SEATTLE – For Tammy Carney, it started on a whim.
 
Well … that and a $55 budget.
 
On the day 15 years ago when she caught sight of an attractive competition leotard, the only thing going through the mind of the former Seattle Pacific gymnast was how she could afford a dozen of them for the young girls she was coaching at a club in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue.
 
As good as that leo looked, even a single one of them was way out of her price range.

 

"I was frustrated because it was $110. Our budget for competition leotards was only $55 at the time," said Carney, known as Tammy Sutton during her during her days as a star for the Falcons (1988-91). "So I ordered one and took it apart and tried to make one – and I made one. Then I said, 'Well, 12 of them won't be that difficult.

"So I made 12 leos for $55 that looked like the $110 one."
 
Job finished, Carney unplugged her sewing machine and returned her focus to coaching.
 
But then, those leotards took on an unexpected life of their own – and because they did, Carney's life took an unexpected turn.
 
"When we started competing, other teams would come up and say, 'Where did you get those?' she said. "Then I started getting calls from people saying, 'We'd like you to make ours.'
 
"It started that I could use a little more income to go on vacation or something. So I did it for a little extra money, and it just started taking off."
 
What initially was a way to stay within her own team's very limited uniform budget gradually became Daredevils Activewear, all of it done out of the basement of Carney's home in Bothell, about 20 minutes northeast of the SPU campus.
 
Gradually, the volume of business Carney was getting – those customers include coach Laurel Tindall's Seattle Pacific program – reached a point where she couldn't handle it all. So she partnered with another gymnastics coach in the Portland area to help with some of the production load.
 
"We have a lot for Daredevils Activewear together," Carney said. "I'm just trying to get some of my life back."

 

IF THE SPORT FITS, THEN WEAR IT
That gymnastics is still a significant part of Carney's life should come as no surprise. It essentially has been her life since she was about 7 and first took up the sport.
 
As happens with so many gymnasts – or any dedicated athlete, for that matter – she became consumed by it.
 
Sometimes, that yielded positive impacts.
 
"Going through the gymnastics experience, I always had the mindset that I can do anything that comes in my path," she said. "I never doubted. Because I've gotten through so many struggles, I don't doubt for a second that I can get through anything. If I have goals, maybe for the business or for athletes, I know it can be done."
 
Other times, those impacts were far from positive.
 
"I feel like I've been working since I was 7," she said. "I always had the feeling that if I wasn't in misery, I wasn't working hard enough. I always thought that was how you had to feel if you wanted to be a champion."
 
Although Carney now acknowledges that wasn't the best way to approach things, she did become a champion. At Lindbergh High School in Renton, about 45 minutes southeast of Seattle Pacific, Carney won the uneven parallel bars and floor exercise titles. As a sophomore the following winter, she captured the all-around crown.
 
That success continued under Tindall's tutelage at SPU. While earning her degree in nutrition, Carney was a four-time regional winner (twice on the bars, once on the balance beam, once as all-around) and three-time All-American (twice on the bars, once on the floor).
 
"To work with Laurel, she made me a better gymnast by the end of my career than when I came in," Carney said. "She knew exactly what you needed in your routines. I pretty much got 65 percent more learning of my skills from her, which made me capable of being an All-American.
 
"Competing nationally – that's a big deal," she added, "and Laurel helped me become nationally competitive."
 
THE COACH BECOMES A STUDENT
Carney always knew she would get into coaching, and did so with Gymnastics East in Bellevue. Jen Kesler, one of that club's athletes whom Carney helped coach and who eventually competed for Oregon State, won five national Level 10 titles.
 
But as much as Carney might have taught Kesler about gymnastics, Kesler – thought she probably didn't realize it at the time – taught Carney a thing or two, as well.
 
"She approached gymnastics different than I did. She had a joy of the sport," Carney said. "She would come into every practice and just be laughing and keeping spirits up in the gym. She would work very, very hard, but it almost seemed as if it was play.
 
"When she went on to win the national championship, that was all it took for me to say, 'You know what? I'm approaching this wrong.'"
 
As her business started to boom, Carney left coaching to focus more on that. And, perhaps thanks in part to what she learned from Jen Kesler, she started trying to bring a little more joy into her own life.
 
SING … SING A SONG
She found some of that joy in … karaoke.
 
Karaoke?
 
"Let me tell you why I love karaoke," Carney said, laughing and breaking into a wide smile. "It's because I can be really bad at it, and no one cares. I'm not getting judged; I'm not getting a score. I can go up there and not care what other people think, and just be me." (She said her preferences are pieces by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Stevie Nicks, or "some of the disco ones – it's old compared to some of the people who are singing with me.")
 
After 2½ years away from coaching, Carney was approached recently about a position at Cascade Elite Gymnastics in Mountlake Terrace, just north of Seattle. She visited the gym, gave it some thought, wavered a bit about whether to get back in – and then decided to commit.
 
"It felt exactly like what I used to do," Carney said. "It has been about four weeks now (since agreeing to take the job), and I'm just in heaven. I feel like it's going to be even better now because of where I am in my life and what I've learned from previous athletes."
 
Daredevils Activewear still will get a considerable amount of her attention.
 
But now at 44, Carney has come to realize that life doesn't have to all about business or coaching – or even gymnastics. It can be about all of those things together, and many more.

But doesn't have to be exclusively about any particular one of them.
 
"(Doing the leotards) was a way to be creative, and I love doing creative things," Carney said. "The best world I'm seeking now is to inspire (my gymnasts) to be great young women and athletes.
 
"That's where I'm headed now, and it feels great."
 
To reach Tammy Carney at Daredevils Activewear, e-mail her at daredevils1@aol.com.