Historic Overview
The WSU Gymnastics Club was founded in the Fall of 2002. It was created to give experienced gymnasts a place and time to workout and for new gymnasts to learn more skills. The first year the club included 20 WSU students, 1 faculty member and 3 U of I honorary members. About five members from the club formed a competitive team and competed in two meets that year. The first Rock and Roll Gymnastics Show and Fundraiser was organized that year and was very successful. Since then the club has maintained a competitive team, hosted another Rock and Roll Gymnastics Show and brought in more beginning members who have learned a great deal of gymnastics.
Before the WSU Gymnastics Club existed there were only a tumbling and gymnastics PEACT classes offered at WSU. The privately owned gym that the club rents space from only offered a few adult tumbling classes. So for a competitive high school gymnast, the area had little to offer as far as gymnastics was concerned. The club was formed to remedy that situation.
The goal of the WSU Gymnastics Club is to promote the sport of gymnastics in the WSU community and to eventually make gymnastics a recognized NCAA sport once again at WSU. A NCAA gymnastics team has not existed at WSU since 1983. WSU is one of three PAC-10 schools without such a team. The club is a pivotal first step in that direction.
The club’s biggest past successes include it’s continued existence for four years, and the number of members who have joined our club with little or no experience in gymnastics and have walked away with a number of tumbling skills. Our next step is to expand that success and bring our club to the WSU campus in the near future.
2007-2008 Preview
There have been many improvements to the WSU Gymnastics Club. First, we are now part of the Sports Club Federation, which helps us get help on how to better run our club, opportunities to fundraise and advertise, as well as services for travel and budget management. Second, we are seeing more interest in our club and foresee the potential for growth in the future. And third, we have a team of officers and members who want to see this club succeed and volunteer their time to fundraise, carpool, or participate in competition.
Lastly, it is our hope to better improve this club so that future generations of students will have the opportunity to experience or to continue the sport of gymnastics at Washington State University.