A gymnasts’ dream come true in Grande Pointe!

A new gymnastics centre opened its doors to the public in Grande Pointe, southeast of Winnipeg, in August 2020. It offers many programs. Corie McCormick Colliou, Amanda McCormick and Andrea Conquergood, the centre’s three owners, took possession of the premises in March.

For the two sisters, Corie and Amanda, gymnastics is a passion. “My sister, Corie, used to work in a gymnastics club before, but they discontinued the competitive gymnastics program,” says Amanda. “So we decided to create our own centre so we could continue to offer our young students the chance to compete.”

“I, too, did a lot of gymnastics, as well as competitions,” she adds. “I also coached for many years. You could say we’ve been involved in the sport all our lives. And Andrea Conquergood, who joined us as our third owner, is the mother of one of our athletes.”

The centre employs three paid coaches (Amanda, Corie and Brianna Jonnie) and three volunteer coaches (Manhattan Leslie-Toogood, Bianca Mazzone and Raina DeBaets) and offers a host of programs.

“We offer programs for all ages and levels, from age one to adulthood,” explains Amanda. “We really encourage everyone to come and discover gymnastics. We have recreational, parent/child, before- and after-school programs, specific programs to prepare youth for competitions, and many more.”

For the time being, the co-head coach is very pleased with the venture. “It’s a success. We’re really happy so far, even with the pandemic forcing us to change our usual practices. For example, normally we’d allow our athletes to compete outside of Manitoba, but this year we prefer to stay in the province.”

The centre boasts a large open space, with a range of equipment. “We have uneven bars, a trampoline, gymnastics floors, and a lot of other equipment.”

But the team doesn’t want to stop there. The goal is to diversify its customer base. “We’d really like to be able to offer more programs for boys,” says Corie, “because there aren’t many in the province. This is really a priority for us. It would be a great opportunity.”

“We’d also like to eventually be able to offer programs for people with reduced mobility, to give them a chance to practise the sport as well.”

In the meantime, Amanda is proud of the new centre in Grande Pointe. “We’re very happy to finally be established in our community and to be able to offer them our services,” she says. “Gymnasts in the region no longer have to travel all the way to Winnipeg to practise their favourite sport!”

https://www.prairiereigngymnastics.ca/

Prairie Reign Gymnastics
11-610 Discovery Dr.
Grande Pointe, MB  R5A 0B7

Photo credit: Brianna Jonnie