Tigran Petrosyan is Helping US Gymnasts via LASG
Hollywood and Los Angeles (synonymous in the minds of many) is often referred to as the place where entertainers come to make their dreams into reality. This marginalizes the opportunities that this Southern California Mecca offers. Elon Musk has based Space X and the Hyperloop project in this metropolis but it may take decades before these location and Silicon Beach are equal to the fame of the film, TV, and music industries associated with the city. While many come to LA to realize their dreams, fewer come to empower the dreams of others. Very few of those come from as far away as Armenia to do this and even less of these leave a successful career back home. Tigran Petrosyan is such a person. The famed gymnast, coach, and judge was invited by the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics (LASG) to become one of their coaches, molding and honing the abilities of future USA gymnasts, including many Olympic hopefuls. America has a long history of making good use of the talents that professionals from other parts of the world, such as Tigran Petrosyan, contribute.
To truly understand why Tigran would uproot his life and family, moving them halfway across the planet, one must first understand the passion and commitment he holds for gymnastics. Legendary gymnast Albert Azaryan is from Armenia. At age seven, Tigran began attending Azaryan’s Olympic gym in hopes of achieving the same success as this multi-Olympic medalist (winner of three gold medals and a silver). The experience was life directing for a young Petrosyan who states, “Every time I would see him, I tried to learn something new from the legend himself. I learned discipline, responsibility, technique, many things, but I also learned about the mental approach. Albert Azaryan had a wonderful sense of humor which he used to great benefit. If we had a hard time doing something, he would tell us a story or a joke and we would forget everything and try harder. Suddenly everything would work magically. It’s something I use with my students to this day.”
After becoming a noted gymnast in many competitions, Tigran found himself eventually teaching at the same school where he learned his skills. From 1991–2017 he worked at the Olympic gym named after Albert Azaryan, located in Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan. After nearly a quarter century of successful and rewarding experiences there, Petrosyan accepted an invitation from LASG (Los Angeles School of Gymnastics) for a position on their teaching staff. His lauded career as a gymnast and gifted educator prompted LASG to reach out to this foreign talent in hopes that he would agree, which he did. In addition to Tigran, LASG boasts staff coaches such as Hamest Ohanyan, Stepan Odajyan, and school director Alla Svirsky. These surnames are an indicator of where many of the leading gymnastics trainers in the world hail from. Bringing their skill sets to Los Angeles has prompted a resurgence in those excelling in the sport. Most recently these include: Azarian Team Cup — State Champs (level 5–10 division 1, Region 1 Championships), David Petrosyan — Azarian Team Cup (Pommel Horse-4, Floor exercises — 6, Rings-4), David Petrosyan — State Champs (Level 5–10 Div 1 — Pommel Horse-6, Floor exercises — 4, Vault-3), and Audree Valdenaro — National Championship all around 3-rd place 2017.
His work at LASG finds Petrosyan training numerous events with male (floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bars) and female (vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor exercises) gymnasts. LASG is the next phase of forward momentum for many of its students and also for staff members like Tigran. While the equipment, facilities, and atmosphere make it an ideal environment, Tigran never forgets the lessons which he learned in his own early days as a gymnast. He relates, “When I’m working with different students I remember what it was like to be their age and how things felt. You can’t treat every student the same. Their life experiences and their physical capabilities are different; I think going through all of these stages from a very young age myself allows me to empathize. I want them to be great but I want to share this love of the sport with them. It’s a great pleasure for me to work in this place. My hope is that in the near future, the performance of LASG’s talented kids will raise their voice not only in the USA but also in other well-known competitions all over the world.”
