By Ryan Horne
When the KW Gymnastics Club started out as a small after school program over 45 years ago, not many people could have predicted it would one day reach the size and prominence it is today in the community.
Robyn Burgess has been a part of the KW Gymnastics Club for the past 25 years as a gymnast in her teenage years, then as a coach, and now as the recreational director of the club. Burgess says she couldn?t imagine working anywhere else.
?This is so much more than a job because I?ve been here for so long,? said Burgess. ?I just feel like it?s a huge family.?
The club?s overall goal has always been to do everything in their power to give people the opportunity to learn and participate in gymnastics no matter the situation.
?We make a big effort to make it affordable,? said Dorothy Maki, executive director of KW Gymnastics.
The club was founded in 1965 by a high school gym teacher at K.C.I named Marianne Mudin. She thought there wasn?t enough sports for girls to participate in so she began running an after school gymnastics club. Over the next half century the club saw it expand to other schools including W.C.I, Doon Public School and Grand River Collegiate. Eventually, the club moved into its own gym in 1990 and the rest is history.
Today, the club has a total of 1,500 members ranging everywhere from one-year olds to competitive teenagers.
Coach Josh Caron spots Molly Podreberac on the uneven bars as they demonstrate a "cast to handstand"
The KW Gymnastics Club offers five main programs which include parents and tots, kindergym, recreational, developmental and competitive. The club tends to focus on artistic gymnastics which involves the vault, uneven bars, the balance beam and floor exercise for women and the pommel horse, parallel bars and still rings for men.
?We just stick with what we know,? said Burgess.
The head coach of the KW Gymnastics Club is Dan Glendon and he has been with the club since 1994. The club?s coaches are usually hired from within which is one of the reasons why the club has been so successful over the years.
?Every gymnastic club has a different philosophy or different feel to it and if they come up through our program they tend to be excellent coaches and have the same values as we did,? said Burgess.
Burgess has always thought the most rewarding experience of the job is coaching the children and seeing their love for gymnastics blossom first hand.
?When you see the look on their face when they learn a new skill, that?s always a rewarding part,? she said.
Gymnastics is a great launching pad for other sports and can also help with off-season training according to Burgess.
?Gymnastics is one of the best sports for physical literacy and improving your overall coordination, your upper body strength, your flexibility, body awareness the whole bit,? she said. ?It?s honestly an awesome sport.?
Burgess also said that gymnastics is a valuable component in Canada?s Long Term Athlete Development plan which strives to make Canadian athletes successful in the various stages of athletic development.
The fall is usually the busiest season for the club, but this year might be a little different as the initiation of all-day kindergarten will pose a problem for time and space.
?I understand it?s nice for the parents, but there are a lot of worthwhile things that are going on in our community that kids should be a part of,? explained Maki.
Whatever the future may hold, the people that are involved with the day-to-day activities of the club are filled with pride and passion.
?I?m always proud to say that I work at the KW Gymnastics Club,? said Burgess.
?
Source: http://waterloosportsxpress.ca/2011/09/01/kw-gymnastics-club-still-growing/
free typing games free typing games byu jack the ripper mel gibson texas a m robert downey jr
The club was founded in 1965 by a high school gym teacher at K.C.I named Marianne Mudin. She thought there wasn?t enough sports for girls to participate in so she began running an after school gymnastics club. Over the next half century the club saw it expand to other schools including W.C.I, Doon Public School and Grand River Collegiate. Eventually, the club moved into its own gym in 1990 and the rest is history.http://www.wowgoldpvp.com
Posted by: Xiaoxia Zhou | 03/27/2013 at 02:25 AM