Boys get chance to shine with the formation of gymnastics club

by Sheldon Ocker

Every four years, millions of people who don’t know the difference between a balance beam and a floor exercise watch the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team on television.

Between Olympic games, the sport seems to hibernate. That’s kind of what happened to boys varsity high school gymnastics in Ohio. Since 1994, when Brecksville-Broadview Heights won the last boys state title, varsity gymnastics teams have been populated by girls, exclusively.

So boys high school varsity gymnastics remains dormant, and Maria Schneider wants to do something about that, one small step at a time.

Schneider is the daughter of Joan Ganim, owner of Gymnastics World, a Broadview Heights training facility that has become an incubator of young gymnasts who go on to win state championships at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School, and sometimes earn athletic scholarships to college.

All of these gymnasts are girls, of course. Ganim has been the coach at BBHHS for decades, and her girls teams have won 18 state titles, including the last 15. She coached her daughter in high school, before Schneider went on to compete in gymnastics at Kent State University.

Now, Schneider has begun a club gymnastics team for boys representing BBHHS.

“I made a proposal to the athletic director [Mark Maslona] and to the superintendent [Joelle Magyar], and the board of education approved it,” Schneider said. “So, let’s see what happens.”

The club is composed of five freshmen and two seniors, all of whom come from the training program at Gymnastics World.

“We have 17 level 10 boys at Gymnastics World, but they are in all different school districts,” Schneider said. “But seven attend BBHH.”

Schneider explained that a level 10 gymnast has reached the skill level to compete at the high school level and possibly earn an athletic scholarship to college.

Mostly because of the elimination of boys varsity gymnastic teams, Schneider has an unusual problem. Against whom will her club team compete?

Schneider thinks that Title IX, the federal law designed to produce equal opportunity for females to participate in sports, is a drag on her idea of reviving boys gymnastics.

“Of course, I’m all for girls participating in sports,” she said. “But in my opinion, Title IX has had a negative effect on boys sports, and I’m a woman. I think girls sports should be offered, but not at the expense of boys teams. I promote any kid who wants to be active in any sport.”

There are a few other gymnastics clubs in Northeast Ohio, but finding competitors might be difficult for Schneider.

“That’s the trick this year,” she said. “But next week, we’re traveling to St. Louis, and later in the month, we’re going to Chicago for another tournament.”

Each of those trips will cost about $400 to each gymnast’s parents, Schneider said. Otherwise, it won’t cost anything for members to be in the club.

That includes Schneider’s son Joey, a freshman at BBHHS. “He knows how much time and effort it takes to be a gymnast,” she said. “He’s excited to have a chance to be recognized by his school.”

Featured image photo caption: The boys gymnastic team includes (front row, l-r) Hudson Schneider, Maththew Petros and Josh Sobecks and (back row, l-r) Ricky Pizem, Jareth Marlow, Joey Schneider and Matt Coljon. Photo by J. Kananian