Rosso when he was elevated to take over for Ray-Statz. The Huskies were just getting back to work after their program, along with college sports programs everywhere, was shut down in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

When everyone did get back into the gym, things certainly weren’t the same as they had been last March. Now, there were numerous health protocols that had to be followed just in order to practice. And, the roster looked markedly different from the squad that finished No. 11 in the final 2020 national rankings. Among those departing via graduation were All-American performers Madison Copiak, Kristyn Hoffa, Evanni Roberson, and Maya Washington. The current group of 13 includes three experienced returners, including All Pacific-12 Conference vaulter Geneva Thompson. Nearly half of Rosso’s team – six, to be precise – are freshmen. “This year, we’re going to be gaining in experience,” he said. “We want to build on previous successes, and we don’t want to take a step backward. We want to take a step forward.”

In his three years as an assistant to Ray-Statz, Rosso has been instrumental to keeping the Huskies in the national picture. In 2018, they won the regional title and made it to NCAAs. Last winter, the team finished 12th in the country on the uneven parallel bars, its best spot on that event since 2004. But aside from enjoying the success on the scoresheet, Rosso was simply enjoying the opportunity to coach here. “I always thought from afar that Seattle and the UW had a unique overlay of the college and the city,” he said. “Seeing it on TV, even as an East Coast person (Rosso grew up in New Jersey), I thought it would be a unique place to be part of this team.”

By the time Rosso arrived at Washington, he had seen a good part of the country through various coaching opportunities. After two years of volunteering at Michigan, he spent two seasons at Arkansas, where he served as a team manager while working on his master’s degree in recreation and sports management. Then it was on to Western Michigan as an assistant in 2014.

Rosso followed that with his first foray into the Pac-12. In two years at Arizona State, he was an assistant coach and an interim head coach. He then was an assistant coach in 2017 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., before heading to Seattle. “I had really great mentors,” he said. “I feel like I’ve learned from everyone along the way. But I’ve come into my own as a coach – more experience, more good or bad moments, having better experiences – I’ve learned from all of them.”

In developing his own style, Rosso is adamant about knowing each one of his gymnasts as well as he can so as to offer exactly the right kind of coaching at exactly the right time. “When they’re in a nervous, pressure situation, I need to give them advice this is only good for them,” he said. “It’s important for me to understand every one of them and know what’s happening on each event.” His particular approach certainly has resonated with junior Amara Cunningham, a veteran junior. “He definitely understands what being a woman gymnast is like – he’s super,” Cunningham said. “When we found out Elise was leaving, we were concerned because we had always had a woman head coach. She understood what we go through every day, and what it’s like to be a woman in sports. Ralph tries to connect with us and understand. He knows some days, we’re going to be emotional, and he gets that.”

Where to from here? Ralph Rosso is a long way from that graduation day at Michigan in 2009, when he still wasn’t sure in which direction life was going to take him. Now a family man with wife Andrea, who played golf for Michigan (she’s a nurse at the UW Medical Center) and two young sons, Rosso knows his direction. “I found I’ve been doing what I love,” he said. “You think of so many different things when you’re growing up. I always thought I would be a good Coast Guard officer. I wanted to jump out of a helicopter and be a rescue swimmer. Then you find your true passion and you can’t envision anything else. “This sport has given me and my family so much,” he added. “I can’t envision not giving back to it.”