For the past three years right around this time, I step into a former life and judge the annual gymnastics meet put on by Island Twisters Gymnastics Club in Tamuning. And every year, the progression of these young athletes amazes me.
Like other sports, gymnastics takes skill, coordination, training and focus. It is unique in that it also takes patience, daring, and something called “air sense” – you have to be able to know where you are upside down. Several years of strength training and progressive moves are required in order for a gymnast to develop the “core” muscles (the muscles deep inside your abdomen) needed to do moves like a kip – a trick (in gymnastics, the skills are called “tricks”) in which you stand several feet back from the low bar of the uneven parallel bars, take a small jump toward the bar, grab it, and with your body in a slightly bent, or pike position, you glide your pointed toes and ramrod straight legs along the floor with out touching it until you extend your body almost fully straight and then bring your toes up to the bar and smoothly pull your legs along the bar until you are resting on the bar in a front support position. Sound complicated? It is, but once the gymnast gets the hang of it (no pun intended), she makes it look effortless.
Several of the girls at Island Twisters are now at that level. They are performing Level 6 and 7 skills – including back handsprings and aerial cartwheels on the 4-inch wide balance beam. The sport has 10 levels, and then junior and senior elite status. Senior elite is considered Olympic level. So the Guam girls are doing fairly well, considering that we don’t have a lot of competition here.
All of this progress is due mainly to two very dedicated people – Melinda and Rick Heath. The couple came to Guam to work at Sandcastle when it had the Las Vegas-style show, and when the show closed, they wanted to stay. So they invested in Island Twisters (Melinda is a former gymnast who can still perform some awesome tricks), and despite the fact that gymnastics is not immensely popular here, they’ve made it work.
The Heaths have nurtured a small but growing group of girls and honed them into very good intermediate level gymnasts over the past three years. Will any of them reach Olympic level? Probably not. Few gymnasts ever do. According to USA Gymnastics, there are nearly 69,000 participants in the sport of women’s gymnastics. The number of gymnasts currently at the elite level is 79. But the rest of the gymnasts don’t let that statistic get in their way. Why? Because gymnastics is fun. Let’s face it – being able to kick a soccer ball or spike a volleyball or swim really fast are admirable skills. But being able to flip around in the air, twist, turn, and then land on your feet (most of the time!) is awesome. It definitely turns heads.
It is my belief that a few of Melinda and Rick’s girls could compete at the college level – and maybe even earn a scholarship – if they keep at it. They’ll need help, though. And this is where the Guam National Olympic Committee, from which we hear very little these days, could come in. Gymnastics could form a federation, and maybe get some scholarship money to send these girls off island for a summer training camp somewhere in the states. Believe me, they’ll get noticed. The sport is not that big, so “the girls from Guam” will definitely get some attention. Even if we only get one or two gymnasts competing at the college level, the investment in the sport would be well worth it.
Gymnastics teaches much more than just tricks. It teaches discipline, dedication, poise, and confidence. It teaches you perseverance. Keep working on that new trick, and eventually you will get it right. Gymnastics teaches you that when you fall, you put a smile on your face and you get back up and keep on going. Those are life lessons that these girls from Island Twisters will take with them forever when they leave the gym, and they will be better persons for having learned them.
Great job this past weekend girls! And to Melinda and Rick – thank you.
