After gymnastic seasons were canceled at both Bloomington High School North and South, local clubs have created new programs to fill the gap.
Monroe County Community School Corporation administrators said they couldn’t find coaches for either of the high schools.
The previous coaches stepped down at the end of last year’s season. Administrators said they tried to fill the positions for months but couldn’t find a qualified candidate.
“The candidate pool for gymnastics coaches is very, very small,” MCCSC Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Operations Jeffry Henderson said at an October board meeting. “The candidates that have applied have been interviewed, but unfortunately, at this time, we have been unable to secure a qualified and well-trained coach to assume the role.”
At the beginning of November, the corporation wrote to families canceling the seasons.
“We recognize that this news is disappointing for our student-athletes and families who were looking forward to participating,” a letter from North officials said. “This decision was made only after careful consideration of safety, staffing, and program quality.”
Rising Star Gymnastics co-owner Erin Booher said she had been considering starting a new program to provide more opportunities for gymnasts to continue competing when their high school teams weren’t in season. But when North and South canceled their seasons, she thought the time was right to finally kick off a new program for gymnasts in grades 7-12.
“It's so hard to get to that level and that age and then all of a sudden not have the sport you fell in love with and the sport you love doing,” she said. “When it's just sort of abruptly taken from you, there's sort of an isolating feeling involved there, where having an outlet to still do it and still compete is important.”
Booher said gymnasts from North, South and Edgewood have expressed interest in joining. Members will compete in virtual and in-person meets with other clubs across the state and country.
Sisters Sophia and Maren Winkle, a sophomore and senior respectively at North, were disappointed that their season was canceled.
“We've been doing gymnastics since we were 3 or 4,” Sophia said. “So, it was just very different, just going from doing gymnastics all of our lives, and then just like, roughly stopping.”
While they appreciate the opportunity from Rising Stars, they both got so busy with doing track and field and other commitments that they didn’t have the time to.
“Just getting more into the spring of my senior year, I just got busier, and I just didn't have the time to do it. And it wasn't the same as having it at the school with the high school girls,” Maren said. “Not having the girls that I had been doing it with since freshman year do it with me, just kind of it didn't really motivate me to want to do it.”
Sophia said if the club had been able to offer the program earlier, it would’ve been more feasible to join. If the high school teams are reinstated next year, she said there’s a “50-50 chance” she would join.
“I feel like my mind is more set on track because I would love the chance to get to run in college,” Sophia said. “So, I feel like I'm just, like, more set on track now, but I don't really know.”
Lesli Berry, owner of Bloomington United Gymnastics (BUGS) and Soccer Center, said she had planned to host a couple practices a week for three weeks for high school gymnasts from North, South and Edgewood, with a “senior night” meet at the end of April. But not enough people were interested.
Last fall, Berry had reached out to the corporation offering to help find a coach. South’s athletic director told her in an email it was too late due to deadlines for contracts with judges and other schools. If the corporation had contacted her earlier, she thinks they could’ve avoided canceling the seasons.
Berry emailed South’s athletic director in the winter asking where the equipment would be stored and if there would be a gymnastics season next year. She never got a response. But she’s still willing to help the high schools find coaches.
“Multiple people have said, I'll do it. I'll do it. Now that's different than ironing them down and saying, ‘sign on the dotted line here,’” she said. “But yeah, myself and my other managers have been talking to people. And like I said, my old friend who I coach high school gymnastics with, she's like, ‘Heck, if we can't find somebody, I'll do it.’ So, I think there's a lot of people willing to help, for sure.”
Berry plans to contact the school board and superintendent to ask more about how these decisions are made. She hopes the corporation tries to find coaches and that the seasons will be reinstated next year.
“It's just super important for young women to have something they can call their own, something that gives them that support system,” she said. “I think that's what we're supposed to be providing as part of the village that raises kids. And so, I just don't think it's time to remove any of those things. I think it's time to just keep creating more and more in different ways.”
North Athletic Director Andrew Hodson said in an email that North’s coaching position has not been filled; South’s athletic director did not respond. MCCSC Director of Strategic Communication Sarah DeWeese said the postings have expired; MCCSC did not get any applicants or inquiries. Both positions are now reposted.
BUGS normally offers spring, summer and fall classes for high school gymnasts to participate in the off season. But if North and South don’t reinstate their programs next year, Berry said she will offer a yearlong program instead.
“I don't want to use it as a money maker. I don't want them to be here. I want them to be in their high schools, competing for their high school, because it's not the same,” she said. “If there's a meet going on in the gym, and somebody walks out of their basketball practice or their swim practice and they're like, Oh, hey, there's a meet going on, let's go see and they just, you know, go watch their classmates, because they happened upon it, and that's not going to happen if they're at a different facility.”
