EVERETT – It moves in cyclically every four years.
Local gymnastics club officials are more than happy to busy themselves bracing for the resultant storm surge of interest left in its wake.
Four years hence it will bear another moniker, but this time around call it the ”Athens affect.”
Young people have been dazzled after two weeks of watching the world’s finest gymnasts take center stage at the Summer Olympics. Those with gymnastics experience often return to the bars and beams with a rekindled sense of ambition.
For children with no formal training, living rooms and backyards often prove insufficient to contain their newfound enthusiasm for the sport. The Olympics – including the high-profile success of the U.S. teams and particularly the silver medal winning performance of former Mill Creek resident Brett McClure – is the spark that leads many to venture into the gym for the first time.
“It’s been absolutely wonderful for us,” said Sheila Bath, who co-owns Leading Edge Gymnastics in Everett with her husband David. “It always is.”
A similar situation exists at Cascade Elite in Mountlake Terrace according to Derrick Bannister, a coach with the boy’s team there.
“It’s been a big boost in more people coming to the gym,” Bannister said.
Watching McClure perform in the international spotlight had a decidedly positive affect on the young athletes who train in the same place the Olympian got his start.
“The energy around the gym was just crazy,” Bannister said. “The kids were so excited. Now they seem to have more energy and try even harder.”
For Sheila Bath, setting up an information booth at the Evergreen State Fair for three days provided one useful measure of how watching the Olympic gymnasts perform has captivated area youths.
More than 80 kids signed up for a free lesson at Leading Edge.
“They just saw it on television and then boom, there we are at the fair,” Sheila Bath explained.
Bath said indications are the Olympics also spurred experienced kids who have taken time off from gymnastics to return.
“The Olympics reminded them they need to come back to the gym,” Sheila Bath said.
Leading Edge has more than 600 active members. About 60 are boys, but the expected influx of new participants is evenly divided gender-wise.
“I think we can attribute that to our friends Paul Hamm and Brett McClure,” Sheila Bath said with a laugh.
But, is a free lesson really enough for kids to get their hooks into the notion of defying gravity with front tucks, back tucks, pikes and layouts?
“If I can just get a kid in here…” Bath started.
“It’s a kids paradise,” her husband David interjected as he hastened from one project to another at the spacious Leading Edge gym last Saturday.
That may well be the case.
Just walking in to the Leading Edge facility will literally put a spring in the step of even the most profoundly grounded.
Located in south Everett at the former Millstone Coffee plant – David Bath pointed out that more than a few stray coffee beans are painted in to the fixtures – the infectious joy in the place exceeds any java jolt.
One of the first things a visitor might notice is the lack of slouching.
“We teach them stomach’s in, arms out, buns under,” Sheila said with a laugh.
While the walls of the gym are adorned with the bigger-than-life sized silhouettes of several dozen past state champions who hail from the club, a proud history and tradition is only part of the story.
Last Saturday there were “Mom and me,” groups for children 18 months up to 3 years of age cavorting about. There are also popular programs for pre-school children ages 3 and 4. Training at level one generally starts with kids’ age 5 and older.
At the Leading Edge approximately 75 of the participants, including about a dozen boys, are in the competitive programs for level four and up. The majority are there for recreation.
“We love the competitive edge, but that’s not the focus here,” Sheila Bath said. “We want the kids to have fun.”
Recreation program practices are limited to about one hour, but workouts for the competitive gymnasts often last up to four hours, four days a week.
Those in the competitive levels take on fuel during meal breaks in the kitchen.
“Can you imagine working out for four straight hours without eating,” Sheila Bath wondered.
This fall Leading Edge brought in Tony Ammons from Reno-based Flips USA to launch a new program straight off the Olympic menu: Trampoline.
“It’s so healthy to jump on a trampoline,” said Ammons who has coached numerous national champions. “If taught right, it’s very safe.”
Ammons and the Bath’s view gymnastics as not merely a solid foundation of lifelong fitness, but important in mastering other important life skills as well.
“Time management, commitment, hard work, academics,” Sheila Bath said. “It all ties together.”
Ammons, a former collegiate gymnast at Oregon State seemed to enjoy his new surroundings.
“This is pretty unique,” Ammons said. “Most gyms have four walls and a counter to pay your bill. This has homey touches to make it family friendly.”
On Saturday Ammons, David Bath – also a former gymnast – and others were busy breaking down equipment and hefting balance beams on to their shoulders to make room for two new trampolines.
David Bath, a Boeing engineer, delights in the challenges of putting new equipment together and making it work. A 40-by-40 foot section built for the floor exercise area gets a lot of its bounce out of the same composites used to put the Boeing 7E7 aloft.
Then there’s the extremely springy ‘ski floor,’ a 57-foot long by six-feet wide section David Bath constructed by cutting the tips off of 300 downhill snow skis donated by a Bellingham company.
“Even now people drop off their used skis in front of the building,” Sheila Bath said. “No note or anything, I guess they just figure we can use them.”
Yet, for all of the technology and his engineer’s knack for improvising, duct tape might be the most important item to have on hand. David Bath estimated he goes through about 25 rolls a year.
The Leading Edge gym has been a virtual home-away-from home for the Bath’s daughter Lauren and her level seven teammate Jessica Buehler.
Both age 11, the friends have trained together since they were 3. In those early days growing up in the gym it wasn’t just all work and no play.
The girls say they sometimes tied jump ropes to small mats and then dragged the mats around as if they were pets.
Lauren’s was a pink big.
“Mine was a big purple horse,” Buehler said.
But, was it hard to learn how to pull off a back hand spring?
“It was like writing your name,” Lauren Bath said.
Lauren and Jessica have had lot of fun traveling to meets in many states including Hawaii. They have learned to do homework on the road when necessary.
“These guys (Lauren and Jessica) could be competing at (level) nine or 10,” Sheila Bath said. “But, they’re only 11. I don’t want them burnt out.”
Jessica’s parents Doug and Judy, of Snohomish, could not be more proud of their daughter.
“She’s fearless and has a lot of strength,” her mother said.
“To see anybody to a straddle split, I cringe every time,” her dad added.
The girls can name every athlete on the U.S. women’s Olympic team and most of the men. Do they hold Olympics dreams of their own?
“Oh, gosh yes,” Judy Buehler said with a laugh. ” (Jessica) said ‘It’s the Romanians I’m going to have to beat…nope, it’s China.’ Their heart is in to it.”
Lauren, Jessica or someone among the other gymnastics hopefuls in Snohomish County will likely see their Olympic dreams come true long before there are any more purple horses to be found hereabouts.
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