Presenter
Shelba Waldron
- Director of Club Education and Outreach
- USA Gymnastics
Thursday, August 6
12:00 – 4:30 pm
National Congress Leadership Workshop
This 4.5-hour interactive workshop is designed for club owners, directors, senior staff and emerging leaders ready to elevate their impact. Led by experienced industry leaders, this session blends guided discussion, shared insights, and practical application. Together, you’ll explore how leadership shows up in real-world environments, beyond day-to-day operations and into the decisions, communication, and pressures that truly shape an organization. Participants will leave with actionable tools they can put to work immediately, a broader perspective on how peers are navigating similar challenges, and meaningful connections built through shared experience.
The workshop is structured into 3 parts:
- Part 1: Leadership in Today’s Environment-Explores leadership under pressure and the complexity of decision-making in today’s environment, setting the foundation for the session.
- Part 2: Collaborative Problem-Solving – The core of the workshop, this interactive, movement-based session engages participants in identifying shared challenges, recognizing patterns across organizations, distinguishing between immediate and long-term decisions, and exploring the impact of communication and generational dynamics.
- Part 3: Breakouts by Experience Level-Participants will engage in targeted breakout sessions for emerging and seasoned leaders, allowing for more focused discussion on topics such as communication, decision-making, managing hesitation, decision fatigue, and leading across generations.
Friday, August 7
8:15 – 9:15 am
The 3 Layers of a Strong Gym: Behavior, Systems, Culture
Risk doesn’t show up out of nowhere…it builds. This presentation introduces the Three-Layer Risk Model, a simple, clear way to understand how individual behaviors, weak systems, and unhealthy culture combine to create preventable problems. Club leaders will learn how to assess each layer, identify gaps, and take actionable steps that strengthen their entire program. It’s a modern, practical approach to creating safer training environments.
10:45 – 11:45 am
Managing Emotions and Expectations with Athletes
Coaches aren’t just teaching skills. They’re managing the emotional temperature of a training environment. This session dives into the real mechanics of communication under stress: how to regulate your own reactions, how to calibrate expectations, and how to guide athletes through frustration, fear, and pressure. Participants will leave with practical strategies for setting clear expectations, redirecting intensity in healthy ways, and creating a training space where athletes feel supported.