When you walk into the gymnasium at Coastal Gymnastics, Bluffton’s newest gymnastics center (4371 Bluffton Parkway), you’ll hear lots of laughter and lots of encouragement, and you’ll see kids everywhere … on trampolines, slides, spring floors, pummel horses, bars, and balance beams. Parents bring their kids to Coastal Gymnastics for lots of reasons, but mostly their goals are the same.
“Most parents who enroll their kids in gymnastics do so because they want their kids to gain strength, confidence and a healthy spirit of competition, all while having fun,” said Carrie Conway, owner, and head coach at Coastal Gymnastics.”
Conway, originally from New York, began practicing gymnastics as a little girl because she wanted to be like her older sister. Once that spark ignited, her competitive edge only sharpened. Conway began competing with other kids on the local, regional, and state levels until she got to high school. Her favorite event then—and to coach now—is balance beam. She advanced in the sport into her teens where she was a Level 8 competitor. The balance beam taught Conway focus and confidence.
“If you get up there and think ‘I’m going to fall,’ then you will fall,” she said. “On the beam, I learned the power of my thoughts. The sport set me up for a focused and disciplined outlook. I learned to work hard and stick with my goals, which is the gift I offer to every child who walks through the doors at Coastal Gymnastics.”Conway started coaching while she was attending college at State University of New York (SUNY)—where she earned a communications and business management degree—and continued through graduate school—where she earned a master’s in hospitality management—and beyond to the present. She has coached multiple state champions and regional qualifiers.
Though her educational background doesn’t reflect it, Conway confessed that she didn’t really love school, yet she knew that it was a means to an end. She knew that if she put in the time and effort to get her education, that alone would open a lot of doors for her future. She also learned the importance of self-motivation.
“A teacher or coach can only make you work so hard,” Conway shared. “Whether it’s school, music, football, or gymnastics, any level of success you achieve comes from inside of you.”
Conway’s first students were recreation and preschool classes, and she believes that if someone can coach preschoolers, they can coach any level of gymnast. Her most influential mentors are Olga and Vassa Mokhov, a couple with whom she worked in Savannah where she was a co-head coach. The Mokhovs have a 40+ year coaching career, and their students include Olympians.
“I watched them teach cartwheels and more up to highest level of gymnastics,” Conway said. “They were great examples to model myself after—strict yet kind. And always learning. Even in their 60s, they continue to educate themselves and stay abreast of all the newest training methods and techniques.”
Conway’s mission in centered around caring for and growing strong-minded kids who are happy and healthy gymnasts at all levels of the sport. Whether they are starting their first recreational class or competing at Level 10 nationals, she wants them to feel confident and excited about being in the gym every day.
“I care more about them as a person than an athlete,” she explained. “If they are working their hardest and doing their best, that is more than enough for anything else they will do in life.”
In fact, Conway and her team are so committed to the “Whole Child” approach of coaching that she believes her business is strongest due to the implementation of her overall program. Coastal Gymnastics utilizes a cut-and-dried method of advancement to ensure their students are learning at an appropriate pace—one that is infused with both compassion and challenge. The students understand when it is time to get down to work, and they know when they can cut loose and have fun.
Conway’s gym offers levels for any interest, from a purely recreational objective to the highest level of competitor, and classes are divided for each level. From a competition standpoint, there are several skill levels to work through. Levels two through five are the compulsory levels, where students learn the skill sets that are necessary to incorporate into any routine—the very basics. Levels four through six commence with more difficult tricks, such as back handsprings, vaulting over the vault table, back walkovers and back handsprings on the beam, giant swings on the bars, and more. In these first levels, the kids are learning fundamental skills that build their confidence, going to three or four meets a year, performing in front of judges and memorizing routines.
All this work prepares them for the higher optional levels—up to level 10. Here, the kids will begin to make their own routines, pick and choose their own skills tailored to their own individual strengths. They now are competing at regional and national levels.
Currently at Coastal Gymnastics, there are two competitors at level six, and by next year, there will be five at level seven—which is a big leap from their modest beginnings. Open only four years, Conway brought three students with her from the Savannah gym when she opened her first location in Bluffton at The Villages in Sheridan Park. Since then, her enrollment has grown to 400 students, with a wait list that grows longer by the day.
They’ve already outgrown their original space. The new Bluffton Parkway location offers 7,000-square feet of training space with even more equipment, including an in-ground foam pit for soft landings and higher-level training equipment. The staff has also grown.
“We have a great staff,” Conway said. “Alli has been with us since before our first location even opened. She has grown into her role as team coach and my right hand. Leah is our recreational director, and she is so good with younger kids keeping them engaged, learning, and coming up with fun things for them to do.
The team is also expanding to included Coach Tiffany, a college level gymnast from a Hilton Head gym, who brings years of coaching experience with her. Plus, they are working on a second location on Hilton Head Island at the former home of Southern Elite Gymnastics Academy on Beach City Road, which they expect to be open by the end of summer.
“We are building a little army of gymnasts,” Conway said, “and it feels so great. Our team program gets better every year. I’ve qualified kids for regionals, and last year, we had an all-around state champion, so now our Level 4 team can feasibly win a state championship.”
What makes a kid a gymnast? Conway believes it is their mental strength and all that is required to get up and perform on a four-inch-wide beam. Strength, flexibility, and coordination are important, but mental power is the key.
And how does she use this in her coaching?
“For me, it is pushing kids beyond their comfort zone and seeing their smiles upon completion.”
For more information, visit coastalgymnasticscenter.com.
