Mr. Barclay has been coaching all levels of gymnastics since 1979 and is currently the head coach of the Arizona State University Men’s Gymnastics Club Team. He has been named National Coach of the Year 13 times since 1994. Scott was inducted into the ASU Hall of Fame in 1999 and received his Masters in Exercise Science at ASU.
In 23 years as head coach of the ASU Club team, he has coached the team to 18 Collegiate National Team Titles (12 in a row) and produced a self-funding team that gets virtually no recognition or financial help from the University. His coaching has produced 8 Collegiate Division Individual Event National Champions and 78 Collegiate Division All Americans. All monies are raised by the team and through booster donations.
Scott and his wife Dona had been involved with the ASU Fellowship of Christian Athletes for over 20 years. They have 2 children; Riley and Briena who were both avid gymnasts and now help in the family business.
Scott Barclay was born in Oak Park, IL where he attended Oak Park – River Forest High School. Scott was a swimmer and diver between the ages of 8 & 14 until he took up gymnastics recreationally. He soon found himself on the school gymnastics team competing on trampoline and pommel horse. Coached by Clarke Shultes, Scott finished his junior year with a 3rd place finish on trampoline and his senior year placing 3rd in the state in AA behind Bart Connor and Mark Gadowa.
After accepting a scholarship to Arizona State University in 1974, Scott helped the Sun Devils place 2nd in the NCAA’s in 1978 while he took All American honors in the AA and PB events. He continued to train and compete as a USA National Team member for 3 years between 1977 and 1979. In 1978 Scott represented the U.S. in the Hapoel Games in Israel. He toured Australia for one month in 1979 with the ASU team and then competed for the U.S. in the Spartakiad Games (part of their Pre-Olympics test) in Moscow where he placed 6th and 7th respectively on PB and Vault. Scott was AAU National All Around champion in 1980 and placed 2nd on PB’s and 3rd on HB.
In 1986 the ASU team won the coveted NCAA Team Title and Scott was offered a full time assistant position. Scott then helped coach the Arizona State University Varsity team as assistant to Head coach Don Robinson until it was dropped from the varsity program in 1993.
In June of 1993, Scott had already started working on his Master’s in Exercise Science so he committed to coach the remaining athletes for one year. Soon other athletes began to arrive and so Scott stayed on coaching at the club level which he has been doing since then.
Scott, along with his wife, Dona is also owner/director of Aspire Kids Sports Center in Chandler, AZ which is the Home training center for the ASU team. Built in 2000 for the main purpose of providing a home for the team, Aspire is a top collegiate training center which is also home for kids 6 months through high school in gymnastics, Tramp & Tumbling, Acro, Swimming, Martial Arts and Dance. During their time at ASU, team members serve as mentors and coaches to many kids through their formative years.
Scott certified as an FIG Brevet judge from 1980 to 2000, judging many national championships, the Pacific Rim (Malaysia) and the American Cup. He also went on to help T&T both as a coach and judge.
Currently, Scott continues as Head coach of the ASU team and is very active in building GymACT nationally so many other aspireing young men can have the opportunity to experience being on a collegiate sports team. He still runs the Aspire Kids Sports Center and enjoys doing so alongside his wife of 34 years (Dona) His son, Riley- a former ASU All American and National Champion, his daughter Brie (former gymnast and collegiate Trackster) and daughter-in-law, Maesyn. And just recently became a Gramps for the 1st time with the arrival of Riley and Maesyn’s daughter- Scotti.