Getting to know SUNY Cortland Women’s Gymnastics Coach, Sulekha Modi Zaug, a former National Champion and Cortland Alumni Gymnast who uses her experience to inspire and uphold the foundations for success
Sulehka Modi Zaug has been a part of the Cortland community since she was an undergraduate student in 1996. Her academic success as a student is not the only thing she accomplished during her time in Cortland. Zaug was a member of our Women’s Gymnastics team from 1996-2002 achieving many national titles and setting college records. She received All-American recognition and in the Eastern Region, Zaug earned titles on uneven bars in 1997 and 1999 as well as a four-time event top-six finisher on uneven bars. Her success as a collegiate athlete was recognized when she was inducted into the NCGA Hall of Fame in 2018 being one of two Cortland Gymnasts in history.
Zaug’s life shifted from being a nationally ranked gymnast to coaching gymnasts who wanted to achieve the same success. Given her immense amount of experience in the sport, she was prepared for the role she would fulfill. Putting her knowledge and experience in gymnastics to use, she eventually became head coach of Cortland gymnastics in 2019. Her high hopes for building a strong team were put on hold after the COVID-19 pandemic when multiple sport’s seasons were shut down
In the fall of 2021, athletics returned to normalcy and it was time to see how she could start building her team to become stronger gymnasts. She completed two seasons following COVID and the team was improving each practice, each competition, and each season. This expectation was proven as the team had placed second at the NCGA Eastern Regional Championships breaking school records and earning their ticket to the NCGA National Champion in their 2024 season for the first time since 2019. Zaug was deemed 2024 NCGA East Region Coach of the Year.
In a one-on-one interview with Zaug, she made statements about how she used her college gymnastics experience alongside the growing competitiveness that is coming to be seen in DIII college gymnastics. Additionally, recruiting techniques that would get the team to achieve high success is a focal point. Zaug runs her team based on a foundation that has a team culture focusing on professionalism and sportsmanship. This means regardless of the uniform you are wearing, what is going on outside of your sport, and what is occurring during the competition, you support your teammates alongside every other gymnast while they are performing. She talked about the support and recognition Cortland Gymnastics received from the fans of other teams as well as their athletes for their success in placing second at Eastern Regionals. This fulfilled her goals of maintaining sportsmanship and she is continuing a sport based on inclusivity and connectedness. Being an NCGA gymnast herself, she noted the increase in competitiveness among DIII gymnastics over the years that can sometimes take away the concept of sportsmanship and professionalism.
Her goal is to keep Cortland gymnastics running in a positive atmosphere and contribute Cortland gymnastics’ culture towards the NCGA organization as a whole. Zaug envisions promoting healthy competition and winning the correct way based on athlete ability. She talked about her passion for progress from the start of the preseason in the fall to the final competition of the season. Watching her athletes persevere and improve is what makes her love coaching the sport as much as she does. One thing she talked about in her success this season is the concept of fine-tuning details. In the fall, her athletes are more concerned with the completion of skills and learning new things, as the season progresses they focus on perfecting minor details and performing their skills or routines with confidence.
“Progress and correcting small details is when we see the scores rise, when the completion of routines becomes the performance perfect routines is when winners are made,” Coach Zaug said.
Zaug emphasizes her team has still not reached their highest potential and there is beauty in practicing for perfection because the team’s time to show their perfection is underway. She is focusing on taking the time to teach the younger team she has to understand the ways of collegiate gymnastics based on sportsmanship and professionalism. She hopes that doing so will lead her future members to strive for the same expectations maintaining the culture she envisions.
Zaug states that she is pursuing the concept of winning; in the preseason, in practice, and in competition to become the best team in the Eastern Region and place top there in the NCGA Conference as a whole. Not only is her team’s goal to win, but to win with a foundation that encourages the culture she envisions in Cortland gymnastics and NCGA as a whole.
Cortland gymnastics continues to focus on the common goal of Cortland athletics where they stand for one team and one family. She felt inspired by the success of fall sports and wanted to keep the reputation of Cortland Athletics in fighting to show off our talent to win titles. Zaug said, “There is no reason why we cannot continue to win as every other sports team has given it their all to take winning titles in their sports”. She closed out the conversation reflecting on her abilities and purpose behind coaching.
Her favorite part is the beginning of the season when the team comes in, working day in and day out as she watches them improve week by week. Taking her time at Cortland, the process of building skill sets and striving for perfection she would not want to take on this role anywhere else but Cortland where she is brought back to her roots and can give her successes back to the place she earned them. Coaching at SUNY Cortland allowed her to find her purpose and bring her back to her roots where she was able to achieve high success and she said would not be able to strive anywhere else.