Autumn Grable worked at a gym in Cincinnati while attending nursing school, using her gymnastics knowledge from her youth to teach toddlers how to tumble.
Her then-boyfriend Kyle Grable – although they did not yet share a last name – would take her to the gym a couple of nights a week. And if he was going to be there anyway, the gym’s staff decided to put him to work as well – spotting gymnasts for guidance and safety.
“I was like, ‘OK, I really love this. This is a lot of fun,'” Autumn said. “I didn’t think about it as a career because I was in nursing school at the time, and I was just doing that (coaching) as something to do that I loved doing and knew I understood.”
Autumn went on to finish school, becoming a licensed practical nurse while teaching classes on the side, and when a coaching position opened up at the gym, Kyle – whose previous gymnastics background was limited to “flipping around” – was offered the position.
But Autumn’s heart was still in the gym, and just a few years later, she quit nursing and joined him as a full-time gymnastics coach.
A decade later, learning and growing as coaches along the way, Kyle and Autumn Grable are now second-year coaches for UCLA gymnastics. Throughout the Grables’ journey, they’ve followed their passions together, even when the future was uncertain.
Knowing that she could always return to nursing, Autumn said switching careers wasn’t a difficult decision.
“I was just young, too, and I think when you’re younger you just go by a different mentality,” Autumn said. “You enjoy it, so you make it work. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think of it like, ‘Is this the end all, be all?’ I probably never thought –”
Kyle jumped in to finish her sentence.
“How can I set up my retirement account?” Kyle said. “And we’re like, ‘No, what’s my favorite thing to do? Where’s my passion at? I don’t care about the money. We’ll go get McDonald’s for the first five years – live paycheck to paycheck. We’ll figure it out.’”
Although Autumn attributed her fearlessness to her youth, the Grables have continued to take big career steps to grow, even in the face of long-term uncertainty.
But as the duo has gotten older and likely considers a retirement account now and again, Autumn said their career choices are still motivated by a passion for coaching gymnastics.
“I need to love what I do and feel really good about what I’m doing,” Autumn said. “For me, that’s still probably the most important part.”
They do, however, set five-year goals, Kyle said, with their competitive spirit driving them to take on new challenges and improve as coaches.
“Feeding off each other has helped over the years for sure,” Kyle said. “Being able to kind of talk through at the dinner table like, ‘OK, how do we get better next week? And next month?’ And that really helped us grow, especially in the beginning.”
As the couple developed their gymnastics coaching skills, their competitive spirit soon outgrew their first gym, leading them to Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center in Indianapolis, where they were co-head coaches for elite development for five years.
They coached five Level 10 gymnasts to national championships, and JPAC was awarded national J.O. Club of the Year in 2019.
But their goals kept getting bigger.
Autumn and Kyle’s newest challenge lies in Westwood as assistant coaches for UCLA gymnastics. And after the Bruins finished their season with the highest score in NCAA history to not reach the finals, the Grables can now say they made it to a top five program – together.
“Jumping in full force, moving across the country was scary but exciting,” Kyle said. “But nothing that’s not scary ever pays off.”
The Grables weren’t the only newcomers to Westwood last year.
Head coach Janelle McDonald entered her first year with the program in May 2022 tasked with filling a new coaching staff. McDonald said she was initially drawn to the pair because of their reputation for success and a positive environment.
“They’re amazing human beings,” McDonald said. “For them to be the type of people they are, spraying their energy and love for our team and our sport to practice every single day, is more than I could ask for and everything I’d hoped for.”
She added that the members of the coaching staff enjoyed being able to rebuild the program with their own culture.
In the Grables’ first year with the program, UCLA advanced to nationals for the first time since 2019.
Although the Bruins watched the finals from the stands rather than competing on the floor, Kyle said it was special just to know that the team had the scores to hold its own against the top competition.
“If we were down there, we’re going to compete for a national championship,” Kyle said. “We have a chance to win if we get down there.”
In addition to their energy, the Grables also helped foster national success last season, earning UCLA the College Gym News’ Coaching Staff of the Year award.
Kyle focused his efforts on the Bruins’ floor and vault lineups, helping bring home two NCAA titles, a Pac-12 floor title and achieving the top-ranked floor lineup in the nation.
Spending last year as a volunteer assistant coach, Autumn was promoted to a paid full assistant coach position this summer after she helped the beam rotation become a true team – and earn record marks as well as All-American honors.
“The gymnastics, it takes care of itself a little bit because these guys are so locked in,” Autumn said. “What I thought it was really cool to see them do together was how they bonded over trying to be a great beam team.”
Both of the Grables found that one of the biggest changes in moving from Level 10 to collegiate gymnastics is the bond with the student-athletes.
College students have different priorities, independence levels and stressors than younger gymnasts – and the couple said much more of their coaching now is figuring out the best way to individually support each gymnast.
The new coaching mindset has also shifted their coaching goals. After a full year in Westwood, the Grables said they want athletes to enjoy the year and love what they’re doing.
However, a successful season is going to rely on the goals of each individual student-athlete. Kyle said they tell the gymnasts to set their sights high, and if every gymnast reaches their goal, the Bruins will bring back an NCAA title next spring.
“If every athlete achieves their goals, then we’ll be unstoppable,” Kyle said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to be holding up a national championship trophy because everybody is going to be the best version of themselves.”
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