Your home for gymnastics in Williamsburg, VA.

In 1973, Cliff Gauthier, the head coach of William & Mary men's gymnastics, decided to start a community outreach program teaching recreational classes to the Williamsburg community. Thus, Williamsburg Gymnastics was born.

 

The classes were originally coached by the men's team gymnasts and only ran for 20 Saturdays each year. This is where Pete Walker, current owner and gym director, got his start coaching to help cover student expenses. After graduating, Pete worked at a gym in New Jersey, then moved back home to Virginia Beach, where he honed his spotting skills under the tutelage of the same coaches that trained Olympian Gabby Douglas.

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A few years later, Cliff invited Pete to come to W&M as the assistant coach for the men's team. Pete happily accepted and took over the recreational program as a means of supplementing the assistant coach's income. He immediately added summer classes and a boy's team, then later a girls team. In 2004, Cindy married into the gymnastics world and began assisting with the administrative side of programming. Additionally, as their kids started getting older, Pete and Cindy took over and expanded the preschool class program.

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Around 2015, we had begun to outgrow our space. The basement of Kaplan Arena at William & Mary, where Williamsburg Gymnastics was housed, was a 5,000 square foot space shared with the W&M men's varsity, women's varsity, and cheerleading teams. We didn't have a website or registration system, instead relying on word-of-mouth and fliers, and Cindy sitting outside the gym door taking down names on a notepad. So, Pete and Cindy started looking for land.

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In 2018, we finished construction on our current facility and moved into the brand-new 12,000 square foot space! Since then, our programs have grown exponentially. From the original 20 Saturdays each year, to one weekly evening class in our new building, we now offer more than 40 classes each week, year-round. Our original team of about 70 boys and girls has almost doubled, and we recently expanded into a back 4,000 square feet of space, bringing our grand total to 18,000 square feet.

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Nowadays, our classes are no longer coached just by the men's team gymnasts, but also by former WG team members, siblings of team members, college gymnasts, and community members who are returning to the sport. Most recently, the W&M varsity and club teams have moved out of their former training space in the basement of Kaplan Arena and practice here at the new Williamsburg Gymnastics facility. It's amazing to think of how far we have come since 1973 and how much further we still have to go!