“Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports” plus 1 more

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Madison mini-camps beckon for summer in gymnastics, dance, sports Posted: 26 May 2010 05:14 AM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Student survey finds interest in gymnastics team Posted: 01 Jun 2010 04:39 AM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. If a recent survey is any indication, the Rapid City Area Schools gymnastics team should have no problem recruiting new members during the next five years. A survey of female students in sixth through 11th grades shows a surprising number said they would choose to participate in gymnastics at the high school level compared with the number who do now. This year, 14 students participated in gymnastics. Four of those students graduate this year, said head gymnastics coach Pam Junek. In the survey, more than 200 girls said they would participate in gymnastics in high school. About 160 girls said they were interested in competitive cheer and even more, 286, said they wanted to go out for competitive dance in high school. In May, the board voted unanimously to add competitive cheer and dance, as well as keep gymnastics, but not before asking the athletic directors to administer the survey to gauge what kind of interest there was in the activities. Gymnastics was on the chopping block just a month ago as board members weighed the option of adding competitive cheer and dance, a sport that has grown in popularity across the state, and continuing or cutting gymnastics as a sanctioned sport. This year, 132 students participated in the cheer and dance program, which was not sanctioned. Central High activity director Darren Paulson has said he is glad that the board was able to budget for both activities, but there is no way to know if the survey is a true picture of what students will participate in. Students could very well say they are interested, but not follow through. Junek agreed. "Yes, I am concerned about that," she said. "But even if we get a percentage of that, we'll be happy." Although the survey was requested by the board, and meetings leading up to the decision were fraught with emotion and pleas by supporters of both teams, the final decision was announced with little fanfare at a May board meeting. The survey was never discussed and administrators disagree about how much the survey, or the district's current Title IX status, played into the decision. "We might look at the survey as guide," said board president Wes Storm, to see if the students really follow through with what they thought they wanted to participate in. The survey is now a moot point, said assistant superintendent Katie Bray. The decision she said was "based on our desire as a district to get our participation levels up and provide as many opportunities as possible for girls to participate in athletics." Paulson said Title IX and the fact that the district is not in compliance with the law was part of the conversation, but not the entire reason the district chose to keep gymnastics and add cheer and dance. Junek thinks it played more of a role. "That's how it got solved so fast," she said. Everyone agrees that the discussion about the future of gymnastics is not over. Junek said the team has been going a year at a time for several years. Storm said that this year's decision hinged on fairness. "We feel we didn't give adequate time and decided to allow a year or two to see if the numbers can't be increased," he said. Junek said that is exactly what she is hoping to do -- increase the numbers. There are changes in store for the team, she said, including working with a new gymnastics facility. Tim and Sarah Trimble will open Rapid City Gymnastics Academy in September and are in negotiations with Junek to lease the building to the team for practices. The team used to rent from Just Jymnastics. Tim has coached gymnastics for 21 years, she said, and wants to work with the school system and the high school program. "We'll all benefit with him onboard," she added. The goal, she said, is to make the collaboration stronger between the private facilities and the schools, "which Rapid City hasn't had for a long time." Junek plans to solidify practice schedules and competition schedules as soon as possible to better accommodate the students who might try it this year. She also plans to stay more involved in the specifics of the budget. Board members approved $30,000 for cheer and dance and almost $25,000 for gymnastics for next year. The district will also pay $12,000 out of the capital outlay fund to rent the practice facility. Junek said administrators initially gave board members incorrect numbers when discussions about the two sports first started, but final figures showed the team spending far less than the $40,000 originally indicated. "Boy did I get a lot of flak around the city on spending that much money on 14 girls," she said. "Last year I had no idea even what the budget was. This year, I told them 'we want to be involved so we can manage it better.' I keep telling them I want to make sure the facts are correct." Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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