Exercise in gymnastics

The Little Gym in La Cañada was decorated with balloons Monday morning in preparation for a special performance that afternoon.

It’s the end of the semester at Little Gym, and it is time for Show Week, an opportunity for kids to show their parents what they’ve learned.

Sarah Lowe, owner and president of the Little Gym in La Cañada and Little Gym in Monrovia, recently returned from a company meeting in Virginia. The meeting, which gathered Little Gym franchise owners throughout the United States, focused on how individual franchisees could improve the delivery of programs to the families in their community, according to the company.

Lowe opened the first Little Gym in Los Angeles County in La Cañada in 2003 after working as an independent contractor school psychologist for Total Education Solutions. As a parent, Lowe wanted a gym that would focus on her child, physical fitness and “building their confidence through physical fitness,” Lowe said.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Little Gym bases its curriculum on “personal best,” which measures success at the personal level, instead of on the personal best of others and having students compete with it. As such, the gym is noncompetitive.

“They’re [learning] some really intense skills,” said Little Gym instructor Ty Freedman.

Kids who are enrolled at Little Gym learn gymnastics on a variety of equipment, including uneven parallel bars, low beams, individual bars and parallel bars. Students visit the gym because it gives them a great workout, Lowe said.

“We don’t go to meets; we don’t have levels like you would find in a competitive gymnastics facility where a lot of them are working up to get up to the Olympics,” Lowe said. “The kids come in, and all they think is they’re having fun. But what is actually happening is that they are learning skills. When we give them the high-fives, it all builds the confidence.”

Lowe believes competitive gymnastics may be inappropriate for young kids who are just beginning to master the sport. Competition, she says, should be reserved for older children. For now, she says, her focus is on her students having fun.

Little Gym has its own medals that are given to students who complete a semester. A stage and podium are set up during Show Week, and the children are given individual recognition for their accomplishments.

“Their ability to compete in PE just with themselves comes from having so many years of lifting their own body weight around and getting used to all their muscle groups,” said Little Gym parent Kimberly Jordan of La Cañada, whose kids Kira, 11, and Alia, 10, are enrolled. “I think this is something that you can take pride in.”

During Show Week, kids are split up into groups for events. Each group performs the skills they have been taught in front of their parents. With a little assistance from Little Gym staff, the kids also perform “futureskills,” which will be taught later, such as back hand springs and back tucks.

“I think it’s very wonderful; I’m really surprised at the things they do,” said grandparent Alicia Reinoso of Glendale, whose granddaughter Maddeleine, 6, is enrolled.

Valerie Daza, 11, who had just finished performing on the uneven bars, hopes to take her gymnastics to the YMCA when in middle school. Her favorite routine is floor. She has been enrolled at Little Gym for about six years.

“You can have a lot of freedom,” Daza said. “It’s just fun to be with a bunch of other people who are your age. I want to see if I can do competing. I just want to be able to get better and have more friends who like what I do.”