There are springless floors, makeshift metal bleachers and volunteer coaches who have made “setup” and “tear-down” everyday verbs.
It’s a labor of love for Victory Athletics Inc. owner and head coach Nancy Vear and her assistants, but they would have it no other way, because life without gymnastics is essentially the same as not living at all if you ask them.
Victory Athletics is also home to a diving team, and athletics has been a part of Vear’s daily routine ever since she was young.
She was an elite gymnast who was a Class 1 (Level 10 today ) Oklahoma all-around state-champion before calling it quits her sophomore year of high school.
She then quickly transitioned to the pool, where she walked on to the Division I Drexel University swimming and diving team her sophomore year, where she was good enough to finished ranked 19th in the entire East Coast region.
As Vear puts it, sports are just part of her DNA.
“When did I get into gymnastics? I think the minute the umbilical cord was cut,” she said. “I’ve never known life without gymnastics.”
And now thanks to the time commitments and pocketbooks of Vear and others, local kids don’t have to grow up without the sport.
Vear called herself a “last resort coach” for the Hillsdale High School girls gymnastics team before it became defunct two years ago, and she took the Hornets hardships and turned them into her own personal project.
Vear and her husband Michael have four kids and they decided to send their children to Hillsdale Preparatory for the academics, not knowing another door would soon open.
Vear quickly found out that a lot of the school’s physical education activities were run by volunteers, so it was almost natural for her to purchase Hillsdale High School’s old equipment and put it to use.
“We bought the equipment with my husband’s retirement money,” Vear said half-jokingly. “But when he married me he knew what he was getting into.”
After a failed attempt to gather some more funds via a grant from the Hillsdale Community Foundation, Vear plowed forward.
She began volunteering an hour of time each week to give the Preparatory students free basic gymnastics instruction during school hours.
“I really just wanted for the kids to be exposed to it and to help them become more fit and healthy,” she said.
Soon after, the Hillsdale Preparatory PTO got on-board with Vear offering instruction throughout the week, and in just two weeks the Victory Athletics gymnasts will have the opportunity to measure themselves in their first-ever competition.
She still instructs over 70 students for an hour each week during PE class, but she also has 25 girls who attend classes three times a week, two hours per session.
“I don’t think anyone else is this dumb,” Vear says with a big grin, referring to the money and time she has put into to developing the relatively young program.
Tuition for her instruction is free to Hillsdale Preparatory students, and eight girls take advantage of that. It won’t break the bank for others though, as the monthly fees range from just $90-125.
Considering her experience, it’s a steal.
She is safety certified through USA Gymnastics, as is assistant coach Rhonda Humphries.
Vear is always looking for more instructional help, insisting that she is looking for “personality and commitment,” not an impressive background in the sport.
The coach is only as good as her athletes and the parents that support her though, and Amy Manifold for one thinks Vear has been a stroke of luck for the school.
Manifold’s daughter Karissa is a first-grade student at Hillsdale Preparatory, and currently a Level 3 gymnast.
Manifold said it is incredible her daughter is getting such hands-on instruction for free and it has truly enhanced her life.
“I was very glad Nancy started it up,” she said. “She is very personable and she spends a lot of individual time with them. With a group this size she does a great job.”
Karissa Manifold attended Southern Michigan Gymnastics in Coldwater for a while and Amy
Manifold said Vear’s venture compares quite favorably in a lot of ways.
“I don’t think the word is out there about this place. But there’s not much available out there for
gymnastics in the area and Nancy and the volunteers do a wonderful job,” she said.
Karissa Manifold seems to agree, explaining how it has positively affected her.
“I like it because I get good at stuff and it can make me stronger and flexible,” she said.
It has also been fun for the kids who aren’t looking to compete, but just want a chance to improve their fitness and athleticism.
Kade Moes, a fifth-grader at Hillsdale Preparatory, says the one-hour, in-school sessions have been amazing.
“Nancy is cool and a good head coach. I don’t think it’s really that hard, we’ve just got to work on stuff until we get better,” he said. “I like going on the bars and stuff.”
He is not the only one who likes the bars.
Manifold said her favorite apparatus is the bars because she “likes working on (a move called the) straddle circle,” and seventh-grader Kelsey Caldwell has a similar regard for the uneven bars.
“I just love swinging, it has always been my favorite,” she said.
Caldwell is a Level 4 gymnastics who comes to Victory Athletics from Jonesville.
She has been in gymnastics for five years, minus a one-year break, and Vear’s gym offered her exactly what she had been looking for.
“I had a friend who had heard of Nancy and I came to a practice and loved it, and have just been coming back ever since,” she said. “Coach is really nice. She doesn’t leave you when you’re struggling, she points things out and helps you until you get it.”
While the success stories are starting to multiply as more kids get involved, Vear and Humphries have plenty of obstacles ahead.
They just got a trampoline this summer, but they have loads of other equipment needs and aren’t exactly sure how much they can expand.
“We may run into a problem if we exceed the number of talented kids that I can afford to coach with regards to space in the gym and number of coaches,” Vear said. “That being said, if you want to be involved in this program by volunteering to coach, HPS gymnasts would be able to have more time on the equipment and more enhanced training.”
For now the future appears bright though, with the gymnasts first competition on Jan. 8.
They will attend a meet at Twistars in East Lansing, which is expected to bring in nearly 1,900 athletes. Twistars is currently the No. 1 ranked girls gym in the nation, according to Vear.
She has been forced to push the envlope just to get this program off the ground and she’s not about to stop at mediocrity, thus she views it as a perfect opportunity for her students.
“I guess (there is ) a little bit of arrogance in going to that meet, but basically we look fabulous as a team right now and if we can go there and place in the Top 100 I think we will have proven something to people,” she said.
Regardless of the results, Vear has emphatically proven gymnastics is alive and well in Hillsdale.
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