The Quesnel Gymnastics Club is temporarily shutting its doors to improve their gym located at the old Baker Elementary School. The renovations include removing a stage from the main gym area to give gymnasts more space and make it safer for them to practice.
The club raised over $18,000 at its June 1st fundraiser at the Occidental. That money is going towards the renovations. While the space isn't perfect for gymnastics, the club's program director and head coach Erin Hipkiss and Taylor O'Flynn are making it work.
"We're very thankful to the school district," Hipkiss said. "It's still not a full gym. We don't have a full floor, we don't have a full vault run," Hipkiss said. O'Flynn added that they don't have proper landing mats either.
Hipkiss said vaults require 80 feet of space for the run-up and their clever solution was to have their gymnasts start in the hallway outside the main gym to use as much of the space as possible. But using their space in creative ways also has its drawbacks.
"What I've noticed is when we actually get down to an arena type setting an actual competition our kids actually have mental blocks because they're not used to being in such an open environment for this event," Hipkiss said. "It's something that they can physically do, but mentally, when you take them down to that competition they get a mental block."
The biggest problem for them is the lack of space for the equipment they do have.
"We just need more space. We have the floor, it just doesn't fit, it's in storage. We also have more trampolines that are just hanging out in storage because they don't fit." O'Flynn said.
While the renovation won't give the club significantly more space, it's a step in the right direction for the club.
"We are the third largest sport in town and we are the first largest sport for girls in Quesnel. And we don't have a proper facility," O'Flynn said.
Hipkiss grew up doing gymnastics in Quesnel and said by the time she was in her early teens they had gone through six facilities.
They both said gymnastics is a great jumping off point for all different kinds of sports and learning how to jump, walk, crawl and fall are important building blocks to things like soccer.
"I once ran classes for the horseback riding girls on how to wipe out off their horse," O'Flynn said. "(Work Safe) should bring in some people, we'll teach them how to fall safely and tuck and roll." She joked
Hipkiss said her dream scenario would be a gym near the arts and recreation centre. She said if they were located there they could work with other programs to have full-day childcare activities where kids would be able to do gymnastics, swimming, biking and arts all in one day.
"Gymnastics teaches you so many amazing attributes. Punctuality, getting your job done, learning how to fall down and get back up," Hipkiss said.
The club has around 50 girls on the competitive team with over 300 people total across their recreational and competitive athletes. They attribute the success of their program to the friendship between the coaches and the commitment they all have to ensuring the athletes have a good, positive experience with gymnastics.
The club runs programs for all ages and encourages people to take some time to try gymnastics out, they said the adults who come in to give it a try always come back for more. Renovations are expected to be finished by mid-July.