"Kirsten Becker is not only a horrible coach, but she is also a horrible person. She picks her favorites and then singles out athletes that she doesn't like and decides to humiliate them and pick on them in front of the entire team. She ruined my experience at Penn. She takes away the athletes love for the sport of gymnastics. Not only is she the absolute worst at communicating, but she also has zero respect for your time. She wants complete control of everything and everyone and doesn't let the athletes have any say. If one athlete tries to help another, she gets mad at them and says that it is the coaches job only. She doesn't care to ask how you are feeling or listen when you try to tell her. Athletes are scared to say that they don't feel well, or are in pain, or are extremely stressed. She expects gymnastics to be your number one priority at all times and should be more important than your academics...we are at an ivy league school for goodness sake! Her and the assistant coaches talk about athletes behind their backs with the other athletes. They live for drama. She creates a divided team culture of people who are her favorites and want to be friends with her and suck up to her vs. the people she hates and picks on and who aren't afraid to stand up to her. She only cares about winning and doesn't care what the cost of it is....if it costs you your happiness and your joy and your mental and physical health then so be it in her eyes. If you do Penn gymnastics you will become a powerless pawn in her vicious chess game. "

"Sorry, no helpful tags here. When my daughter first came to UPenn, John Ceralde was head coach and Kirsten was assistant. When he left and Kirsten was hired within for head coach, things were good: girls went on to win Ivy's and GEC Championships, but then, everything changed. Somehow, winning took precedence over their gymnasts' mental and physical health and she and her assistants seemed to disconnect, for whatever reasons, from the needs of the team. Many girls are injured with their doctor's and p/t's orders being ignored, she doesn't ask how the girls are feeling mentally, physically, emotionally, and seem to be in some bizarro world where the gymnast only matters for their skills and ability to perform for lineup at meets. The gymnast and her whole persona is expendable as long as the team wins. My daughter is in tears at practice from pain, and she is looked straight in the face and ignored. Not my first rodeo here, this coach and her assistant have a total disregard for the ladies on this team. This is not club gymnastics, and these adult, responsible and strong women should be treated with respect. At present, they are not, making for a miserable collegiate athletic experience for quite a few ladies, unfortunately. I feel terrible for them and would not have the fortitude to endure what they are going through. Props to the gymnasts for all their strength-inside and out. No props to this coach and her female assistant coach and athletic trainer. Go to Brown or Yale for gymnastics, or wait until the coaches change."

"obvious favoritism. if you kiss up to her she'll love you. or you can talk about boys with her, that usually will put you on her good side. once you have a problem with her or try to have a genuine conversation about concerns, good luck. she talks behind gymnasts' back to the other coaches in front of us gymnasts. she also allows the other assistant coaches to talk crap about gymnasts to other gymnasts on the team during practice. she makes you push through injuries and gaslights you into believing you should be fine to do certain things even though its painful. gymnasts will be limping down the vault runway and she says nothing. or they'll be on the verge of tears (or have tears falling down their face) and no coach will talk to them or stop them from practicing. ridiculous"

"picks on and excludes gymnasts. only cares about winning"

"She is a terrible communicator. She either is not transparent with you or just blatantly ignores you-- especially if you are injured or she does not like you. Always claims to know what is best for you and can never admit when she is wrong. Does not care about academics. She has held mandatory four hour practices during finals week, where you can not come late or leave early... at an ivy league school. Overall, she is controlling, insecure, and unprofessional. "