TopFrog
Lifelong Frog
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/04/14/21...-embracing.html
[SIZE=14pt]TCU equestrian coach embracing the power of music[/SIZE]
By RYNE SULIER
Special to the Star-Telegram
TCU equestrian coach Gary Reynolds might not make a career out of performing gospel hymns and recording Christian albums, but he profits nonetheless, turning to music as a release when he isn’t working to keep his program nationally ranked.
This week, Reynolds is using music to keep himself focused as TCU prepares to compete in the Varsity National Equestrian Championships, which start Friday at the Heart O’ Texas Fair Complex in Waco. While his riders might turn to their favorite iPod playlist to calm their nerves, Reynolds turns to the studio and the stage.
“I began singing about three years ago, first semi-professionally and then professionally,” Reynolds said. “I’ve averaged [performing] about once a month, although I’ll do a number of things in a row and then have some downtime.
“When you coach a high-profile woman’s team, there is a lot of intensity, especially as we prepare for our national championship tournament. The singing and the music is a great release.”
Reynolds took up gospel music, partly because gospel is an easy genre to pick up but mostly because it fits his personality and his faith.
While some of Reynolds’ riders might not consider his work worthy of an Emmy nomination, Kelsey Huffman, who is one of only two riders ever to qualify in individuals for horsemanship and reigning at the championships, likes Reynolds’ mind-set.
“It’s incredible to have a coach that had his head on that way and who loves the lord,” Huffman said. “I personally look up to that.”
Reynolds’ first album, Out of the Wilderness, was released last year, and he is set to finish his second album as the equestrian season winds down.
“As you go through life and those stages you reach.....I don’t want to look down the next 10 years and say, ‘Boy, I wish I had done that,’,” said Reynolds, whose family attends Trinity Christian Church. “There came a point a couple of years ago where I thought, ‘You know what, ‘I need to discover whether this is a talent that God’s given me, and if that’s the issue, then I need to use it.’.”
Tammy Reynolds, Gary’s wife, has been his coach on his performing endeavors, so to speak.
“My wife has been much more than nudging me in this. She has been the one that has basically opened some of those doors and dragged me through it,” he said. “She has been the most encouraging.”
Reynolds noted that he would like to perform on a national TV network to reach a larger audience, but his reasons aren’t of personal grandeur and self-satisfaction. After all, he is still a coach at heart.
“It’s still in the area of giving to people, which is something that most coaches do, that’s why we are in this sport,” Reynold said. “[Singing] is another way to give to people.”
Ryne Sulier is a TCU journalism major.
Varsity National Equestrian Championships
When: April 15-17
Where: Heart O’ Texas Fair Complex in Waco
[SIZE=14pt]TCU equestrian coach embracing the power of music[/SIZE]
By RYNE SULIER
Special to the Star-Telegram
TCU equestrian coach Gary Reynolds might not make a career out of performing gospel hymns and recording Christian albums, but he profits nonetheless, turning to music as a release when he isn’t working to keep his program nationally ranked.
This week, Reynolds is using music to keep himself focused as TCU prepares to compete in the Varsity National Equestrian Championships, which start Friday at the Heart O’ Texas Fair Complex in Waco. While his riders might turn to their favorite iPod playlist to calm their nerves, Reynolds turns to the studio and the stage.
“I began singing about three years ago, first semi-professionally and then professionally,” Reynolds said. “I’ve averaged [performing] about once a month, although I’ll do a number of things in a row and then have some downtime.
“When you coach a high-profile woman’s team, there is a lot of intensity, especially as we prepare for our national championship tournament. The singing and the music is a great release.”
Reynolds took up gospel music, partly because gospel is an easy genre to pick up but mostly because it fits his personality and his faith.
While some of Reynolds’ riders might not consider his work worthy of an Emmy nomination, Kelsey Huffman, who is one of only two riders ever to qualify in individuals for horsemanship and reigning at the championships, likes Reynolds’ mind-set.
“It’s incredible to have a coach that had his head on that way and who loves the lord,” Huffman said. “I personally look up to that.”
Reynolds’ first album, Out of the Wilderness, was released last year, and he is set to finish his second album as the equestrian season winds down.
“As you go through life and those stages you reach.....I don’t want to look down the next 10 years and say, ‘Boy, I wish I had done that,’,” said Reynolds, whose family attends Trinity Christian Church. “There came a point a couple of years ago where I thought, ‘You know what, ‘I need to discover whether this is a talent that God’s given me, and if that’s the issue, then I need to use it.’.”
Tammy Reynolds, Gary’s wife, has been his coach on his performing endeavors, so to speak.
“My wife has been much more than nudging me in this. She has been the one that has basically opened some of those doors and dragged me through it,” he said. “She has been the most encouraging.”
Reynolds noted that he would like to perform on a national TV network to reach a larger audience, but his reasons aren’t of personal grandeur and self-satisfaction. After all, he is still a coach at heart.
“It’s still in the area of giving to people, which is something that most coaches do, that’s why we are in this sport,” Reynold said. “[Singing] is another way to give to people.”
Ryne Sulier is a TCU journalism major.
Varsity National Equestrian Championships
When: April 15-17
Where: Heart O’ Texas Fair Complex in Waco
