Marysville High School gymnast Aleyna Smith competes during a 2018-19 meet at the Marysville Early College High School. Local gymnasts will have a new location for practices and meets during the 2019-20 season.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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The need for more academic space at the Marysville Early College (Stem) High School means the Marysville High School and Union County Family YMCA gymnastics programs have a new home.
“The school informed us in April that they are growing and would need to utilize their gym space more effectively,” said MHS and YMCA head coach Amber Calvert.
The YMCA operates Marysville’s varsity gymnastics and swimming programs in conjunction with the school.
“Fortunately, we too are growing and a new space was needed,” she said.
Stem school officials anticipate a student population of 580 in grades 9-12 for the 2019-20 academic year, according to principal Ken Chaffin.
“We had between 525 and 530 students during the 2018-19 year,” said Chaffin. “We had 97 seniors last year, but we are going to have 190 incoming freshmen.
“This past year, we had 166 freshmen, so our freshmen and sophomore classes for the upcoming year are huge.”
The MHS and YMCA gymnastics programs have used the school’s gymnasium for its practices and home meets for several years.
Now, Monarch and Y gymnasts will practice and compete at the old MC Sports building, located in Coleman’s Crossing.
“The gymnastics programs are growing here and this move will give us more space,” said YMCA executive director Trevor Secord. “We had 7,000 square feet at the school building and now, we’re going to have twice that much.”
“This will double our (gymnastics) footprint and will allow us to program during the day-time,” said Calvert.
Secord said the YMCA will pay for the rental of the new facility and that no school district money will be used to cover the cost.
“We have also secured money from several local contributors,” he said.
“It’s a win-win situation,” said Secord. “The school gets its space back and we will have more space in which to conduct our gymnastics program and do some other activities as well.”
Secord said the YMCA plans additional youth programs at the new facility, including toddler tumbling classes for prospective gymnasts.
Chaffin said that by gaining use of the gym, it will give school officials space to meet with individual classes and the entire student body on an as-needed basis.
“Our auditorium can seat about 140 students,” he said, adding that was not nearly enough space for meeting with pupils.
“We will also use the gymnasium as an educational space,” he said. “We will be moving the district’s robotics program from the main high school to our gymnasium.
“Growth is a great thing, but we were tight with our space last year,” said Chaffin. “By utilizing the gym space, we are going to give our students a more comfortable learning experience.”
“We have very competitive gymnastics programs,” said Secord. “We are going to be able to host meets in a nice open space. We can also grow gymnastics in the area with the new location.”
All of the gymnastics equipment has been removed from the school’s gymnasium and has been placed in the new location.
The YMCA will host a gymnastics camp, beginning on Monday, for youngsters ages 5-18.
Sessions will go from 5:30-7:30 p.m. for the week.
“We are excited for this opportunity and will be offering a new option of programs on top of gymnastics,” said Calvert. “These programs will be targeted at youth and families so that the whole family will have the opportunity for programming with our YMCA.
“Having two locations for programming will open up new opportunities for our members to enjoy and we look forward to serving our community even better than before,” she said.