Printer friendly version |   E-mail to a friend  | 

 

Gymnastics, other activities thrive at Casey Center

Published Thursday, February 09, 2012 9:42 AM

By Stefan Rogenmoser
The Gazette

In the three years that Jason and Jill Simpson have been overseeing gymnastics at the Casey Community Center, the Goose Creek children they’ve sent to competitions have won numerous awards.

The husband and wife team coaches about 230 regular participants in gymnastics and a variety of other activities on weeknights and Saturdays.

While the Simpsons oversee gymnastics, the Casey Center, as it’s commonly called, is no stranger to other activities such as yoga, karate, tap dancing, ballroom dancing, belly dancing, ballet, piano, guitar, and violin lessons, painting classes, summertime preschool and Bright Beginnings preschool.

There are three rooms in the Casey Center, but the main one is used for gymnastics.

There are also fitness, summer and gymnastics camps. While gymnastics is predominately a female sport, there are about 20 boys who are regulars, according to Jill Simpson. Five of the boys compete.

Simpson said gymnastics has grown every year since she started as a coach in 2008. The youngest competitor is 4.

“Gymnastics starts at age 2,” she said. “We teach them to take turns, wait in line . . . most haven’t been to school. Some come straight from school.”

Those students have to learn how to balance their homework and the balance beam.

“It keeps kids from being at home by themselves or getting into trouble,” she said. “It’s fun. It’s good exercise.”

The programs run Monday – Thursday, 4 – 7 p.m. and on Saturday mornings.

The competitive teams travel all over the state, having made recent stops in Greenville, Greenwood and Columbia.

The city has been great about providing equipment, according to Simpson. There was a new padded floor and a tumble track – a long, rectangular trampoline – installed last summer.

One thing that bugs the Simpons, though, is that they can’t host a competition at the Casey Center because the old basketball goals are in the way and violate competition regulations.

Simpson said she was told that there is no place to store the goals if they were to be taken down. Most competitions bring six to seven teams to a town with about 30 members plus parents on each team. “It would boost the local economy,” she said. “We’d really like to do that.”

The “cheer-nastics” group is made up of middle and high school cheerleaders who are taught how to tumble and do backhand springs. The group is especially large and busy before tryouts.

Many football players attend the Goose Creek “Parkour,” where they are taught how to fall properly and roll with a football in hand so they don’t get hurt on the field. But a football isn’t required for Parkour, anyone can hurdle across the balance beam in the obstacle course and jump or flip over padded blocks.

For more information search Facebook for Goose Creek Gymnastics and Goose Creek Parkour.

Notice about comments:

Ourgazette.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Ourgazette.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not Ourgazette.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.

Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by reading our terms and conditions, and then signing up below!

• Santee Cooper announces 2012 refunding bond sale
• Santee Cooper announces organizational changes in operation and finance departments
• Santee Cooper employees pitch in on Day of Caring
• Aerial herbicide treatment on lakes under way
• Santee Cooper Board Authorizes Rate Study
• Santee Cooper announces refunding bond sale
• Santee Cooper, Florida Municipal Power Agency enter into letter of intent for share of planned V.C. Summer Station units
• Santee Cooper, Duke Energy Carolinas enter into letter of intent for share of planned V.C. Summer Station units 2 and 3