Local Gym to host U.S.A.G event

AIM Gymnastics participant Hailey Garza practices on the balance beam Tuesday afternoon at the AIM Gymnastics gym in Moses Lake. Photo by Derrick Pacheco/Columbia Basin Herald

by Derrick Pacheco<br
| January 29, 2009 8:00 PM

MOSES LAKE — Gymnasts throughout Washington state will head to the Columbia Basin this weekend to participate in the Flip, Flop, Hop meet Saturday at the AIM Gymnastics gym in Moses Lake.

The Flip, Flop, Hop meet in Moses Lake is a U.S.A. Gymnastics (U.S.A.G) sanctioned event for gymnasts ages 6 years old to 16 years old to compete in Olympic events, said AIM Gymnastics owner and coach Kortni Nelson.

“We are holding a U.S.A. (Gymnastics) meet,” she said. “It is a Junior Olympic program. So it is the same program all the gymnasts use across the nation.”

Because the meet is sanctioned by the U.S.A.G., the participants will compete in the Olympic events, Nelson said.

“It’s the Olympic events,” she said. “It’s the bars, vault, beam and floor.”

Gymnastics have been available in the Columbia Basin for years, but Nelson said the opportunity to host a U.S.A.G. sanctioned meet is a unique opportunity.

“They have had gymnastics in this town for a long time,” she said. “They have had some pretty rocky ups-and-downs. We had a meet last year (and that) was the first one here in quite a few years.”

Nelson said she appreciates the opportunity her gymnasts will get from hosting a gymnastics meet.

“It’s kind of a time to show the community what (the kids) have been working so hard on,” she said.

Nelson said the most rewarding aspect of coaching gymnastics and running the AIM gym is the feeling she gets when one of her gymnasts succeeds.

“When a kid gets up there and does a skill that they have been working so hard on and they come up and give you the biggest hug,” she said is the most rewarding. “I had a girl last weekend do a trick and come up and about barreled me over. That’s the best part.”

The Flip, Flop, Hop is Saturday at the AIM Gymnastics gym in Moses Lake.