As Armadale Gymnastics Club (AGC) celebrates is 10-year anniversary, head coach Alicia Spronck said the core value of the club has remained the same throughout the years: family.
Mrs Spronck said she’s been part of AGC since the beginning, with her mum being the club’s founding president.
“I’ve grown up with everyone there and they kind of helped raise me,” she said.
“I see them as an extended family and I hope to be able to give that to all the kids that are now coming through as well.
“That sense of belonging I felt as a child, I really want every child to feel that.
“There’s a lot of hard areas in Armadale that struggle outside of coming to the club so if we can provide an hour a week where it’s safe and they feel welcomed, then I feel like we’re doing our job.”
Mrs Spronck said she was enrolled as a member and a founding coach when AGC opened.
She was offered the head coach role last year after working her way up in coaching accreditations.
“This had been a goal I had set for myself since I started coaching when I was 12 and I was so honoured when I was offered the position.”
AGC celebrated its anniversary on the weekend alongside its annual faction carnival.
“It is a great team bonding event and allows gymnasts from our club to interact with other members who they wouldn’t normally come across within their own classes,” Mrs Spronck said.
“It also allows our younger gymnasts to watch our upper-level gymnasts compete so they can see what they want to aspire to achieve in the future.”
She said the club was established in 2015 after the PCYC closed its Armadale branch with more than 200 members enrolled at the gym.
“I was only 15 at the time and we held countless fundraising events and fought lots of battles to be able to create the beginning of AGC as its own independent club,” Mrs Spronck said.
“The club began classes in October 2015 with only close to 30 to 40 members enrolled and it continued to grow each term until we reached the 350, I’m proud to say we have today.”
Mrs Spronck said there have been many significant moments throughout AGC’s first decade.
“We have grown our equipment stock immensely meaning we can run more classes and provide more inclusive classes catering to all abilities.
“We currently run our largest number of classes we have ever run weekly.
“We have started attending GWA comps and succeeding at these comps despite training much lower hours than our competitors due to the restrictions we have at our premises and within the low socioeconomic area we run in.”
But for Mrs Spronck, the most significant moments have been the little ones that bring a tear to her eye.
“The gymnast who has been working towards a skill for years that finally achieves it and jumps with joy,” she said.
“The parent who has tears in their eyes when their little one who has never received a medal finally gets their turn on the podium.
“The child who has struggled to thrive and find a place they feel comfortable enough to express themselves finally speaks up and finds their identity.
“The daughter who gets to watch her mother who started the club sit and watch our 10-year anniversary display with tears in her eyes in awe of what this club has become.”
Photographs – Richard Polden.
