After a tumultuous 2021, the Woolwich Gymnastics Club is in a new location and in the first couple of weeks of their spring session.
Last year saw the club’s previous location experience two floods within two weeks. The floods caused $190,000 in damage and left the club without a space in which to operate.
“It was a difficult task, that’s for sure, to find a space. We wanted to stay in Woolwich Township, mainly in Elmira. The community has always supported us so we wanted to stay here and not venture outside of Woolwich,” said coach Maria Code.
“There was limited inventory on buildings. And if there were, it was just out of our price range. And we didn’t want to put the cost on our members as well. So it was tough,” Code explained
The club received a grant from the Dan Synder Foundation, and after a presentation to the town council found their new location on Park Avenue East in Elmira.
“We were pretty lucky – it was down to the wire. We’re a little scared, but we found it. [The landlord] has been great and really has welcomed us to the building. We have run our first week of classes this week, and it’s been wonderful,” she said.
While Code said there are some limitations to the location – the club would like a higher ceiling, for instance – they are “loving it.”
“I don’t know if we’ll grow out of it. If our membership continues to increase we might need to [move] for that reason…The coaches love it. The kids seem to be loving it. The parents have given us some really great feedback.
The club is “ecstatic” to be running classes again, Code added.
“We also have a very small competitive group that after two years we get to compete again, so we are so looking forward to that,” she said.
The competition team’s first meet runs April 7-10 in St. Catharines.
“They’re so excited because they haven’t competed in two years. And some are new, so this will be their first competition ever. We’re really excited to be back there and competing with other gym clubs in Ontario,” Code said.
