Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - Stephen Nedoroscik

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

Today is a big day for us because we got to interview the legend known as “The Pommel Horse Guy” and that’s 2-time Olympic medalist, Stephen Nedoroscik! We’ve been dying to interview Stephen from the moment we saw him compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He stole the crowd with his contagious smile and lovable energy and he has continued his incredible journey on Dancing With the Stars, where he’s been absolutely crushing it! We left this interview loving Stephen even more than we did before meeting him and we hope you feel the same way :) Love you guys! Shawn & Andrew Follow Stephen on Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stephen_nedoroscik/?hl=en Follow our podcast Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/shawnandandrewpods/ Subscribe to our newsletter ▶ https://www.familymade.com/newsletter Follow My Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/ShawnJohnson Follow My Tik Tok ▶ https://www.tiktok.com/@shawnjohnson Shop My LTK Page ▶ https://www.shopltk.com/explore/shawnjohnson  Like the Facebook page! ▶ https://www.facebook.com/ShawnJohnson Follow Andrew’s Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/AndrewDEast Andrew’s Tik Tok ▶ https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewdeast?lang=en Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Second Cup. Where you can get your second cup. Yes. Chichum-chum. Inspirational. I am so excited about today. I have been geeking out about this.

I have gone on more rants about this guy in the past, how many months? Four months. Four months. Then probably any other athlete at the Olympics. Yeah. It is Stephen Netterazik. Yeah, Sean does a fan girl about really anybody, but we have been looking forward to this interview for so long. And she's just tickled at the impact that Stephen has had on men's gymnastics, really on the cultural conversation, on who were lifting up and idolizing as a culture.

Yes. And so we had a fantastic conversation. We talked about Olympics. We talked about dancing with the stars. We talked about his background and upbringing, what his interests are. I love the conversation every every second of it and I feel like he has so much wisdom so much so much so that I want to sit my kids down and say you have to watch this interview every year for the rest of your life yeah great he is awesome Stephen thank you so much for taking your time or taking time out your day also if you guys are watching dancing on the stars please check it out go vote for Stephen getting close to the end and if you want to find out more about Stephen see his pommel horse routine he's known as the pommel horse guy yeah uh And he just has an incredible story. We'll link his information down below.

But hope you enjoy this one with Stephen Naderazik. Stephen, welcome. I am so excited to talk to you. Yeah, and I'm excited to be here. This is really, it's got to be fun. Sean doesn't geek out about anybody, really, but she's been so excited to speak with you. So we're just grateful you gave us a time. And you're just sweeping the nation.

You're a huge deal, dude. Congrats. Thank you very much. I don't think I'm a huge deal, but I'm glad that I can, you know, make Sean happy. Thanks. I could literally go on a tangent for so long, but Stephen, I don't know if you have realized what you have done single-handedly for not just men's gymnastics, but young kids and just the entire social, I don't know, acceptance of what an icon looks like. Does it feel like you've done this? It definitely doesn't feel like I've done a whole lot, but I've seen like the

DMs where like parents are reaching out and they're like hey I want to let you know like my son has coloboma and he's interested in doing sports but was turned away from it but then he saw you and now he's going to go after it so I love to hear all those stories and I love that like you know kids look up to me and I can kind of be a role model for them going back to Paris where you dominated and you became a household name across the world um walk us through when was the first time during Paris, you realized you were a trending sensation. It's really funny because, like, I had no idea for a while. So I, like, landed my, you know, viral pommel horse routine, celebrated my team.

Got that bronze medal is, like, the best moment of my life. And then I had to go and do, like, an hour of media. And then I had to go get a drug test. So it took, like, three hours. And the whole time, I didn't have my phone on me. So I had no idea what was going on. And I was like, oh, my gosh, like, I'm missing dinner at my family. So after I got drug tested, I walked to, like, the restaurant only had about 15 minutes to eat food.

And, like, I sit down and, like, trying to stuff my face because I'm, like, starving. And then, like, my girlfriend tests, she's like, Steve, like, have you looked at your phone yet? And I'm like, no. And she's like, you have to open your phone up right now. Like, you were trending on Twitter. And I was like, what the heck? And, like, open my phone up. And it was just, like, going crazy.

And I was like, what is happening in my life right now? So, yeah, that was a very surreal moment. I want to paint a picture for people who are listening who might not understand. And this might sound a little bit brutal, but Stephen, you can help me here. The world hasn't, you know, men's gymnastics is phenomenal. I have watched every men's gymnastics Olympics since back when I was interested in gymnastics. But to have the world's attention on men's gymnastics is rare, if not for every four. years. You single-handedly broke that bigger ear. You became the pommel horse guy and you had the

entire world watching men's gymnastics. What did your teammates have to say? What did the teammates have to say? Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, like, they're flabbergasted that I somehow blew up. And like, they kind of saw it coming because like I was the last guy up in that on that team finals day. I was the last guy up. I was only doing one event. And there's a, this fun countdown thing going on to throughout the competition for me to compete. I mean, the guys are just so happy for me. And at the same time, they're so happy to hear all these stories of kids entering into the sport and, like, seeing people dressed up as pomm horses for Halloween.

