Gymnastics is a sport like no other—in many ways, including its widely-known reputation of early retirement. While gymnasts will always have the sport in their blood, usually the competitive component ends around age 22. A casual cartwheel or handstand later in life is commonplace, but what about a full-fledged training camp? The first all-adult gymnastics camp in New Hampshire took place earlier this month and adults ages 23-61 performed 14 hours of gymnastics in 48 hours... proving you're never too old to flip.

Adult Gymnastics Training Camp Portsmouth, NH

by Gina Paulhus
 

July 17-19 the first ever all-adult gymnastics training camp took place in Portsmouth, NH. The camp was born out of the idea that it would nice for adult gymnasts to have a judgement free zone to learn drills and technique while also having the opportunity to socialize outside of the gym. Plus, it's a great excuse to take a trip to the Seacoast in the summer!

Our slogan was 'Proud to Hang Around Bars All Night.' Which didn't exactly happen--because most of the athletes turned in early to keep up with the rigorous schedule of the training camp. There was 14 hours of gymnastics planned over a 48 hour period, and the athletes ranged in age from 23 to 61.

 

The camp attracted US gymnasts from the east coast, the west coast, and everything in between, in addition to a couple of athletes from Canada and the UK. There were about 30 women and 10 men in attendance, although the focus of the camp was on the women's artistic events.

 

The camp was able to accommodate the needs of the beginner gymnast all the way up through competitive levels.
 

Friday night after warm-ups we split into groups (the athletes were divided by level into 3 separate groups). These groups were called 'Stone Age,' 'Paleolithic Age' and 'Ice Age.' Everyone was full of excitement and eager to get on the equipment. Friday night we focused on physical preparation for warm-up purposes, floor basics, bar basics, and beam. We met for a quick dinner at Chipotle and a few ambitious campers visited downtown Portsmouth.

 

Saturday included two training sessions. In addition to the four women's artistic events, we offered a dance warmup, a men's event warmup, choreography, sessions with Dave Burchuk from Lighthouse Physical Therapy in Portsmouth. Sandwiched between the two trainings we had Mental Training and Nutrition for Gymnastics clinics by the pool at the Motel 6 where the campers stayed. Everyone enjoyed a dinner out together Saturday night, and some even snuck in a trip for ice cream.
 

Sunday started bright and early--8am. We had a morning training and then an afternoon training. Morning training included a conditioning option, which many of the adults were interested in. This impressed me since people were getting pretty sore by now! The presence of a TV camera filming for the NH Chronicle perked everyone up for the afternoon training. We also had an optional show in the afternoon where the groups presented what they had worked on at camp. We presented 12 awards, including an award for:

Good Samaritan--For always looking out for the safety of other campers--Abbie Green of Cambridge MA
 

Most Last Minute--for emailing me at 1am on Friday night asking if she could come to camp on Saturday morning--Jill Lacedonia of CT
 

Best Dancer--for her spontaneous outburst of dancing to 'Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy'--Traci from PA
 

We had a white board where we wrote skills that we learned or improved while at camp. The board was jam packed! Everyone also left camp with plenty of ideas for drills to continue working on their gymnastics goals back home.
 

After awards we visited Wallis Sands Beach in Rye, and ended camp with a lovely seafood dinner up in Kittery Maine at the Weathervane seafood restaurant.

 

Congratulations to all the friendly, hardworking athletes who came to our first camp. The athletes did a tremendous job. We used a white board to list the skills that were learned or improved at camp and it was an amazing accomplishment for this seasoned group of adult gymnasts. Camp was abuzz with discussions about 'next year...' which means that this camp will have to be an annual event! We are also planning a winter camp!

 

The Adult Gymnastics Staff for 2015 were:

Lara Weed, Allison Brisson, Ryleigh Jean, Alexis Nault, Eileen Palazzolo, Cori Cunningham, Andrea Pye, Bryan Paulhus and Dave Burchuk (physical therapy). 

Our Host:

Atlantic Gymnastics, Portsmouth NH

Our Mentor and Inspiration for camp:

Tony Retrosi

Click here to join our adult gymnastics mailing list or read more about the camp!