When US forces left behind their Auckland training gym after WWII, few would have expected it to still be in use 60 years later.

 

 


 


Club members test their skills

But this year the venerable building, in Mt Roskill’s Keith Hay Park, made way for a new regional gymnastics facility which now houses the Tri Star Gymnastics club, the Vortex Aerobics club and the Extreme Trampoline club.

Tri Star Chairperson Grant Price says the Auckland Regional Gymsport Centre, officially opened in September, is now the regional centre for gymnastics and has been chosen as the venue for next year’s secondary schools’ national champs.

“It gets used all day. We have pre-schoolers and  schools in here in the daytime, recreation and competitive  training after school, right up to about 9pm at night, and holiday programmes during the breaks.

“On Thursday night break dancers, retired gymnasts – some in their 70’s – stunt people, dancers and the like, cross train and have fun together. It is a place for all gymsport recreation.” 

Grant says that having other clubs using the facility has proved complimentary, with elite members of the trampoline team learning from the gymnasts and vice-versa.

“We’re finding that the community is building as people train together.”

Gymnastics has been recognised by SPARC, the national sport promotion body, as a foundation sport where children learn balance, flexibility and strength – skills essential to sport they might move on to later in life, such as the karate club which also shares facilities in the building.

The centre allows up to 50 gymnasts to be active at once and the gymnastics club is growing rapidly from its current 800 members.

“When we were building the numbers did drop, but we’ve been able to access the new building since early June,” Grant says. “We’re now finding that people are willing to travel from all over Auckland to train here because we’ve got such good facilities.”

  • www.tristar.org.nz
  • In 2004 ASBCT granted Tri Star Gymnastics $1.35m to help build the new regional facility.