It's just like, I mean, it's fantastic to have, like, this much vision on men's gymnastics because it is a sport that, like, basically, like, people haven't even heard of men's gymnastics, like, a lot of people. So it's like amazing to know that because of what me and my team did over this summer at Paris, like people are looking and like interested in the sport and putting their kids in it. And like more than anything, I am so excited to see what impact like our journey at the Olympics has on like the sport in general coming up in this like NCAA year when like it's going to be streamed and people can find a team that they resonate with and like really buy into the sport. So like I'm hoping that whatever I've done and whatever my teammates have done are going to help.

to continue to grow the sport in the country. Have you, would you say that your story has mostly been an underdog story, or have you always been like the chosen one? Which resonates more? I'm definitely more of an underdog story. Actually, like, definitely. Like, as a single event specialist, it is very rare to have any opportunity on the USA national team. So I was essentially the first specialist to make the national team back in 2018.

2019 back in 2019 when i first made my national team debut um and then like from there i just kind of kept pushing that boundary like i made it to world championships i won the first gold medal on pommel horse for the USA and then the next year i made a world team as a specialist which was essentially unheard of people uh were very turned away from that idea of having someone on a team that only does one event um and it didn't it did not go well when i was at that world team competition. I had a pretty bad competition. So then everyone was like, okay, so he's definitely not making the Olympics. And like from that moment when I messed up at 2022 World Championships, like that's when I was like, all right, dude. Like, it's time like lock in. Like, people are saying

you can't do it. Like, let's prove them wrong. So yeah, I kind of resonated that underdog story. Wow. I'm so curious your operating system, Stephen, because you have, you have like this delightful like you're not taking life too serious. You're up there having a blast in this high pressure moment. You're out there doing dancing with the stars. By the way, so smooth, dude. You're so smooth on the dance floor. But then you have, you know, you study electro-mechanical engineering, which is very kind of logistical, like mathematical, organized thing. You do this Rubik's Cube in under nine seconds, which is absurd. What is, what is, like, your approach to life? What's your philosophy on how you kind of maneuver through things? Yeah, I mean, I love a puzzle, and I think that gymnastics

itself is a puzzle. Like, every turn that I take in gymnastics, I'm recording it, I'm analyzing it, and then I'm making changes. And, like, that's kind of just, like, how I go through life. Like, I find a puzzle that I want to solve, and I solve it. So, like, of course, as the electrical engineer that I am. I love puzzle solving. The Rubik's Cube guy that started when I was 12 years old, you know, every, every aspect of my life is kind of like a puzzle that I'm trying to solve. And like, I think that, uh, in general, like, I do take life a little lightheartedly. I take things one day at a time and whatever pressure may come along with it. I face it head on. Um, I think just in general, I'm kind of just a normal dude who just

is a little bit of a geek and found himself as an elite athlete. you use the term geek but I think the world has called you Clark Kent so I think there's it's a good thing it's definitely a good thing yes going into Paris I feel like I'd be curious

since you are very smart and you're logistical and analytical and you have your strategy in place I would guess this outcome not the metal outcome but the attention side of it was different than expected how has this changed your trajectory, your journey afterwards, having now all of this spotlight,

all of this attention, being on Dancing with the Stars and all these opportunities? Yeah. I mean, it is unbelievable. Like I was telling Tess, my girlfriend, like yesterday, I was like, it seems like every week I'm doing something that is so amazing, like an opportunity that comes up that is just so amazing that it could be like the talking point of the month or even like the year. year. Like, it's just, it's amazing. And like, I could have never have calculated in my logical reasoning that, um, you know, how amazing after the Olympics was going to be for me, like, especially like dancing with the stars. I was terrified of joining, but like I knew it was an opportunity that I couldn't turn down because of that reason as someone who's never danced before.

Like, what can I do if I just put my full mind towards something and just try my hardest? And I've impressed myself with dancing the stars. And then we have all these like really fun opportunities that come up that like i just can't turn them down because of how amazing they all sound and like i know that um you know when i finally do get a little bit of time off in the near future i'm going to be able to like sit down and just like reflect on what this year has been and how amazing you know everything is going in my life and i just love it wow has it changed your expectations or goals in life like what what what were your five and 10 your goals at the beginning of 2024 and what are they now yeah so they are kind of similar like i always wanted to

continue the sport after 2024 but like i thought for sure at this point of the year i would be kind of chilling and like not doing a whole lot like i thought that like these few months you know leading up until like december we're going to be so chill and i'd be able to just like you know play around in the gym just like hang out and really reflect on the olympics and man did that not happened. I mean, and it's such a good thing it didn't happen because I'm loving every day of my life right now. But it is funny because I'm a lot busier than I ever could have anticipated. And in general, like those five to 10 year plans, it's going to be like, I'm going to continue the sport until my body falls apart until I can't do it anymore. And after that,

I'm going to be an electrical engineer. So pretty simple plans. Simple, but yet incredible. You just said you're going to be an electrical engineer. I can't wait for that day either. I love being an electrical engineer. It's going to be so fun to finally sit down and build stuff. Amazing. What's your dream job in that field? So I don't necessarily have a dream job yet.

