Walking inside the newly opened Cloud Gymnastics feels less like a training facility and more like a place to have fun. Colourful and padded gymnastics training equipment fills the room and a friendly information board explains the week’s theme is “head to toes.”
The founder and director of the gym, Olivia Dykes, explains that the fun and welcoming atmosphere is by design.
“The preschool lesson plans and curriculum is all play based,” said Dykes. “That's how they learn, through play.”
Having opened on Discovery Way in November near the Sandman Hotel, Cloud Gymnastics currently takes on ages babies to around 12, or those with skills in the beginner to intermediate range. As the business continues to grow, Dykes said she will eventually offer more advanced skill development, even for adults.
After spending the majority of her life in the gymnastics world—whether as a competitive gymnast or coach—and with a degree in physiotherapy, Dykes wanted to incorporate elements into Cloud that helped kids, youth and even parents build a love of movement and sport.
“That’s what my mission statement is: Building a lifelong love of sport,” she said, adding it doesn’t have to even be gymnastics necessarily.
“Research that has come out has said that the more sports you do, and the less you specialize in a sport until puberty, the better off you are,” she said. “It’s really much moving away from that traditional gymnastic sense where they train 30-plus hours a week.”
With that in mind, Dykes said one of her main goals is to work towards gymnastic skills safely and to build those skills by practicing pieces that will ultimately lead to more advanced skills.
“It’s really focusing on where should they actually be developmentally and what are they actually capable of,” she said.
For example, she broke down how a preschooler might learn to rock back onto their feet, simulating the final movement of a forward roll.
“This is going to turn into a forward roll one day, which is going to turn into a front flip one day, which is going to turn into a layout one day,” she said.
And Dykes added that coaches incorporate other movements that can help towards skill development for a variety of sports and activities.
Thinking back to when the doors of the gym first opened last month, Dykes said she really got a boost in confidence after hearing some positive feedback from locals who came to check it out. But, she knows there’s still a lot more she wants to accomplish.
“Obviously I’m very proud and grateful for all the help I’ve had,” she said. “I feel like I’ve still got a lot of work to do to be where I want everything to be.”
For those interested in the gym, Dykes said between September and June they operate with a cost on a month-to-month basis.
In the other months, Dykes said there will be summer camp opportunities available.
For December and January, there are a few shorter camps during the holidays. Check out cloudgymnastics.ca for more information.
