The Kings gymnastics team concluded their inaugural season on Sunday, February 23  at the Southwest District meet held at Lakota East High School.

The gymnastics team is the first start-up sport at Kings since Lacrosse. Lacrosse got its start as a school club, while gymnastics was already an OHSAA sanctioned sport.

The team competed in meets against all the schools who have a team in the ECC, in addition to traveling around the region for additional meets.

The idea to have a school gymnastics team came to fruition a few years ago, but it wasn’t until this year that the idea got enough interest to form a team.

Head coach Emily Reimer was thrilled with the amount of assistance the team received  from the athletic department, “Mr Miller and the athletic department were super supportive in allowing us to pursue a team, getting us gym time at Gymnation, as well as taking care of our uniforms.”

Coach Reimer became a Kings employee a few years back, leaving her old coaching position behind.

“I really missed being around the sport, so I thought why not see if Kings’ students would want to compete on a gymnastics team, and it just flowered from there,” Coach Reimer told the Knight Times.

There were a decent amount of inexperienced gymnasts in this first season. This year has allowed those students to learn the basics to build on for years to come.

“Our inaugural season was all about learning how high school gymnastics works, trying new skills, creating new routines, and starting to work together as a team,” Said Coach Reimer.

The team selected Sydney Mader as their team captain, as she is the most experienced gymnast on the team with over 15 years in the gymnasium.

“It was really cool to be named captain and build relationships with everyone on the team,” said Junior captain Sydney Mader.

Regardless of experience, every member of the team has made huge strides during this school season.

“This is my first year doing gymnastics so it was interesting to go to the meets and see how they work. We all have improved tremendously from beginning to end,” Emma Stelmack told the Knight Times.

In gymnastics, repetition is key when it comes to improvement.

“We go over routines, over and over and over again until perfected, while also working on getting higher level skills.” Said Mader.

Coach Reimer and her team enjoyed this first gymnastics season at Kings. They delighted in some early success in their first season but will look to come back even stronger in the years to come. The team will return every member. No Seniors participated this past season.

“This first season has taught me a lot about how important work ethic and team bonding are to a high school team. We will be building upon the traditions we started this season and hope to improve our skills in the many seasons to come.” Coach Reimer exclaimed.