I have like dream places I'd want to be like, you know, being in like Silicon Valley working basically for anyone would be a dream come true as an electrical engineer. But like in general, I just want to find something like that resonates with me, maybe just like with my beliefs or like working on something that I think would help people like, I don't know, like solar panels or something cool like that would be really fun to dive into. Now, I am just an electrical engineer with, you know, a four-year degree that's four years old at this point and untouched. So I can't really talk like I'm an amazing engineer or even smart, but I do want to make sure that I use my engineering background for something that I think

would help people. Well, a little piece of advice, Stephen, use your platform now and scream it from the mountain top is exactly where you want to go. again you have the world's attention so i'm sure anybody in silicon valley would be lucky to have you that's sweet of you step of you stephen do i know you're busy but do you dig in and do a lot of learning in your free time these days um funny enough like i don't like do like academic learning like i don't go and look at research papers or anything like that but like you know i do find it fun to like watch certain YouTubers like three blue one brown an amazing like math YouTuber just has like these amazing videos that like you can learn a lot of and he

starts them from like you know the very ground base and builds it up for you so like you kind of go on this like academic adventure and like there are other YouTubers like that too that I watch so I do very much enjoy like learning math or like physics or just like chemistry like just like on my free time like I find that entertaining in general what uh so math is a current interest what would be some other current interests of yours yeah so like um like uh like uh like in general or like what do i watch yeah what like what are you digging into right now i've been watching a lot of like these like chemistry videos like every night it's kind of what i've been watching before i go to bed just like random stuff like let's clean this sodium oxide thing and i'm

like okay let's watch that and like it's just like there's something satisfying about watching them like take these beakers and like these tubes and like explaining what's happening and like showing what chemical reactions going on and I'm like I don't understand any of it that I find it so cool and entertaining yeah it's so fun we have a you're into robotics a bit aren't you yeah definitely so our uh our two kids we have a five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son and oh nice I'm trying to we try to do daily science experiments the most recent one was a solar powered robot that you could like sweet on a bow or you could put like legs depending on how you build it it could do different functions but it's

pretty interesting um and you just said you had the the interest in solar panel but just the the practice of like building that skill set from an early age is is really fun we'll also try to watch some fun yeah youtube is such an incredible resource you're like wow this is insane yeah no youtube is insane and it's so cool to hear that like you're getting your kids into like robotics and like you know scientific stuff I remember when I was a kid, I think I was like eight years old, like I took apart a toy truck of mine. And for like my school project, I literally just had the motor and the wheels and I made a robot. I just flipped the battery around and make it go backwards and forwards. But like that was so cool to me.

So like it's really cool that you're sort of like giving your kids the opportunity to like discover science. Yeah, it's been a blast. You have a twin, right? Yeah, I do. Are you all similar or different? I think when it comes to siblings in general, there's always going to be like that. 90% overlap of like similarities like you just grew up in the same environment you guys are kind of the same people but then like that 10% that like is left over is so different so like my sister

she's you know a very very smart individual she went to a fantastic school holy cross she got two degrees one uh in mathematics and one in theater which are very different degrees to get um but she's currently a teacher and i mean yeah we have a whole lot of similarities I'm going to say difference but also very similar you meddled on the pommel horse but you're an electrical engineer it's the same thing who's just a beast on the dance for too that alone is a perfect way of looking at that like that's so funny I haven't even thought of it that way yeah I'm saying finding yourself on dancing with the stars how has that experience been for you oh my god I mean being on dancing the stars has been amazing like every person that is involved in the show whether it's makeup costume production.

They're like a family. They're so sweet and kind. Like, it's amazing. But, like, getting onto the show itself, I was so nervous because I literally have never danced. Like, not even, like, with my friends at a club or anything. Like, I just don't do it. So, like, when I got invited to be a part of, you know, this amazing show, all my friends

are like, dude, are you sure you want to do that? Like, I have never seen you dance. Like, you can't dance. And I was like, you're right. I can't. So, like, at least I'll be able to be the person that. like, you know, other people can look at that have never danced and be like, okay, let's see how this goes. If you actually put the work in, how good can you get it dance if you've never done it

before? And I've just loved this journey. It has been amazing. And it really kind of brings me back to like those early days in gymnastics where you're learning like the basic steps on each event, but like I'm doing it on the dance floor. And like there's this sort of fun thing that happens every week where like you go through like this learning curve and by that Tuesday that when it finally comes around to like the competition you know it's really just like um what's the word it's really um fulfilling to like be able to do it and like see how much you improved over a week so i'm curious i just had to learn my first dance it was the most humiliating thing like i always come in with way more confidence than i deserve to have and then i underperform but with dancing it was like

how do you learn the dances? Because for me, I have no framework or understanding of like what the process. I can't see the big picture, you know, like I can with other things just because it's so new. So I had someone teaching me and I was literally just trying to memorize every single move in the right pattern. How are you going about learning these dances? Yeah. So like you're kind of spot on with like my learning philosophy anyways. Like step one for me is like let's learn the steps. Let's just make sure that we know what we're doing with our feet. And then you kind of just like add on different layers is the way I look at it. So like first it's like let's get the steps right. And now let's start to get the music. And then let's start to get the form of everything

