‘We need kids through the door’: Northamptonshire-based gymnastic club on bouncing back from pandemic closure

A Northamptonshire-based gymnastics club that has been hit hard financially by the pandemic is in need of more participants in order to bounce back.

Jumpz Gymnastics relocated to a new premises specifically for the club in Weedon Bec just before lockdown, as sessions used to be held in a school.

With its own building and no classes able to run, the club, which caters for children as young as five, has struggled financially.

Carol Whiteley, head coach, said: “It was expensive to move into the building so the closure couldn’t have come at a worse time for us.

“We’ve had to keep paying for the building, but we couldn’t make any money.

“Since we were able to reopen on July 25, hardly anyone has come back.

“August is usually quite quiet for us, but it is a worry.

“We did get the grant from the Government, but that would only see us through about five months and it has been five months now.

“We also set up a Crowdfunding page and we’re trying to get more children through the doors to keep us going.”

Running sessions in a Covid-secure way has been a challenge for the coaching team, but one they have met head-on.

Carol is keen to share with existing members who have not returned and new participants how the club has adapted and how safe coaches believe it to be.

She added: “Normally it’s really hands on, like we’d be allowing little children to do somersaults with our help.

“And it’s hard to keep the social distance especially on the bars when we would normally give them a helping hand.

“So we’ve had to find ways to do things safely.

“After training at a school for so long we are used to thinking outside the box anyway.”

Between each session, coaches who are currently working on a voluntary basis, have to allow extra time to clean.

Two groups of eight are only allowed in the gym at any one time and due to the decreased numbers, sessions are only run on three days each week.

“We have social distancing measures in place and hand sanitiser at every piece of equipment,” Carol continued.

“Coaches are all wearing a mask or a visor or both and we’re doing temperature checks on everyone as they come in.

“We think we are a minimum risk and if people are worried they should know we have all of these measures in place.”

Search Jumpz Gymnastics on Facebook to find out more about joining.

The club’s Crowdfunding page can also be found here.

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