Gymnastic World Brings Olympics to Fort Myers

FORT MYERS, Fla.– With the Olympics half a world away, one local gymnastics team wanted to bring the games closer to home for a retirement community.

It was an afternoon filled with ooh’s, ahhs, and plenty of laughs and smiles.

“The goal of this was to just have smiles all over and to just give everyone a fun lighthearted afternoon,” said Shannon Berg the Manager of Gymnastic World.

Gymnastic World, a Fort Myers gymnastics team jumped at the opportunity to put on an Olympic-style show for the Amavida retirement community.

“It cost nothing but time so I figured why not come on out and do something great for the community and for the kids to get out there in front of people,” said Coach Berg.

The girls, ranging from ages 6 to 12 performed handsprings, flips and more as they dazzled their audience.

“It was fabulous. It put a smile on a great- grandma‘s face,” said Amavida resident Barbara Allen.

While this might not be the same mat Team USA takes to Tokyo, the idea was to bring the same delight from the games to Fort Myers.

On top of teaching those in attendance about the sport of gymnastics, the goal was to also inspire them to get out, stretch more and continue to exercise.

As the girl’s performance came to an end, the emotions from the fun-filled afternoon started to come out.

“You know, we can cry when we are sad and we can shed a few tears when we are happy and they were happy tears that it was such a nice experience to see those young girls doing the things that they did and I did it so well,” Allen explained.

That is about as good as standing on any podium.

“It brings tears to my eyes just to see them so happy, that is what it is all about,” Coach Berg said.

It felt like a gold medal day for everyone involved.

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