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For many years, children, and their children, have been coming to Gleason's Gymnastic School. The school and its gymnastic curriculum was founded in 1966 by Larry Gleason, a former competitive gymnast for the U of M team. Before starting the gymnastic school, he had been teaching gymnastics for several years in community recreation and YMCA programs. Realizing that he enjoyed teaching and had an aptitude for it, Gleason started GGS to offer a recreational program for children who wanted to do gymnastics for fun. He also realized that gymnastics was a discipline that could help children develop good listening habits, could help improve their attention span, and could have positive effects on their self-esteem. With this in mind, Gleason structured the curriculum at GGS to maximize these benefits. He also realized that the sport had to be taught in such a manner that the majority, if not all, the children saw their experience in gymnastics as a successful one. The teaching had to be done in such a way that it would challenge the children mentally as well as physically; it must involve their minds, as well as their body, in the physical learning process.
Today, these ideas are still central to the program at GGS. Although the school now has many successful competitive programs, the recreational programs and the average boy or girl in it, receive serious attention from the school and its instructors. The instructors are selected by Larry Gleason first on the basis of their personality and their ability and desire to work with children in a positive way. Each instructor is then trained through the schools own apprenticeship program. In addition, they receive safety training from US Gymnastics Federation as well as First Aid and CPR from the Red Cross. Although a former competitive gymnast and trampolinist, Larry Gleason realized that while only a few may pursue a competitive gymnastic career, the sport offers many unique benefits to all children who participate.
Our philosophy at Gleason’s is to provide students with a variety of gymnastic programs to serve different interests and abilities. Incoming students may choose classes in Boy’s Artistic Gymnastics, Girl’s Artistic Gymnastics, Trampoline and Tumbling, or Sports Acrobatics. Competitive teams in each of the above programs are also available for the advanced student who is interested in a competitive team experience.
For more specific information on our various classes, cheerleading instruction and team programs, please choose from the links above. You will find detailed information on all of our various programs.