We are a small group of competitive, award winning gymnastics girls in Northern Virginia that want to thank people who give back to their communities. Our team always keeps a close eye on goings on in our community and want thank those who show unconditional kindness to those in need.
Not only is our group special because we train for TOPS, a training camp in Houston, TX run by Coach Bela Karolyi, but also because we think it’s so important to give back to others and show everyone just how easy giving back can be. Giving back doesn’t always mean a huge monetary donation or dedicating hours of volunteering time. It can be simple and it can be fun.
Our official tour this year is the "Giving Back Tour" 2008-09 and our first competition was in Chantilly, VA the beginning of December 2008. The girls have already made a huge impact in the Washington D.C. area by making and giving small, handmade ornaments (ALL-AROUND AWARDS) to those who are making a difference in the lives around them. We also visit hospitals, schools and senior centers to talk about how easy it is to give back and to create handmade art as gifts to others to show appreciation. It’s a great program and already in a few short months is very well received. In fact, a few of the girls were able to meet and visit with Shawn Johnson in October (thanks Ortega!) while she was touring with the Gymnastics Superstars, get a private tour of Senator Kennedy's office (thanks Jay McCarthy!) and attend a Cheetah Girls concert at the Verizon Center in October to thank the Cheetah Girls for their "One World" Tour (thanks David Touhey!). Please keep an eye on us, give back to your communities and email us if you know someone who could use a shout out.
Call Michele Hirata, Board of Directors, Gymnastics World Girls Gymnastics Booster Club (GWGGBC) @ (228) 257-9179 or email michele@fatthumb.com
All our best,
The GWGGBC ;0)
A Visit from a Gold Medalist
Young gymnasts got an early Christmas present this week when an Olympic gold-medalist visited their training facility.
Dominique Dawes — who also earned two bronze medals while competing in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Games — wowed the girls gymnastics team at Gymnastics World in Lake Ridge on Tuesday.
She signed autographs, watched routines by her young counterparts and posed for pictures, some even with the gold medal she won as a member of the “Magnificent Seven” team in Atlanta in 1996. That was the first U.S. women’s group to win the top award in gymnastics team competition.
Most of all, though, Dawes provided inspiration for the team of 19 girls, ages 5 to 12.
“This is the best,” said Juan C. Palma, the Gymnastics World team’s coach and himself a member of the 1977 national gymnastics team of his native Chile.
The 32-year-old Dawes, who lives in Silver Spring, Md., retired from the sport eight years ago.
Nowadays, she does a lot of motivational speaking for businesses. She also covered this year’s Olympics for Yahoo! Sports and is working on a motivational book for teens.
Dawes returned to her gymnastics roots, however, because she said she was touched by an award she received from the Gymnastics World team and by the urging of Michele Hirata, a member of the board of directors of the team’s Booster Club.
The team gave Dawes its “All-Around Award” for contributing to youth fitness. She was honored at a Greater Washington Sports Alliance event Dec. 16 to kick off a program encouraging teens to get fit by running or walking 26.3 miles by Feb. 27.
On Tuesday, she implored the leotard-wearing audience to learn the basics of their sport. That helps to quiet nerves before a meet, she said.
“I also had those butterflies in my stomach,” said Dawes, who was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame this year.
She also said time management is key to balancing sports and schoolwork. When she was competing, Dawes trained seven hours a day in addition to going to school.
“I was very good with time management,” said Dawes, who was wearing a black sweatsuit. “I guess I had to be.”
Indeed, she said her first goal in gymnastics was to obtain a full scholarship to college, which she did to StanfordUniversity, though she deferred the learning opportunity and went to the Olympics instead.
She also said she doesn’t think there should be a minimum age for Olympians, which became an issue at this year’s games.
If a 14-year-old can make the team and represent her country, so be it, she said.
And it could be that some of Gymnastic World’s girls could reach those kinds of heights.
The team uses procedures developed at a training camp in Houston run by famed gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi.
Gymnastics World also celebrated the opening of a 4,000-square-foot expansion Tuesday, which nearly doubles the size of the facility.
Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.
