The Athabasca FLIPS Gymnastics Club has been busy this summer, and still has spots open for their August summer camps.
FLIPS held two summer camps in July for a variety of ages, one of which was a “ninja week.”
President Nichole Collins said the ninja week was an effort to look at the needs of the community and come up with some new gymnastics ideas.
“For example, trying to focus on boys and what interests boys. We were really successful with our ninja week,” she said.
She said kids got out into the forest and built some top-secret forts, did work outs, galloped through the woods and ended the week with a pizza party.
“We’re looking to introduce concepts like that into our fall schedule as well,” Collins said. “Definitely, it is gymnastics-focused, but a little twist on the things kids like. Girls love to be princesses and boys like to be ninjas.”
Collins said FLIPS’ new head coach Jenna Hamilton has done a fantastic job with the summer camps, and is adept at tweaking the content of the camps to the needs of children enrolled.
“She’s fantastic at adapting, introducing the sports of gymnastics as well as pulling out the interest of those kids and making the week as fun as possible,” she said.
FLIPS is also holding camps August 8-10 and August 15-17, with the full age range to be determined. People can register at www.athabascaflips.ca.
Collins added she is impressed by how well the community has embraced Hamilton and the changes FLIPS has been making, and they are seeing that reflected in registration numbers.
FLIPS operates on a trifold mandate of community, recreation and competitive gymnastics, and Collins said community is always at the forefront.
“We know gymnastics is the foundation of all sports, for example, so continuing with our recreational programs that do really well in the community, but also looking elsewhere to make sure we’re supporting the schools and their curriculum needs,” she said. Collins added part of the community aspect is speaking with other sports coaches in the area and figuring out how to use gymnastics as a cross-training mechanism.
“We’re branching out as far as we can to touch as many sports areas as we can, (and) so ensure as many kids as possible get exposed to gymnastics,” she said.
During summer, FLIPS competitive athletes are keeping up their training, and the gymnastics club is also fundraising in a “Chase the Ace” raffle.
The raffle is held every Wednesday night at The New Neighbours Pub, with sales starting at 5 p.m. Tickets are $2 each, and a ticket is drawn every hour starting at 6 p.m. Claimants receive 20 per cent of the last hour’s sales and then draw a card from a deck of playing cards; if the ace of spaces if drawn, the accumulated jackpot is award. If there are no winners by 10 p.m. the jackpot rolls over until the next week. The pot as of July 26 was $351.
