By Whitney Donohue
Moapa Valley Progress
Despite the recent closure of Flex-It Gym in Moapa Valley, gymnastics still lives on in the hearts of many local youngsters. Since Flex-It moved its operation to Mesquite, Clark County Parks and Recreation saw a need for a local program and worked to offer one.
Currently the program benefits beginning students, but those whose level is higher must still travel to Mesquite for instruction. However, the programs that CCPR offers are very popular, with the demand almost outweighing the capabilities of the instructors.
“We’re really pleased with the support we’ve gotten in the valley for this program,” John Stastny, CCPR Program Director, stated.
Currently both Jannien Hancock and Gerilyn Heiselbetz, certified gymnastics instructors, are teaching gymnastics with CCPR. Between them they are teaching five gymnastics classes, including Beginning Preschool, Tumbling (geared for boys), Beginning Gymnastics, and a Cheer class. There are close to 100 students registered in the current six week session, which ended earlier this month.
CCPR plans to hire an assistant for the classes so that they can serve more children. Registration is currently open for the next session, which starts in January.
CCPR is also in the process of purchasing some of Flex-It Gym’s portable equipment, such as the parallel bars and the vault, but there is not a dedicated space available to store much more of the equipment. The classes are currently run out of the Fine Arts Building at the Clark County Fairgrounds, but there is no space for a dedicated gym for the program. CCPR would like to hold more advanced programs, but they have the same issue that Flex-It Gym had: the lack of a facility that could be dedicated to gymnastics use only that meets all the standards that Clark County has in place for such a facility.
In the meantime, students are learning the basics of tumbling, balance beam, and cheer. Classes are currently held two nights a week, from 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the age of the students.
The students themselves are loving it. As they are learning the proper way to do a backflip or a cartwheel, their eyes have a bright sparkle.
For more information on the gymnastics, tumbling, or cheer classes provided by CCPR, please contact their office at 702-398-7480.
