Lack of space forces schools to share gym

Gymnasts from James Madison High School and McLean High School are practicing in one gym with the Marshall gymnastics team due to lack of room for practice.
Gymnastics head coach Kristi Bzdafka said sharing space is an opportunity to observe different coaches and perspectives, which has been beneficial because of the support and advice she has received from her experienced peers.
“The rules are very extensive in high school gymnastics,” Bzdafka said. “Because [the other coaches] have been coaching for a long time […] it was nice to be able to ask them questions when I didn’t know something or bounce an idea off of them.”
Sophomore and gymnast Teresa Capuano-Rizzo said all gymnastics teams who share a gym for practice get along well despite coming from different schools.
“I like sharing space because it’s nice to get to know gymnasts from other schools,” Capuano-Rizzo said. “We each kind of do our own thing. We […] go to events together and talk to each other.”
Bzdafka said sharing gym space is a familiar practice for gymnasts who compete in clubs.
“[It is] more compartmentalized [when sharing space], where we each have our own area at different times of the practice,” Bzdafka said. “[In] club gymnastics that’s how it works, so these kids are used to that.”
Teams from Madison and McLean theoretically have space to practice, but the gymnasts from both schools do not get a chance to use their vaults at their respective locations due to the amount of room vaulting requires. Junior and Madison gymnast Cammie Kolat also said her gymnastics team usually cannot practice in their gym because of conflicting schedules with the basketball teams. Instead, they practice in the dance room.
“[Sharing space] is not distracting,” Kolat said. “We are all doing the same sport, so it’s a place where we can correct each other and just have fun. Also, there are multiple coaches to help out.”
Kolat said she is close with the gymnasts from the other schools because they have been attending club gymnastics and competing together for many years.
“A lot of these kids go to the same club, so then they get to see their friends,” Bzdafka said. “Gymnastics is a really small community and these kids all know each other from years and years of gymnastics.”