In a bustling gymnasium at the South Wichita YMCA, gymnastics instructor Katy Romero stands on a balance beam. A group of 4- to 6-year-old students teeter on a beam across from her.
“Can you show me a passe?” she asks the young girls. “Pull your leg up as high as you can!”
Interest in youth gymnastics is on the rise, and the sport is a great way for kids to release pent-up energy. It also helps develop discipline, confidence and resilience.
Romero is 19 and has been teaching gymnastics for four years. She said teaching this age group is challenging, but also fun.
“You have all these different personalities, and you have the kids that are more outgoing, or some that you really have to pull them out of their shells,” she said.
“But it’s always fun to see what they do. They always get really excited when they’re able to accomplish something.”
The balance beam is particularly rewarding to teach, according to Romero. She starts her youngest students out on a low version of the apparatus and progressively moves them to higher beams until they’re comfortable walking by themselves.
“You have four inches to work with,” she said, “and you just have to make sure you don’t fall off. You’re always telling them, ‘Tighten up.’”
During the class, Romero works one-on-one with 5-year-old Willow Mingo, holding her hand as Willow walks across the high beam.
Willow said she likes all of the different equipment.
“Gymnastics is fun, and I do all the cool stuff,” she said. “Sometimes I do the cones, and then I do the rings and then the animals. Those are bars over there, and that one you just hold onto the bars without any feet.”
It’s 5-year-old Brooklyn Sauer’s second-ever gymnastics class. So far, she really likes jumping.
“We go to the trampoline. We do some tricks and stuff — like this!” she said, bursting into jumping jacks.
Next door in the YMCA’s Kid Zone, toddlers and young kids run around playing games and climbing over an indoor jungle gym. Senior program director Kasey Williams said the two-hour drop-in nursery — one of the most affordable options in the area — is a lifeline for many parents, who can use the time to work out, bathe or relax in the building.
“We have some moms that use that two hours just to shower,” she said. “We have some that have actually gone back to school and have used the two hours every day to do homework, which is really cool.”
Williams has taught every single kids activity the YMCA offers. She said age five is an important age developmentally.
“By the time they get to about 8 years old, if they haven’t figured out certain things like water safety and fear of water, it can get pretty detrimental at that point,” she said, “because now they understand what drowning is.”
That’s why, Williams said, 5 is a good age to get kids involved in activities that help them dispel those fears while building confidence and social skills — whether it’s gymnastics, swimming or basketball.
Five-year-olds are also her favorite age group to teach.
“You can still be a mermaid under the water, or you can still go on a treasure hunt in the middle of the gymnastics center because they're still using their imagination like crazy,” she said.
“But I can easily say, ‘I need you to touch your toes,’ and they’re coordinated enough to do it.”
