Jump Around With Jump Gymnastics

“We want children to reach two life goals,” says Jump Gymnastics owner and director Jennifer Hood. “One: to reach their highest athletic potential… and two: to have the skills and motivation to stay active for life.” For Jennifer and Jump Gymnastics, a child’s highest athletic potential doesn’t necessarily involve gymnastics at all. “For some kids, this will be a school softball team and for others it will be world championships.”

In her over 15 years working with children, Jennifer realized that as the “first touch” a child would have with any formalized sport system, she was in a unique position. “If I made the experience positive and challenging- and if I focused on broad movement skills instead of specific sport skills – kids started excelling very quickly and were motivated to continue.” She also found that if she made the experience dull and negative, children became unmotivated. Some of the kids would stay in gymnastics – even reach nation team levels – but most would go on to explore other sports. But Jennifer also saw that even kids who didn’t go into competitive sports continued to think of themselves as “athletes”: “Parents reported that they were happy and confident to try new sport programs, climb at the playground and hike with their family.”

Jump Gymnastics’ approach to gymnastics is simple: teach physical literacy rather than gymnastics. “We use developmental gymnastics to teach children physical literacy,” says Jennifer, who believes that Jump’s innovative program gives children ages six months to eight years old the tools they need to be active for their whole lives – regardless of what sports interest them as they get older.

That’s a relief for parents like me who would rather focus on exposing my young daughters to the fun of physical activity rather than trying to make them the next Nadia Komaneci.

And it seems I’m not the only one who likes this philosophy. Opened for business in September 2008, today Jump Gymnastics has 425 children enrolled in its weekly classes and about 500 children go through its facility each week. The gym is so popular that Jennifer plans on opening a second facility before the end of next year.

Although Jump’s focus might not immediately sound like it’s right for “serious” gymnasts, Jennifer and her staff have a gold medal approach when it comes to Jump Gymnastics’s program. All of its teachers exceed industry certification standards and have the knowledge to address your child’s individual development needs. Jump Gymnastics is also the first facility to design its whole curriculum based on Canadian Sport for Life’s Long Term Athlete Development program, designed to support children in being active their whole life.

Looking at trying to register my own kids, I will say that I’m challenged by the schedule organization. Having a two-year-old and five-year-old mean that I can’t have them in a time slot where they can both go at the same time – or at even one right after each other. Oh well, a schedule can’t please everyone. So registration in a Jump Gymnastics program for my kids may need to wait until after Christmas.

Being a busy mom, Jennifer has also designed Jump Gymnastics to be a welcoming spot for families – especially kids. The best parts of the facility are designed for people under four feet tall. But even if you’re part of the adult set, you’ll still be able to enjoy Jump Gymnastic’s parents lounge and have peace of mind that any days you miss can be made up at another time. But most comforting is that she also knows to trust a parent’s instinct, who know their kids’ interests, fears and strengths.

In addition to the Jump Gymnastics’ core program, the facility offers special services, like a Friday night date night where parents can drop of their kids for three hours as well as birthday party services.

Be sure to register your kids early – especially if you need to coordinate the schedules of more than one child of different ages. Prime spots fill fast.