By Kaulin Hooper
Guess what BHS… We now have a gymnastics team.
Yes, that is the sport where men and women flip around in the air and land on their feet like stunt doubles out of a martial arts movie. But gymnasts do not have stunt doubles. The sport demands a great deal of commitment; competitors practice for up to four hours every day in order to master their routines. Although they are a BHS sponsored club—not a sport—founding members Arielle Ginsburg and Gabrielle Mitchell have big plans for Gymnastics at BHS.
After competing through their private gymnastics club, the two BHS Juniors decided that they were tired of seeing other schools with gymnastics teams while Beachwood had none. Arielle and Gabrielle approached Athletic Director Ryan Peters with the idea of starting a BHS club, and before long, the team was created.
“I thought high school gymnastics would be a whole new experience… and a good one, too.” Ginsburg said, regarding her inspiration for forming the team.
The team is run through Lakeshore Dance and Gymnastics in Mayfield Village. Throughout the week, the team runs regular two hour practices and on Saturdays they practice with the Brush team for four hours. All this practice is necessary to compete against schools such as West Geaugu, Notre Dame Cathedral Latin, and Solon.
Team members must pay a monthly tuition to be a part of the Lakeshore gym, and must supply their own equipment for meets.
“Even though we only have two people on the team this year, we hope that in years to come more people will join, so it can be considered a varsity sport. I see a lot of potential for the team, and with more members we can compete with the top schools in the area.” Mitchell said. “We have many opportunities to grow and become better, but it all starts with gaining more members and supporters,” she continued.
At their most recent home meet, they had only one spectator, but Ginsburg explains that is to be expected since they are a new team. With more people on the team, she hopes that they can improve their own skills as well as teaching others.
With over five million participants and 400 clubs in the US, gymnastics is on the rise within our country. In 2004 it was the most viewed sport from the Olympics in Athens and millions more watched it in 2008 in Beijing.
The two girls hope to add more members to the team and join the excitement of gymnastics. With hard work and dedication they believe that this year will be better then any that have come before.
