Our Story

The Little Gym of Evergreen

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a little girl watching the Olympics. The year was 1976 and the gymnast was Nadia Commenici. I was ten years old, but I still remember her seven perfect routines, and I was mesmerized! I begged my parents to let me take gymnastics, but being the youngest of 4 children it wasn’t really in the budget; however, my mom found a summer school gymnastics class at the community center and enrolled me. I was beyond excited for my first class and learned quickly that Nadia must have worked very hard to get to the Olympics. I practiced continually and learned many skills, and I quickly discovered that I loved the bars and spent as much time as possible on them. I continued to practice and take the summer classes, and in junior high I made the gymnastics team and then competed on the high school team all four years and loved it! After I graduated I was asked to come back and coach the junior varsity team and gladly accepted the position. I was so excited and learned that even though I was done competing that coaching other students was a wonderful way to stay involved in my favorite sport. I also took a job coaching at a nearby gymnastics school in Campbell and learned that I really loved teaching the younger students and enjoyed seeing them get so excited when they accomplished a new skill. I continued to coach at both schools while going to college and working another job as well. I also became interested in judging and took the necessary exams to become a certified judge. This helped me with my coaching as I knew what the judges were looking for and what deductions they took, however, I quickly realized that my heart was not into judging, and I found it very difficult to take points away from a young child after falling from the balance beam in tears. I wanted to hug her and tell her it was okay instead of giving her a 10 second warning to get back up and finish her routine, so after a few seasons of judging I decided to hang up my blue suit for good.

Around this time I met my future husband and we got married in 1987 and started a family of our own in 1989. We had moved to Sunnyvale and the commute to Campbell was difficult so I had given up my coaching job in Campbell and had found a new gym closer to my home and was hired there plus I continued to coach my high school team each spring. I continued to coach until I was six months pregnant and then was advised to take a break until after the baby was born. However, that break lasted for almost 15 years. I was so busy with my new baby and my full-time job that I had to give up coaching at the high school and at the gym.

Many years later my third child was starting second grade and her new best friend’s parents owned The Little Gym of San Jose. I asked them all about it and shared with them my past gymnastics experience. They immediately invited me to learn all about The Little Gym and all the classes they offered. I enrolled both of my younger children and began to work part-time as a coach at The Little Gym of San Jose. I was so excited to be back in the gym doing what I loved and my children really enjoyed taking their weekly classes. What I really appreciated was the way we were to teach, through positive reinforcement and praising our students and that there was only one class at a time in the gym, that was always one thing I didn’t like about the big gyms. I also fell in love with the uniquely themed lesson plans and the silly but fun music. I knew I had found my perfect job. The owner told me I was a natural and should think about opening my own The Little Gym as the company was looking to expand. I talked to my husband and we decided to look into it, and the next thing I knew I was signing a lease in 2005 and we opened the doors to The Little Gym of Morgan Hill in 2006. It’s been an amazing journey and I have had the opportunity to teach thousands of children over the last 11 years and look forward to teaching thousands more. Recently we decided to open a second location and after looking around the surrounding areas we settled on the community of Evergreen. We are so excited to meet all the incredible families in this beautiful area and look forward to sharing our love of gymnastics and passion for teaching with every family that comes through our doors. We strive to make our gym a family friendly environment where every child feels loved and valued and we can’t wait to meet you!