How to expand your school’s options with tumbling and more

By Patti Komara

In tough economic times, sometimes one way to survive is by broadening what you can offer to both current and potential clients. Gymnastics is a great complementary program for a dance school. Many youngsters want to be cheerleaders, making gymnastics an in-demand activity.

A student from the Dancing Gym Bear’s class at The Dance Connection at Patti's All-American and TumbleBear Gym does a cartwheel on 2-foot Mancino multicolor panel mats. (Photo courtesy Patti Komara)

Contrary to what you might think, even schools with studios as small as 875 square feet can put together a great program that offers the whole gymnastics experience. All you need are the proper equipment, a motivated and educated teacher, and ideas for lesson plans. Also, make sure to notify your insurance company that you plan to add gymnastics to your curriculum. You want to make sure you’re covered, and there might be a premium increase.

Starting a series of gymnastics-only classes in your studio has economic advantages. Once-a-week gymnastics classes are more lucrative for most studios than multiple dance classes for students who get volume discounts. By taking a close look at which classes are helping to sustain your school, you can consider options that might increase your profits.

Options
There are several ways to approach adding a gymnastics program in your school. One option is to set aside an entire day for gymnastics and tumbling classes; another is to sprinkle the classes throughout your schedule. Once you’ve set the schedule, determine whether you’ll include the entire range of gymnastics skills or only tumbling, whether you’ll incorporate gymnastics training into dance classes (making them combo classes) or let it stand on its own, and which levels to offer.

Your facility will help determine some of your choices. Square footage is an issue, but more important is ceiling height. If you want to teach kids 12 and older, you’ll need ceilings that are a minimum of 10 feet high. If you plan to use a trampoline or Tumbl Trak™, ceilings must be at least 16 feet high.

Three essentials
The three keys to a successful gymnastics program are staff, facility, and curriculum. Almost any dance teacher can learn the necessary skills to teach preschool gymnastics classes. If you or your teachers don’t have a background in tumbling, consider hiring a specialty teacher to instruct the older children. USA Gymnastics, the governing body of the sport, recommends an 8:1 ratio for school-age tumbling and gymnastics and a 6:1 ratio for preschool classes (ages 3 to 5).

Staff members who teach gymnastics classes need an outgoing personality, self-confidence, a strong back, and a desire to learn. With their experience in teaching movement to children, dance teachers already have an advantage in acquiring the necessary skills.

The learning modalities in gymnastics are the same as those in dance: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Teachers need to explain how to do the skill, demonstrate it (or have a student demonstrate), and then spot the students while they learn to feel the movement. Ask them to repeat each skill at least three times so that they understand their mistakes and have a chance to improve.

Teaching skills that are both age and developmentally appropriate is important. Using skill-based guided progress sheets, which can be purchased from USA Gymnastics, ensures safe learning for each age. You can create your own progress sheets, but if you were involved in a lawsuit, your background and qualifications to design a program would be called into question. It’s better to buy professionally developed skill sheets. 

Equipment
If you have a studio of approximately 1,000 square feet, for roughly $4,000 you can provide almost everything a gymnastics school can offer. In a studio of this size you can include the following equipment:

• junior swing bar
• floor balance beam
• babyzoid (small trapezoid)
• 24-inch octagon
• 4-foot-wide incline mat
• 12 rainbow panel mats (4 x 5 feet each)

With this equipment you can teach all the events in gymnastics, including bar, beam, and floor exercises, plus vaults. You can add an Air Trak to offer all age groups a little trampoline fun. (It can be deflated and stored when not needed.)

You probably already have some fun music CDs for warm-ups and might want to purchase a selection of small props for teaching, such as poly handprints and arrows, cones and ropes, and hula-hoops.

If storage space is at a premium, after class you can stack the equipment along studio walls that don’t have barres. It will stick out about 18 inches, so caution dance students not to run into it. 

Music
As with dance, music plays an important role in a gymnastics program. The younger the children, the more songs you should include in each class. For instance, with a class of 4- and 5-year-olds, you can do the warm-up and ending activities to music. Adding at least one more song in the middle of the class helps break up the activities. Playing background music throughout the class is not recommended except in parent-and-tot classes (which seem to flow better than others) or for timing the rotations at various stations.

Tumbling should be included in every lesson plan. In addition to traditional gymnastics skills, you can vary the curriculum with props.

Activities
Tumbling is the basis for all gymnastics and should be included in every lesson plan. In addition to traditional gymnastics skills, you can vary the curriculum with props such as balloons, ribbons, lummi sticks, wands, bells, balls, scarves, or a parachute. Repeat lesson plans two weeks in a row so that students can master new skills. Self-confidence is an important factor in a gymnastics class. Remember, repetition is the mother of skill.

Sample Lesson Plan for Beginners (45-minute class, ages 2 to 6)

1. Enthusiastic greeting to welcome the students to the class (1 minute)
2. Warm-up exercises to music with students on carpet mats in a circle (5 minutes)
3. Review positions: tuck, pike, straddle, lunge, and V-sit; handstands in a circle (4 minutes)
4. Tumbling (8 minutes)

• Animal walks: camel (on all fours, straight arms and legs) and bear (bent arms and legs)
• Rolls: forward, backward, and log rolls
• Cartwheels and round-offs

5. Balance beam (7 minutes)

• Walks: relevé, plié, and développé forward, side, and back
• Positions: V-sit, arabesque penché, lunge, and dance poses
• Turns: squat and relevé

6. Vaulting (7 minutes)
On a trapezoid piece or on stacked panel mats, using rubber dots to indicate placement of hands and feet:

• squat on (place knees on)
• straddle on (straddle in second position)
• flanking (swinging legs) around the trapezoid

7. Junior swing bar (7 minutes)

• front support (jump into the bar at hips)
• cast three times (swing legs and torso under bar)
• forward roll dismount

8. Ending activity: Balloon toss with paper-plate rackets (6 minutes)
9. Challenge: Ask everyone to practice back rolls at home with their parents.
10. Closing: Clap five times and yell, “I did great today!” 

Equipment Companies

Mancino Manufacturing: 800.338.6287; mancinomats.com
Ross Athletic Supply: 888.600.7677; rossathletic.com
Oriental Trading Company (props): 800.875.8480; orientaltrading.com
Flaghouse (small equipment): 800.793.7900; flaghouse.com
Tumbl Trak (trampolines and Air Trak): 800.331.4362; tumbltrak.com

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