and like refine, refine. And by like the time that like a week goes by and you put in 20 hours of work into the dance, it looks pretty good. So like I think like in general, especially with dance, it's such like a, there's something vulnerable about it because it is hard. And like you look so silly if you're doing it wrong like you kind of just have to take that ego hit and just be like okay i'm going to look really dumb for a couple days here but it's going to be worth it in the end when like i can look at the finished product and see where i started yeah well it's nuts because it's one thing to just like learn the steps and that's another thing to do it with a little bit of style and it's another thing to like when i was learning my dance my face the whole time was

so like locked up or like concentrated and then you look at the pros do it and they're smiling they look like they're just having fun but like you know that there's a million things that they're like calculating in their head the face part of it i have to say the hardest it's so hard to like have moments in your dance or like you're smiling or like you look at a camera that is incredibly difficult it's always the last layer i throw on yeah which has been more nerve-racking was it stepping onto the floor in paris or stepping onto the dance floor in l.a they were both nerve-racking for very different reasons uh obviously i have to choose my lifetime goal of being an Olympian as probably the one that's a lot more nerve-wracking.

But there is something that is just so different about dance. And it was like a whole new world for me to jump into. And like just like that like I'd say like the Olympics, the hour leading up to my event was like the most stressful time of my entire life. But like with dance, it's been like, you know, when I first started that first three week period, it was like I had that same level of stress stretched out over three weeks because it was like a whole new world of not only dance but like being in LA and talking with producers and wearing a mic all day and like it was just like a crazy adventure yeah I guess maybe the

nerves from the Olympics was just because you've worked for it for decades and the nerves from dancing was because it was like a totally foreign exercise for you and it's like and that's exactly what it is you're 100% right that's exactly what I felt yeah I'm curious with all of the limelight that you have, how that has affected you and Tess's relationship? Oh, we're doing fantastic. Luckily for me, Tess works remotely, so she was able to fly out and live here in L.A. with me for this amazing experience. We were also able to bring our kitty, Kushu.

He was wrestling around earlier. I'm sure you guys might have heard him. But, you know, we pretty much just took our normal life and brought it to L.A. and although I might be busy for six hours, 10 hours a day, whatever happens, like, you know, we're still us, we're still have our relationship and we make everything work. Do you feel like you're prepared to have life maybe never be not this busy again? I have a feeling it will calm down eventually, but if it doesn't, it's a blessing, right? And like it's a privilege to be as busy as I am right now doing all these amazing things.

So, you know, whatever comes my way, I'm just going to keep my chin up high. and go after it full force. But, yeah, you know, I'd be totally cool if my life stayed this busy. Yeah. I'm curious, going back to the little boy who fell in love with gymnastics way back when, now being in the position you're in, what would you tell this generation of kids who are going, whether it's towards science or going into school or a new sport, what is the message you'd have for them? I mean, in general, just like, find what you want.

want to do and go after it. Like, don't make excuses for yourself. Just, like, find something simple. For me, when I was growing up, like, I wanted to be able to do, like, a hard skill on palm horse. It was called a flop. And it probably took me three years to be able to actually do it. But, like, I put in extra work every single day to be able to do it. And I think in general, like, growing up especially, you are so much smarter than you think you are. Like, kids, they have the malubility of their brain. They can really learn things so much better than anyone else like if you as a child wants to learn a rubik's cube you could do that in a week you could learn how to do a rubic cube in a week easily and i just think like for any kid that's growing up just like

find what your dream is and make a plan go after it and in general that's kind of just how i've gone through life too describe how you were raised stephen i'm curious i know your your uh your father worked in the police department your mom was uh at a bank maybe is that right uh yeah so my mom worked for my grandfather for most of my childhood, he ran an auction hall. So that was fun. And as a kid, I'd go and help out with that and stuff too, which is like super fun to like walk around and give people water or something. I don't even remember what I did. But like growing up, like, you know, I have an amazing family. I have two sisters, one that's older and I have a twin sister. Um, you know, my mom and dad born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts on a lake. So I had this like,

you know, I was just kind of blessed to be on a lake fishing with my dad at 5 a.m. going on a little boat ride and stuff. In general, life was just calm. Kind of. Were they engaging you in all these activities? Were they pushing you to do science experience? What were some of like the activities that you all would do or the rhythms that you had as a family? As a family, they never really pushed me to do anything. They kind of just wanted me to do what I wanted to do. And, you know, they loved that I was pursuing gymnastics, and they loved that I was good at it. And they never told me, like, any expectations in the sport. They always said, like, you know, we're proud of you no matter what.

We just want you to enjoy what you're doing and see where it goes. And, like, the same thing goes for, like, you know, education. Like, my parents were always, you know, if you get a C, that's a bad thing. Like, no C's in the household. But, like, they would always, like, gift us if we got straight A's. So, like, if I got straight A's for, like, the full year of school, which is unreal, you know, I did it, like, one time. They gave me $100, and that was, like, so much money to me.

