While very few inexperienced adults will choose to take to the balance beam or attempt a Yurchenko vault, there are many opportunities for young aspiring gymnasts to give it a try.
Kids Are Tops Sports Center, in Centerville, GymQuest Sports Academy, in Beavercreek, Twigs Kids, in West Carrollton, and Dayton Academy, in Huber Heights, are just a few of the area facilities that offer a variety of gymnastics options, some for children as young as toddlers. Many community recreation centers and YMCAs also offer gymnastics or tumbling classes.
Gymnasts and their parents will discover that the benefits of gymnastics extend well beyond fitness.
Physical benefits
“Gymnastics help kids learn body management and body control and it stimulates their overall coordination,” said Gary Gantz, owner of Kids Are Tops. “They gain basic physical literacy which opens up so many options for them down the line. There are so many directions they can go because their whole body is trained.”
Gantz got his start coaching state-ranked gymnastics teams at Fairmont High School in the mid 1970s, moving to Twigs in 1979. He started Kids Are Tops in 1982. The Centerville center’s programs run the gamut from interactive parent-child classes to boys and girls competitive gymnastics teams. There are as many as 1,200 gymnasts in the center every week.
While the Olympics are certain to inspire some young hopefuls, parents often seek out gymnastics classes with more practical goal in mind.
“We have parents call us and tell us their kids are jumping off the couch and they want them to be safe,” Gantz said, smiling. “This is a perfect outlet for them.”
Academic benefits
Gymnasts can reap benefits in the classroom as well as the gym.
“The kids don’t know we’re making them better in school,” Gantz said.
The veteran coach sites increased confidence, self-discipline and time management as a few of the benefits that carry over to the classroom.
Stephanie Choo can attest to those benefits as the level 10 gymnast recently graduated from The Miami Valley School with a 3.9 grade point average. The Centerville 17-year-old will compete for Brown University in the fall.
“This sport has helped me become the person I am today,” Choo said. “It has taught me about time management and perseverance.”
Time management is critical for competitive gymnasts like Choo who spend at least 20 hours a week in the gym.
“Gymnastics opened a lot of doors for me, school wise,” Choo said. “It gave me my work ethic and taught me the importance of setting goals.”
Personal benefits
Gantz is the first to admit that the Olympics are not a very realistic goal.
“You’re more likely to play in the NFL,” he said.
But whether a gymnast steps onto an Olympic podium, earns a college scholarship or simply does flips for fun, the lessons learned in the gym can last a lifetime.
“Every day, in gymnastics, you are working on the next skill and, as a result, you learn how to handle your own fear,” Gantz said.
Beyond confidence and determination, there is one other critical component for Choo, who started in the sport when she was 8.
“I think the main thing I learned over the years is to have fun.”
Gymnastics glossary
Aerial: A stunt in which the gymnast turns completely over in the air without touching the apparatus with his or her hands.
All-around: A category of gymnastics that includes all of the events. The all-around champion of an event earns the highest total score from all events combined.
Dismount: To leave an apparatus at the end of a routine; usually done with a difficult twist or salto.
Execution: The performance of a routine. Form, style, and technique used to complete the skills constitute the level of execution of an exercise. Bent knees, poor toe point and an arched or loosely-held body position are all examples of poor execution.
Flic-flac: Also known as a flip-flop or back handspring. Take off on one or two feet, jump backward onto hands and land on feet. This element is used in a majority of tumbling passes on the floor exercise. It's also used a great deal on the balance beam.
Full-in, Back-out: A double salto with a full twist (the complete twist performed during the first salto).
Gaylord: On high bar, a front giant into a one-and-one-half front salto over the bar to regrasp. First done by U.S. gymnast Mitch Gaylord.
Giant: A swing in which the body is fully extended and moving through a 360 degree rotation around the bar.
Half-in, Half-out: A double salto with a half twist on the first salto and a half twist on the second salto.
Handspring: Springing off the hands by putting the weight on the arms and using a strong push from the shoulders; can be done either forward or backward; usually a linking movement.
Pike position: Body bent forward more than 90 degrees at the hips while the legs are kept straight.
Release: Leaving the bar to perform a move before re-grasping it.
Round-off: A dynamic turning movement, with a push-off on one leg, while swinging the legs upward in a fast cartwheel motion into a 90 degree turn. The lead-off to a number of skills.
Routine: A combination of stunts displaying a full range of skills on one apparatus.
Salto: Flip or somersault, with the feet coming up over the head and the body rotating around the axis of the waist.
Scissors: A combination requirement in a competitive routine on the pommel horse, which combines cuts and undercuts. It begins in a stride support and ends in an opposite stride support.
"Stick" landing: Slang term used for when a gymnast executes a landing with correct technique and no movement of the feet.
Tuck: A position in which the knees and hips are bent and drawn into the chest; the body is folded at the waist.
Twist: Not to be confused with a salto, a twist occurs when the gymnast rotates around the body's longitudinal axis, defined by the spine.
Yurchenko vault: Round-off entry onto the board, flic-flac onto the vaulting table and salto off of the vaulting table. The gymnast may twist on the way off.
SOURCE: USA Gymnastics
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