Rec Report: Gymnastics for life | Davis Enterprise

By Ellen Griesemer

In the Recreation Guide for the city of Davis, you can find fun and challenging gymnastics and dance classes, exciting birthday parties and special events. Along with learning new skills and growing a love for fitness, we emphasize the socialization aspect of our classes. Many of us staff members know firsthand the magnitude of this gym?s influence on Davis kids: We were Tiny Tumblers and Level A?s before we even knew how much we would benefit from being in this city program.

Before this was the place that provided me with a coaching job, and then a management job, this was ?my? gym. This is where at age 8 I met my teammates who are still some of my best friends 14 years later.

In elementary school and junior high, this is where I hung out with my friends after school ? except we weren?t just hanging out. In the gym for three or four days every week, our version of hanging out came in the form of talking together and with our coaches while we stretched our splits and took water breaks, enjoying cheering each other on when we learned our handstands, kips and back flips. This gym has witnessed me conquer fears of learning new skills and my triumph at meeting my goals. I remember the exact spot in the gym where I made my first back handspring.

My experience is certainly not unique. I currently coach with Jill Klasing, whom I met when we were in elementary school. Klasing comments that ?whether as a young teammate or as a coach, for 18 years this gym has been my home-away-from-home.?

For many on our staff, like Klasing, coaching here has simply been a natural progression from the gymnastics experiences of childhood to the first job they interview for in high school.

?Doing gymnastics here and seeing all the friendly staff made me want to become a coach later on,? says preschool gymnastics coach, Sydnie Saechow.

Staff member Hilary Shontz volunteered through our coach-in-training program in junior high, and recently found her way back to the gym after graduating from college.

So much of our childhoods were spent in this gym. We love getting to teach children the gymnastics skills we grew up with. Our coaches played a big role in our lives and we?re honored to do the same for the kids we coach.

I am a Davisite, a gymnast and a coach, and as our motto says, these are experiences to be remembered for years to come!

? Ellen Griesemer is the city of Davis Gymnastics and Dance Center Manager, Recreation Division.

Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=133007

View this story on page A7 Posted by Anne Ternus-Bellamy on Feb 12 2012.
Last Login: Sat 11 Feb 2012 06:40:39 PM PST
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