And, you know, that was just the type of parents I had. They kind of, like, wanted to give me my space and allow me to sort of go after the dreams that I had on my own without putting any extra pressure on me. Would you describe which is more accurate? Your household was, like, pretty rigid and disciplined and structured, or was it more trusting and individualistic, maybe? I think a little bit of both. I think growing up, my household was very disciplinary.

Like, you know, especially for a kid that had ADHD, I was kind of just bouncing off the walls, not only in the house, but like at school and stuff. So, like, you know, I went to a pretty strict, like, what's it called? Elementary school. I went to a pretty strict elementary school. And, you know, I think that going to, like,

a stricter elementary school itself kind of help. shape me into someone that puts myself into someone else's perspective. I think like when that aspect of me is like a little kid awoken, like I was able to be like, oh crap, like I am bouncing off the walls and I kind of gained this ability to self reflect on all the actions that I was doing and how that affects other people, you know. So I think growing up I was sort of disciplined and then like as I got older and like my parents and I earned each other's trust, like it became that household where we could just trust each other. What type of high school did you go to?

It was a technical high school, and that's where you started your electromechanical engineer. I've never heard of any experience like that. Yeah, so, I mean, it's amazing. And I'm actually amazed that more people don't go to a technical high school. So, like, for me, I could have gone to, like, the normal high school where my sisters went, but I didn't want to do that. I wanted to go to a technical high school where I could choose one of, I think, 26, trades that were at the school. It's just a trade school. And I decided to go into the one that would

set me up best for engineering, which happened to be robotics and automation technology. Shout out to Worcester Tech. I love you guys. I try to visit them as much as I can. And I think that it just set me up so well going into college because I had, you know, one week where I would just focus on my trade. And then I'd have the next week where I would just focus on academics like any other normal student but like i had this like really rich sort of experience being able to build with my hands code and like make circuitry and like i covered so many so much stuff over a four-year period in high school like i could have gone straight to like a state job and worked for like you know uh traffic lights like setting those things that with plc's ladder logic and like um it's really

cool to have that experience as a high school or someone who's 13 years old can start looking at what electrical engineers begin at and it's just like such a blessing that I was able to go to that school and it fed me straight into college and I had like so much better background on like binary and code than all these other engineering students so it totally gave me like this like advantage for college it's it's such a beautifully redemptive paradox where here you have this impairment of your vision but it seems like you're 25 26 It seems like you have such a sharp, clear vision for your life. And it's like, it's amazing, dude.

I feel like it's so rare and kudos to you. I don't know if they're correlated at all. Or if you would say, like, your experience and all these hurdles you've had to jump has sparked that approach that you have to life or not, but it's impressive. Thank you very much. I do think that, like, facing things in general and, like, you know, overcoming has been like a common theme in my life. And I think that because of that, like, I just go after goals way harder than other people or something. Because when I have a goal in mind, it's pretty

much the only thing I think about every day. I also think it's interesting. You started off this interview talking about men's gymnastics and how rare it is and how hard it is to find opportunities as a specialist from a young age when it seems like every aspect of your life has actually been very specialized from such a young age that it's actually led you to have a lot more opportunity than the average person who would have gone and done every, you know, apparatus in men's gymnastics and gone to a normal high school. Your specialty is actually what has made you so incredibly successful. And it's, I think, a very inspirational story for a lot of people to listen to. Well, thank you very much. I

did do all the events though throughout high school and then i became a specialist but yeah no my life has been a very interesting journey to say the least and you know i think that a lot of the things that i've had happened like a technical high school it's almost kind of lucky that it worked out as well as it did a lot of things in my life have you heard of the book david and goliath by malcolm gladwell no i haven't actually it's interesting uh this conversation just sparked it's like you know uh it's about the story of David and Goliath and how people are like, oh, the little guy took out the big giant, but then he kind of dissect it. He's like, no, he actually used his seemingly weakness that he had and transform that into a strength to actually work smarter instead of

doing it the traditional way. And it kind of resonates with your story, I think. Oh, I love that. But how was it being a nittany lion? Love Penn State. Hell, I mean, heck, I loved it so much. much. I loved it so much that I stayed next year two and a half years. I mean, Penn State getting there as, I wasn't the best gymnast in high school. I didn't get a single recruiting trip, which is like typical of like an athlete, they fly you out, they show you the university. I didn't get a single one of those. So me and my mom, we took a road trip. We visited Penn State, Ohio State, and Illinois, or University of Illinois. And I chose Penn State because it seemed like

it was the best university for gymnastics and my club coach told me like if you're going to be a palm horse specialist go to penn state so i went to pen state and i immediately was like oh crap like these guys are insane at gymnastics like i came from a small club gym up in massachusetts and then to like walk into a collegiate university and see you know the fantastic gymnastics that is collected from around the nation in this one gym i was like you know blown away and like immediately I was planning on doing more than just palm horse, but then I was like, I have to at least be the best palm horse guy in this gym, like first. So that was kind of like walking in. That's like my experience. And I just loved it so much that even after I graduated, I stuck around because

I resonated with the coaching staff so well. And then even like the team, like the guys that were below me. I loved all the guys so much. They were like still a team to me even after I graduated. So I stayed around for two and a half years and then finally left. And, you know, I still visit Penn State as much as I can. Well, wait, you stayed an extra two and a half years? Yeah, I did. So I graduated in 2020 and I stayed until the end of 2022. Just living in Happy Valley? Yep, just living in Happy Valley, live in paycheck to paycheck, scraping whatever I could together to continue doing the sport I love. What were you doing for work? Um, straight up, I was just on the senior national team, so I was making basically the exact amount of money to survive.

