Community Corner

Gym Owners: Olympics Boost Interest in Gymnastics

Flip Flop Gymnastics is seeing a trend since Team USA took the gold.

Since Team USA took the gold, Sue Caramore owner of  in Westhampton Beach, says she has seen an increase in business — There is certainly an Olympic rush, she said.

"It's so busy we have to have our schedule and staffing early this year because we're getting an early bloom of students," she said. "The Olympic years are always this way, luckily. We ignite some business. Even some who put gymnastics on the back burner, this sparks their re-interest."

Caramore has even decided to hold an open house in an effort to meet the needs of all the requests she has been receiving. She has scheduled the open house for August 31 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Carmore is not the only gym owner who is seeing an Olympic rush. 

Leah Jaskolski, owner of  in Setauket says the Olympics has brought a steady stream of new students into her gymnastics gym, 

Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Everyone is crazy about gymnastics," she said. "Parents are coming in saying their kids are inspired by the boys' and girls' gymnastics in the Olympics."

Just in the last several days, Jaskolski said, she has seen 20 new families come in to sign up, all with the Olympics on their minds. There could be more to come. "It's really cool to see how inspiring the Olympics can be," she said.

At Gold Medal Gymnastics Center, which has locations in , , and Centereach, co-owner Doreen Argenti-Colombo said she has also seen an increase in enrollment.

"It creates huge interest in our sport in general, from the preschool level up to the level of college competition," said Argenti-Colombo, who along with her partner Al Notarnicola has opened up three of their four locations in summer Olympic years.

According to Argenti-Colombo, several hundred new students flooded Gold Medal's four locations, claiming every last one of the special edition Olympics t-shirts and water bottles that the gym was offering to new students.

Have you or are you going to sign your children up for gymnastics. Let us know in the comment section below. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here