A Win-Win at the Greenville Gymnastics Center

Published: December 22, 2023

Panthers gain valuable experience coaching young tumblers

Experience is a great teacher at the Experience Institutes in Nashville and Dallas. It’s also a great teacher in Greenville, Illinois, where students gain valuable job experience and serve their community too.

The recent addition of gymnastics to Panther athletics brought with it the vision of community gymnastics in Greenville. Why not use GU’s gymnastics facility for training tots to teens as well?

The Greenville Gymnastics Center does just that. In the process, it expands opportunities for GU students to pick up valuable experience in youth coaching, program development, facilities management, marketing, community relations, and more.

Home to Panther men’s and women’s gymnastics, the center is also home to a USA Gymnastics (USAG) club where even the youngest gymnasts and tumblers develop strength, confidence, social skills, and love for movement. Skilled gymnasts like GU’s Ryan Barela, a sophomore from Arizona, gain valuable experience working with them.

A junior national all-around champion, Ryan majors in exercise science and minors in coaching. Throughout the week, he trains at the center on high bar, rings, vault, parallel bars, pommel horse, and floor exercise. In the evening, he shares his passion for the sport, coaching club members.

“I enjoy working with kids and helping them learn new things,” he says.

Serving others, sharing joy, growing and helping others grow— gymnasts like Ryan gain opportunities to advance in their sport and help others along the way.

“I’ve learned about leadership,” he says, adding with a grin, “and I’ve certainly developed patience.”

In turn, the young gymnasts under Ryan’s care have soaked up lessons about perseverance, respect, and sportsmanship, all from a national champion. No one can deny that It’s a win-win for sure.