Gymnastics club in Tisdale sees increased interest, growing out of current space

Class sizes needed to be limited as per the restrictions that were in place during last year’s sessions.

“That was good on one hand because you have one on one coaching time, but you can’t have those smaller numbers and increase revenue that way,” DeLaet said. “It was challenging and took a lot of time and investment from our board and coaches to get through it, and we are still working through it.”

With gymnastics being an individual sport rather than a team sport, the club was able to go ahead with classes all year, minus competition.

Last year, there were 18 athletes in the Junior Olympics program and that has now gone up to 30. Fall recreation numbers have gone up to 50 from 37 last year.

“We had to cancel a boy’s class because we didn’t have a coach for it and there are also waiting lists for the fall recreation classes,” DeLaet said.

Fundraising for the club has allowed them to upgrade equipment this year but the space to house it and the athletes is running out.

“It is probably going to be a building that needs to be built from the ground up and it is going take a lot of local business investment,” DeLaet said.

DeLaet said it’s not realistic to fundraise the money for a new facility while still operating the non-profit program and would need community partners to bring it to fruition.

The current space doesn’t have a full springboard floor due to size and the beams for the building are in the middle of floor as well.

“It really isn’t optimal, but we are just working with what we have,” DeLaet said.

Head coach Jody Armstrong said on top of needing a bigger space, more coaches are also needed to keep up with demand.

There are opportunities for coaches in all types of classes from two years in rec to teens in competitive.

“We would ideally like someone with some gymnastics knowledge, but right now would consider anyone,” Armstrong said.

(Facebook/Tisdale Twsiters)

Armstrong was involved with the Tisdale gymnastics club as an athlete on the competitive side and at that time there was a good amount of interest in the club.

“Watching the club close down because they didn’t have a space was heartbreaking and we never want to see that happen again, so many kids lost something that they truly loved, and we want to make sure that we are able to keep something like this available in the northeast,” Armstrong said.

Athletes not only attend the gym from Tisdale but from surrounding communities including Melfort, Porcupine Plain, Kelvington, and Arborfield.

“We are the only higher competitive club in the northeast,” Armstrong said. “The word has been spreading and it is really great for us, but we are busting at the seams with this space.”

An ideal facility for the club would have high ceilings for athletes to do required skills on the bars as well as being wide open so coaches can always see all athletes.

(Submitted photo/Erin DeLaet)

“Last year was doable because we were only allowed to have eight kids in the gym at one time, so it was fine for eight kids and two coaches,” Armstrong said. “This year we have several levels that need to run at one time and there are sometimes needing to be 30 athletes with four to five coaches and that is huge.”

The growth over the last couple of years is expected to continue and without a larger space, caps will need to be out on class sizes and wait lists will get longer and some athletes may not be able to move up in levels.

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angie.rolheiser@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser

by Angie Rolheiser

Gymnastics club in Tisdale sees increased interest, growing out of current space

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