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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Future Olympian: Kira Dixon, a gymnastics coach at the California Sports Center in Willow Glen, helps Ali Adams, 7, with her tumbling moves.
Tumbling Fun in WG
New facility provides gymnastics for kids
By Amy Jenkins
There is a new facility in the neighborhood that aims to provide fun and safe extracurricular activities for children. California Sports Center has been a staple in San Jose since 1987, when Dave Peterson opened a gym for gymnastics located on Race Street, and on Sept. 4 he brought his love of teaching gymnastics to Willow Glen.
The new facility, 832 Malone Road, has equipment required for a gymnast--but some of it is just on a much smaller scale. There are three balancing beams. Peterson says the youngest children at the gym start out balancing on a white line on the floor because he does not want them to be frightened.
Peterson says the idea is to introduce children to the sport of gymnastics and to develop programs that will allow children to mature in the sport.
"Kids will start out here doing one to two hours per week, and it is conveniently located in this neighborhood," says Peterson, who competed and won awards in gymnastics in high school and college and has taught gymnastics for 25 years. "Once they develop a seriousness for the sport they can move to our higher-level site at the Race Street location, where we coach teams and prepare for competitions."
The Willow Glen site is geared toward younger children at a recreational level. The classes include Parent Tot, Tiny Tot, Tumble Tot, Tumbler, and boys and girls Level 1 and 2. Peterson says that at the lower level, the center teaches children motor skills, rolls, cartwheels and flips. Children in preschool spend 45 minutes in a class and then, by age 6 and up, children move up to 55-minute classes, he says.
In many ways, the facility is geared toward Olympic standards. The preschool classes are co-ed, but once students reach Level 1, around age 6, the classes become gender specific. Tony Peterson, Dave's older brother, teaches three classes for boys in Levels 1 and 2. Tony says boys at this age mostly do gymnastics for fun and to get the chance to jump, swing and release energy. He teaches the boys Pommel Horse, vaulting, high bar and many floor exercises.
"It is important to keep it fun at this level," says Tony, who was a gymnast in high school and has managed CSC since 1989. "I tell them that as they learn the basic skills and become better it will get even more fun."
Even though Dave says he would like to expand his business to five facilities this year, he says he never encourages advanced athletes to leave another program they have trained with to come to his program. He says it is important for an athlete to trust his or her coach and to move up to higher levels when his or her coach thinks they're ready.
Dave says all of the coaches at CSC have extensive experience in gymnastics as coaches and judges. Jadee McLean started coaching for CSC last week but coached levels 4 through 10 for several years in Washington state. She says she likes the CSC gym because it has small classes so children can stay focused and not get distracted by more advanced athletes.
By the time the Olympics could come to the Bay Area in 2012, Dave's goal is to have one male and one female athlete he's trained in the competition.
To reach his goal CSC will open bigger facilities that can accommodate the training, he says. Right now CSC's Willow Glen facilities meet the needs of young children at the recreational level, but not at competitive levels because the ceilings are low.
But the site has enough equipment to satisfy 10-year-old Ashley Haight, who says her favorite event is the trampoline.
As for Willow Glen resident Corey Obot, 4, the balance beams are a favorite. Her mother, Kim, says Corey joined CSC because they were looking for an activity in which she could meet other children and they "were looking for a nice clean place close by because she outgrew the community center."
For more information about California Sports Center, call 408.269.KIDS.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
