“Mini-camps beckon for summer sports, gymnastics, dance in Madison” plus 3 more

Mini-camps beckon for summer sports, gymnastics, dance in Madison
School gymnastics hangs in the balance
Grand Blanc's Olivia Chiu overcomes anxiety attacks to reach USA Gymnastics's Eastern Nationals
Special Olympians leap into gymnastics

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Mini-camps beckon for summer sports, gymnastics, dance in Madison

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 10:08 PM PDT

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 09:12 PM PDT

Gymnastics is Nicole Stehly's sport. She wants to finish out her high school gymnastics career as a senior on the Stevens High School team, but things might not work out the way she wants.

The school district is discussing not funding the gymnastic teams and using that funding to sanction cheer and dance squads instead.

Tonight, Nicole will have a chance to plead her case with Superintendent Peter Wharton and school officials during an informal meeting to discuss the future of the program. Parents, athletes, board members and the media are invited.

Verma Stehly, Nicole's mother, is not giving up and is planning to attend tonight's meeting.

"We just have to hope and fight for it," she said. "It's taught (Nicole) a lot. It's given her great character. She's a tough person. She's a very disciplined gal, and that's all because of gymnastics."

Her daughter has participated in gymnastics since she was about 5 years old and joined Just Jymnastics when she was 9, but Nicole dropped the club and joined the high school team because she wanted to be a part of a school activity.

Advocates for keeping gymnastics a sanctioned sport say the benefits of the program go beyond athletic accomplishment.

Student athletes are required to maintain a specific grade point average in order to compete, according to Pam Junek, coach of Central and Stevens gymnastic teams. (The two teams practice together but compete against one another.)

"There is more of a motivation for them to stay ahead in their studies," Junek said. "I just think that athletics in school are really important."

Verma Stehly has had many conversations with her daughter about what it would mean for her senior year if gymnastics were cut. It upsets both of them.

"When you're a senior, you don't just pick up a sport and you're all of a sudden a part of a team," Verma Stehly said.

Parents and gymnasts defended funding the sport at the April 1 school board meeting, when activity directors Darren Paulson and Tyler Rachetto recommended funding competitive cheer and dance squads instead of gymnastics. That recommendation was based on participation levels and the viability of the sports, not budgetary concerns.

This year, 132 students participated in cheer and dance, which isn't a sanctioned sport -- meaning it uses district facilities but does not receive school district funding.

Gymnastics, which is a sanctioned sport and receives about $40,000 from the district, had 13 participants this year. The district also paid about $22,000 out of the capital outlay fund to rent the former Just Jymnastics facility so the program would be in compliance with Office of Civil Rights requirements for equal offerings for female and male sports and facilities.

If the school board opts to pull funding from gymnastics, the team could operate as a club sport. However, Junek said she wasn't sure if the team would be allowed to participate in state competitions -- and more importantly, she said, the team would need the financial backing of a sponsor. Junek said there are many other details she needs to figure out should the school district decide not to sanction the sport.

John Herrera is a strong backer of the gymnastics program. His daughter, Emily Herrera, competes on the Central team at the varsity level. In the eighth grade, Emily Herrera also belongs to Just Jymnastics and participates in a number of other sports.

He said he was shocked when he heard about removing gymnastics as a sanctioned sport.

"I think that it is great that there is a lot of interest in the cheer and dance, but not everybody can be a gymnast. It takes a lot of hard work to be a gymnast. Out of all the sports that my daughter participates in, gymnastics is definitely the hardest," he said. "You can't compare the two."

He plans to attend today's meeting.

"I know it's come up in the past, and they found ways to keep the sport in the high school," John Herrera said. "I'm hoping that this year, they'll do the same thing."

Talk of ending the sport has been buzzing for awhile, and not just in Rapid City.

In an April 2009 Rapid City Journal story, Kadoka's program was reported in limbo, and Winner ended its program in 2008. Wyoming planned to end all of its gymnastics programs in 2011.

Currently, out of the 17 Class AA schools in South Dakota, only four do not sanction cheer and dance, including Stevens and Central High schools. For gymnastics, 13 of the 17 offer it as a sanctioned sport, but three are considering cutting it because of low participation.

Bill Allen, a gymnastics judge and former owner of Just Jymnastics, said the Rapid City teams have a long history of success.

Stevens won 12 state championships, which is the most out of any team in the state. The last was in 2001. Central won three state championships, the last in 2000. Both teams also placed second a number of times: Central, four times, and Stevens, eight. Four times, Central and Stevens competed against each other for first place.

"The bottom line is it's been extremely successful, and just because we're in a little bit of a lull doesn't mean you need to get rid of it," Allen said. "They're reducing one of those outlets for aspiring young athletes who excel and cultivate their discipline."

Contact Holly Meyer at 394-8421 or holly.meyer@rapidcityjournal.com.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Grand Blanc's Olivia Chiu overcomes anxiety attacks to reach USA Gymnastics's Eastern Nationals

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 10:25 AM PDT

By Dan Feldman | Flint Journal

April 18, 2010, 12:53PM

(Sarah A. Miller | The Flint Journal)Olivia Chiu of Grand Blanc works on the bars during practice Thursday at Grand Blanc Gymnastics Company on Reid Road in Grand Blanc.

Timid and wide-eyed, Olivia Chiu just stood there.

All. Day. Long.

She was 5 years old and had just joined the Grand Blanc Gymnastics Co., which was conducting a car-wash fundraiser. Chiu's mom dropped her off for the day, but at such a young age, Olivia didn't know how to wash cars. So, she just watched -- and watched and watched.

Now a Grand Blanc senior, Chiu has come a long way from that shy girl standing to the side. She will compete in the Level 9 Eastern Nationals on April 29-May 2 in Charleston, W.Va.

