Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy finally able to host grand opening

By Herald on August 23, 2021.

One-and-a-half year old Logan Richards reaches for the bar with some help from his mother, Rachel, at the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy grand opening Saturday morning. Herald photo by Dale Woodard

Dale Woodard – Lethbridge Herald

After a few stumbles, the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy has finally vaulted into business.

On Saturday morning at their grand opening on Lethbridge’s north side, the gymnastics club demonstrated a floor routine that had those in attendance duly impressed with the new layout, expanding from one bay to three.

“It’s amazing,” said Andrea Seright, one of the owners at the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy with her husband, Jamie. “This is our fourth and final attempt at a grand opening. We’ve been trying to do this since October of 2019 when we first opened and every single time it was cancelled for COVID. Just having this many kids in the gym and the community being such a great support, it’s so awesome to be (coming into) September and we’re open in our complete capacity.”

Still, Seright said it’s been a roller coaster to get to this point.

“Back in February it got to a point where we were not sure if we were going to make it,” she said. “We have developed an incredible gymnastics family, whether it’s through our competitive athletes or our recreational programs. We really value knowing everybody that walks into this gym and we have built an incredible team. Last summer we had one other employee and this summer we employ 12 people and we have three other full time staff besides myself and my husband.”

Seright said the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy was closed about six to eight months of the past year.

“Not only were we closed, but also with a lot of restrictions when we were allowed to be open. We were open from Nov. 15 to the beginning of December, but we could only do private lessons.”

So on Saturday the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy threw open the doors and children from all ages took advantage of the mats, rings, beams, vaults, bars and trampolines.

“We have a flow through the gym so that kids and families that come can experience everything,” said Seright. “They work through stations in the gym. We have some of our competitive athletes showing different stations, trampoline, balance beam, uneven bars, everything. Then we have some deals for people who sign up today and this week.”

Among the gymnasts taking advantage of the new facilities Saturday was Amalia Yavitu, who even at the young age of nine is a gymnastics veteran.

“I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was five,” she said. “It’s very fun to me. I like to play and learn new skills.”

Yavitu approved of the new layout of the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy.

“I like how it looks,” she said, adding she particularly likes the vault. “We don’t use it usually, we have tumble track and double mini, usually. I also like the vault because I get to run.”

For the rest of the gymnasts, the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy offered all the other events of the sport.

“We have a trampoline and tumbling program, which includes two trampolines, a double mini and then we have the floor area,” said Seright. “Then we have all the artistic equipment for both boys and girls, balance beams, uneven bars, rings, pommel horse, parallel bars floor and vault. We’ve got it all.”

With COVID in its fourth wave, Seright said the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy has kept the same sanitizing protocol.

“Just for our safety and for our customers’s safety. So we sanitize in between our morning classes, our afternoon classes and after our evening classes. So the entire gym gets a spray down, the bathrooms get cleaned and all the door handles get wiped down. We still have hand sanitizer everywhere. We want to make everybody feel safe coming here and knowing we’re continuing those cleaning practices.”

Potential new members can check out the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy on Facebook and Instagram as well as on their website at http://www.lethbridgegymnastics.com.

“We’re so happy to be open and to be able to offer programs for everyone,” said Seright. “We offer programs from babies who are four months old all the way to adult gymnastics. We have an incredible adult gymnastics program and we have our national stream athletes for competitive and anybody who wants to try gymnastics can come here and do that.”