THUNDER BAY – When the pandemic struck, Jennifer Nedgial found herself in the same troubling position as hundreds of other business owners in Thunder Bay – shut down with no return in sight.
Nedgial, who founded Giant Gymnastics, was not permitted to open her doors for months, the fear of COVID-19 closing all but the most essential of essential businesses down.
Slowly, but surely, as Northwestern Ontario began to get a hold of the virus, the restrictions began to lift.
In May, Nedgial got the word gymnastics clubs, like the one she hosts in the gym of the former Fort William Collegiate and Vocational Institute, would be allowed to offer classes again – albeit in much smaller numbers.
At first she opened the doors to four gymnasts at a time.
With restrictions loosening further, she’s brought back summer day camps, capped at 24 athletes.
It’s still not paying all the bills, but Nedgial said she’s doing it for more important reasons.
“It was a question of do we stay open? Do we close? Is this worth it? It is so worth it for the children,” Nedgial said.
“It’s my social responsibility, as a person who has a facility that offers programs for children, to make it work. And that’s what we’re doing every day, is making it work, as best as we can – with financial assistance from the government, of course.”
Working with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, Nedgial and her staff – she’s had to lay off 43 employees – have implemented a strict cleaning schedule to ensure the facility is as sanitized as possible.
Equipment is wiped down frequently, usually every 20 minutes, and a fogger is used to further clean.
The gymnasts have also had to change their ways.
“Our sport is a contactless sport, but they are known to hug each other when they get a skill, to high-five each other. We get excited too. So the biggest thing has been the social distancing. They have been so great, knowing that gymnastics was the lead sport in coming back, so it’s up to us to be the role models to do it right,” Nedgial said.
“So they have been vigilant in making sure. They’ve come up with what we call celly dances. Just like in football, when you get a touchdown, they now have their own and the rest of the team has to do them.”
Nine-year-old Caitlin Orr said she’s excited to be in the gym, after months cooped up insider her house with schools closed and most other activities shut down.
“I really missed it,” she said, adding she missed being active and seeing her friends.
“It’s really good to get out because I’ve been in the house since basically school stopped and this is just something really fun to do.”
Giant Gymnastics isn’t the only program back in business.
Greg Balec, who runs Ultimate Gymnastics, says summer fun camps began last Monday. They too got the go-ahead from the health unit to resume, and he said they’ll be following the strictest of cleaning protocols and guidelines to allow campers to enjoy their long-awaited return to the sport.
“Chalky’s Ultimate Summerfun Camps kick off this week and could potentially run through the end of August, offering eager campers both gymnastics and the very popular parkour options to choose from,” Balec said in a release.
“Space is limited as per direction from the province of Ontario and the district health unit.”
Balec said tryouts for the 2020-21 competitive team will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m on July 22 at their Alloy Drive gym.
