Gymnasts can spring into action
Despite their differences in height and size, Cara Blumenschein says football players don't compare to the girls on her team.
In fact Blumenschein, team manager at X-Cel Gymnastics in Cranberry Township, thinks the handsprings, handstands, aerials and tucks give her girls the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any athlete.
"These kids are so strong," she said.
Starting as young as age 7, gymnasts can compete at a variety of levels, ranging from beginner all the way up to national competition.
But the sport is also a springboard to other athletic events.
At Heasley's Butler Gymnastics on Route 68 in Connoquenessing Township, many of the athletes start taking classes to improve their movement, owner Steve Heasley said.
Children as young as 3 can learn tumbling skills. Many of the athletes move on to cheerleading and other sports.
Heasley said Olympian diver David Pichler got his start there, along with a number of other athletes who eventually went on to stand out in sports such as track and field."It's a good foundation for whatever sport they want to go into,"he said.Heasley said about 20 percent of the 500 or so athletes at his gym are entering gymnastics competitively.At X-Cel, which fields gymnastics teams from beginner's level to elite, between 75 and 80 children and teenagers are on each squad.Like most sports, the gymnasts can compete in a wide range of competitions across the country.At X-Cel, gymnasts compete mostly in the Northeast and Midwest."We're pretty much regional," Blumenschein said.But that hasn't stopped X-Cel gymnasts from moving on to larger competitions.Blumenschein said X-Cel athletes have qualified for the U.S. national team twice, and its athletes can qualify for national competitions yearly.
Heasley's Butler Gymnastics athletes have also found success with its seven competition teams for girls and five for boys.But to reach that level of success the athletes spend countless hours perfecting the necessary turns, spins, springs and tucks to refine the skills valued by judges.To do that, Blumenschein said many girls work out twice during a day — once from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and again after school.The length of the second workout depends on the athlete, Blumenschein said.X-Cel trains gymnasts up to age 18, regardless of such factors as height or weight."We like to give every kid that comes in an opportunity," Blumenschein said.In total, about 1,400 youths participate in X-Cel's programs that, along with gymnastics, also includes cheerleading.
Here is some basic information about gymnastics:<b>Events: </b>Vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercises, pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.<b>Scoring: </b>Based on a code of points determined by the International Federation of Gymnastics. It varies for each event.<b>Classes: </b>Children, both boys and girls, can start taking lessons as young as age 3 and continue through 18.
