Young Gymnasts Have a "World Class" Home in Hampton Roads

Restructured from a story I wrote, which was published in the Newport News Town Square section of the Daily Press in late February. I bring it to attention today because there will be a follow-up article in the same section next Thursday about the comeback of Ashley Lambert. Ashley suffered a possible career ending injury almost a year ago. However, her positive spirit and true grit have helped her make a remarkable comeback which is still taking shape. Her inspirational story is worth a read, but will only be published in next Thursday's Daily Press. For now, here's something about the gym where she and many other young gymnasts call their spot.

Located at the end of a side street in midtown Newport News, away from the hustle and bustle of Jefferson Ave., some of the best gymnasts in Virginia have found a new space to call their workout home.

Started by Tami Harrison, the World Class Gym (http://worldclassgym.com) has something for everybody. Harrison’s vision is built on the foundation of having gymnasts achieve their full potential in their gymnastics, and in life.

This makes sense considering her own unique and diverse background. As Tami Elliott, the young gymnast carved an impressive athletic niche for herself as a 10-time All-American at Cal State Fullerton. She competed in the 1984 Olympic trials and barely missed making the team which featured Mary Lou Retton. Still competing as a collegian, Elliott was on a path to making the 1988 Olympic team, including being the highest placing American finisher at the 1985 World University Games. With six months to go before the 1988 trials, while making a standard practice move on the vault, Elliott slipped and landed on her head, compressing her spinal cord and cracking two cervical vertebrae.

With her gymnastics competition career over, Elliott gracefully moved on to the next step of her life. She worked as an assistant coach for Fullerton while finishing her degree in physical education. Later, she returned to the Commonwealth and represented the state as Miss Virginia in 1989, then Mrs. Virginia ten years later, placing in the top ten.

Marriage to husband Rex and children (Rex IV 18, Taylor 16, and Tristan 9) also followed. A call from her alma mater arrived in 2005 with an invitation to the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. In spite of the transition to family life, Harrison did not let go of her gymnastics past, opening World Class Gym in 2000.

From its humble beginning, the gym has grown by leaps and bounds. A second location was opened in Suffolk. And after 10 years at its original Newport News home on Middle Ground Blvd., the business outgrew the location, and found a new facility on Bell King Road, one which expanded its workspace from 13,000 to 20,000 square feet.

With Harrison serving as the lead coach, World Class has led to numerous stories of accomplishment for young gymnasts.

Keira Brown is one of the success stories to come from World Class. Brown, a junior at Woodside, placed third all-around at the Junior Olympic National Championships, held during the month of May in Long Beach, CA. Because of her placing, she earned the opportunity to train at the USA Gymnastics Training Center in Huntsville, AL. in late October. Two weeks before traveling to Alabama, Brown will be taking a much longer plane ride, to Switzerland, to train for a week. She has already received a scholarship offer from the University of Georgia.

College offers are becoming common for the World Class gymnasts. Nicole Wright, another product of Harrison’s tutelage, earned a scholarship to the University of Maryland, while Sarah Gillespie went on to compete at Ohio State with the same educational benefit. Others, including Menchville’s Ashley Lambert and Taylor Harrison (VA Athlete of the Year and National Junior Olympic team member) are waiting in the wings. In Lambert’s case, the story will be more amazing as she suffered a broken C1 bone in her neck in May 2010. Her comeback story is noteworthy.    

At the younger levels, Lily Olson has qualified for the Diamond Level TOPs Team as a 7 and 8 year old, while Annabelle Hovater competed at the 2010 U.S. Challenge portion of the Covergirl Classic and had the highest All-Around score for optional gymnasts.

But World Class is open to all young gymnasts, regardless of age or ability. In fact, the youngest group of future flippers, known as the Partner Pals, range from 18 months to two years of age. This group moves up to the Tumble Bunnies for the ages of 3-4.

There are ten levels of ability for the gymnasts. Brown, Wright and Gillespie are considered the highest at level 10, but World Class has coaches for all abilities. According to Harrison, there are 85 competitive gymnasts at the Newport News location and about 400 recreational students. In Newport News, there are six other coaches to work with the athletes of varying levels.

The facility is not limited to gymnasts. Local high school cheerleading teams have come in to hone their skills. Girl Scout troops and other youth groups have come by for a variety of activities, including sleepovers and birthday parties. Says Harrison, “we do lots of fun things for everybody. We’re very versatile.”