New home for displaced gymnasts
Less than two weeks after being shut down, competitive gymnasts who were recently left without a Club will soon have a new home.
Earlier this month, Michelle Pothier, Head Coach of Base Borden Gymnastics Club, learned that Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden would be closing its doors to the Club on Saturday, May 31.
“We were shocked and surprised,” said Pothier, upon hearing the news.
However, Pothier recovered quickly enough from the news to come up with a plan.
Less than two weeks later, she has secured a new facility in Utopia where the Club will hold its first practice in the middle June. They even have a new name: Infinity Gymnastics Centre.
For the past 20 years, Base Borden has been home to the Gymnastics Club. It currently has 150 recreational gymnasts, ages two to 17, and 45 competitive athletes, ages five to 17.
In a meeting on May 15, Base Commander Carl Doyon told Pothier and members of the Club’s executive and staff, that it was being closed because its competitive section went beyond CFB Borden’s mandate to provide community recreation to military members and their families.
However, Pothier, parents, staff and volunteers are not satisfied with this reason. She said that Base Borden’s representatives have been “scant on details.”
In a letter to athletes, parents and coaches, Doyon said the change was driven by a requirement to align with Canadian Forces Support Program Policy.
The letter says the change “will result in a return to grassroots recreational gymnastics program, effective June 1, 2014.”
And after 18 years at Borden, Pothier doesn’t understand why the change comes now.
In an email to the Echo, Captain Rob Bungay, Public Affairs Officer for CFB Borden, said: “Operation reviews are not done lightly and can take time. Analysis is done at the local level, and then at the headquarter level… to ensure that decisions are made based on what is best for the community, and in line with policy.”
With its Club status revoked, six part-time coaches and nine casual coaches were terminated and all summer programming was eliminated.
In a press release, parents Laurie Copeland and Shannon Inman said the announcement had “athletes, staff, coaches and parents all in tears and feeling absolutely homeless… After years of supporting military resources, such as other facilities and programs on base, civilian families in particular are feeling angered and betrayed.”
“Military parents are also furious,” added Pothier. “But they can’t say anything because they could lose their jobs.”
Pothier believes that in spite of the re-location, the Club will keep many of its members. “When you’re in a competitive program, you follow a coach,” she explained.
Laurie Copeland, whose daughter Sadie Finkelstein trains with Pothier, said she and Sadie will go where the club goes. “I think Michelle has made a very sound decision in relocating the gym and we are excited to follow her and support her in growing her new venture,” Copeland said.
