Rhonda Faehn is an American college gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

 coach and former college and elite gymnast. Faehn is the current head coach

Head coach

A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

 of the Florida Gators women's gymnastics team of the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

. She is best known for leading the Florida Gators to seven consecutive appearances in the National Collegiate Athletic Association

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 (NCAA) Division I gymnastics tournament.

Coaching career

After taking over the Florida program in 2003, Faehn has established herself among the top tier of gymnastics coaches in the United States. She has compiled a record of 138–36–2 as the head coach at the University of Florida. Her teams have finished no lower than fourth in the SEC, widely regarded as the toughest gymnastics conference in the country. In 2003 and 2004, Florida placed second in their NCAA regional. From 2005 to 2008, the Gators won four consecutive NCAA regional tournaments. During her seven seasons as the head coach of the Gators, Florida has finished in the top ten NCAA gymnastics teams in the nation every year, never finishing lower than seventh at the NCAA championship.

Prior to coaching at Florida, she coached at the University of Maryland

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

 from 1997 to 1998, and at the University of Nebraska from 1999 to 2002. She is an alumna of UCLA.

During her elite career, Faehn was coached by Bela Karolyi

Béla Károlyi

Béla Károlyi is a Romanian gymnastics coach. He was born in what was then Kolozsvár, Hungary, a region restored to Romanian administration after 1944. Károlyi and his wife, Márta, also of Hungarian origin, emigrated to the United States in 1981 and both have dual citizenships for Romania and the...

 at Karolyi's gym in Texas. Faehn finished 12th at the 1986 US National Championships, but had her greatest achievements in 1987, when she finished 6th at the National Championships, and won the National title on vault, scoring perfect 10s on her laid-out Yurchenko vaults in both the All-Around Competition and Vault Final. She competed at the 1987 World Championships as part of the American team, and had the highest placement for the American women in the All-Around Final, finishing 19th. In 1988, her last year as an elite senior, Faehn finished 6th at the US Nationals, and defended her national title on vault. She finished 7th at the Olympic Trials and was named the alternate to the US Olympic Team.

Honors

• 2003 NACGC Southeast Region Co-Coach of the Year
• 2005 NACGC Southeast Region Coach of the Year
• 2006 SEC Coach of the Year
• 2007 NACGC Southeast Region Coach of the Year
• 2007 SEC Coach of the Year
• 2007 NACGC Coach of the Year

See also

• Florida Gators
  Florida Gators
  The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
  
  
• History of the University of Florida
  History of the University of Florida
  The history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida, colloquially known as "Florida" or "UF," originated as several distinct institutions that were merged to create a single state-supported university by the...
  
  
• List of University of California, Los Angeles people
• University Athletic Association
  University of Florida Athletic Association
  The University Athletic Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for maintaining the Florida Gators intercollegiate sports program of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida...
  
  

External links

• http://www.gatorzone.com/gymnastics/bios.php?year=2003&bio=faehn.html
• http://www.gymn-forum.net/Results/usnat-results.html