Gymnast Mary Lou Retton left her home in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1983 to go to Bela Karolyi's gym in Houston. I knew if I wanted to have a chance at a medal in the Olympics, I was not going to do it if I stayed at home. The issue is not whether an athlete should move away from home, but when and for what reasons. Some move prematurely and others move without fully exploring options close to home. The pros and cons of leaving home should be weighed carefully.
Some athletes find being in unfamiliar surroundings very disruptive to their training.
Jill Trenary was 22, she moved from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Cleveland, Ohio. Her coach, Carlo Fassi, had returned to Italy so she needed to make a coaching change. But in less than a year she was back in Colorado and had ended her amateur career. I was lonely in Cleveland. It was a new city, a new rink, new surroundings.