Wow. Wow. That's wild. I'm, obviously, Penn State is crushing in football right now. Yeah, they are. They're doing great. Yeah, I know. It's really fun to watch. The coach I played for in college is now at Penn State. So I'm, I'm pretty partial to their success. You have partial Nittany Lion background, man. Yeah. And did you ever go to Woodward growing up up there in the? Actually, I didn't go to Woodward. I knew that it was a massive. camp that happened in Pennsylvania every year and even when I was at Penn State and stuff they never invited me to like coach or anything so like I've never been to Woodward wow interesting Sean went for years many years I did a year yeah I mean it's like the biggest virtually but yeah it's like

she is a mini line yeah yeah you're ninny lion I am we are oh I didn't know that Penn State baby I did I did a year virtually so That counts. I don't know if you play it fully. You're one of us. Yeah. I adore Penn State. It's interesting.

It's got to be one of the only sports where the men, the men side of things get less resources and attention than the women. Well, if pommel horse guy comes back for 28. Let's go. I'd say it's pretty equal. Oh, yeah. That's great. Are you going to run for 28? A hundred percent.

Like, that has always been the goal. I literally said it. before like 2024, I was like, no matter what happens going into 2024, like, I'm going for 2028. It's just, I love the sport too much to let it go. I'm curious what your motivators are. You mentioned you like solving a puzzle. Are you like, are you driven by the financial side of things? Do you like the attention side of things? Or what, like, what keeps you striving? I think it, it's not financial at all. Like, in fact, I didn't, expect to really make any money off of gymnastics. I think it's more of just like a pride thing.

It's like I put so much time and effort into this thing that I find to be a beautiful sport. And it doesn't feel like I've done the best I can yet. And I want to get to the point where like I finally do something and I'm like, that was it. That was the moment where that was the best I could do and I can't get any better. But like I still find myself getting better and better every day in the gym. So it's like I don't know when the journey will end, but as long as I'm getting better and still enjoying the sport and my body can handle it, I'm going to continue, 100% going to continue. I want to bridge the gap for our listeners real quick. So if you could humor this question,

can you explain why in the United States we take a pommel horse specialist on our men's team to the Olympics? Yeah. So it was definitely a risky sort of decision, not risky. but like different. It was a different path that USA Gymnastics has ever taken. And the way that they selected the team was we took all the competitors from USA championships and all the competitors from USA Olympic trials. And we took all of their scores and kind of built up this algorithm where it would select five people teams and figure out what the best scoring teams were.

So that is like essentially how they selected the team. but like the one criteria that they put in that actually locked my spot on the Olympic team was that if you took, you know, the four score average. So that's four competitions that we did. And if we averaged what the score was and then find the best team, like I was the first team that came up. And then they did that same sort of thing with the top three scores that you got throughout those competitions and found what the best team was. So this one criteria they had is that if the three score average and the four, floor score average Olympic team was the same through that algorithm. It was the locked team.

And that's how it worked out for me. And I think it was probably the only way I could have made that Olympic team. Wow. Wow. Well, it paid off. What are you most proud of, Stephen? in. I think the thing that I find myself so surprised and proud of is that this year, I hit nine routines in a row, which is for me unprecedented, especially in a sport where I'm kind of pushing the difficulty to like, you know, it's kind of like a routine that's, you know, top in the world difficulty wise. And then to hit that nine competitions in a row. Like I fell one time at Winter Cup this year, and I thought it was going to cost me my spot on national team. And luckily for me, USAG, they said, we think you're good enough to go out there and

get, you know, international medals, so we're going to put you on the team. And I went to Baku World Cup. I hit those routines. I won the Baku World Cup on Pommel Horse, and from there on, I haven't missed a routine. And I think that just looking at that, and especially with my history of the sport, because Pommel Horse is such an unstable event, and I've fallen so many times in the past to like kind of look at this year and and say oh my gosh i hit nine in a row like that is pretty unreal and i'm i'm more than anything impressed with that about myself so you mentioned your first debut with the uh olympic team or the national team did not go well is that right yeah no back in 2019 it was kind of a train wreck i think anyone's first

international meet typically is yes what happened Okay, yeah, so it was in Doha, and I was super nervous. I actually qualified to the event final. I kind of did like a scrappy routine and was like in the eighth position to qualify, I think, to that like event final. And I was like, oh my God, like maybe I am good at this on an international scale. Because I actually had no idea where I'd land because it's one thing to be judged in the USA. And then it's a whole different field to be judged internationally when you're going against world champions and people that have all this international experience. So, like, being able to make an event final was a big deal, but then I could not handle the pressure.

