St. Cloud Times — Colleen Stark-Haws — C.J. to those who know her best — sits quietly in her motorized wheelchair, watching the tumbling and twisting and balancing going on a few feet away. An aggressive form of multiple sclerosis has robbed her of the ability to move her body below her shoulders.
It’s a long way from her teenage days nearly 30 years ago when, at 14, she began teaching gymnastics and dance out of the family garage in St. Cloud. Back then she could demonstrate, work out floor exercise routines, do all the moves.
Now the disease barely allows her to shrug her shoulders or move her hands. The St. Cloud Tech gymnasts she coaches look to her husband and co-head coach, Joel, for the physical guidance.
But Stark-Haws’ mind is still straightedge sharp. Instead of showing gymnasts the right way to do things, she explains, in the smallest detail, the whats, the hows and the whys. The girls on the team work it out, with a much greater understanding of what they’re doing.
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As college students at St. Cloud State, Joel worked simple jobs for spending money while Colleen coached a community education gymnastics program. Desperately needing some muscle to help with spotting, Colleen recruited Joel.
