In the 2008 summer Olympic Games, as well as other past Olympics, both men’s and women’s gymnastics have been prominent sports in the team and individual competitions. Any viewer of this sport is aware of the hard work and dedication that gymnastics on an Olympic level requires, but what some may not think about is the training facility that helped the gymnasts realize their dreams of the gold. Though this local gymnastics program has yet to turn out any Olympic hopefuls, the classes offered at Skyline Gymnastics hold an equal importance to the continuation of the sport.

Currently run by Michael King and Jill Dean, Skyline Gymnastics is a program which offers instructive classes every Saturday for gymnasts of all skill levels. Beginning at eight o’clock in the morning, courses for various ages run until 3:30 pm. The first class available is called “Skytots”, which introduces toddlers accompanied by parents to the different basics of gymnastics in a hands-on atmosphere. The “tots” are shown the importance of stretching and warming up their muscles, and then move on to several different stations. These stations vary from bouncing on trampolines to sliding down slides to learning to swing on the bars.

Because of the high numbers of gymnasts attending the Saturday classes, many helpers are needed to accommodate the needs of the gymnasts. Students at James Madison University with past gymnastics experience are recruited, as well as some gymnasts from Harrisonburg High School. Senior Naomi Ornstein has been helping coach the younger classes for the past year, and says she enjoys watching the kids try to learn new skills. “You could tell them that they need to go do a front flip on the trampoline and they would just smile at you and say, ‘Okay!’ and go do it,” Ornstein said. Ornstein has been involved with the Skyline program since she was three-years-old, beginning her love for gymnastics with the “Skytots” class she now teaches. For the past four years she has been a competitor on the HHS varsity gymnastics team, which is coached by the head of Skyline, Michael King.

The remaining three classes offered at Skyline are separated by gymnastics ability, starting with beginners, then a developmental course, and finally an advanced class. Skyline used to have a separate class for cheerleaders, which focused on perfecting tumbling and cheers, but has recently had to combine the cheerleaders with the advanced gymnasts due to available practice space. Skyline is currently uses the gymnasium at Stone Spring Elementary School for the classes, where King is a physical education teacher. The program had to move into this gym in 2007 due to the termination of JMU’s varsity gymnastics teams. From the creation of Skyline in 1981 until 2007, the classes were held in the practice space of the JMU gymnastics teams in Godwin Hall. Despite the location change, Skyline has remained one of the sole local gymnastics programs, and is able to rent out the Godwin gymnasium for their annual summer camp. “We are blessed to have a gym to practice in at all,” King said.

Skyline’s summer camp is a week that the coaches look forward to all year, coach Jill Dean says. For a week in early July, Skyline Camp holds all-day classes, from 9 am to 5 pm. This is a time that the gymnasts are able to get a lot of practice and individual attention from coaches because of the extended class time (normal Saturday courses are only an hour or an hour and a half long). “[Camp] is a time that we can focus on the gymnasts and really get some different moves that in a weekly class we cannot provide,” Dean said.

Besides the extra time to perfect gymnastics skills in the Godwin facility, gymnasts also get access to the JMU swimming pool for an hour a day and a buffet lunch at D-Hall. At the end of the week, parents are invited to watch the camp show, which showcases the progress their children have made as well as a group dance they learned. Freshman Elena Gerome has attended Skyline Camp for the past four summers. “You get to be free to express yourself and you get to learn flips and just how to be graceful,” Gerome said.

Though it is unlikely that a weekly class will provide a gymnast with the skills to receive an Olympic medal, Skyline Gymnastics is an important program for gymnasts in an area where gyms are few and far between. “We are able to provide an opportunity for kids in the community to do gymnastics and be successful at all levels,” King said.