And it took me a few World's Cups internationally to be able to figure out how to handle international pressure. But I ended up falling, and I tried to take it with, like, a smile, but, like, I was so disappointed in myself. How do you handle it now? Honestly, I think that, like, because I just have experience in that environment that I've acclimated. And that's kind of like a recurring theme in my gymnastics. career is that it typically takes me like three competitions in an environment to be able to do well. It's like NCAA, my first competition, I really messed up. And then the second competition, I messed up bad. And then the third one, I beat the last year's like reigning

NCAA champion on Palmer Horse. And, you know, it was the same thing with like going to like Winter Cup in USA's like the like USA championship events. It took me three tries to be able to do well enough to make like the national team and it is funny and then like the international stuff it took me three competitions to be able to do well internationally luckily for me it only took one Olympics to do well but you know I think that is kind of like a fun recurring theme I think that's a beautiful perspective too and it kind of takes the it kind of takes the pressure off when you have hey this this might take me a little bit to warm up too but when that when your debut on the national team didn't go well, how do you respond to that, how do you respond to that when things don't go

well? I mean, I think I even made like an Instagram post about like it. And like I'm pretty self-reflecting in like my Instagram post, especially like gymnastics competitions. Like I was definitely, you know, disappointed in myself. But at the same time, like I try to find a positive. Like making my first event final was such a big deal. And I could immediately say I was top eight at a World's Cup, and that's an amazing accomplishment in itself. But I think more than anything, whenever you do something that doesn't go your way, look for, like, the positives that went along with it. Maybe it was just the journey, or maybe it was just, like, having the courage to face it

and, like, go after it. But I think so long as you don't let it, like, actually hurt you, like, after that competition, I didn't, I wasn't, like, scared to go to another competition. In fact, like, I was like, I want to go to another one and do better. And I think that's like something about me is like if I mess up, I don't want to like shy away from it and never do it again. Like I want to go back and do it again because like I know I can do it better. Wow. That's really good.

I just want to say also before the next question, can I just thank you as now a mom now that I just want our kids to like listen to this? Every piece of advice that you have, your humility, your drive. your passion, your ability to, like, find humor and light and joy. It's just, I'm like, yeah, we're just going to sit our kids down and make sure they watch this. Oh, I really appreciate that. Our son had his first competition, not in gymnastics and BMX of all things. I don't know how our three ones in BMX. Wait, you said he's five?

He's three. Three, and he's doing BMX? That's so cool. He's an animal. We had someone ask us. Like, did you push this on him? I'm like, trust me, this is not the thing we would have chosen as parents if this is.

It's truly his thing. But he had his first competition last week. And as a three-year-old, he's already, we're trying to figure out how to, like, how do you foster, like, healthy competition in a kid? But it was, he, like, crossed his finish line. He got third. And I don't think he even understood what was happening, obviously.

But he saw the first place kid get a trophy. And he's like, well, where's my trophy? we were like oh baby you didn't get a trophy you know you came a third but if you cross the finish line first next time you can get a trophy and he's like oh okay let's go again yeah that's like the perfect mindset i've ever heard he's already there he's got 20 years of experience yeah we were really shocked by it so his next one's this weekend we'll see um but moving forward uh and dancing with the stars you are nearing the end um myself and myself and my daughter have actually been out there and we watched you and we were I was so excited for you you're so good dude you're so good she's so smooth I don't know how to describe it you're just like cruising out there dude I am not going to lie when I say like there has not been a male gymnast on the show so you just never know like you said you had never danced before I was like I don't know what to

expect this is the premiere and when you went out there holy crap Stephen you're so good Anyways, as you near the end, what are your goals now finishing out the season of Dancing with the Stars? Yeah, well, first of all, thank you so much for, you know, it feels so good to hear that because dance is such like an intimidating thing. And like, it's a vulnerable thing and, you know, it feels nice to be able to hear that you guys enjoy watching me dance. But my goal has been very constant throughout this journey. And it's just to like fall in love with it and to get as good as I can. and luckily for me I have an amazing partner and like me and Riley we just like resonate with one another just like on like a personality level not even just like a coach and student level like I think like I just have a fantastic coach who's made this journey so fun and exciting and my goal is just to get as good as I can and go out there and whatever happens happens I'm not too worried about winning I'd love to win but you know even in gymnastics it's never my goal to win I think that that's sort of a byproduct of the work you put in into it.

I love that. Well, we'll be voting. Are you concurrently, are you still training for gymnastics while you're out there? Actually, I'm not. And this is the longest gymnastics break I've ever taken in my life. And I'm a little scared about my comeback into the sport. But, you know, a few weeks ago, we had a pome horse as part of the dancer team. And I got like a solid 30 minutes where, like, you know, no one was looking and I was

like playing around and doing some actual gymnastics on it. and I kind of still got some moves. So, like, I don't think it's going to be the worst comeback, especially with how much, like, in shape dance keeps you. Like, I think that when I finally do get to come back to gymnastics, it'll be able to be picked up easily again. Are you big into fitness and nutrition? Not really.

