By Rich Bockmann
Gymnasts are celebrated for their mobility, flexibility and coordination, and one Queens company offers gymnastics classes designed to be just as nimble.
Power Moves Gymnastics and Fitness brings the gym to young jumpers and tumblers, whether they be in a school, at a community event or at a birthday party.
Longtime friends and athletes Candice Walker and Grace Williams started the company back in November after years of learning the ropes — and the balance beams — themselves.
“As a child I was always jumping around on the couch and my mother had to find some way to channel my energy,” Walker said.
She and her business partner met while enrolled in the YMCA in Bellerose as children and eventually went on to work in one of their high school coach’s gyms.
“I started watching how my coach watched and trained our teammates and I said, ‘Hey, I can do this,’” she explained.
Walker said she and Williams have 10 years of coaching experience and are members of the United States Association of Gymnastics.
Power Moves provides equipment such as mats, balance beams and barrels for one-hour sessions during after-school programs booked on a monthly basis.
Sessions start out with a stretch and warm-up, and Walker said with patience and practice youngsters soon progress from the basic maneuvers to more complex ones.
She said gymnastics and tumbling are great ways to increase flexibility and endurance and to boost a child’s confidence.
“Our primary goals are for children to first master the balancing and motor skills and body control. Once they gain those skills they move to hand stands, front walk-overs, back walk-overs and work with bridges,” she said. “In the beginning children are always afraid to do something even as simple as a forward roll. After a while of doing it repetitively, it becomes easier and they get more confident.”
Classes are aimed at youths ages 3 to 16, and Power Moves charges $45 per child for a one-day-a-week session or $60 for two days a week.
The company also offers 90-minute birthday parties on the weekend.
“We can do it at someone’s home. You need nothing smaller than a 10-by-10 area so we can set up the mats so the children aren’t bumping into the walls and the furniture,” Walker said.
For more information visit powermovesgymnastics.com or call 516-369-0064.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
