Triple T Sports Center takes part in national fundraiser
Published 10:39 pm Saturday, September 22, 2012
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Triple T gymnasts perform a demo in front of parents and onlookers during the National Gymnastics Day on Saturday at the Triple T Sports Center.
A fundraising event called National Gymnastics Day was in full bloom at the Triple T Sports Center on Saturday.
The event was arranged by USA Gymnastics to take place in gyms all over the country on Sept. 22.
“It’s something that USAG started to give back to the Children’s Miracle Network,” Triple T business manager and owner Cheryl Burks said.
The money is channeled through the Children’s Miracle Network back to the local communities of each participating gym. For Triple T, all the proceeds went to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters.
Last year, the USAG arranged for all participating gymnasts around the country to do simultaneous handstands in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most ever done at one time.
Though they were not shooting for a world record this time, the feature of gyms around the country working together at the same time was so popular that they decided to bring it back this year for fun.
This time, the USAG called it “Turn the World Upside Down” and tried to include more people by making the shared task easier than a handstand — everyone simply had to be hanging upside down somehow at 1 p.m.
“That way they could do anything, as long as they were upside down,” Burks said.
Kids were scattered everywhere around the gym, some hanging from the balance beams, others doing handstands on the open floor, many dangling in dense clusters on the high and uneven bars.
Photos were taken and then sent off to the USAG to be posted for viewing at www.usagym.org as early as Saturday afternoon.
Triple T had strong participation, but Burks was not sure how many had “hung out” at 1 p.m.
“All of our teams were out there, that’s over 60,” she said. “If there was other ones out there, I would say it would probably be closer to 100.”
Triple T’s gym teams put on a variety of demonstrations during the event, as well.
Many outdoor activities were provided to help raise money.
“We have the moonwalks up, and the slide, and miniature golf, and face painting, and balloons and stuff,” Burks said. “We were selling wristbands for them to be able to participate on the equipment.”
Chick-fil-A donated food, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart provided cakes and cookies, and the Triple T Parents Association was running a concession stand, as well.
Burks said the event helped highlight the value of CHKD.
“I think it does a lot to bring awareness to CHKD,” she said. “It’s such an awesome resource to have. You know, a lot of people have to travel to go to some place like that. Even with my grandkids, I told them, if it’s anything serious at all, don’t even mess with the regular hospitals. Take them to CHKD, because they’re awesome.”