HOT SPRINGS – After graduating from Hot Springs High School in 1988 as a multi-sport athlete, Dana (Weiss) Nachtigall followed her older brother Pat Weiss’s path as a college athlete to nearby Chadron State, where he was a wrestler in the early 80s and she was a gymnast in the late 80s.
However, after just one season on the Eagles’ gymnastics team, Chadron State dropped its program and Nachtigall was left wondering how she could continue being a part of the sport she had loved since taking her first Hot Springs Summer Rec class at five years old.
Coaching gymnastics was the path she chose, and after more than three decades of guiding young gymnasts – both in Hot Springs at the high school level and in Rapid City at the club level – Nachtigall’s efforts were rewarded this past weekend when she was inducted into the South Dakota Gymnastics Coaches Hall of Fame.
“I competed in multiple sports in high school but I always loved gymnastics; it was just ‘different’,” Nachtigall said. “But when I was in college and had the opportunity to continue on in the sport after my time was over, coaching was just the obvious way to go. I always was the one wanting to help my teammates and this seemed to fit.”
Her college coach was Harry Simonton, who also just happened to be her Hot Springs Middle School gymnastics coach as well. After CSC cut its program, Simonton was hired by the Hot Springs School District to take over its high school program. Needing an assistant, Nachtigall joined Simonton’s staff while a student at CSC and made the daily commute with him across the South Dakota border to help coach the Bison gymnastics team for five years, from 1990 to 1994.
“Harry was an important mentor of mine,” Nachtigall said. “He devoted so much time to gymnastics and we had a really good relationship that worked.”
A move to Rapid City saw Nachtigall become the Gymnastics Director at the YMCA for five more years, which introduced her to Bill and Cheryl Allen who owned and operated Just Jymnastics club.
“They took me under their wings and taught me so much about the skills and progressions, and really that is where I think I gained the most confidence, just in myself to continue on with coaching this sport,” Nachtigall said.
In 2001, Nachtigall moved back home to Hot Springs with her husband Brett and young son Trey, where she took over as head coach of the Bison gymnastics team, beginning with the 2001-02 season. Since that time, she has helped lead the team to nine Region Championships and several state tournament plaques including 10 fourth place state finishes and two third place state finishes, including this past week’s second straight third place plaque.
With her induction into the state’s Gymnastics Coaches Hall of Fame, Nachtigall joins three other fellow Hot Springs Hall of Fame Coaches, whom she considers all to be personal mentors.
“Dave Scott and Jim Tays are both legends in this town for their dedication and love to teach kids sports,” she said. “They were both my track coaches, and were also each the A.D. at one time when I coached in Hot Springs. Both had given me advice while I first started coaching that has stuck with me to this day, as well as their influence on me as their athlete.”
The third Hall of Famer is her older brother Jonas Weiss, who coached wrestling in Hot Springs from 1992 to 2010 and was inducted into the South Dakota Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2019.
“In the wrestling world of coaching, they just don’t come any better than my brother Jonas,” Nachtigall said. “I watched him coach for so many years, and genuinely care about his athletes and who they became. He definitely showed me the kind of coach I wanted to strive to be.”
Over the span of last 22 seasons, Nachtigall has coached approximately 130 different gymnasts, whom she said have all made an impact on her heart.
“Bison Gymnastics is so much more than just a sport, and you learn so much more than just how do flips,” she said. “When you are open to receive everything the sport can bring into your life, you will carry it with you forever.”
Coaching gymnastics in Hot Springs provided Nachtigall the opportunity to coach several family members, which she described as a blessing. They included her nieces Amanda, Randi, Carlie and Chandel Weiss, as well as her daughter Jaylen, who also served as her assistant coach this past weekend at the state meet.
Thinking about what brings her the most joy while coaching, Nachtigall shared, “when the girls are getting ready to go on to perform, we laugh, sometimes we cry; but before they step out onto their event, they will always hear me say: ‘Go have so much fun, and I am so darn proud of you.’” “All of the girls who have crossed my path, have become second daughters to me,” she said. “I have grown to love these girls and want them to learn from this sport the things that will carry on with them throughout their life. I want them to do the sports they love as long as they can, but then know how to continue setting goals and working to achieve them. When I hear from a gymnast, whom I have coached 5, 10 or 30 years ago – to let me know some exciting news in their life, it brings a smile to my heart.”