While many children have been spending the break away from school by attending summer camps, playing with friends or lounging around at home, some local gymnasts have been hard at work for the past two weeks.
The young athletes were greeted by a German gymnastics team which has practiced five hours a day with them in addition to visiting Bay Area tourist destinations.
The team of girls, ages 9 to 16, came from Wetzlar, Germany–about 45 minutes from Frankfurt–and will wrap up their visit this weekend.
The meeting of the local and German teams was arranged by Pleasanton resident Ted Rigl, whose daughter Emma is a local gymnast. The Rigls used to live in Germany for four years and had visited the German team’s gym while on vacation there one time. The girls were invited to stay in pairs with host families here.
The two weeks has been a learning experience not only for the German girls but also for the local team.
Richard Boge, who coaches at the California Gym Academy in Livermore, said it’s been positive for his gymnasts to see how gymnasts from other countries practice and train as well as learn about their customs.
“It kind of opens up their eyes a little culturally which I think is important for them,” Boge said.
“It’s very brave of them to come that far because they’re only traveling with their coaches, nobody else,” he said of the German girls.
During the two weeks, the teams have integrated so the girls could interact with each other in practices.
The sport of gymnastics is different than many sports in that it is more regimented, Boge said.
“It’s year-round. The minimum amount of time spent in order to compete even at the lowest level is 12 hours a week,” he said. “They compete mostly in this area or within the state.”
While the German team shares the intense nature of practices in its home country, there are some differences between both teams.
German coach Martin Kuhn said while in America, if a family has the money to enter their child into gymnastics, then they can participate, but in Germany, excelling in the sport is the only way to be part of a team.
Kuhn said he also believes gymnastics is more popular here.
“In Germany, other sports are popular like soccer and handball,” he said.
Aside from regular gym practice, the German team also spent time taking in some Bay Area sights such as riding on a cable car in San Francisco and touring the Marin Headlands and Santa Cruz.
“It’s a good experience for them, not only in the gym, but they can take something back with them about the life here,” Kuhn said. “I really hope the gym club here comes to visit us in Germany next year.”
“I hope so too,” Roge added.
