Sandi Alatorre
Dance Program Director/ Preschool Gymnastics Program Director
Advice to students:
"Remember, the potty is right outside the preschool room door!"
Sandi works with mostly with the younger kids here at USA. She runs our preschool gymnastics program and also our dance program. She also helps our with some of our recreational girls gymnastics classes. Having coached for 20 years, Sandi has spent over half of that time with us! She started at USA in 1991 and taught for 11 years before moving away. She returned to us last summer and we are glad to have her back!
Why does she like working at USA so much? "The staff, management, and ownership have always put the health, safety, and well-being of our students before athletic accomplishment. This provides an atmosphere where a student’s talent and skill is nurtured, not forced." Sandi says she has the best job in the world. "Every day I come in greeted by bright smiling faces, contagious energy, and unconditional love. These children light up my life." She loves knowing that when a child walks into the gym, they have been looking forward to it all week, and when they leave, they can't wait to come back again.
Sandi has quite a background in gymnastics and dance. She started dancing at five, and gymnastics at seven, here in Mesa at Jeanne’s School of Dance and with the Arizona Aerials gymnastics team. Jeanne Wright taught her how to tap, and to this day it is still her favorite form of dance. Sandi was inspired by her dance instructor and determined that she would one day teach young children. She says Jeanne was "such an amazing, kind teacher." Sandi stuck with gymnastics through high school, competing for Mesa High when they still had a team. Coaching was a natural fit for her she says, "I spent more time coaching my teammates and choreographing their routines than on my own workout. " Soon after graduating high school, she started coaching and has never looked back!
Sandi has another job: raising five children! She doesn't have time for many hobbies but can "shoot a mean game of pool", loves to cook, and is a crossword puzzle junkie. She loves musicals, especially Grease, The Sound of Music, and Westside Story. Her hero is Sgt Jason Lynn Merrill who died in defense of freedom in Iraq on Sept 3rd, 2006. He was a good friend and an important part of her family and they will never forget him.
You will probably see Sandi's three youngest, McKenna, Caleb and Tessa hanging around the gym some evenings. McKenna has just joined the Arizona Illusions Gymnastics Team here at USA. Ask them if Sandi has ever said to them,
“You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit!!”
