By Bill Woolley - Beverly Citizen

YMCA capitalizes on popularity of gymnastics with new facility
They've finally stuck a landing at a new facility, and it's getting perfect 10s from young tumblers all over the North Shore.
Greater Beverly YMCA gymnastics staff members, led by Director Sarah Rood, recently dismounted from their temporary headquarters on Brimball Avenue and brought nearly 1,000 children with them into a new, 40 percent larger building at the Sterling Center on Essex Street.
Unsuccessful programs simply don't justify that kind of attention, but that's never been a problem for YMCA gymnastics. Judy Dugar can tell you. She's been around the program for 13 years and can recall a day when her sport was hardly the apple of any YMCA administrator's eye.
Now a coach and preschool director at the Y, Dugar can recall the days in the early '90s when about 150 children signed up for recreational gymnastics and the competitive Wildcats team, combined. It was a time when the program was without a real home of its own.
"We had a few classes a week in the old gym here [at the Sterling Center] and we had to set up and break down all the equipment every time," said Dugar, who now coordinates the recreational gymnastics program. "The vault, beam, bars and floor... everything was in a closet and we always had to haul it out and put it back to work around the basketball programs."
Dugar estimated she could manage the whole equipment layout in about 30 minutes, saying, "I really had it down to a rhythm after having done it for so long."
That, however, is no longer a problem. A half-dozen years ago, growing enrollment in the program warranted a move to an 8,500-square foot locale on Brimball Avenue for the exclusive use of the gymnasts.
Subsequently, however, a new gymnastics center at the Sterling Center facility became part of a $1.1 million capital improvement plan and, as of a few months ago, the gymnastics program's home has become a cavernous, 12,000-square foot block erected at the rear of the original YMCA building.

The right move
The structural addition for the gymnastics program was justifiable. These days, there are almost as many children on the Wildcats - about 130 - as there used to be in both the competitive and recreational programs when Dugar was first moving mats more than a dozen years ago. Meanwhile, the numbers of children in the recreational program alone has quintupled, to about 750.
And gymnastics isn't just for girls anymore. The competitive Wildcats program has been opened up to boys for the first time this year. The team roster now features a score of young men and a new coach, Jeremy Veno, has been hired to instruct them.
The recreational program is also delivering the males, with Dugar estimating 200 of them, or more than 25 percent, on the registration list this year.
"The stigma of boys participating has been lifted," said Dugar, with an almost audible sigh of relief. "A couple of boys sign up, they realize how much fun it is, and they tell their friends. They realize it's not just a sport for girls."
Also notable is that parents are signing up their children for the Y's gymnastics program shortly after they've taught them to crawl. There are classes in which parents can participate with their children when they're no more than 12 months old.
Wildcats Head Coach Wendy Beck credits some of the sport's popularity to heavy media attention during Olympics trials and events.
"When Olympic trials were in the area, and when the U.S. women won the Olympic gold in 1996, that was huge," she said. "We definitely saw a surge in popularity."
Dugar believes it's more a case of parents recognizing the value of gymnastics.
"I think people are finally realizing that gymnastics is a great building block for whatever physical activity children may want to do in life," said Dugar. "I think they realize endurance, coordination and conditioning, gained through gymnastics, are all important factors. Parents mention their children become much better in sports like skateboarding, soccer and baseball because of gymnastics."

Competitive 'cats
Beck, who was a Wildcats team member from 1986-92, oversees the team's gymnasts at five skill levels: The Level 4 (beginners) roster is 35 names long; intermediates at Level 5 number 23; 16 children participate at Level 7, where youngsters create some of their own routines; advanced Levels 8 and 9 host 12 and 10 Wildcats, respectively. Beck is backed up by Assistant Coach Taylor Reardon.
An average team member can expect to compete in about 10 events, including the Wildcats-hosted Turkey Tumble (fall) and Shamrock Invitational (spring) over the course of a year.
Official, custom-made uniforms will set back parents $245, but Beck says no one is ever turned away because of an inability to make the purchase. Sometimes, she explained, parents hand down uniforms to younger team members, or sell them at lower prices, when their children have grown out of them.
Perhaps the most attractive feature of the Y's gymnastics program these days, however, is the new facility.
"You can see the kids are excited about coming into classes, and they're excited about any new challenges we present," said Dugar. "They're like sponges... They just want to learn more and more stuff."

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