Nadine Dubina

For as long as I can remember, physical activity, and particularly exercise, has been a part of my life since I was a young child.  At the age of five, my parents enrolled me in a gymnastics class and I became hooked.  I dedicated the next twelve years of my life to year-round training and competing in the sport of gymnastics.  Through sport, I was able to develop life skills that transferred over into my schooling as well as my professional life.  Unfortunately, my senior year of high school, I tore my ACL in my knee and I decided to retire from competition.  However, things work in mysterious ways, because it was during this period of time where I closed for passion for participating in gymnastics and fell into my next passion: fitness and sport coaching.  After I was cleared for all activity, I immediately got into a gym but I decided to have a personal trainer since I was used to 'gymnastics strength and conditioning' and not 'weight room' strength and conditioning.  Through this relationship, I saw myself fitting into this type of role.  While attending college at West Virginia University for athletic coaching education, I had the opportunity to enroll in a personal training certification class in which we learned about the ins and outs of personal training and also completed an internship.  This prepared me for the certification test and I passed it the first time.  Also during my time as an undergraduate, I was coaching competitive gymnastics for a local club as well as working as the manager and student assistant coach of the Division I Women's Gymnastics Team on campus.  This opportunity was amazing for my career because I got to learn from one of the top 20 coaches in the nation right now, be involved in parts of the physical therapy and preventative exercises process and gain ideas and insights from the CSCS strength and conditioning coach.  My education and diverse work experience made me well rounded and got me hooked even more into physical fitness and exercise.  Deciding that I was not finished with formal education, I decided to move all the way across the country to attend graduate school at California State University, Fresno to obtain a Master's Degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in Sport Psychology.  Already having a background in the physiological components as well as the coaching components of sport and exercise, I wanted to know more about why people do things and what kinds of inlfuences will help people make positive changes.  My professor, who is now my mentor, took me under and brought me into one of his coaching science projects that he was developing.  The first year, I was part of the creation of an integrative development system for high school athletics.  This project was based on the need of creating stable settings in which the coaches and the program can continually grow and improve year to year.  For my graduation project, I have written the protocol on how to implement this system in the high school setting and it is gaining much attention in the coaching field right now.  This is not all that I was involved in while at Fresno State.  I was blessed with the opportunity to teach an undergraduate activity classes in strength training.  This allowed me to connect with more people than I would have been able to on my own as well as have an impact on students who were interested in physical fitness but did not really know what or how to be physically active.  This combined my personal training and coaching background and also helped me develop as a leader of a group of people.  I taught these classes for two years.  In addition to this, I also decided to try my hand at group fitness.  I always liked going to group fitness classes and I was ready to challenge myself in a new area.  I became certified to teach Les Mills' BodyPump class and have been teaching for two years now.  I don't think I will ever stop being a group fitness instructor.  The feeling you get from giving and receiving energy in a class is amazing and I am so inspired by my participants who come back week after week as they pursue their own fitness goals.  Group fitness has let me connect with people in a way that I never had before and it's such a great feeling.  My career thus far has been extremely fulfilling but I am definitely not stopping here.  Fitness is going to be a part of my life for years to come!