In fact, if a nutritionist saw what I ate, they'd probably be like, oh, God. What do you eat these days? I'm curious. all right so this is funny and it comes with certain statistics behind it too but um every single night i have a heaping bowl of ice cream that's around 700 calories and it is important for me to have that because i generally don't have a huge appetite like i eat my three meals a day but like i don't eat like a big meal like i eat until like i feel like i've eaten enough i don't eat until like i'm stuffed full um so like i don't get enough calories throughout my day and like

Last year at like national team camp, they did so like blood work and everything was really good for me except for my bone density. They're like, hey, like your bone density is just like a little bad. And like we need to make sure that like you're eating enough calories that your bone density isn't taking this sort of toll. So I was like, okay. And I was like, how do I do that? And they like gave me healthy snacks and I tried it.

And I was like, I can't eat that much food. Like I can't eat that much healthy food. So I settled for ice cream. And every single competition that I brought like a job. junk food to, like whether that's cookies or ice cream, I've done well. And every competition in the past year that I didn't bring it to, I did bad. So even at the Olympics, I made sure to bring my Girl Scout cookie tag alongs. I brought like a ton of them to the Olympics. And I remember it was literally like I had to like ration them out to make sure that the night before

competitions, I was able to have my tag alongs. And I'd make sure to have like my 700 calorie snack. And it worked out beautifully for me. tag alongs we talking we're talking like a whole sleeve we're talking like two or three so if I remember correctly um I think it was every two cookies of a tag along was like 200 calories or something they're calorie dense food yeah so I would just eat like six of them and hit like my or like six to eight of them or something and hit like the mark I was going for it I was like okay when I wake up tomorrow I'm going to have the sugar in my system and I'll be ready to go for the day

That's funny. And then your fitness routine, are you like into lifting weights or are you pretty much gymnastics exclusive? Yes. This is one of my like hot takes as a gymnast that, you know, I think that like weightlifting itself is very important when it comes to like joint mobility and like rehab. I think that if you're doing like weightlifting for like muscle growth itself in the sport of gymnastics, I think that kind of like offsets your body's equilibrium in a sport

that's completely calisthetic, my personal belief is that, like, the strength or like the muscle growing things that you do should be calisthetic exercises. So whenever I do any weightlifting, it's not a lot of weight. And it's strictly just for like strengthening my shoulders or my wrists or, you know, my back. You know, just generally things like that. I think that's smart. I like it. I want to revisit. So the tag long thing, really good insight. Is there anything else that people don't know about your experience at the at the Olympics i mean i was pretty much just like i was so boring at the olympics that like people don't know that like i didn't do anything like there's like this entire Olympic village and you know we're on this one corner over here and it goes

all the way up to over here and i pretty much is stuck in this corner the whole time i didn't do oops i didn't do like any adventuring or anything fun i was so locked in on the mission that we had ahead of us that, like, I didn't really allow myself to explore Paris whatsoever. I'm curious, so Sean and I look up to you, we want our kids to look up to you, who do you look up to? Yeah, this is the crazy one too. Growing up, I didn't watch sports at all, and, like, I didn't even, like, watch gymnastics. Like, I enjoyed doing the sport so much, but I never really had a role model in it whatsoever.

And, like, it didn't, it took until maybe, like, um, kind of like, college when I started to think about who it is I look up to. And like the conclusion that like I really got to is like the people I look up to are my competitors. And like I look up to the people that I'm worried about, you know, the people that I'm worried can beat me. And I think like in general, that's just what keeps me motivated in the sport is like I want to be the best in the world. And right now I'm looking at this dude who's a little better than me. So I'm going to keep chasing him until I'm better. Wow. That's great. Do we get to meet Tess? Is she around or no?

Yeah. Here, Tess. They want to say hi. Oh, and we got to meet Koojoo too. You want to meet Kershue too? Let's get them. Come here, buddy. Grab the cat.

Here's an air pod. Gov it in. An air pod. All right. Here comes Tess and the cat. Oh, the whole squad here. Tess, hello. Hey, Kuzu.

Oh, my God. So good to meet you. Great to meet you. I didn't realize this is here. Hi. Oh, wow. Okay. Here's two.

Hey. Well, it's great to meet you guys. And you competed at Penn State as well. Yes, they did. Amazing. I said, I can't really call myself a Nittany Lion, but I did one year virtual at Penn State, and I adore Penn State. It counts. That's enough.

I think I said the exact same thing. It counts. It counts. That's enough. Welcome to the family. Yeah. Well, we absolutely. I mostly adore you guys.

Adore you guys. And our voting and our cheering and your guys is like best cheerleaders. Best fans. I know you're not trying, you know, your focus isn't on winning. But we would love to. Bring it home, Stephen. Bring it home. I'll try my absolute hardest to bring it home.

Love it. Thanks so much for the time. Tess, sorry to rope you into this, but it was great to meet you. I completely forgot. I knew, I saw the name of the podcast. and, like, you know, this is his thing that he works with. So I was like, yeah, okay, cool. I was not expecting each other.

See you, sitting here. Well, it's great to see you again. You guys have a great Friday, all right. Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me. This was an absolute blast, and thanks for cheering me on. And good luck to the BMX competition this weekend. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Yeah.