In 1997, Blue Valley Schools won the 6A Kansas State Gymnastics Championships with a team of combined athletes from the five high school. Could that happen again? The Kansas State High School Activities Association continues to certify gymnastics as a sport, but Blue Valley no longer supports it.
Several school districts in Kansas offer high school gymnastics programs: Wichita, Topeka, Manhattan, Derby, Newton, Emporia, Shawnee Mission, Lawrence, and Olathe. Blue Valley had high school gymnastics teams, however, in the late 1990’s high school gymnastics programs were combined and then removed.
“Cost of equipment was another factor in the removal of gymnastics programs,” said Janice Baker, who coached high school gymnastics for 36 years and judged for 12 years.
Baker explains that financial cuts are a big reason for this, and a multitude of other factors influenced the decision to drop the sport.
“To restore the program in Blue Valley, the schools must have the support of the community,” Baker said. “The costs of equipment, coaches, transportation, uniforms, officials’ fees, etc. must be determined and put into the budget. If there are enough athletes interested in this, it will take a committed effort by a group of people willing to do the work.”
While some might feel the sport would never get that kind of backing, there may be more people willing to put in the work than believed.
“There’s probably more people than we think that are interested but don’t necessarily want to join a whole team,” sophomore Violet Kempker said.
There are nine local gyms that have a well-developed competitive club program in the area. There are many gymnasts that quit their competitive clubs during high school simply because the number of hours for year-round club gymnastics and high school activities conflict. Having a high school team could be a solution.
“There’s plenty of football teams and clubs for a bunch of other stuff that others do,” Kempker said. “Gymnasts should be involved in gymnastics at school if they want.”
There are others who would not necessarily join the team but would love to support it. According to Baker, a supportive community is essential to the success of any gymnastics team. Getting competitive athletes to join is imperative.
“Pretty much anyone can do it, whether you’ve had background or not. And it’s also aimed at older kids,” Shawnee Mission school coach, Sonja Kudulis said. “Whereas sometimes people don’t have as much fun when they get older in club, so it offers that different sort of space.”
High school teams aren’t often made up of elite Level 10 and other high-level gymnasts. Anyone from any gymnastics background can be a part of the team.
“So our team this year, we have people flipping Yurchenko’s and double back flyaways,” Kudulis said. “And then we have some people who are working on front walkovers.”
High school gymnastics gives an outlet to athletes seeking another option to club gymnastics and those who want to try gymnastics for the first time. When the Lawrence School District sought to eliminate gymnastics last year, students participated in a sit-in to show their support. The teams at both high schools in Lawrence were saved. Could such an effort happen in Blue Valley? If it did, there would be many athletes who would have the opportunity to represent their schools and communities.