Support ANSG: We have the HEART, we need your HELP

Like all businesses, Covid 19 has closed our doors at Atlanta North Stars Gymnastics and forced our coaches to cancel practice.  But while gymnasts and families are not there... the bills continue to come in! Rent has to be paid and our coaches depend on their paychecks.  As hard as our gym owners and coaches are trying, they cannot save our gym themselves.  We, as a team and gym family, have to help. We want to help. We want to save our gym. Five days a week. Four hours a day. Fifty-one weeks a year. That is when we are in the gym doing what we love...practicing gymnastics. Our coaches are there on and off the floor instructing us, supporting us, helping us.  Now for the first time our doors are locked and we are not allowed in.  We miss seeing our coaches, and our teammates. We miss doing what we love, what we have dedicated most of our lives to, gymnastics. Now we are fighting to ensure that when the country is ready to reopen, Atlanta North Stars Gymnastics is ready and able to open its doors again.
 
         My name is Gabby and I am a level 10 gymnast at ANSG. Gymnastics has been the center of my life for as long as I can remember. Gymnastics has taught me so much; determination, sportsmanship, friendship, and perseverance. Gymnastics has never failed to make me happy, even on the days where I split the beam or continuously fall on my routines, gymnastics still manages to make me smile or laugh. I have been doing gymnastics for almost ten years, and yet I always face new challenges with the sport. I never have wanted to quit, even on the hardest days. This sport has given me so many things, especially friendships that I will carry with me for many years to come. During the week, I see my gymnastics friends more than I see my siblings; they are my family. They make me laugh on the hard days, and cheer for me when I’m trying new skills. We are the only people that understand what it is like to sacrifice 20 hours a week for a sport.
 
            Due to our rigorous training schedule, we have to sacrifice hanging out with our friends and getting to sleep in, but our coaches sacrifice even more. They stay in the gym until at least 8:30 every night for us to receive the best chance at being our best. They miss family dinners with their children and Saturday morning sports for their own kids. They travel with us across the country to compete in different states weekend after weekend during season. Our coaches are the ones who teach us how to not only be skilled gymnasts, but they teach us how to be good people. They teach us to be tough when things don’t go our way, and to be kind to other people. We learn that gymnastics isn’t only about winning the meet, but it’s about enjoying the competition and being grateful that we have the chance to compete. They support us when we try new things and console us when we fall. We always need and get their support, and now we want to help support them. Please help us keep our gym open so we can get back to doing what we love most. Thank you so much and stay safe.