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New surroundings were beneficial for gymnastics club

The season ended earlier than they had hoped, but the Estevan Gymnastics Club still saw benefits from their first year in their new home.

The season ended earlier than they had hoped, but the Estevan Gymnastics Club still saw benefits from their first year in their new home.

The club purchased a property in the 1200-block of Seventh Street last year, and after spending the summer to get the building ready, they moved in there in time for the start of the season in September. 

Club president Lisa Murphy said they had just over 100 kids in the Active Start program and almost 100 in the recreational badge-level program. About 15 boys were in the boys gymnastics/beginner parkour classes.

With the extra space and new facility, they had better classes than ever, and the kids loved the facility. 

They had a lot more space and more equipment to have more fun and learn gymnastics skills.

“The club needed a larger facility to accommodate the demand for our programs,” said Murphy. “Our coaches continue to learn and train in order to grow as a club. We plan to do more programs and expand the programs that we do have,” said Murphy. 

The pre-competitive gymnasts were there Mondays and Thursdays, while competitive members were Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. They had about 40 kids between those two programs. 

Rebecca Fedyk, who coaches the competitive gymnasts, said the extra space allowed them to have a full floor for the first time ever and a new strap bar. 

“They were way better to learn our tumbling on, and to be able to teach floor routines and everything. It was a pretty big necessity we were missing in the city.”

When they were at their former home, the Doug Third Hall, they had about three strips of floor mats, and now they have seven. 

The gymnasts compete on a full floor when they go to competitions, so it’s a big difference having a surface of a similar size for practices. 

“We were able to get another beam set up. It’s been really nice. All of our equipment was really tight and close together in the last building, and this new building, everything’s able to be spread out a little bit more, and we don’t feel like the kids are running into each other here.” 

They also have an area where parents can watch, an asset they didn’t have previously. 

The club hasn’t seen a bump in registration numbers as of yet, but Fedyk pointed out they also don’t have to worry about wait lists any longer. They can get kids in who want to be in classes.

The kids were disappointed to see their season end, especially those who weren’t able to travel to a competitive meet. But they also understood why the season ended prematurely. 

“They worked so hard all year, and didn’t even get to go compete,” said Fedyk. “Hopefully it’s just a one-time thing and it doesn’t happen again next year.”

The club hopes to have programs in the summer in the facility.