Stephen Graham Named Assistant Coach For EMU Gymnastics

Stephen Graham Named Assistant Coach For EMU Gymnastics

The Eastern Michigan University gymnastics program added a new addition to its coaching staff in the form of Stephen Graham, Head Coach Katie Minasola announced Wednesday, Sept. 13. Graham will join the staff as an assistant coach after 19 years of combin

Sep 13, 2017 by Rebecca Johnson
Stephen Graham Named Assistant Coach For EMU Gymnastics
Release via EMU Athletics

YPSILANTI, Michigan -- The Eastern Michigan University gymnastics program added a new addition to its coaching staff in the form of Stephen Graham, head coach Katie Minasola announced Wednesday. Graham will join the staff as an assistant coach after 19 years of combined coaching experience.

"I am extremely excited to welcome Stephen to the EMU Gymnastics program," said Minasola.

His knowledge and passion for the sport will help continue the successful path of this program. He shares my vision for this program and together we can help our athletes achieve their goals.
Graham is most recently coming off an 11-year coaching stint as a level 9, 10, and elite women's coach at Woodward West, where he mentored and trained visiting coaches and staff on effective spotting techniques, and served as the head apparatus coach on vault, bars, and floor. In his last year at Woodward West, Graham was also the women's team coach at SoCal Gymnastics Training Center, producing consistent vault champions.

In 2012-13, he acted as the head bar and vault coach for the Vernon Lee Amateur Gymnastics Academy. There he produced level 3 World IGC Individual Champions as well as team championships in levels 4-8.

Before Vernon Lee, Graham found success with the Monarchs National gymnastics team in Newbury Park, California. While serving as the interim boys' team head coach and women's team coach, he led the level 4 men's team to a state championship on the pommel horse. Additionally, he headed the creation of the men's team at Agoura Hills, becoming the program director and head coach.

Much like his time with the Monarchs, Graham was also the interim boys' team head coach and women's team coach, as well as the recreational director, for Platinum Gymnastics. There he created a men's team developmental program and helped train and monitor the implementation of the lesson plans he produced for the coaching staff.

From 2004-06, he trained gymnasts levels 6-9 as an assistant coach for LA Valley College's womens team, helping lead the team to its first ever sectional and state championships. A year prior to heading to LAVC, he spent the season as a mobile gymnastics and recreational coach for Gymnastics Olympica, where he was a part of a staff that oversaw approximately 500 athletes. His first ever coaching experience came in 1999, when he served as a power tumbling coach for Capital Gymnastics in Texas.

In 2016, he received his first master's degree in architecture from Newschool of Architecture & Design. Before that he received his bachelor's degree in communications and sports psychology from Springfield College, where he was the team captain for the pommel horse. Graham was also a part of UCLA's gymnastics team in 2004 and 2007, where he served as the team captain in both years and earned the NAIGC National Floor and High Bar Championship in 2007.