World-class gym at QE II

With the help of the Christchurch City Council, the City's best gymnasts now have the South Island's best training facility. The recently opened Christchurch School of Gymnastics, situated in the grounds of QE II, is second only to one in Auckland, and is a huge leap forward for gymnastics in Canterbury.

Former New Zealand gymnastics representative, Melanie Laing, is thrilled that promising young gymnasts can be trained in an international standard gym.

"Before this new facility was built, half of our training time was taken up with getting all the equipment out and putting it away again afterwards - now it's always out and ready to use. And the sprung floors are great - doing floor routines is very hard on the joints without them."

Avril Enslow, the school's manager and coaching director is confident that there will be no shortage of young gymnasts to fill the new facility. Children from schools and gymnastics clubs from all over the city are using the new gym. "We're looking at 10,000 children a year using this facility. It's a real growth area - all the gymnastics clubs in Christchurch currently have waiting lists."

Lura Schmit and Rebekah Emmett, are two of the promising young gymnasts making the most of this excellent facility

For further information call Christchurch School of Gymnastics 383 6003.

September 1997 City Scene ~ City Scene Archive