Help Sound Elite Athletics Replace Equipment

Sound Elite Athletics is a young gym born just before the COVID pandemic forced closures of hundreds of small businesses. Rebekah Baldwin is a teenage entrepreneur who has a dream of building a facility where other young athletes can share in her love of gymnastics. At the age of 18, she and her mother bought a gym that was going out of business so she could take on the challenge of being head coach to a team of gymnasts. Yeah for a woman owned business!!! Sound Elite Athletics was born in June of 2019. Like any business there were start-up costs and hurdles. In March of 2020 the COVID pandemic hit. All businesses that were not considered “essential” were shut down. Gyms did not get to reopen until phase 3 which was approximately 9 months of closure. The gym was responsible for rent payments during this time. This was difficult on established businesses, but even more difficult on emerging businesses.

The gym was bought from a previous owner and all the gymnastics equipment conveyed with the gym. Most of the equipment is decades old and needs to be replaced. Had the gym been open for the past year, much of that money that went to paying rent and utilities on an empty gym would have been spent on equipment. That money is now gone. The team is in desperate need of replacing worn equipment. The uneven bars are so old that the team settings cannot be replicated at meets due to the measuring systems on the new bars. Therefore gymnasts are at a disadvantage when competing because they are not using the settings they are familiar with in practice. The beams have tears in the suede and new safety aids (beam pads and laser beams) are needed to allow our gymnasts to train upper level skills. We currently have gymnasts competing in every level of USAG gymnastics; XCEL, Compulsory and Optional Junior Development Programs (formerly Junior Olympic Program) and Trampoline and Tumbling. The gym is also in the early stages of starting a HUGS program for Special Olympic Athletes as well. The floor carpet needs to be replaced and springs need to be repaired. Upper level tumbling passes need the bounce from a quality spring floor to safely launch skills such as double back tucks and 1.5 twists (skills which our gymnasts are ready to start training). None of these repairs are cheap. All are necessary.

Here is a breakdown of the costs to replace the most needed equipment:

One set of AAI competition uneven bars: $5400

Single rail training bar for giants and other high bar skills: $2800

One classic beam (competition specs): $3200

Training aids for beam:

Beam pad: $200 (soft surface for cushioned landings to protect knees and ankles)

Laser beam topper: $500 (has training lines to help gymnasts visualize hard skills such as back handsprings, lay outs, and back tucks on beam).

New Floor system (This includes the entire floor system of springs, padding, overlay, and solid form carpet without panels to pull apart) $47,000

A cheaper floor can be purchased if our goal is not met, but it will be a temporary fix. A floor system is a better long term investment. A new carpet can be purchased for $9000, but that does not include any of the underlay or springs.

All total, the cost to upgrade equipment is close to $60,000 dollars. The team currently includes 36 competing athletes. If each team member can find 84 friends, family, or generous community members to donate $20, we can reach our goal. Can you donate? Can you share? Every dollar will help us upgrade the gym equipment so our athletes can shine in competition!

The gym wants what is best for its athletes to allow them to reach their full potential. The goal is to replace aging equipment and we can’t do that without some community help. Please donate if you can and share the link far and wide. These young athletes are learning tremendous life lessons about perseverance, teamwork, resiliency, and confidence. Gymnastics benefits kids in more ways than just physical strength. Let’s help Sound Elite Athletics reach more kids in our community.