Growing by leaps and bounds

As her gymnastics business has grown over the past two years, so did the need for more space. Sara Beth Gilbert opened her new gym, Sara Beth’s Gymnasts, on July 1 just steps away from her former location.

“When I started my search, it was the first space I looked at and kept coming back to,” Gilbert said. “Families, staff and I love this location, so I was thrilled to stay at Chelsea Village.”

Gilbert started her business after she and her family moved to Chelsea during the summer of 2017 and started teaching gymnastics classes at the Chelsea Community Center in January 2018. She has 20 years of experience as a gymnast and professional gymnastics coach and quickly worked her way up to 40 clients per month at the Community Center.

Now two-and-a-half years later, she finally has the space she has been needing. The new location is around 3,000 square feet, which was triple the amount of space and equipment capabilities from her last one.

When COVID-19 hit in mid-March, Gilbert closed the doors not knowing what the future held, both for her new location and for her business in general.

“We had planned for renovations to take four to six weeks so we could move in during spring break and open in April, but [due to COVID-19] renovations took a solid three months instead.”

Now that she’s up and running, Gilbert said the move has been a big step forward and allowed for expansion of classes and capabilities for budding gymnasts.

“Families, staff and I were thrilled with the expansion where we quickly doubled the number of gymnasts we served and greatly expanded our equipment to help gymnasts build confidence and progress through skills,” she said.

During the coronavirus pandemic, she said she actually worked much harder and longer for no personal pay while the gym was closed, and she said her gym families were very supportive and “stuck with us through the trying time.”

She quickly realized the virus wasn’t going away and that it was time to evolve or lose gymnastics for good. She and her twins went to the gym almost every day for two months to create pre-recorded videos to be shared with families who continued to pay tuition. Once schools closed, they began offering online classes during regularly scheduled class times.

Since reopening, Gilbert and her staff have made changes to the gym’s procedures, including checking temperatures at the door, families not coming in the building, increased hand washing and maintaining social distance. The gym and equipment are cleaned and disinfected throughout the day.

“All of our changes have gone very well,” Gilbert said. “I’m so pleased our gymnasts and families have adjusted with ease to our new policies and procedures allowing all of us to not only be back in the gym but in our new one at that. The new gym makes social distancing very easy because not only do we have the square footage, but we also have the equipment.”

The new space features a spring floor, seven balance beams of varying lengths and heights, uneven bars, parallel bar trainers, a single rail bar, a vaulting table, multiple springboards, a large Resi-Pit, a 50-foot Tumbl Trak, multiple pommel horses and a trainer, and rings, plus lots of blocks and extra padded mats. The last large piece of equipment, a set of parallel bars, will be acquired in the near future.

This summer, Gilbert has offered eight different classes, along with private lessons and camps. Starting in September, the gym will transition to the school year schedule and offer about 20 classes per week plus private lessons.

Coming soon will be the first full season of pre-team gymnastics and an AAU Xcel competitive gymnastics program next year, along with a ninja program that includes some gymnastics and physical challenges to improve agility, balance, reaction time, strength and coordination.

Additionally, the gym will be offering more special events, including Parents Night Out, clinics for particular skills, cheerleader prep, birthday parties, field trips and camps.

“I’m thankful to be open and serving our wonderful community,” Gilbert said. “I’m thrilled to have gymnasts back in the gym and gymnastics camps thriving even under our current conditions.”