The Stunt Gym!

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Historically, gymnastics has been the hub of community centers.  Of course, what has been called “gymnastics” has changed throughout history.  But going as far back as the Greek Empire, the gymnasium was the academic meeting ground for the philosophers, Socrates, Aristotle and Plato.  They believed in a “sound mind in a sound body” and would debate academic subjects between exercise games.

Modern gymnastics retained its historical roots in the Greek Empire.  Frederick Jahn, called Turnvereinsather of gymnastics” was a German who was dismayed at the weakness of the German citizens during the 19th century.  He drew upon the ancient activities of tumbling,  acrobatics and the pommel horse of the cavalry,  and added the new inventions of his such as the  rings and the high bar.

Jahn set a foundation for the community centers that spread throughout Europe and came to the United States, called the Turnvereins.   Likewise in Sweden a doctor, Per Ling,  who wanted new ways to increase physical therapy adopted and added equipment to gymnastics, such as the parallel bars,  as a way of bringing health and strength to invalids.  His followers took his program and founded the community centers of the Sokols.  In England, George Williams, saw these community centers and decided that Christianity should have the same, so he founded the YMCA which spread around the world, as well.

These organizations spread because gymnastics was the nucleus of physical health, but their founders sought a total health harking back to the time of the Greek Empire.

Modern gymnastics clubs left the community orientation in their pursuit of competitive gymnastics. Before Olga Korbut showed up at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany  gymnastics was still within the community organizations (and NCAA) and there were no clubs to speak of.  After Olga dazzled the world, suddenly millions of little girls wanted to be gymnasts which opened the market for the private club industry.

These competitive clubs had only one goal in mind: train high level athletes to enter the Olympic competition. The reality of running a business with astronomical overhead forced them to expand their horizons by building recreational class programs to glean their future athletes, to run birthday parties, invite field trips into the gym, setting up mobile gymnastics programs, building preschool programs and even subletting their facility for karate, yoga, and other kinds of programs.

In the last Artistic Gymnastics club that I worked for, the owner planned to open up a soccer program within his business.  Likewise other clubs include horse back riding (if they are in the country) or swimming.  Some of these expansions are the result of the many successful gymnastics summer camp businesses that built high level training facilities, brought in famous high level athletes to coach, and added all the amenities of a usual summer camp: dorms for sleeping, rec centers, canteens, canoeing, horseback riding and so many other things depending upon the camp you are talking about.

The modern club industry has been moving towards community centers in a reverse order.  Of necessity they are reaching out to the communities to supplement their Olympic ambitions.  I believe the time has come for the gymnastics industry to take a renewed look at becoming community centers again on purpose, and not because of financial necessity.

The gymnastics industry, for some in the industry not all, has been very selfish in their interest.  I have coached for 30 years and I am an eyewitness to the changes in the industry.  In my opinion, I believe the 1980′s was the most abusive time in the industry.  The focus on training high level athletes was so intense, verbal and physical abuse occurred way too often on the little girls blinded by this dream.  The 1990′s brought some arrest to this behavior, partly because of lawsuits, but also because of a conviction of conscience.  But the focus in the industry still remains the same: Olympic champions.

I am no longer coaching Artistic Gymnastics.  I have my own school that I am building in Stunt Gymnastics.  I do not call it an Acrobatic Gymnastics school, which is the USAG competitive version, but Stunt because I am building a community center around stunts and health.   I may not go back into competition again, since that is not my goal.   I am using the Stunt Gymnastics as a focal point to bring families together.  I am encouraging them in diet and exercise, especially since Americans are far too obese for good health.   And as a Christian, I am  creating a Christ centered community to encourage spiritual and mental health as well.

Please hear my call, all who own gymnastics clubs.   Be intentional in building your business as a community oriented business, not just a athlete training center.  I am not advocating going the route of the Turners, Sokols or the YMCAs which went way beyond gymnastics in becoming Recreation Centers.  Almost every local government has a Rec Center, and their service goes outside the realm of gymnastics.

What I am asking  everyone to consider is to make gymnastics a focal point in training the community to live in good health, to regain the Greek view of a “sound mind in a sound body.”   Fitness, nutrition, and for those of faith, spiritual soundness.   Gymnastics as an industry is anemic and incestuous. It needs to expand its own health as an industry and bring health to the community.

When the Olympic games in Beijing began the FIG president Bruno Grandi had said that he intended to change the rules again to encourage artistry and control difficulty for safety’s sake.  I suggested that tumbling be separated from the beam and floor and restored as a separate event in Artistic Gymnastics as it was in the 1960′s.

