Kansas City is considered by many to be a sports town. With professional teams such as the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs, and minor league teams including the Missouri Mavericks and Kansas City T-Bones, sports lovers do not have a shortage of teams to root for across many different sports. In addition, these professional teams inspire many young athletes throughout the metro area to pursue their own sports passion. So what about Kansas City gymnastics? Does the same passion for sport carry over to this less traditional sports avenue?
There are many gymnastics programs in the Kansas City metro (find one here). In fact, there are so many, there is likely one just a short drive from your home. There are over 20 gymnastics studios spanning from Western Shawnee to Blue Springs and Olathe to Liberty. Most of these Kansas City gymnastics programs offer fun activities for kids including classes for students ages toddlers through high school. Classes are frequently once a week making them easy to fit in to your family's weekly schedule.
It's not just private clubs that are expanding their gymnastics programs, the Kansas City Sports Commission is in the bidding process to host a future US Championship - hopefully 2019! In addition to US Championships, USA Gymnastics hosts an educational forum called USA Gym Congress. This event attracts coaches from around the nation and provides the most up to date rule update, coaching tips, and business advice for everyone from preschool coaches to club owners.
For those that have been involved in sports of all types, the importance of agility, flexibility, and speed is prevalent throughout both individual and team disciplines. The benefits of gymnastics provide a strong foundation of these pillars through a variety of ways.
First, gymnastics improves muscular strength. Gymnastics is one of the few youth sports that allows athletes to develop upper body strength. Through regular training, gymnasts use their body weight to pull themselves up on the bars or support themselves upside down. As an alternative to weight training, which is unsafe for many pre-pubescent athletes, gymnastics classes for kids include body weight training, providing the right amount of resistance for building the perfect about of muscle for each individual.
Moreover, gymnastics training increases flexibility. Through both regular stretching and dynamic stretching motions such as kicks, leg swings, and arm circles, athletes improve their range of motion making them less susceptible to injury. While these two key factors are important, gymnastics training benefits don't stop there. Gymnasts learn self-control, perseverance, and many other lessons that carry with them both in to the classroom and on to other sports.