(Sarah A. Miller | The Flint Journal)Grand Blanc Gymnastics team members Olivia Chiu of Grand Blanc, Sarah Crosby of Goodrich (alternate), Jessica Rockafellow of Grand Blanc, Tori Carlson of Lapeer West (alternate) and Megan Lamphere, 15, of Lapeer East are headed to the U.S. Nationals on April 29.

Grand Blanc senior Jessica Rockafellow and Lapeer East sophomore Megan Lamphere also will compete at the Nationals. Goodrich junior Sarah Crosby and Tori Carlson, an eighth-grader in the Lapeer West district, will travel as alternates.

For Chiu to make it that far is remarkable considering five years ago, she couldn't compete without vomiting or feeling like she couldn't eat. And that was days before meets.

"Even just in practice, I would get so nervous," said Chiu, who describes herself as a perfectionist. "I wouldn't look forward to going. I was so scared of messing up.

"I was just scared of not living up to my expectations."

Her coaches brought in sports psychologists and worked with her on deep-breathing techniques. Now, leading up to every competition, the gymnasts lie on the floor with their eyes closed and visualize a successful routine.

Eventually, Chiu moved past her nervousness. Not only did she perform better in meets, she opened up to her teammates.

Once, on a ride home from a training camp, Chiu's teammates stuck a Cheez-It in her mouth while she was asleep -- and she ate it. At the time, that was a rare example of Chiu moving her mouth.

But now, she's the one who cracks jokes to keep everyone loose. She recently won a dance-off among the gymnasts. She's even considering joining the dance team at the University of Michigan, which she will begin attending in the fall.

(Sarah A. Miller | The Flint Journal)Olivia Chiu of Grand Blanc (left) practices Thursday at Grand Blanc Gymnastics Company on Reid Road in Grand Blanc.

Her anxiety seemed completely behind her -- until this year's state meet.

After suffering "kind of a disaster," as her coach Renee Darling put it, on the balance beam at last year's regional, Chiu eyed this year's state meet as a chance to prove herself.

Knowing Chiu's history, Darling worried about the pressure the gymnast was applying to herself. The day before the meet, Chiu texted Darling:

"You know how I get. I'm going to sabotage myself."

Darling quickly texted back, "No, you're not." The rest of the day, she barraged Chiu's phone with texts about breathing, staying positive and becoming a state champion.

It worked. Chiu won the all-around state title and finished second at regionals nearly two weeks later.

Was it frustrating for Darling, knowing Chiu's capabilities before the gymnast showed them in competitions?

"Yes, yes," Darling said enthusiastically. "Absolutely, yes."

Chiu has one more chance to reinforce to everyone else what her coach saw all along. But after winning the state all-around title, Chiu just has to remember one thing: The pressure is off.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Special Olympians leap into gymnastics

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 12:12 AM PDT

By Wendy Vurik, SPECIAL TO THE UNION-TRIBUNE

Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

Special Olympics gymnastics meet

When: 9 a.m. today

Where: Gyminny Kids, 1935 Avenida del Oro, Suite A

Cost: Free and open to the public

Parking: On site

Information: (760) 941-0202

OCEANSIDE — More than 30 athletes will participate in the Special Olympics gymnastics meet today at Gyminny Kids in Oceanside.

The athletes come from clubs in Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside and San Diego, including a group of eight gymnasts who train at Gyminny Kids.

Reevon Bryan, owner of Gyminny Kids, donates her gym and her time to coach the athletes.

"They have great success," Bryan said. "We have realized each individual athlete's capabilities, and just as a non-special-needs athlete, we expect them to achieve their best."

Before buying the gym in November 2007, Bryan worked under the previous owners and had the opportunity to train special-needs children with disabilities ranging from Down syndrome to autism.

"You find different ways to communicate verbally or tactilely or visually with kids with special needs in order to break down the skills using whichever learning style they have," Bryan said.

With the help of two other coaches and Bryan's daughter, Amanda Griffith-Bryan, the children train with the gymnasts every Monday evening from February through June.

Katie Stashak, 11, will compete today. She has trained with Bryan for the past three years.

"I have high expectations for her," Bryan said. "She is definitely going to set the bar."

Katie now competes at a level 3, but Bryan hopes she can advance to a level 4 and join the facility's competitive team, and participate in USA Gymnastics meets.

"The exciting part is when we are able to mainstream a kid with special needs into a regular structured class," Bryan said. "It's really hard to let go and let them move on, but that's always what we are working for."

The sport of gymnastics is not common in Special Olympics. It requires a gym facility to donate space and training time.

"There are only a few regions in Southern California that offer gymnastics," said Kelcie Kopf, regional manager for Special Olympics San Diego.

"For the athletes to get to have a place to practice and learn those skills and have the opportunity to meet other athletes with similar disabilities, I don't know that we can put a value or a price on it," Kopf said.

With the down economy and charities nationwide feeling the pinch of fewer donations, Special Olympics had to scale back as well. Athletes who previously could participate and compete in several sports must now train in only two sports and select one to compete in.

During the spring and summer, athletes compete in aquatics, athletics, basketball, boccie, golf and gymnastics. In fall and winter, the sports are soccer, softball, volleyball, bowling, tennis and floor hockey.

"We are completely funded by private donations and receive no federal money," Kopf said. "The generosity of the community and businesses is how we stay in business."

Bryan hopes donations will increase as the economy improves. "We are really hoping we can get something lined up to be able to run a small program here year-round," she said.

Terri Stashak, Katie's mother, is grateful to Bryan and all the coaches for their efforts.

"The dedication, the heart they have for our wonderful children, our special children, it makes me cry," she said.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Gymnastics Sports

Sunday, April 18, 2010