A Day in the Life of Casey Jo Magee

As Get a Grip reported several weeks ago, Elite gymnast Casey Jo Magee moved from Capital Gymnastics in Texas to Western Michigan to train and work as an assistant coach! 


Casey Jo's day of coaching and training provides for an interesting Day in the Life! 

(Property of Razorback Photos) 

8:15 AM: "Wake up, brush my teeth, and head to the kitchen. Every day I have my power smoothie (you can get my recipe on my website) and lately I’ve been having some sort of egg scramble with onions, bell peppers, spinach, and Canadian bacon. Sometimes with toast or an English muffin. I start a small pot of coffee while breakfast is in the works so it’s ready when my food is. Right now I’m drinking Marzipan flavored coffee, a World Market holiday seasonal. Although I think I like non-flavored better since I put a little creamer in it. Might have to ask my boyfriend Scott to mail me some Ruta Maya coffee from Austin."

9:15-9:45 AM: "By now I’m done eating with [the] dishes washed so I get my stuff together for practice. Fill up my sweet REI water bottle with Brita water (because the tap water here in Kalamazoo isn’t my favorite). Pull together a snack of sorts…string cheese and a tuna to-go or apple, baby carrots and hummus, sometimes leftovers from dinner the night before. Get dressed for gym and the semi-cold weather outside, which will soon be really cold and probably snowing. Here come the gloves, scarf, boots, and winter jacket!"

10 AM-12 PM: "Get to the gym and start warming up. Morning practice I’ll do one event hard and basics on another, switching between bars and beam. Now I’ll eat my snack as the girls start warming up for their workout."

12 PM-3 PM: "Western girls practice. With season approaching quickly I’ll be primarily coaching floor, paying special attention to the details like expression, leaps and jumps, and landings on passes. Although I really just move around to wherever I’m needed. Dave helps coach everything and wants me to shout out a correction or comment if I have one, no matter the event. Sara Kelly, the other assistant, works mostly with beam but she choreographed all the floor routines so she helps there as well."

2:30-5:15 PM: "Usually the last couple girls are finishing up their last event by 2:30 so I start warming up again for practice number two. Here I’ll do three events, as I alternate the days I flip vaults and tumble. On the days I tumble, I do uphill vault timers, and the days I flip vaults I do floor endurance and some basic tumbling. I’ll finish with some conditioning and stretching before I head home."

5:30 PM: "Home and tired. I take a shower and relax for a bit before I make myself some dinner."

6:30-7:30 PM: "Make and eat some dinner…I try to get a good source of lean protein, carbs, and veggies of some sort. Lately I’ve had rice and beans or spaghetti with meat sauce and a salad, or top a salad with sliced grilled chicken".

7:30-10 PMish: "I’ll ice a body part if it’s bothering me. Then most of my evenings are spent watching gymnastics videos, playing words with friends, surfing the Internet, and checking Facebook and Twitter. But now that I’m more settled into my apartment I plan to update my website more often. I also have been reading a lot lately. This summer I read the Hunger Games series, which was sad but so well written. So excited for the movie! And I just finished The Magicians. If anyone has any books or authors they love, please send them my way! I’m always looking for new books to read."

10 PMish: "I start getting ready for bed. I ... brush my teeth then wash my face and put on this awesome Burt’s Bees nighttime face lotion. So smooth! Then it is off to bed for me!"

This schedule is what I’m doing this week because the Western team is in finals so their practices are quite a bit shorter and lighter. Once school starts for the spring semester in January however, my days will be a bit longer.