Josh and Rose Schneiter, owners of Wasatch Gymnastics, score a perfect 10 as husband-and-wife duo. Their positive coaching philosophy and commitment to community drives their desire to make a difference in young athletes’ lives.
Josh began participating in tumbling and gymnastics at the age of four as part of Pinnacles Gymnastics in Sandy, Utah. He competed with USAG (USA Gymnastics) Future Stars Program until his mid-teens.
At 14, he began training other gymnasts for his coach, Luke Evans, and fell in love with coaching. Throughout his career, Josh has coached collegiate level gymnasts, artistic gymnastics, parkour/free-running, tumbling, and private lessons in various places in Utah and California. Josh’s Heber experience includes starting the parkour program for Tumble Central while Rose handled their marketing. In 2017, Josh began coaching for Steve Lake, who owned Wasatch Gymnastics which is housed at Wasatch County Parks and Recreation. During this time, Rose taught art classes for the recreation center. Four years later, in 2021, Josh and Rose bought Wasatch Gymnastics from Steve. In 2023, the couple opened their own facility. However, Josh still runs an introductory class geared for ages 3-6 at WCPR. The world of gymnastics is small; Josh shared this fun fact: the equipment at the recreation center was originally bought from Luke Evans, his childhood coach and mentor, years ago when the WCPR gymnastics program first began.
While studying graphic design at the Utah Art Institute, Josh and Rose Brittney Moreno met and fell in love; they’ve been inseparable ever since. Rose’s family was involved in the restaurant industry, so, she grew up all over the United States, and is proud of her Hispanic-Italian heritage. For several years the Schneiters moved back and forth between California and Utah; however, they feel Heber is the best fit for their family. Today, they’re settled in the Heber Valley, running their own business and raising a family of four boys, ages 13, 11, 8, and 2. Josh handles the coaching and operations of Wasatch Gymnastics while Rose manages the branding, marketing, and social media. Rose is also utilizing her artistic talents by painting large murals on the tall industrial gym walls. Each mural incorporates motivational messages to inspire and establish an optimistic atmosphere. She designs and custom makes a lot of merchandise (such as hair bows personalized with names, and beanies for staff, customers, and team members), by hand for their business through sublimation, custom vinyl cut outs, and more. An art section at the gym is also in the works that will be called, HoneyBuzz Art.
From his life-long experience, Josh has seen various coaching styles and has watched gymnastics evolve as well. Coaching, correcting, motivating and disciplining require both art and science. Josh not only spots kids on apparatuses, but also spots the positive by highlighting effort along with corrective feedback. He also strives to make the most of peoples’ time. Josh sticks a perfect landing by explaining, “My coaching philosophy is to get as much learned in a fun and concise way as possible. You typically only have an hour with the students once a week. I’m just trying to pack as many things as possible into that session as I can.” Josh continues, “We want the kids to take what they’ve learned home. The more shapes, movements, and positions you can get your students to learn, and practice, the easier it’s going to be to teach them things later on down the road. So, with that in mind, I’ve refined and articulated my lessons as best I can.”
Josh also shares how the world of gymnastics has evolved over the years, “When I was growing up in gymnastics there was a little bit more stick than carrot. I feel like society has shifted away from that, which is for the better. We keep a positive vibe, and make sure that kids are feeling like they’re doing a great job when they’re putting forth the effort. Putting in the effort to try hard and not give up after failed attempts is the best thing we can give our students.” He explains, “Sometimes you have a talented kid that can win all the medals, some students were just born to do this sport. Then you’ll have the kind of kid that is working their tush off trying to keep pace. I don’t want students giving up or getting discouraged because they’re not meeting the expectations that they have set for themselves or what other people might set for them. Progress can sometimes be two steps forward one step back. It’s important to make sure you’re not throwing in the towel on the back step. That’s my approach to it. We want students to come out of our program with an experience and template of how to get through life when things get hard.”
Wasatch Gymnastics focuses on artistic gymnastics for boys and girls. The boys’ events include rings, floor, mushroom (introduction to pommel horse), vault, parallel bar, and horizontal bar. The girls’ events are beam, floor, uneven bars, and vault. In addition to gymnastics, they offer tumbling and parkour classes, open gym times for anyone, and birthday parties. They also have a baby/toddler play area near the front of the gym so that younger siblings can enjoy their time while waiting during class. “As soon as Josh and I saw the empty warehouse (that would soon be transformed into our gym), I told Josh I really wanted a small space dedicated to help parents with younger children feel more comfortable. I was pregnant with our fourth son when we started planning this design in advance. Now, so many parents have expressed their gratitude for having it!” says Rose smiling up at Josh.
There are classes for kids who want to just learn and have fun and try it out, and there are classes and team options available for those interested in competing. Rose and Josh acknowledge the other gyms in the valley, and appreciate the niches and specialties that they offer, such as: tramp and tumble track (a trampoline based runway), and cheer and tumbling. The Schneiters have 13 coaches who help out with the varying levels and teams. Some of them are in their teen years, getting a start just like Josh did, coaching the younger kids. The competition team travels to gyms and venues throughout the state including Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake, Provo/Orem, and St. George. Wasatch Gymnastics is not big enough to house multiple teams and spectators for competitions, but hopes to host meets at a separate venue in the future.
For now, it has been a dream come true to have their own venue where they can finally offer everything they’ve been discussing for years. Rose shares, “We had a lot of support from friends around Heber, some who own businesses out here too. We received a lot of encouragement from the very beginning when we would mention wanting our own space someday. It’s been amazing as we’ve gone along to share our growth with so many who were there for our family from the very beginning. This is supposed to be a happy place, somewhere that parents and children of all ages can come and feel that they are getting something out of it. Whether you want just a good experience or you’re trying to reach a goal as far as talent goes – we want everyone to feel welcome here.”
Meet Wasatch Gymnastics Owners, Josh and Rose Schneiter
For more info:
wasatchgymnasticsheber.com
@wasatch.gymnastics
