When Penn State gymnast Matt Cohen was 5 years old, he kicked an old lady in a grocery store.
That was when both he and his mother realized that karate may not be the best sport for him.
Cohen then turned to gymnastics and found his passion.
Thirteen years after the grocery store incident, Cohen, a senior, is an accomplished gymnast. He is team captain, has already won three all-around titles this season, won a team national championship as a freshman and is gunning for a second team title this spring.
While Cohen said he was not the best recruit coming out of high school, he said he prides himself on determination, a quality he says he gets from his family.
Instead of encouraging him to get involved in a variety of sports, his parents encouraged him to dedicate himself to one.
Of all the people who influenced him, he says, his mother has had the most impact.
"My mom was an athlete," he said. "She is a runner. Even to this day, she runs six to seven miles a day and she's in her mid-fifties. She's just a passionate person. She really helped me to catch that vision."
After growing up in Southern California, Cohen moved to a gymnastics facility in Northern California to help with his training. He began to practice three hours a day, six days a week.
As a junior in high school, Cohen began looking at universities where he could not only excel individually, but also contend for a national championship.
That left Cohen with two options: the University of California at Berkley and Penn State.
It was Penn State head coach Randy Jepson, on Cohen's first visit to University Park, who really won him over.
"He and I have a lot in common, as far as our work ethic," Cohen said. "He's a hard worker, and I pride myself on working hard."
It has taken that great work ethic to get Cohen to where he is now.
Cohen said he typically spends about 20 hours training each week. After doing a team warm-up, the team trains for four to six events every day, with Jepson always writing the assignment on the chalkboard and each gymnast going through all the numbers.
In 2004, Cohen was a freshman on the gymnastics team that won the NCAA Championship. Even though Penn State was one of the best teams in the nation throughout the season, the idea of winning a national title felt foreign for Cohen until the NCAA Championships at the University of Illinois.