But difficulty is in all events. The trend since the 1976 Olympics has been to see difficulty continue to increase.  The increase in difficulty resulted in changes in equipment, such as spring floors and vault tables and the widening of the uneven bars to both accomodate this difficulty and to increase safety.

What place does difficulty have in artistry?  Is difficulty simply an execution show piece of virtuosity, or is it an addition to artistry in performance?

Years ago I was in a rock and roll light show we called “Palantir” in the San Francisco bay area while in high school.  We did local gigs and our great claim to fame is that we had a chance to be the light show for Big Brother and the Holding Company, but after Janis Joplin had died.  This gave us a chance to brush shoulders with some of the big guys in the industry.  While talking with one of them who understood the future of lasers in light shows, he made a profound comment that has stuck with me ever since.   Many amateur rock shows would run strobe lights continuously.   That created a disturbing and mind numbing experience for band and audience alike.  He said, “The strobe light should be used once as an accent then put away and not used again for the rest of the night.”

That was a tremendous observation in artistry.  There is a place for the strobe light, as a highlight at some point in the show as a flash of lightning is in a thunderstorm.  This is true for difficulty.  A truly difficult stunt should be the highlight of the routine. The accent that stands out as the signature piece of the gymnast.  Routines that are filled with constant difficulty are like the mind numbing effect of the strobe lights in a rock concert.  Worse yet, the audience becomes immune to the difficulty like the drug addict who needs a higher high to get the satisfaction it had when he first became an addict.

The spiral since 1976 has continued so that great gymnastics becomes ho hum as the need for an even more difficult and dangerous trick is looked for.   If Bruno Grandi is serious about encouraging artistry, then the rules on difficulty need to be adjusted to penalize too many difficult stunts, and new rules drafted that reward maturity and artistry in performance.

Artistry demands maturity.  The controversy of the underaged Chinese gymnasts would be exposed easier if the rules forced mature artistry.  Children can not express artistry, only craft.  Craft is execution. They can be told like robots what to do to create the venear of artistry, but they have not reached the maturity that true artistry demands.  It is only in the late teen years as young adults that they become aware of what artistry really is.

So Bruno, penalize too many difficult stunts and reward artistry.

This question is on the mind of every gymnastics school in the world.  The industry is based upon the 4 year cycle of the Olympics.  When a favorable games occur with good television coverage of gymnastics, many little girls and some boys get excited and enroll into gyms all over.  That enthusiasm is sustained for about a year, maybe two.  Then the reality of how hard gymnastics sets in and many get discouraged and quit. By the third year a dip occurs and by the fourth year the bottom is touched.   But then the games occur and the cycle starts all over again.

The amount of enthusiasm an Olympiad generates for the sport is dependent upon several factors.  Was there a star?  That is an athlete who was very charismatic that kids want to emulate?  Was there drama?  A close contest, or, as in the case of Kerri Struggs, a demonstration of heroic character when she vaulted again after injurying her ankles.  Was there prime time coverage?  There are now several gymnastics disciplines being contested in the Olympics. Trampoline and Tumbling and Rhythmic Gymnastics  had joined Artistic Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics several years ago.  Yet I have not seen these events broadcast during prime time.  They have not grown (to my knowledge) significantly yet because of being in the Olympics.

So in these games let us consider the questions I have proposed.  Is there a star?  Well Nastia Liukin did win the gold medal in the AA, so that helps.  But she does not have the star quality of charisma.  Mary Lou Rettin had a huge impact on the industry because she is a bubbly delightful person, as well as a gold medalist.  Nadia Comaneci was an incredible athlete that really boosted the sport, but that was at a time when excellence was not as high, and she set a new standard.  She definitely did not have the charisma.  Shawn Johnson does have the charisma which is why I think she also got the media coverage. But she is a silver medalist and in the world of the Olympics, only the gold medalists are remembered.   So I am hopeful that Nastia will have an influence on the business, but I am not greatly encouraged.

Was there drama?  I  think there was some, but I really can not tell because of the third factor.

Was there prime time coverage?  When the first competition began they had it on prime time by tape delay.  Then I read that there was a complaint that people were getting the results off the internet and watching the videos online of the meets.   I think, and I could be wrong, that NBC made the decision to broadcast the meets live, which meant late at night.  I am getting on in years and do not stay up late, so I made the decision to get results online instead the next day.   Children, the bread and butter of the industry, are not allowed by many parents to stay up late.  So I fear that many kids did not see gymnastics, and that is what will probably hurt the industry the most.  We needed the prime time coverage.  Instead of seeing gymnastics we saw the Michael Phelps swim show, instead.

I think we will have some increase in business, but, frankly I fear it will not be enough.  We shall see as school gets underway.  Let us hope and pray for the best.