To the untrained eye, the Cochrane Gymnastics Centre looks like a playhouse.
Mats stretch across the large room, there are bars to hang from and beams to walk on.
The trampoline and foam pit appear to be begging for some leaping action.
And that’s precisely what the facility is there for, said the manager of the Cochrane Gymnastics Centre, Clive Gill.
“I make it fun — we play” said Gill, a longtime gymnastics competitor and coach. “We’re doing gymnastics, but we’re playing. The kids don’t know they’re doing exercise.”
The centre, located in the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC), is run in affiliation with the University of Calgary Gymnastics Centre in Calgary and offers recreational programs for toddlers through to teenagers.
For the younger participants, play is used to encourage them to walk across the beam, or properly bounce on the trampoline, said Gill. Older children will perform more intricate moves, he added.
The gymnastic tools not only help children build strength in their legs and upper body, but also to develop skills and body awareness, said Gill. Even participants as young as two and three years old use the program to learn how to jump, balance — even fall down — correctly.
“It’s about safety,” said Gill. “How to land safely, or to fall safely. These are skills that relate outside of a gym. The kids don’t hurt themselves when they fall off a jungle gym because they know how to position their body to stay safe.”
Safety aside, Gill said gymnastics skills can benefit the training programs associated with many sports by building strength, and improving balance and coordination.
“I can pick out a kid on a soccer field who has had gymnastics training,” said Gill. “It’s in their sense of where their body is. It really is a sport for life.”
The new session of classes have already gotten underway at the SLS Centre, but registration will remain open until Jan. 20.
For more information about the gymnastics program, call 403-932-7373.
